Decolonization in Action is a podcast that interrogates decolonization in the arts, sciences, and beyond. While calls for decolonizing science, education, and museums are becoming more prominent, knowledge practices of western academia and of present-day colonizing nation states remain largely uncha…
During this final episode of the season, Edna Bonhomme spoke with Zoé Samudzi. This is Edna's last episode with the podcast after which Edna will continue to focus more on writing essays and books. You can get updates about Edna's work from www.ednabonhomme.com, Twitter @jacobinoire, or Substack Newsletter Mobile Fragments https://ednabonhomme.substack.com/ Zoé Samudzi is a writer whose work has appeared in The New Inquiry, Verso, The New Republic, Daily Beast, Art in America, Hyperallergic, and other outlets. She is a contributing writer at Jewish Currents. Along with William C. Anderson, she is the co-author of As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation (AK Press). Samudzi was a 2017 Public Imagination Fellow at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California San Francisco. References As Black as Resistance: https://www.akpress.org/as-black-as-resistance.html The Holocaust Analogy: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3908-the-holocaust-analogy Looking After: https://www.artforum.com/slant/zoe-samudzi-on-museums-and-human-remains-86153 The Paradox of Plenty: https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/otobong-nkanga-2-1234583810/ For some info on the Herero and Nama genocide, you can read more about it here: https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/herero-and-nama-genocide
lyonga and Lucas Odahara join edna bonhomme to talk about collectivizing around anticolonial activism of the Coalition of Cultural Workers against the Humboldt Forum (CCWAH) and BARAZANI.berlin and how their activism is oriented towards creating a space of resistance and community, acting in solidarity with long-term calls for repatriation. The Coalition of Cultural Workers against the Humboldt Forum (CCWAH) formed in the summer of 2020. It is an open and constantly growing alliance of cultural workers based primarily in Berlin. BARAZANI.berlin uses the possibilities of virtual space to locate itself on the empty Schlossplatz in the center of Berlin. It occupies the lost wasteland of 2012 and uses it as a place of resistance; as a place of artistic practice; as a place of listening and creative utopia, where decolonial perspectives meet and are negotiated. Over the past year, CCWAH and BARAZANI.berlin have been running together the physical space Spreeufer. A space of resistance and community on the riverbank opposite the Humboldt Forum. https://ccwah.info https://barazani.berlin
In this episode Edna Bonhomme is in conversation with Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro. Mba Bikoro's work analyses processes of power & science fictions in historical archives critically engaging in migrational struggles & colonial memory focusing on queer indigenous and feminist biopolitics. The artist creates immersive performative environments for alternative narratives and future speculations of colonial resistance movements led by African women of the German diaspora and indigenous communities. Sedimented in narratives of testimonial Black queer experiences of sonic nature archives, revolt, queering ecologies and postcolonial feminist experiences towards new monuments which reacts to the different tones of societies shared between delusions & ritual. The work offers complex non-binary readings pushing new investigations about the architectures of racisms in cities, the archeologies of urban spaces & economies of traditional systems by exposing the limitations of technologies as functional memory records. She has developed frameworks of rituals and healing in performance work that often reveal the entangled colonial histories of migration at site-specific spaces to dismantle prejudices and organise accessible levels of consciousness through testimonial archives of local communities to build independant emancipatory tools for liberation, education, consciousness, intimacy and healing. She is lecturer in Curating Black Visual Cultures & Philosophy at TransArt Institute New York & Fine Arts practice at the University of Liverpool, artistic & curatorial supervisor of the Artists in Training Programme at the UdK and the University of Bergen Norway. She is Artistic Director of Nyabinghi_Lab Collective, recently curating the performance programme 'Radical Mutations' at Hebbel Am Ufer Theatre Berlin with Wearebornfree! Empowerment Radio and "Free State Of Barackia: 150 Years of Decolonial Urbanisms, Solidarities and New Berlin Utopias". She moderates the annual Berlinale Film Festival & currently has an Artistic Fellowship from the Goethe Institute In Bahia Salvador and is the TURN2 Award Fellow Curator at NCAI Nairobi. Her work was recently published in ARTE Twists series "Our Colonial Heritage" and Deutsche Welle TV in a series of short films on German Colonialism and Black Resistance. Her work has been featured in several international exhibitions and Biennales including the Havana Biennale (2019), Dak'art Biennale (2012; 2018), Venice Biennale (2016) and La Otra Biennale in Bogota (2013) and RAVVY Performance Biennale Yaoundé (2018).
enja and Alina from the Black Student Union (BSU) at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin join edna bonhomme to share about organizing the BSU at the university. Expanding on the BSU starting in December 2020 and their first actions which included meeting with the Mittelbau (or department administration) at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Alina and Fenja also share more about the BSU's current action of an open letter of complaint to hold the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin accountable for anti-Black racism on all levels including the institute's colonial inception and foundation as well as the ongoing coloniality of its structure and curriculum, everyday student experiences of racism and discrimination, university hiring practices, uses of racialized language within the classroom as well as the German education at large: Open letter of complaint about the conditions in the Seminar for African Studies of the Institute for Asian and African Studies (IAAW) of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Fenja and Alina also expand on BSU's ongoing work which includes launching a mentoring program for new students focused on creating networks of care and ways of sharing experiences at the HU, building community forms of support and exchange, working towards creating a safe pathways for Black students, and publishing stories about being a part of BSU. Fenja and Alina also share more about organizational uses of Blackness and histories of Blackness with an emphasis on contextualizing Blackness, discussing political Blackness in the UK, Blackness in Germany, Blackness in Nigeria, and Black Student Unions in the US (Mississippi Student Union) as well as direct-action, Black student-led organizations (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) during the Freedom Summer campaigns of 1964 and the US Civil Rights Movement. BSU Website: https://bsuhu.wordpress.com/ Open Letter of Complaint: https://www.change.org/p/frau-prof-dr-kunst-wir-fordern-diskriminierungskritische-afrikawissenschaften-an-der-hu-berlin
Discussing the necessity for an ever-expanding intersectional climate justice movement, edna bonhomme and Indigenous lawyer and climate activist Yi Yi Prue are in conversation for this episode, expanding on Prue's legal actions that took Germany to court for global warming, holding the German state accountable for the ongoing climate catastrophe, a crisis created by the Global North that has already created devastation and unlivable conditions around the world especially in the Global South. Prue shares more about her legal practice in Dhaka, Bangladesh, her journey as a climate activist, and her commitment to practicing climate justice. Yi Yi Prue is an Indigenous lawyer and climate activist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prue advocates for the Indigenous perspectives of the Indigenous Marma and Munda Communities of Bangladesh and Nepal, who are heavily affected by climate change-related catastrophes, that are the result of historic colonial and current neocolonial exploitation. In January 2020, she successfully led an appeal at the German Institutional Court against the insufficient German climate protection measures.
