Photograph — depositphotos

Dr. Stella Nyanzi, a medical anthropologist who works with the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) in Uganda was locked out of her office for refusing to teach MISR’s doctor of philosophy (PhD) students. Although the school authorities released a statement to this effect, pointing out that she already committed to teach them, Nyanzi reportedly said on her Facebook page that her contract did not include teaching.

Nyanzi reportedly notified the university’s deputy vice chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, who requested that Dr. Nyanzi’s eviction be stayed. “I have received a complaint from one of the staff members of MISR Dr Stella Nyanzi, that she is facing eviction from the office she is currently occupying with no suitable alternative being provided. This is to request you to stay the planned eviction until an amicable eviction is found.” Nawangwe wrote in his letter.

However, the notice was disregarded by Professor Mahmood Mamdani, the executive director of MISR. Mamdani insisted that since Nyanzi has refused to teach and “spends her time on private matters and personal research, MISR can only offer her a seat in the MISR library.”

In protest of this decision by Mamdani, Dr. Nyanzi stripped herself of her clothes and posted a video of her naked self on Facebook. She reportedly said “I have thrown my clothes outside Prof. Mamdani’s office. I am naked as I cry out for my office.” She also had to chain herself to the door before the university allowed her back into her office.

Dr. Nyanzi’s naked protest is just one of many women around the world who want their voices to be heard. When women speak, their voices are drowned, in order to make the world pay attention, they go naked. Nudity is the amplifier of women’s voices, it’s a tool against oppression.

In 2015, the Minister for Internal Affairs, Aronda Nyakairima and the Minister for Lands, Daudi Migereko, with a team of surveyors arrived at the Amuru and Adjumani districts to the sight of naked elderly women who had thought that the government had arrived to claim their land. At the sight, Migereko reportedly bursted into tears. In the end, they could not carry out their intentions and the women won their fight.

Naked protests may have been in existence since 1929. Its 2016, should women still have to be naked in order to be heard and understood? Shouldn’t life be easier by now?

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