Naked courage

There's a drop of madness in every person, it is said, and I can hardly question the veracity of that after witnessing a sizzling bout that took place at Makerere Institute of Social Research early this week.

In the red corner was Dr. Stella Nyanzi who has garnered quite a following on social media for her lewd witticisms, and for projecting herself as a nonconformist who doesn't care what the world thinks about her words and actions. And in the blue corner was Stella's immediate boss - Prof. Mahmood Mamdani - a man of monumental intellectual pedigree who wanted Stella booted out of her office for insubordination and for allegedly using the office majorly for private work. 

Dr. Stella Nyanzi stripped [internet photo]

 Stella hit back that she was not Mamdani's tenant, and teaching a PhD course was not part of the contract she signed. The fight culminated in her unleashing a jab queerer than Mike Tyson biting off part of Evander Holyfield's ear in 1997. She stripped  to complete nakedness and shot a video of herself in that bare form while a trajectory of cusses directed at Mamdani rumbled out of her mouth at gunfire speed. And when she was spent, she loaded the video onnto her Facebook wall, where it enjoyed viral viewership.

The trick worked like magic; Stella was soon restored to her office and poor Mamdani was left licking the wounds from the 'knockout' and a haunting reminder that no man can fight a woman and win.

 The reactions thereafter were contrasting. Some said it was uncouth for a woman of Stella's age (42) and education to undress in public. Others hailed her as a woman of "courage" who like a cat pushed to the wall did what she had to do to save herself. 

It's that aspect of courage that piqued my interest. In Uganda, courage is the most misunderstood word; blackmail, recklessness and shamelessness are equated to courage. But courage without equanimity, propriety and rationality is a good looking apple rotten on the inside.