Edna Bonhomme interviewed Shay-Akil McLean, Ph.D. (@Hood_Biologist. Shay-Akil is a Queer Trans masculine & gender queer man racialized as Black, on stolen Indigenous land, an educator, organizer, writer, public intellectual, human biologist, anthropologist & sociologist. Shay-Akil earned his Ph.D. from the UIUC School of Integrative Biology's Program for Ecology, Evolution, & Conservation (PEEC). Shay-Akil studies Du Boisian sociology, STS/HASTS, race/ism, human health demography, evolutionary genetics, & theoretical population genetics. He holds degrees in biological anthropology (BA & MA) & sociology (BA & MA) which he uses to study bioethics, medical ethics, philosophy of biology, population genetics, evolutionary theory, health inequities, & knowledge production. As a scholar, Shay-Akil studies how systems of human practices produce the differential distribution of health, illness, quality of life, and death. He is also the founder of the free political education website decolonizeallthethings.com & the free scientific ethics website decolonizeallthescience.com.
In this episode, Edna Bonhomme spoke with Bino from Wearebornfree! Empowerment Radio(WeRadio!). WeRadio Is an independent is a radio programme organized by Refugees & Friends to empower each other; it was formed throughout the German Refugee Resistance 2012. The group serves as a platform for all marginalized people like women, children, LGBTIQ, Black people and People of Color and others. Website https://wearebornfreeberlin.wordpress.com/category/radio/
On a rainy summer day in Berlin-Neukölln Edna Bonhomme, Moritz Gansen and Sara Morais dos Santos Bruss met for a ‘theory conversation' initiated by Nacre Journal and loosely centered around the theme of its Issue 4, General Public. Planned to be held at a public garden in Rixdorf inspired by the work of the philosopher and educational reformer John Amos Comenius, due to the closure of the garden for maintenance work, the discussion ended up taking place in a nearby beer garden. The conversation was first published as a text here: https://nacre-journal.com/issue-4-general-public/
On self-empowerment, solidarity, and Black diasporic experiences, this episodes shares a conversation between Black feminist podcasters based (usually) in Berlin, featuring edna bonhomme from Decolonization in Action, Kate Cheka from Love in the Time Of, Cassianne Lawrence from Tones of Melanin, Goitsy Montsho and Rhea Ramjohn from Tanti Table, and Ropafadzo Murombo from Afro Comb.
In this episode, edna bonhomme spoke with Saadya an activist who has studied and worked on the larger issue around justice and climate activism. Her work has looked at renewable energies, transport change, energy efficiency, and these solutions-based approaches were closely linked to sustainable digitalization and strengthening of civil society. They have also been attuned to decentralized movements on climate and climate justice through KlimaDeSol more closely and the history of sustainability initiatives in Germany. Reference https://decolonize-your.net/
In this episode, Kristyna Comer welcomes Wendi Muse — creator and host of the Left POCket Project Podcast — back to this podcast. This episodes begins with Wendi talking about the need to listen, making reference to Paulo Freire’s "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" and listening in the context of collective empowerment, anticolonial resistance movements past and present, and for creative work in general. This episode is dedicated to what listening can mean with a special focus on the Left POCket Project Podcast. In addition to talking more about her podcast and the critical histories of leftist people of color the podcast makes available, we talk about how Wendi activates anticolonial practices in the very design and expanded forms of her podcast. Wendi Muse is a PhD candidate in History at NYU, and is currently finishing her dissertation regarding the activities of leftist networks formed between Brazilians and Lusophone African activists during their concurrent struggles against dictatorial rule and colonialism, respectively. She also has an MA in Latin American Studies and has lived and worked in Brazil, where, in addition to her current work, she has also conducted research on the black press, black women's activism in the early 1900s, and political subversion among samba performers during the dictatorship. The LeftPOC podcast is available on Soundcloud and iTunes as well as many other podcast platforms: https://soundcloud.com/leftpoc For all show notes, please visit: https://www.decolonizationinaction.com/episodes/season-4-episode-1 For all episodes, please visit https://www.decolonizationinaction.com Follow on Twitter: @decinaction Image: from the Left POCket Project Facebook Page: https://web.facebook.com/leftpoc/?_rdc=1&_rdr
In this episode, edna bonhomme is in conversation with Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, a transdisciplinary Nigerian-American artist and writer living in Berlin. Primarily working with painting, performance, video, installation and writing, her studio practice acts as a (meta)physical space where she can produce evidence and embark on earnest freedom pursuits. It is a way of coping, questioning and occasionally proposing something new. Recurring points of interest in her work include perversion and intuition, evolving sexuality in relation to intimacy, trauma, and body image, queer and anti-colonial methodologies, religion and spirituality, improvisation, and the recovery of child selves. Her main concern as an artist is to look at the frayed edges and ruptures of constructed realities and locate spaces where healing, liberation, and (re)generation can take place. She is often pulling from her experience of her own body and though she works through narrative-driven subject matter, she is also interrogating the wider systemic contexts and constructed realities in which these issues and questions lie. Monilola's Website: https://monilola.com Image: from Monilola's performance of Wayward Dust at Deutsches Technikmuseum in collaboration with Decolonize Berlin
In this episode, edna bonhomme interviews Ncube, a Zimbabwe-born, British writer and director based in Berlin, Germany. Ncube's films explore the Black African psyche in the modern world, especially how the past informs our present and derails our future. Ncube has been making off-theatre productions for close to 10 years. His three feature films consist of his directorial debut: All The Pretty Girls (a quixotic psychodrama with mockumentary elements), that fly 70s sci fi futuristic shit !! (an afrofuturistic blaxploitation wanderlust in the memory of Adam Merai) the AGE of WONDER (a film with 9 names, exploring a changing world from the perspective of two brothers. Ncube's Films can be viewed at Kino Central in Berlin: kino-central.de Music by Podington Bear, entitled: Releasing The Sculpture Musician website: Podingtonbear.com
In this episode edna bonhomme is in conversation with artist and writer Grace Ndiritu. Ndiritu has been engaged in “The Year of Black Healing” which is an artistic response to President Macron’s declaration that 2020 is the year of Africa in the entire French territory. In order to counterbalance the co-opting of Black Culture by politicians to promote their own agendas, Grace Ndiritu has declared that 2020 is in fact The Year of Black Healing. A year long programme of exhibitions, performances and talks in collaboration with different institutions, focusing on Ndiritu’s work and its relation to decolonization, spiritual practice, black and indigenous culture, neoliberalism and racism #georgefloyd. The conversation was originally recorded for HAU Radical Mutation: On the Ruins of Rising Suns which was Curated by Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Saskia Köbschall, Tmnit Zere, in collaboration with Wearebornfree! Empowerment Radio
