20 CONVERSATIONS @ THE BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS FESTIVAL 2020: Recent Episodes
The Black Consciousness Festival
The 20 conversations for 2020 were the heart of The Black Consciousness Festival. They covered various dynamic topics being discussed by people of African descent and their allies across the globe.
Our inaugural conversation for the 2021 Festival will focus on the gift of African Spiritual traditions. Join the participants of this conversation as they discuss the variety of African spiritual practices, the impact of these traditions, their own individual experiences and the challenges and opportunities - the gift - presented for reconnecting and defining self within these traditions.
Participants: Janique Dennis(T&T), John Hunte (Barbados), Sean Samad (T&T), Erica Ashton (L - T&T)
A conversation exploring the unique history of Brazil, the nation with the most people of African descent outside of the African continent, and how the movement for reparations and healing is a continual struggle and challenge.
-The conversation will be led by Alabê Nunjara Silva, born in Rio de Janeiro and currently lives in Bahia. Alabê plays the harp and clarinet, sang in operas and choirs, was an athlete, played capoeira, fought, and played the drums in samba schools. He served in the Army and the Navy, studied Mathematics at the Federal University Fluminense (UFF), and has a Master's degree in Political Science from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO). He also has a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and also started studying for his Masters' in International Relations at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). He has done research on Africa, Defense, and Foreign Policy. He did a study exchange in the Caribbean, interned at the UN and the French Embassy, organized a movement for action toward racial affirmations and quotas at UFRJ, and was the coordinator in a national movement for student assistance and housing. He is currently part of the Foundation's Talent Bridge programme Lemann / Opportunity USA to pursue graduate studies in the United States of America and is a diplomacy award fellow from the Affirmative Action Programme of the Rio Branco Institute in Brazil.
Eustáquio Lawa or Eustáquio José Rodrigues, was born in Ponte Nova, Minas Gerais, Brazil. An electrical engineer (UFMG, 1970) and Psychologist (UERJ, 1980), he worked, from 1971 to 1991in large electric power companies in Brazil and abroad. From 1995, after a Masters’ degree in Public Administration from Fundação Getúlio Vargas - FGV, he joined the Public service, where he retired. He has been an activist in the Black Movement since 1977 where he was a member of the Black Cultures Research Institute - IPCN and of the Negrícia poetry group. He chaired the Antiapartheid Committee of Brazil and currently, he is a consultant for the National Institute of the Peoples - INP in the fight for Reparations for descendants of enslaved African peoples.
Marize Conceição de Jesus is a History Teacher at Elementary and High School in the public school system in the state of Rio de Janeiro and the municipality of Nova Iguaçu/Rio de Janeiro. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Social History at the PPGHS-FFP programme at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. She holds a Master in Education from the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro and did her research in Education and Ethnic-Racial Diversity and specialised in the History of Brazil. She is an Institutional Coordinator and one of the founders of - GESTAR, a Racial Study and Action Group, created in Nova Iguaçu in 2005; she was a Counselor of Comdedine-NI (Municipal Council for the Defense of the Rights of the Negro de Nova Iguaçu) between (2005-2017); was a member of the Executive Commission of the Permanent Forum on Ethnic Racial Education and Diversity of the State of Rio de Janeiro (2009-2016); was a pedagogical advisor in the areas of CEPAENI History and Geography. She works with and for the implementation of the 10.639/03 and 11.645/08 Laws (laws mandating the teaching of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous history and culture nationally) and with Education for Ethnic Racial Relations at Schools. She interacts with the Carioca Network of Black Ethnoeducators.
A conversation exploring the basics of what reparations means for descendants of Africans enslaved, the historical and contemporary issues behind the justifications.
Elazar Barkan, Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, Director of SIPA's Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy Concentration, and Director of Columbia's Institute for the Study of Human Rights. Professor Barkan is also founding Director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR) in The Hague. His research interests focus on human rights and on the role of history in contemporary society and politics and the response to gross historical crimes and injustices. He is the author of The Guilt Of Nations: Restitution And Negotiating Historical Injustices and Reparation: A Moral And Political Dilemma.
