London Metropolitan University is hosting a series of documentary screenings in association with www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk in honour of Mosiah (Marcus Garvey) month, African Remembrance Day and Pan-African Women’s Day. ( Womens Day was founded as a celebration of the first Pan-African Women’s Conference in Tanzania in 1962. The day is a special occasion to honour the tremendous achievements of African women, and also to advocate for greater gender equality on the continent)
. Every Wednesday in August starting from the 8th, we will have a film or presentation. Previously censored, excluded from the mainstream and forced underground, these documentaries and presentations highlight the political, economic, cultural and social condition of people of African descent. Free entry to all films/presentations, just send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. All events will be hosted by Dr Michelle Asantewa and Black Hisotry Walks and have Question and Answer sessions
Symbolic Violence and Images of Black Women. Wednesday 8th August 6.30 to 8.45pm. Room T11-03
This event is about female representation and the black female identity. Dr Nathalie Montlouis shares her doctoral thesis and highlights black women as 'Anansy' in the promotion and diffusion of their own interests by content sharing websites. We will cover..
- The African Queen
- The sketel
- The label of domestic violence
- The diktat of the 'strong black woman'
- Religion, make up and long sleeve
- It's not raining men
..interactive, with short videos, photos and rare documents we illustrate and discuss what it means to be a ''black woman '' in the 21st century. This event is a preview of a major conference on black women titled "Rebellion and Compliance of Womanhood within the African Diaspora" taking place in March 2013
Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters Wednesday 15th August 2012: 6.30-8.45pm Room: T11-03
How Africans fought back against US slavery.
Black History Month will soon arrive with the usual suspects paraded as heroes. Racists like William Wilberforce will be held up as paragons of virtue when in fact; he refused to eat in the same room as black people; recommended they be whipped at night to save the planters loss of work during the day; encouraged breeding farms of African people and voted to send 60,000 British troops to Haiti to reinstall slavery. What's always missing from these such is the voice of the enslaved men and women and what they did to free themselves.This film details how Africans resisted by: open rebellions, running away, the underground railroad, poisoning slavemasters, burning buildings, learning to read, political lobbying and total defiance in the face of torture and death.
It also reveals the extraordinary lengths that white people went to, to suppress black people's freedom by terrorism, torture, murder, brainwashing, rape and unjust laws which still have an effect to this day
The Walter Rodney Story Wednesday 15th August 2012: 6.30-8.45pm Room T11-03
Interviews with, Horace Campbell, Ph.D., professor of African-American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York; Rupert Roopnaraine, Ph.D., principal of the Critchlow Labor College, Georgetown, Guyana; Clive Thomas, Ph.D., professor of Political Science, University of Alaska Southeast; Issa Shivji, Ph.D., professor of Law, University of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania; the late professor Haroub Othman, Ph.D., University of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania; and the late Vice-Chancellor Emeritus Rex Nettleford, Ph.D., professor of Cultural Studies, University of the West Indies, at Mona, Jamaica. Also included among the list of those interviewed were poets, U.S. poet and playwright Amiri Baraka and Working Peoples Alliance (WPA) member Eusi Kwayana, writers, and activists including, Karen DeSouza and Andaiye, members of the WPA, the political party in Guyana to which Rodney belonged. Manning Marable Malcolm X biographer ,Asha Rodney (daughter) and Donald Rodney (brother
See trailer here http://www.youtube.com/blackhistorywalks#p/u/6/yF5PHRPe2Kc
W.A.R Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney takes a straightforward, chronological approach to Rodney's life in Guyana, Jamaica, Tanzania and England, footage of various physical locations interspersed with interviews of persons who knew and worked with him, as well as his daughter Asha. Michael O. West said that Rodney was under surveillance almost all his adult life and there are also interviews with researchers Horace Campbell and Robert Hill, among others. Rodney was killed on June 13, 1980, when a bomb disguised as a walkie talkie, given to him by Sergeant Gregory Smith of the Guyana Defence Force, exploded in a car in which he was being driven by his brother Donald Rodney.
Black Women and the Aparthied Upisings Wed 29th August 2012: 6.30-8.45pm Room T11-03
The recent anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings (June 16 1976) passed unnoticed in most white media. Black Women played a crucial part in South Africas liberation from Apartheid but like many women freedom fighters in Africa, their role has been under-reported and under-valued.
This presentation, hosted by Dr June Bam-Huchison, will explain the role of African and so-called 'coloured' women in the struggle since the 1950's to 1976. In particular we will cover..
- Methods of resistance: Not just the gun
- Beauty as a form of oppression: The role of the dentist
- Methods of oppression: birth control and experimentation
- Male female relationships: How does a couple involved in resistance work survive ?
- Life in prison for men, and what it means for women
- The role of female sex workers in the struggle
- Love and Liberation music
Dr June Bam Huchison is a Khoi woman from South Africa and resistance leader who lived through the Soweto Uprisings and survived dragnets and death threats to become a member of the post-apartheid government. She is the author of Peeping Through the Reeds a semi-autobiographical book of life in South Africa.
More info on book here http://www.peepingthroughreeds.co.uk/Black
All events take place at London Metropolitan University (Tower Building) 166-220 Holloway Road, London, N7 8DB
Tube: Holloway Road
Queries and RSVP to Michelle Asantewa Emails: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it./This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. NB: Important to register for the screenings.
www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Walks, Talks and Films on the African history of London all year long