Season 3, Episode 7: Reading May Ayim through Poetic Revolutionaries in Berlin This episode opens with spoken word poetess Savannah Sipho reading May Ayim’s poem titled “blues in Schwarzweiß” (“Blues in Black and White”) during a recent critical walking tour in Berlin called Dekoloniales Flanieren, or Decolonial Flaneur (August 21, 2020), organized by the Nachbarschaftsinitiative Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße led by students, scholars, and professors from Humboldt University, which aimed to establish a broad coalition with activists, artists, Institute for European Ethnology, Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD), SAAVY Contemporary, and the recently established Decolonize Berlin to mobilize demands to change a racist street name in the Berlin District of Mitte called M*Straße or M Street—which is an abbreviated form of a street name that has been called out for its anti-Black racist language for well over 30 years—where the Institute for European Ethnology and other departments of Humboldt University are also located. After decades of activism and one day before Dekoloniales Flanieren took place, the District of Mitte in Berlin announced on August 20th that M*Straße will be renamed to honor 18th-century philosopher, professor, jurist, and poet Anton Wilhelm Amo. In conversation with Kristyna Comer, Savannah Sipho shares more about her reading of May Ayim’s poem during Dekoloniales Flanieren as well as more about her creative process and the transformative experience of writing and performing poetry while also acknowleding spaces and organizations led by the Black POCs in Berlin that continue to support and empower Black artists. This episode begins and ends with poetry: At the end of the episode, Savannah reads “exotik” by May Ayim and Decolonization in Action host edna bonhomme reads one of her own poems titled “Foremothers.” A special thanks to Savannah Sipho and edna bonhomme for contributing their readings to this episode. — Biographies — Savannah Sipho Savannah Sipho—born and raised in Berlin—is a 24-year-old student of Area Studies Asia/Africa. She was inspired by May Ayim's life and poetry to start writing as a young girl. Identity, the array of emotions, racism, and life in Berlin are recurring themes in Savannah Sipho’s writing. She had her debut performance in May 2019. edna bonhomme edna bonhomme is an art worker, historian, lecturer, and writer whose work interrogates the archaeology of (post)colonial science, embodiment, and surveillance. A central question of her work asks: what makes people sick? As a researcher, she answers this question by exploring the spaces and modalities of care and toxicity that shape the possibility for repair. She has collaborated and exhibited critical multimedia projects in Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. In addition to her academic interests, Edna has written for publications such as Africa is a Country, Al Jazeera, Analyis und Kritik, The Baffler, Daddy Magazine, Der Freitag, Mada Masr, The Nation Magazine, and more. Bonhomme earned her PhD in History of Science from Princeton University. www.ednabonhomme.com — Show Credits — Interview and Post-production Kristyna Comer Poetry “blues in Schwarzweiß” by May Ayim, read by Savannah Sipho, recorded by Michael Westrich “exotik” by May Ayim, read and recorded by Savannah Sipho “Foremothers” by edna bonhomme, read and recorded by edna bonhomme Images Profile photograph by Leo Wolters; Courtesy of Savannah Sipho Cover image: still image from video documentation by Thị Minh Huyền Nguyễn of Savannah Sipho’s reading of May Ayim’s “blues in Schwarzweiß” with Claire Irene Künzel, co-organizer of Dekoloniales Flanieren who curated and introduced the third stop of the critical walking tour Music All music is from Freesounds.org (Creative Commons) — Please visit www.decolonizationinaction.com for the complete show notes for all episodes. —
edna bonhomme interviews Tiffany Florvil and they discuss Black-led social movements in Germany, the history of German colonialism, and transforming academic institutions. Bio Tiffany N. Florvil is an Associate Professor of 20th-century European Women’s and Gender History at the University of New Mexico. She specializes in the histories of post-1945 Europe, the African/Black diaspora, social movements, feminism, Black internationalism, gender and sexuality, and emotions. She received her PhD in Modern European History from the University of South Carolina and her MA in European Women’s and Gender History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has published pieces in the Journal of Civil and Human Rights and The German Quarterly. Florvil has coedited the volume, Rethinking Black German Studies, and has published chapters in To Turn this Whole World Over, Gendering Knowledge in Africa and the African Diaspora, and Audre Lorde's Transnational Legacies. Her forthcoming manuscript, Mobilizing Black Germany: Afro-German Women and the Making of a Transnational Movement with the University of Illinois Press, offers the first full-length study of the history of the Black German movement of the 1980s to the 2000s. She is a Network Editor of H-Emotions and a Network Editor and an Advisory Board member of H-Black-Europe. She serves on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for the German Studies Association, the Editorial Board for Central European History, the Executive Board for the Journal of Civil and Human Rights, and the Advisory Board of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History (IFRWH). She is also an editor of the “Imagining Black Europe” book series at Peter Lang Press. Her next projects include a volume on Black Europe, examining the experiences of Shirley Graham Du Bois in Central Europe, and analyzing the activism of Black diasporic women in 20th-century Europe. Florvil has wide-ranging interdisciplinary and intersectional interests and training in Modern European History, Black German Studies, African Diaspora Studies, Emotion/Affect Studies, Black Cultural Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research interests include Black Europe, Black internationalism, Black intellectualism, global 1960s and the Cold War, space/Black geography, social movements, transnational feminisms, and African diasporic literature and culture. She works to excavate the narratives of Black Europeans, expanding our understanding of identity, belonging, and space. Her Mobilizing Black Germany: Afro-German Women and the Making of a Transnational Movement focuses on the birth and evolution of the modern Black German movement of the 1980s to the 2000s. In it, she demonstrates how Black German women’s efforts at political activism involved intellectual, cultural, internationalist, and queer practices and strategies that shaped their larger diasporic movement. Using an array of sources from both sides of the Atlantic, Mobilizing Black Germany is one of the first books to provide a detailed history of the modern Black German movement. Co-founder and Series Editor of "Imagining Black Europe," Peter Lang Press Co-founder and Co-chair, Black Diaspora Studies Network, German Studies Association, 2016-2021 Co-founder, Advisory Board Member, and Network Editor, H-Black-Europe Co-founder and Network Editor, H-Emotions *Forthcoming Book: Mobilizing Black Germany: Afro-German Women and the Making of a Transnational Movement (Illinois, 2020) Edited Volume: Rethinking Black German Studies: Approaches, Interventions and Histories (Peter Lang, 2018) *Latest Essay: "Anti-racism Protests and Black Lives in Europe" (June 2020)
