Cabrita, Joel. Written Out: The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2023. ISBN: 9781776148615

Abstract

Joel Cabrita’s Written Out: The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala is a compelling biographical work that centres on Regina Gelana Twala, a Black female anthropologist who, until her death, had been mainly written out of — if not entirely ignored by — academic discourse. Cabrita’s book rehabilitates Twala’s legacy, positioning her as a pioneering anthropologist who operated within a racially exclusionary academic environment and paid the price for being both Black and female. Drawing on a labyrinthine array of historical sources, Cabrita reconstructs the identity and intellectual contributions of Twala as both scholar and feminist.