Conference: Patterns of Struggle and Solidarity

Nottingham Trent University’s Postcolonial Studies Centre is pleased to announce that it will hold an online conference on the theme ‘Patterns of Struggle and Solidarity’ in June 2021. This event is part of the Postcolonial Studies Centre’s Formations series organised with Bonington Gallery. The conference aims to explore the practice and study of cultural activism from any discipline across postcolonial studies.

The engagement with cultural activism has long been a prominent concern in postcolonial studies; in our current moment, this focus is rife for exploration and, crucially, interrogation. How do academics fit into the field of cultural activism? How do academics and activists conceptualise patterns of struggle and solidarity? What role does postcolonial research play in supporting and amplifying the voices and work of cultural activists, in particular in the fields of literature, art, film, craft and performance art? How do cultural activists and performers engage with postcolonial studies? Papers and panels will involve conversations between researchers, cultural activists and practitioners.

On Thursday, the authors Tsitsi Dangarembga and Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi talk about their latest work and their shared experiences with publishing and readership across Africa, Europe and North America; and the PSC’s writer-in-residence Eve Makis is in conversation with the nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize Sevgül Uludağ, the Turkish Cypriot journalist and peace activist. On Friday, scholars present their research in postcolonial studies on wide range of topics, followed by a performance of the Dalit rapper Sumit Samos. The events on Saturday include a roundtable discussion on craft, activism and ethics, a creative writing workshop, a conversation with the Palestinian culinary activist Mirna Bamieh and a screening of Reginald Campbell’s Tolerance (2013).

Organised by NTU PSC and convened by Dr Nicole Thiara, Dr Amy Rushton, Dr Jenni Ramone, Midlands4Cities funded PhD researcher Thomas Lockwood-Moran and PhD researcher Purnachandra Naik.

Schedule:

You can download the conference schedule here.

17 June

In Search of the Missing
Sevgül Uludağ in conversation with Eve Makis
4pm – 5:30pm
Watch here

Sevgül Uludağ is a Turkish Cypriot journalist and peace activist. Working as an investigative reporter, she has been instrumental in uncovering the fates of hundreds of missing people. As part of a series of interviews entitled ‘the politics of disappearance’, the writer, Eve Makis, will be talking to Sevgül about her work and how her search for peace has made her the target for physical and verbal threats.

Tsitsi Dangarembga and Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi in conversation
Facilitated by Dr Nicole Thiara (co-director of PSC) and Dr Amy Rushton (Senior Lecturer, NTU)
7pm – 8:30pm
Watch here

In the spirit of struggle and solidarity, this unique event brings together two of the most exciting writers to discuss their latest work and their shared experiences with publishing and readership across Africa, Europe and North America.

18 June

You can download the panels handout here.

Welcome + Panel 1: Patterns of Aesthetic Belongings
9:45am – 11:30am
Watch here

Participants: Ngahuia Harrison, Valentina de Riso, Ana Cristina Mendes and Pragya Sharma

Panel 2: The Dynamics of Struggle
1pm – 2:30pm
Watch here

Participants: Sephora Jose, Aswathi Moncy Joseph, Putul Sathe and Margarida Martins

Panel 3: Resistant Solidarities
3pm – 4:30pm
Watch here

Participants: Dani Olver, Anandita Pan, Debashrita Dey & Priyanka Tripathi and Abol Froushan & Ali Abdolrezaie

Dalit Rap: Performance and Conversation
7pm – 8pm
Watch here

Join us for a performance by the Dalit rapper Sumit Samos, followed by conversation with him moderated by Paul Adey.

19 June

Roundtable Discussion: Craft, Activism & Ethics
11am – 1pm
Watch here

Kandy Diamond and Amy Rushton speak with Seleena Laverne Daye (artist and educator), Isobel Carse and Karen Hughes (Dormouse Chocolates), and Sofia Aatkar (Pom Pom Quarterly), to discuss issues of craft practice as activism.

Saving Palestine’s Forgotten Foods
2pm – 3pm
Watch here

Mirna Bamieh talks to Eve Makis, from her home in Ramallah, explaining how she uses storytelling and food as mediums to express her creativity and Palestinian identity.

Workshop: Poetry and Protest – How Writers Use Words to Change the World
2pm – 4pm
There are limited places, please book here

Join Manjit Sahota (Poets Against Racism) and Leanne Moden to explore the vital role poetry plays in protest in a Zoom workshop.

Queer Resistance and Postcolonial Studies: A Screening of Tolerance (2013) dir. Reginald Campbell + Closing
4pm – 5:30pm
Watch here

Please join us for a discussion guided by literary researchers Thomas Lockwood-Moran and Holly King, surrounding queer representation within postcolonial studies.