In this episode, edna bonhomme spoke with Natasha Marin, curator of "Black Imagination: Black Voices on Black Futures" (2020 McSweeney’s). Natasha Marin (NONWHITEWORKS) is an antiracism consultant based in Seattle, specializing in communications, community building, and digital engagement. Marin is also the curator of Black Imagination: Black Voices on Black Futures (McSweeney's, 2020) and a conceptual artist whose people-centered projects have circled the globe since 2012 and have been recognized and acknowledged by Art Forum, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, NBC, Al Jazeera, Vice, PBS and others. BLACK IMAGINATION — a series of conceptual exhibitions amplifying, centering, and holding sacred a diverse sample of voices including LGBTQIA+ black youth, incarcerated black women, black folks with disabilities, unsheltered black folks, and black children is her bravest work thus far. Her viral web-based project, Reparations, engaged a quarter of a million people worldwide in the practice of "leveraging privilege," and earned Marin, a mother of two, death threats by the dozens. Find more online: www.Black-Imagination.com
In this episode, Laurence Meyer asks various Afro/Black French people about racism and police brutality in France. Laurence Meyer is a jurist in public law and a PhD student in constitutional comparative law. She works on the impact of race on the French legal system. Marie-Julie Chalu is a theater actress; curator of the website Afropea (https://afropea.net/) on afropean identities and creativities; and creator and administrator of the Instagram accounts Zouk Vintage (https://www.instagram.com/zouk.vintage/) and Noir Cinema (https://www.instagram.com/noir.cinema/). Mame-Fatou Niang is a photographer, film director, and Associate Professor of French Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Maliga is a high school teacher of sociology and economics. Olivia Mabounga is a theater actress and playwright. Mwasi is a French Afrofeminist collective (https://www.mwasicollectif.org/). Assa Traoré is a social worker and an activist part of the "Justice et vérité pour Adama Traoré" collective mobilizing against police violence and the sister of Adama Traoré, who died in the hands of the French gendarmerie. The song Idadé is by the artist C.T. Koité and is dedicated to the Traoré family. Image from left to right : Fatou Dieng, Diané Bah, Eve, Mamadou Camara, Awa Gueye This episode is in the French language
This panel, entitled, "Revolutions from the Kitchen: On Technologies of Resistance and Radical Care," was part of the Alt_Cph20, co-produced with Salon Hysteria as part of the summer seminar series Hysterical Utopias, and curated by Ida Bencke. The conversation was between edna bonhomme, Luiza Prado de O. Martins, and Nazila Kivi on technologies of resistance and radical care. The talk is hosted by Alt_Cph20, Patterns in Resistance and co-produced with Salon Hysteria as part of the summer seminar series Hysterical Utopias. LUIZA PRADO DE O. MARTINS Is an artist and researcher engaging with material and visual culture through the lenses of decolonial and queer theories. O. Martins holds an MA from the Hochschule für Künste Bremen, and a PhD from the Berlin University of the Arts. She is a founding member of the Decolonising Design collective and the research duo A Parede. Her current artistic research project, titled “A Topography of Excesses,” starts from a call to re-appropriate the concept of excess in relation to gendered and racialized bodies in the modern/colonial gender system. https://www.luiza-prado.com/ NAZILA KIVI Is an independent scholar on reproduction and decoloniality, editor, essayist and co-founder of the feminist magazine Friktion. She teaches gender study courses, among others the course From Witches to Cyborgs: Gender, Race and Resistance.SALON HYSTERIA Salon Hysteria is a space for next level conversations on society, politics and science. edna bonhomme Is an art worker, historian, lecturer, and writer whose work interrogates the archaeology of (post)colonial science, embodiment, and surveillance. A central question of her work asks: what makes people sick? As a researcher, she answers this question by exploring the spaces and modalities of care and toxicity that shape the possibility for repair. She has collaborated and exhibited critical multimedia projects in Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. In addition to her academic interests, Edna has written for publications such as Africa is a Country, Aljazeera, Analyis und Kritik, The Baffler, Daddy Magazine, Der Freitag, Mada Masr, The Nation Magazine, and more. Bonhomme earned her PhD in History of Science from Princeton University https://www.ednabonhomme.com/ More information about Patterns of Resistance can be found here: https://altcph.dk/event/revolutions-from-the-kitchen-on-technologies-of-resistance-and-radical-care/
In this episode, edna bonhomme speaks with Dr. Natasha A. Kelly about Afrofuturism, Black feminism, German colonialism, and the word "Rasse" in the German language.
In this episode edna bonhomme speaks with Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor about Florida, Black communities in the American South, dreams, decolonizing the arts, writing, and joy. Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor is an artist, filmmaker and community organizer. Her roots are in the Southern United States, born in Mississippi and bred in Florida, formerly Thimogona land. Taylor's work manifests through performance, text, dialogue, dance and community building for Black People. Her work centers on themes of ritual, visibility and identity mythology. She is chiefly concerned with ways to dismantle oppressive institutions and the creation of racial equity in art and theater. She is currently based in Berlin and pursuing her Masters in Black British Literature at Goldsmiths University in London. Image: Muttererde Film Poster. Image by Mayowa Lynette
In this episode, edna bonhomme speaks with Thuc Linh Nguyen Vu about migration, cultural history, Vietnamese Polish relations, Black feminism, and African/Asian diasporas. Thuc Linh Nguyen Vu is currently a postdoctoral fellow (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin) in the Global History Division in the History Department at the Freie Universität in Berlin and will start her new position as a postdoctoral fellow at the Research Center for the History of Transformations (RECET) at the University of Vienna in October. Linh earned her PhD from the European University Institute in Florence. Linh is currently working on a book manuscript that examines the intersection of pedagogy, everyday practices of care and radical bonds of loyalty in the formation of the dissident milieu around Jacek and Grażyna Kuroń under state socialism in Warsaw, Poland. By investigating the wealth of activity that took place in the private realm, this manuscript brings into light complex political identities, critical pedagogies and an embodied set of practices that unsettle the division between the public and the private. Simultaneously, Linh is developing her second book-length project that looks at how East-South solidarities between Poland and Vietnam, under the global Cold War, decolonization and socialism, were made and unmade by international collaboration, cultural transfers and everyday encounters between Vietnamese students and Poles. Zooming in on the micro-histories of socialist solidarities allows us to ask how the experiences of students of color in late socialist Poland fit into the larger picture of global cultural and educational collaboration.
