DTA LIVE

Connie Bell and world-renowned Maroon expert, Dr. Michael Siva discuss the history of the Jamaican Maroons, exploring how Africans in Jamaica resisted enslavement by the British and Spanish, establishing their own sovereign nation.

For far too long, resistance has been an unavoidable part of our lives. We want to celebrate resistance to the oppressions we have faced, but It is more important that we can learn the lessons of the struggle and avoid repeating past mistakes. In this episode Connie Bell connects with Dr Geraldine Frieslaar to discuss our future as Africans at home and in the diaspora - revisiting archive collections as part of a process of strategic self development.

Connie Bell and world-renowned Maroon expert, Dr. Michael Siva discuss the history of the Jamaican Maroons, exploring how Africans in Jamaica resisted enslavement by the British and Spanish, establishing their own sovereign nation.

Voicing the Legacy of Olive Morris is a new DTA Radio Podcast series with host Chloe Tayali which communicates Olive Morris's legacy through the lens of contemporary activists who are working tirelessly to empower Black communities in Britain and taking matters into their own hands when failed by the governing system. Episode 1 looks at Yasmin Begum's trailblazing work.

Scholar -Activist, Creative Educator and all-round Queen Dr April Louise Pennant traces the history of Penryn Castle - a space billed by the National Trust as a ‘fantasy castle with colonial foundations’ (wtf?!?) - locating her family history in the building of the castle and discussing the reparative work she has been doing involving this site.

In March 2022, the Black Cultural Archives will be launching the Melba Wilson Collection, as part of their project to catalogue Melba Wilson’s papers. The collection spans over 40 years of her work in national and regional mental health programmes, policy units and services, including grassroots and community activism alongside formal policy work and leadership.

DTA spent some time with Melba to discuss her work and the importance of it being archived as a resource for now and tomorrow.

DTA connect with Patrick Vernon to discuss the 100 Great Black Britons peoject. From abolitionists and Industrial Revolution-era social reformers to pioneers of modern nursing, beloved children's authors and recipients of the Victoria Cross, 100 Great Black Britons celebrates the many ways in which Black Britons have challenged and overcome racial barriers to make notable advances in their fields.

Archives are fundamental in transforming our relationship to where we are now and how we got here’

Honoured to have Collections Assistant Rhoda Boateng on this week’s Community Spotlight. Rhoda has been doing amazing work caring for the collections at the Black Cultural Archives. There are very few archivists of African heritage in the UK - it’s vital we celebrate us so we can grow.

DTA talk to Pan Afrikan Society Community Forum member Dirg Aaab RIchards about the history and work of the PASCF, an important, African-centred organisation based in Brixton, South London.  

Haitian Professor Bayinnah Bello speaks on the Haitian Revolution of 1791, reframing the narrative surrounding the events that led to the first successful revolution of enslaved Africans in history.

Lead From The Land was a collaborative research project between Zambian artist Banji Chona, currently located in Rome, and Nigerian artist Yadichinma Ukoha-Kalu, who lives in Lagos. Their correspondence took the form of a six-week-long residency built on an understanding of food creation and consumption as a ritualistic practice that fosters earthly and ancestral connections. Through their correspondence with each other and curator Beulah Ezeugo, they trace personal acts of resistance to the colonisation of indigenous food practices.

This work is grounded in exploring the archival nature of the seed, the crop, and the recipe; the cross-generational transmissions that occur when we cook; and their capacity to transmogrify according to our own understanding of our identities and localities. The resulting archive - composed of audio, video, and text - records the potential for our foodways to become a tool to map an ecosystem, one that symbiotic threads taste to place, ritual to invention, and exploitation to exchange.

In this podcast, DTA catch up with Banji, Yadichinma and Beulah to explore the process behind the work. 

Bios

Yadichinma Ukoha-kalu - Artist

Yadichinma Ukoha-Kalu is a self-taught multimedia artist based in Lagos. Her practice centers on explorations of line, form and boundary which she expresses through a variety of media including painting, drawing, sculpture and film. Ukoha-Kalu often creates landscapes on paper made with a combination of abstract elements and textures. Her work sometimes exposes the skeletal process of creating, where the audience is invited to witness and explore with her.

Banji Chona - Artist

Banji Chona is a Zambian artivist and artchivist whose work manifests across the artistic and cultural spectrum. Banji’s work channels the visceral need to bring to life accessible spaces dedicated to fostering nuanced artistic and cultural dialogue. Her mission is the deconstruction and reconstruction of orthodox archetypes and normative ideologies through the use of dynamic multidisciplinary art, which has great potential to shift paradigms and inspire children of the Zambezi to live and express their truths which exist at the intersection of historical and contemporary happenstance.

Beulah Ezeugo - Curator

Beulah Ezeugo is an Igbo curator and researcher, whose current work investigates the collective memories embedded within internets, bodies, and ecosystems. Her practice is informed by a Social Science background from University College Dublin and an MLitt in Curatorial Practice from Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow. She is interested in using archival interventions to collaboratively map new openings and overtures towards a Black postcolonial future.

Sir Hilary Beckles is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission. In this episode,  he goes in deep on the role of African women in resistance to enslavement, reparative justice, the post-independence political landscape of former colonies, and how institutions are now reckoning with their ugly pasts.

Writer and narrative consultant Evan Narcisse (Rise of the Black Panther) talks to Connie Bell; sharing his take on preserving cultural integrity in a white industry and the theory of 'chronospatial displacement' that underpins some of his work developing Black characters. This conversation was recorded as part of Counterpoint Art's and OKRE's 'Pop Culture Meets Social Change' retreat.

Professor Verene Shepherd is a Social Historian and current Director of the Centre for Reparations Research at The University of the West Indies. In this show we connect with Prof Shepherd to understand the case for reparations from an Africa-Caribbean perspective.  

DTA speak with writer, poet and community advocate Dr Velma McClymont. Born in rural Jamaica, Dr McClymont has published four books to date and is currently writing a feminist, historical novel.

The second part of our conversation with Dr Stanley Griffin at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica exploring the decolonising of the archive from a Caribbean perspective. 

Community Spotlight is a podcast shining a light on the people in our community making history now! In this episode we break bread with Sister Nzingha Assata, long time activist and author of the excellent 'Women In The Garvey Movement'. An unapologetic advocate for the advancement of the Pan-African nation, Sister Nzingha is passionate about the role of women in the struggle for Pan-African liberation past and present. Her book focuses on the often untold story of the women who helped make the UNIA a powerful force for change - a force whose message continues to inspire activists today.

At a time when it was still possible to talk to someone face to face without the help of zoom, DTA.LIVE caught up with Dr Stanley Griffin at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, to find out more about how Caribbean memory workers are developing methodologies for recognising, preserving and sharing history that makes sense to their communities.

Blk Tmrws/African Futures is a podcast and radio show exploring Afro/Diasporic futures through the work of our most gifted creators. In this episode Sam Gomez and Connie Bell break bread with Nadeem Din Gabisi; a polymath creator with the rare ability of being able to look beyond the form and into the function - but still bring the sauce. From his 'poolside view' of black masculinities to why he chose Salone pidgin for his contributions to Sampa The Great's 'Energy' the conversation paints an inspiring picture - a future where makers have the humility to connect to what has come before them and the presence of mind to understand the importance of art as a catalyst to transformation.