In this episode edna bonhomme speaks to four Black diasporic women and ask them about the current wave of Black Lives Matter protests and how they are shedding light on the racial strife happening in the United States and globally. The podcast also featured a clip from Fannie Lou Hamer: Fannie Lou Hamer, excerpt from Of Black America, episode 5, “The Heritage of Slavery,” interviewed by George Foster, CBS News documentary series, aired August 13, 1968, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhu_uxRR2og. PODCAST CREDITS Interview, editing, and production by edna bonhomme Music by through Freesounds.org (Creative Common) Photo by edna bonhomme
In this episode, edna bonhomme interviews Hiba Ali and they discuss COVID-19, multimedia performance art, surveillance, global shipping, Amazon, and modes of healing. Hiba Ali is a digital artist, educator, scholar, DJ, experimental music producer and curator based across Chicago, IL, Austin, TX, and Toronto, ON. Her performances and videos concern surveillance, womxn of colour, and labour. She conducts reading groups addressing digital media and workshops with open-source technology. She is a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at Queens University, Kingston, Canada. She has presented her work in Chicago, Stockholm, Toronto, New York, Istanbul, São Paulo, Detroit, Dubai, Austin, Vancouver, and Portland. She has written for THE SEEN Magazine, Newcity Chicago, Art Dubai, The State, VAM Magazine, ZORA: Medium, RTV Magazine, and Topical Cream Magazine. Image, A still from we are living: workers liberation as environmental justice, YouTube 360 Video, 2020 Bibliography Simone White, Of Being Dispersed Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women and Queer Radicals, Saidiya Hartman River of Fire, Qurratulain Hyder NTS: Nkisis (https://www.nts.live/shows/nkisi) and Fauzia (https://www.nts.live/shows/fauzia) Decolonization is not a Metaphor, Tuck & Yang Hito Steyerl, Duty-Free Art Artists: Saskia Sassen, Mariame Kaba, Simone Browne, Ruha Benjamin, Lisa Nakamura, Cedric Robinson, Lisa Nakamure, Lisa Parks, Saidiya Hartman, Diamond Stingily, Tabitha Rezaire, Sondra Perry, Nina Sarrelle, Joelle Mecedes,cAmina Ross, Liz Mputu, Hito Steyerl, Mika Rottenburg, Black Audio Film Collective, Otolith Group, John Akomfrah, Carrie Mae Weems Detroit Digital Justice Coaliton: http://detroitdjc.org/ Mandy Harris Williams Reading Group - Algorithms of Oppression Reading Group, Women Center for Creative Work: https://www.feminist.ai/aoo-book-club Toronto Digital Justice Lab : https://digitaljusticelab.ca/virtualgrounds Abolition Futures Reading Group: https://abolitionistfutures.com/pre-conference-events/abolitionist-reading-discussion-group/reading-list/ NGHT SHFTS Festival: https://www.nghtshfts.org/
In this episode, edna bonhomme interviews Mihir about the Black Lives Matter movement, climate justice, the history of resistance in the Global South, the German left, and the power of internationalism. Mihir is a researcher with the group Anthropology of Global Inequalities at the University of Bayreuth where he also teaches courses in political anthropology. His current research project deals with social movements, race, class, and activism in St. Louis. Follow Mihir @mihirzabaan on Twitter, or Mihir.Sharma@uni-bayreuth.de This episode was edited and produced by edna bonhomme. Music by MattiaGiovanetti and NALALIONGIRL from Freesounds.org through Creative Commons. Groups mentioned in the podcast: Black Earth Berlin BIPOC Environmental and Climate Justice Collective Berlin Bloque Latinoamericano Berlin Xart Splitta ISD Berlin, Berlin Postkolonial, Black Lives Matter Berlin, EOTO Reclaim the Power UK Wretched of the Earth Bibliography Selected resources towards a decolonial “climate” praxis „Climate Futures“. ZED Books, https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/climate-futures/. Jaskiran Dhillon, Tami Navarro, and Macarena Gómez-Barris in conversation on the politics and theory of climate change. Recorded at Verso Books in Brooklyn, September 13, 2018.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txtoe06ypY4 Senthuran Varatharajah: https://www.pact-zollverein.de/en/journal/senthuran-varatharajah-ecotopia Comaroff, Jean, and John L. Comaroff. Theory from the South: Or, How Euro-America is Evolving Toward Africa. Routledge, 2016. Estes, Nick. Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. Verso, 2019. Malm, Andreas. Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam-Power and the Roots of Global Warming. Verso (UK), 2015. Verges, Francoise. “Racial Capitalocene.” Versobooks.com, https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3376-racial-capitalocene. Yusoff, Kathryn. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. University of Minnesota Press, 2018. Schneider-Mayerson, Matthew, und Brent Ryan Bellamy, Herausgeber. An ecotopian lexicon. University of Minnesota Press, 2019. https://www.aaihs.org/haitian-and-french-petrol-protests-in-the-age-of-climate-change/
In this episode, edna bonhomme and Skye Tinevimbo Chirape discuss Decolonising Forensic Psychology, migration, and decolonial research practices especially as it relates to the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean born, Skye is a Forensic Psychology scholar, visual activist, and doctorate candidate at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. Her research, provisionally titled, ‘The Hare and the Baboon: Human (In)Security, migration and victimisation of African LGBT asylum seekers in the context of the UK asylum interview process investigates broader issues around structural violence and the ongoing conversation on the politics of migration and borders of gender and sexuality. It specifically centres African LGBT persons seeking asylum in the UK. Skye is also a part time lecturer (teaching post-graduate Political Psychology) and a member of, the hub for decolonial feminist Psychologies in Africa at UCT. Skye’s visual activism has continued to centre migration, gender & sexuality, trauma, structural violence, gendered violence and decolonial feminist psychology. In the recent years Skye’s academic and community work has focused on the conversation of trauma, decolonising work on trauma, healing / healing justice, collective healing and holding space within black LGBTIQ+ communities and movements. Skye's MSc in Forensic research; “He was treated like a criminal”. Evaluating the impact of detention related trauma on LGBTI refugees, has been presented at universities in London, New York, Amsterdam and Berlin and, was published in 2018. Often in collaborating with other artists and organisations, she has used visual art/ activism to examine geopolitical issues, drawing from personal/ lived experiences. Skye has curated exhibitions in London, taken part in the 10th Berlin Biennale performance, and participated in an exchange with the British artist Emma McGarry, at the Tate Modern gallery. In 2018 Skye appeared on the cover of Diva Magazine; in 2014 on the cover of Complexd woman magazine and was nominated for a BEFFTA award in 2010. In 2014 Skye was identified as one of 15 British based womxn campaigners making changes in the world and was published in the book, Here We Stand: Women changing the world. You can visit her work at: www.skyetshookii.com Podcast Image Credit: Left side: featuring Skye sitting down, a collaboration between Cloudy Moroni & Skye Skyetshookii, 2014. Right side: a person lowering their knickers is from an exhibition that Skye co-curated with Priscillar Gurupira and the image belongs to a Zimbabwean artist, Nancy Mteki. Bibliography • Chirape, S. R. T. (2018). He was treated like a criminal”: Evaluating the impact of detention related trauma on LGBTI refugees In The Colour of Madness. Stirling Publishing edited by Linton, S. and Walcott, R. Skiddaw publishers. • Chirape, S. R. T. (2015). Trauma: Not just for the victims, a review. Convenor: Lorraine Perry. Published in The Forensic Update No 119, 2015. • Skyetshookii[1], S. (2017). Hidden in the open: An honorarium essay to South African photographer, Zanele Muholi’s body of photographic work, Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, catalogue edited by Renee Mussai. Autograph ABP, London. • Chirape, S. R.T. (2014). The freedom of others, In Here we stand: Women changing the world. Edited by Helena Earnshaw and Angharad Penrhyn Jones. Honno, UK. • Chirape, S. R.T. (2014). The ritual communication of (black queer) bodies in The Ladybeard magazine. The Sex issue. UK. • Skyetshookii, S. (2014). Transgender day of Remembrance: An artist view. Published on the Commonwealth writers’ website.
Will Fredo Furtado is a non-binary artist, writer and editor exploring power dynamics, cultural dislocation and the intersection of pop culture, decolonial thought, kuirness and technology. Born in Portugal of Guatemalan and Cape Verdean heritage, Will is based in Berlin, Germany. Since 2017 Will is the deputy editor of Contemporary And, an art platform focused on African perspectives, and previously the art and digital editor at Sleek, an art and fashion magazine. In their artistic practice Will Fredo Furtado works with images and text to explore decoloniality and Global South epistemologies. Will has exhibited with institutions and art projects including Ludwig Forum Aachen, Körnerpark Galerie Berlin, Supplement Projects Miami, 1.1 Basel, whitebox.art and Sharjah Film Platform. Bibliography and Links https://www.instagram.com/posa.suto/ http://www.carabantu.org/ https://www.instagram.com/redcomunitariatrans/ https://www.instagram.com/calleshortbus/ https://willfredo247.tumblr.com/ https://www.instagram.com/o_principe_das_trevas/ https://www.contemporaryand.com/?s=will+furtado https://www.sleek-mag.com/author/will-furtado https://frieze.com/contributor/will-furtado
In this episode, edna bonhomme interviewed Lee Richards and Camille Barton, two queer decolonial activists and researchers living in Berlin about their practice of somatic healing. We also discussed how they are coping with COVID-19, what is happening in their communities abroad, and how we can help marginalized communities navigate through this current crisis. We spoke about the intersections of wellness, care, and social justice. Lee Richards, also known by their stage name Daddypuss Rex, is an intersectional gender terrorist with a big mouth and who isn’t afraid to use it. Based in Berlin, they are a multidisciplinary artist/poet/stand up comedian and co-producer of the Queer talk show ‘Just The T’ . They often use a mix of humor and poetry to navigate topics such as anti-Blackness, racism, transphobia and general colonial nonsense - the goal is to touch hearts, minds, and butts...with active consent! Follow them on Instagram: @daddypuss.rex Camille Barton is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, facilitator, coach and somatic movement practitioner, working on the intersections of wellness, arts, drug policy, and social change. They are the director of the Collective Liberation Project and co-produced RE:GENERATE, a Black centered UK arts festival focusing on the intersections of drug policy, racial justice, and liberation. Website: www.camillebarton.co.uk Queer Organizations to Support LGBTQIA+ & WOMXN RELIEF FOR COVID-19, organized by Karada House, Berlin: https://karada-house.de/2020/03/28/queer-relief-for-corvid-19/ @intersectional.solidarity (paypal): transwomanofcolor@gmail.com @berlincollectiveaction: https://www.betterplace.me/berlin-collective-action-nightlife-emergency-fund16?utm_campaign=user_share&utm_medium=campaign_telegram&utm_source=Telegram @karada_house: https://karada-house.de/events/karada-survival-workshop/ Interview and editing by edna bonhomme Music by MattiaGiovanetti (477877, Attribution License, Creative Commons), NALALIONGIRL (442612, Attribution License, Creative Commons), X3nus (450539, Attribution License, Creative Commons), zagi2 ( 265251, Attribution License, Creative Commons)
In this episode, edna bonhomme and Dr. Christienna Fryar discuss the history of Britain and the Caribbean and what it means to be teaching 500 years of Black British history. Recognizing that Black British history has only recently starting to gain institutional support in the British academy, Dr. Fryar puts institutional practices in context, discussing how history departments have for so long separated the colonial history of the British Empire from British domestic history as well as marginalized histories of migration within the UK and intellectual contributions of Black Britons. Sharing her work on Jamaica postemancipation and Britain after the abolition of slavery in 1834, Dr. Fryar refutes and carefully unpacks the implications of the national myth of humanitarian Britain after abolition and exposes ongoing racism and imperial expansion after the end of slavery. Linking this myth and the division between the British imperial and domestic histories with the present-day realities in the Caribbean and for Black Britons, especially in reference to the recent Windrush crisis, Dr. Fryar addresses what is at stake when the colonial past and its aftermath are not fully accounted for. Dr. Christienna Fryar is a historian of Britain and the Caribbean, focusing on Britain's imperial entanglements in the Caribbean region. Her work embeds modern British history within the fields of comparative slavery and emancipation, and she is finishing a book about disaster politics and imperial governance in postemancipation Jamaica. She occasionally comments—usually on Twitter—about the state of higher education in the US and the UK. She is also a 2020 AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker. Credits Interview, recording, and post-production by edna bonhomme Assistance by Kristyna Comer Image Port Royal Street, West, Jamaica.' Jamaican Earthquake, 1907 Creative Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Port_Royal_Street,_West,_Jamaica.%27_Jamaican_Earthquake,_1907._Postcard._(7233469520).jpg Music by NALALIONGIRL (442612, Attribution License, Creative Commons) and X3nus (450539, Attribution License, Creative Commons)
Angela Merkel declared that up to 70% of Germany could be infected by COVID-19, leading to nationwide public health measures and the closure of the borders. For migrants living in Berlin, COVID-19 is raising questions about the health conditions of loved ones living abroad, as well as the rise of draconian measures that are linked with increased surveillance internationally. During this episode, edna bonhomme speaks with two anticolonial migrants based in Berlin. First, she talks with Mugo Muna, a Kenyan American data analyst and organiser with Berlin's inaugural Anti-Colonial month, who discusses the impact on the virus in Kenya, the United States, and Berlin. Then, she spoke with Jennifer Kamau, a Kenyan co-founder of International Womxn* Space, about the ways refugees are navigating through the pandemic in Germany and the importance of solidarity. Mugo Muna is a Kenyan American data analyst by day and a 2D animator by night. He is one of many key activists who helped to organise Berlin's inaugural Anti-Colonial Month in 2019. He has given talks on the relationship between surveillance and colonialism. Jennifer Kamau is a co-founder of International Women Space (IWS), an anti-racist feminist group consisting of refugee migrant women as well as women without this experience. The group was formed during the occupation of Oranienplatz (a square in Berlin’s district of Kreuzberg) and the Gehart-Hauptmann School in Berlin-Kreuzberg. IWS fosters solidarity and cooperation among migrant women, publishes books and organises campaigns, protests and conferences on the topics of seeking asylum and migrant women’s struggles. Special thanks to Ngoc Bui is a Vietnamese-American currently studying social work and human rights in Berlin. International Women Space: https://iwspace.de/ Berlin Anticolonial Month: https://berlinanticolonial.wordpress.com/ Aïssa Sica, Storyteller and Creator of Womxn* of Color Blog: https://aissa-sica.com
As we find ourselves working through the current mass media frenzy, we turn to the not so recent past. Season 2 of this podcast begins with a conversation between edna bonhomme and Sara Salem, where they discuss the emergence of British imperialism in Egypt and how it led to the Egyptian revolution in 1952. They ask: What do Arab and Black Marxists have to say about colonialism and what influence did the African independence struggles of the 1950s and 1960s have on the Black Radical tradition? edna and Sara try to answer these questions by meditating on the afterlives of anti-colonialism. They start with the nineteenth century and slowly move to the Arab uprisings of 2010-2011. What they find is that these histories are not neat. There are periods of betrayal, exploitation, and loss. In light of former Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak’s resignation in 2011 and his death in 2020, they try to think about the ways that we create our own histories everyday. More about Sara Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony Twitter: @saramsalem Instagram: radical_reading Blog: https://saramsalem.wordpress.com/ Bibliography Baldwin, James. Notes of a Native Son. London: Penguin, (1955) 2018. Baldwin, James. 1965. Excerpt from the debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr. Davis, Angela. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. Chicago: Haymarket Press, 2016. Rao, Rahul. “Recovering Reparative Readings of Postcolonialism and Marxism.” Critical Sociology 43, no. 4–5 (July 2017): 587–598. doi:10.1177/0896920516630798.
In this episode, edna bonhomme and Kristyna Comer, the hosts of the Decolonization in Action Podcast, present an overview of Season 1 and provides excerpts of some of the ways that guests have put decoloniality in their work by interrogating science, museums, memory, the arts, and climate justice. We will resume with Season 2 of the podcast in mid-March 2020. The excerpts highlighted in the recap came from the following episodes: Episode 6: Towards an African Technological & Scientific Imaginary https://decolonizationinaction.com/2019/12/10/episode-6/ Episode 8: Heritage Formation https://decolonizationinaction.com/2020/01/01/episode-8-heritage-formation/ Episode 4: Colonial Medicalization and Homosexuality in the Philippines https://decolonizationinaction.com/2019/11/18/episode-4-colonial-medicalization/ Episode 10: "Whose Solutions?" Podcast por el Clima at COP25 with Sumugan Sivanesan https://decolonizationinaction.com/2020/02/04/episode-10-whose-solutions-podcast-por-el-clima-at-cop25-with-sumugan-sivanesan/ Credits Recordings by edna bonhomme and Kristyna Comer Music by ispeakwaves (384935 and 439877, Attribution License, Creative Commons), pryght one (27130, Sampling+ License), scotcampbell (263709, Creative Commons License), X3nus (450539, Attribution License, Creative Commons), Halima Ahkdar (64112, Attribution License, Creative Commons) Image: Nina Prader. http://www.ladylibertypress.org/About-Nina-Prader
This episode presents a chronological sweep of field recordings and interviews taken in Madrid during COP25, December 2019, by our guest host Sumugan Sivanesan. It begins with the December 6 Manifestacíon in which around 500,000 people marched in the streets of Madrid, before tracing discussions at the Social Summit for the Climate (Cumbre Social por el Clima) at Complutense University and at other actions around the city. In front of the US embassy, this episode focuses on a demonstration led by Indigenous women who sang the Women’s Warrior Song, a song written by Martina Pierre from the Lil'wat First Nation that honors missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Indigenous women face the highest rates of murder and sexual assault in North America, and in Madrid the song connected these crimes to extractivist fossil fuel industries operating on unceded Indigenous lands. The montage culminates five days later with a casserolado noise demonstration outside the COP, in support of Indigenous delegates, Fridays For Future, and other civil society groups staging a demonstration inside the COP against the removal of references to Human Rights in the negotiations and widespread reports of bullying and inaction. This episode includes interviews and speeches by: ASAD REHMAN, Executive Director of War on Want VANESSA NAKATE, Founder of the Rise Up Movement NICOLE FIGUEIREDO DE OLIVEIRA, Director of 350.org in Brazil and Latin America MARTA BORDONS MARTÍNEZ, Climate activist, Fridays for Future Sevilla MOÑEKA DE ORO, member of the Micronesia Climate Alliance NIGEL HENRI ROBINSON, Denesuline organizer, radio host, and humorist from Cold Lake First Nations, Indigenous Climate Action CHIEF DANA TIZYA-TRAMM, Vuntut Gwitchen First Nation Photograph by Sumugan Sivanesan.
In this episode, Berlin-based comedian, Kate Cheka discusses the Enlightenment, (post)coloniality, and the power of protest. In addition to talking about her work in comedy and the radical potential of joy and community building comedy can create, Kate also shares her scholarly research from her master’s thesis which centered around decolonial critiques of the Enlightenment. After studying in New Delhi and Buenos Aires, Kate also talks about how traveling to formerly colonized cities gave her an expanded understanding of ongoing forms of coloniality as well as the ways in which the classroom continues to be a colonial space. Kate Cheka is a Berlin-based recent graduate in MA Global Studies at the Humboldt University. Her thesis entitled The Threat of European, Enlightenment Thinking in (Post)colonial Spaces was inspired by her time at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. iIt is about the exportation the hyper-rationality of European thinking to the Global South. Presenting the voices of feminist, decolonial and marginalised theorists it argues that the solution to our present crises already exist but are often overlooked by Western hegemony. She is also a regular on the Berlin comedy scene and produces two shows - a femmes open mic Shows before Bros (every third Wednesday of the month) and a women of colour showcase WOKE PANTIES. For upcoming shows https://www.facebook.com/katecheka Audre Lorde, "The Uses of Anger," http://blogs.ubc.ca/hopeprinceengl470a/files/2016/10/audre-lorde.pdf CREDITS interview by edna bonhomme< Audio Production Editing by edna bonhomme Assistance by Kristyna Comer
In this episode, Dr. Duane Jethro discusses the ways that heritage sites are constructed and re-imagined through the senses with special emphasis on post-Apartheid South Africa and Germany. Duane Jethro is a post-doctoral research fellow working in the Making Differences project at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH) Department of European Ethnology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. CARMAH was established in the Department for European Ethnology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, in partnership with the Museum of Natural History Berlin and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, as part of the research award for Sharon Macdonald’s Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. His research looks at the mobilisation of post-colonial and decolonial language in the context of contested street renaming, heritage commodification, as well as heritage aesthetics and social difference in Berlin. His book Heritage Formation and the Senses in Post-Apartheid South Africa is published by Bloomsbury Academic. The book references the pathbreaking, sensuous work of the historian and journalist Jacob Dlamini. See his book Native Nostalgia, here. It also frames South Africa’s fraught memory politics. Some of the organisations doing important black activist work in the city, especially in regards to colonial legacies marked in street names and sites: Africavenir - http://www.africavenir.org/ Berlin Post-Kolonial - http://berlin-postkolonial.de/en/home-2 Each One Teach One - https://www.eoto-archiv.de/ Institute for Schwarze Mensche in Deutschland - http://isdonline.de/ Image was photographed by edna bonhomme.
This episode focuses on Black and African people who dedicate their creative practices and activist work to climate justice and sustainable futures. While the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) is taking place in Madrid, edna bonhomme discusses the climate crisis with Rebecca Abena Kennedy-Asante from BLACK EARTH - BIPoC Environmental & Climate Justice Kollektiv Berlin, and Antoinette Yetunde Oni, an architectural designer and artist based in Lagos, Nigeria. Photo by BLACK EARTH - BIPoC Environmental & Climate Justice Kollektiv Berlin 2019
In this episode, edna bonhomme and Professor Chakanetsa Mavhunga discuss the history of the African continent with relation to scientific, technological, and medical innovations. A center piece of this conversation is the role that philosophical traditions and space have in shaping the epistemology of knowledge. They also examine Africa's colonial history, the power of historical narrative, African women scientists, and the future of innovation on the African continent. Chakanetsa self-identifies as a critical thinker-doer, who deploys historical research in service of problem-solving. Chakanetsa is a tenured associate professor of science, technology, and society (STS) at MIT and the founder of Research || Design || Build, a village-based institute in rural Zimbabwe dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship among Africa’s rural poor. MIT, Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) https://sts-program.mit.edu/people/sts-faculty/c-clapperton-mavhunga/ RECENT PUBLICATIONS The Mobile Workshop: The Tsetse Fly and African Knowledge Production (MIT Press, 2018) What Do Science, Technology, and Innovation Mean from Africa? (MIT Press, 2017) Transient Workspaces: Technologies of Everyday Innovation in Zimbabwe (MIT Press, 2014) Image: "Technician in biotech laboratory" by IITA Image Library is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Dr. Alden Young is a political and economic historian of Africa. He is particularly interested in the ways in which Africans participated in the creation of the current international order. He is an assistant professor of African American Studies at UCLA and a member of the International Institute, affiliated with the International Development Studies Program. In 2019–2020, Young will be a member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His first book "Transforming Sudan: Decolonization, Economic Development, and State Formation" was published by Cambridge University Press in December 2017. Photo: Dan Komoda/Institute for Advanced Study
In this episode, Kristyna Comer is in conversation with Kiel Ramos Suarez, a PhD candidate in history at Linnaeus University. Kiel discusses her current research on the medicalization of homosexuality and the ongoing impact of Spanish and US colonial rule.
In this episode, edna bonhomme and Wendi Muse discuss the long history of leftists of color. Creator and co-host of the podcast Left POCket Project, Wendi explains how she uses the medium of podcasting to make the many histories of leftists of color from around the world accessible while also actively creating community, initiating the podcast as an interactive platform for co-reading, co-learning, and co-discussion. Rather than defining leftist movements by the language used, Wendi argues that leftist activism is a form of everyday engagement, putting leftism into action. She also shares her research on how the left in Brazil has been influenced by decolonizing movements in the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. In addition, she talks about her research on Afro-Latinx communities in Brazil and forms of white supremacy in Brazil, especially in the media, that actively construct Latinidad around whiteness rather than reflecting people of color who make up most of Brazil’s population. By looking to the histories of when power was successfully resisted, Wendi activates the past also as a source of hope for the future. Left POCket Project Patreon page: https://patreon.com/leftpoc (free books and additional content is available here) Twitter: @LeftPOC; @MuseWendi Facebook: @LeftPOC The LeftPOC podcast is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spreaker, Spotify, and Youtube ("LeftPOC") --- Mentioned in the discussion: Wendi's interview on The Dig Podcast (May 30, 2019): https://www.thedigradio.com/podcast/bernie-and-black-voters-with-malaika-jabali-and-wendi-muse/ "On the Imperative of Transnational Solidarity: A U.S. Black Feminist Statement on the Assassination of Marielle Franco" (March 23, 2018): https://www.theblackscholar.org/on-the-imperative-of-transnational-solidarity-a-u-s-black-feminist-statement-on-the-assassination-of-marielle-franco/
Interview with Dr. Luiza Prado de O. Martins whose work engages with material and visual culture through the lenses of decolonial and queer theories. In this episode we talked about her artwork, Brazil, reproduction, and the climate crisis. Luiza Prado: https://www.luiza-prado.com/about Vilm Flusser Residency: https://transmediale.de/content/vil-m-flusser-residency-for-artistic-research-2019-luiza-prado-de-o-martins
In part 2 of this inaugural episode, we continue the conversation on coloniality in Berlin with Dr. Noa Ha and Prof. Dr. Tahani Nadim to interrogate how decolonization is currently being understood within Berlin institutions. We also discuss our guests’ own positionalities within academia, museums, and political organizations, as well as the decolonial and anti-colonial methodologies they employ in their work and activism.
In part 1 of this inaugural episode, we invited Dr. Noa Ha and Prof. Dr. Tahani Nadim to discuss the relationship between German colonial history and Berlin—the metropole of that colonial past. We focus on Berlin’s street names and the Natural History Museum as spaces of remembrance and resistance. In this episode we ask ourselves, in what ways does colonialism continue to shape Berlin institutions and the city of Berlin itself?