Also in this conversation, we talk with Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, a cultural communications expert, author, and publisher based in the Washington, DC area. Aiwuyor is the founder of the National Black Cultural Information Trust. In addition to her work with national organizations and firms, J.A.M. Aiwuyor serves as the Communications Chair for the Pan African Congress, North American Delegation. As an author and cultural storyteller, her writings about African American cultural heritage and ethnicity have been published and cited across a wide range of publications including Huffington Post, the Business Insider, MSNBC, LA Progressive, and TV One’s “News One Now.” She publishes books celebrating Black life and culture with her publishing company, Our Legaci Press.
Omari Ashby is a Rapso artist and music producer with over 29 years of experience as a performer. As one half of the duo Kindred, Omari stormed on the scene with the hit single “Dis Trini Could Flow” in 1992. In the years that followed Kindred racked up several hits and Omari then took his talent to music production arena.
The past decade has seen Omari establish an elementary programme for training and development of young talent and musical enthusiasts from primary through to the
professional level. His programme covers a number of areas inclusive of composition and lyrical development as well as melodic approaches and rhythm patterns. Additionally, Mr. Ashby was instrumental in the design and authoring of a digital sound engineering course for beginners. The course was initiated through his Studio 161 and Jaliman entertainment limited and adapted by YTEPP for their academic agenda. Omari Ashby holds a BA Frist Class Honours in Carnival Studies, an MA in Creative Design Entrepreneurship, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies at the UWI. Omari Ashby is also one of the foundation members and tutors of the Breaking New Ground training course promoted by the Network Community Organisation and NALIS for young artists and practitioners of the oral tradition. Currently, Omari is an adjunct lecturer at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts, UWI in the Carnival Studies Unit.
See more of the festival at https://theblackconsciousnessfestival.com/reparations-2021
A conversation about the events that preceded the colonial project, the complex and diverse historical context for the Transatlantic slave trade and reparations being paid to descendants of Africans enslaved in the Americas.
Dr. Sylviane Diouf, an award-winning social historian of the African Diaspora. She is a Visiting Scholar at Brown University's Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. She has curated twelve exhibitions and authored and edited thirteen books. A social historian, Dr. Diouf focuses on uncovering essential stories and topics that were overlooked or negated, but which offer new insights into the African Diaspora. She has a special interest in the experience of the Africans deported, through the international slave trades, to the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds, including the particular experience of African Muslims. Diouf is the author of the acclaimed Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. She won several prizes for Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America; and is the author, more recently, of Slavery’s Exiles: The Story of the American Maroons. A recipient of the Rosa Parks Award, the Dr. Betty Shabazz Achievement Award, and the Pen and Brush Achievement Award, Diouf has appeared in several documentaries and gave a keynote speech to the UN General Assembly on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. She was the inaugural director of the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of The New York Public Library.
Una conversación entre afrodescendientes en América Latina de habla hispana sobre lo que significa la reparación para ellos y para sus comunidades.
Dr Adonis Diaz Fernandez: Born in Havana, Cuba in the bosom of a religious family practicing Santeria or Osha’s rule. From a very young age, he leaned towards Afro-Cuban beliefs and traditions and began in Santeria and as a priest of IFA. Later, he continued his postgraduate studies, obtaining a Master of Arts degree in Spanish and Literature, and later he gained his Ph.D. in Spanish both at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.
Sol Ra: María Soledad Ramos - Artísta afroargentina descendiente de caboverdeanos. Realizo un trabajo autogestivo en la creación de piezas audiovisuales para la representación. En 2019 partícipe como actriz en la obra "No es país para negras 2" de la directora Alejandro Egido. Desde el mismo año vengo trabajando con Kukily Colectivo de Artistes Negres, este año me convocaron para interpretar a María Remedios del Valle, en un documental que fue seleccionado ganador de un concurso organizado por el Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación. María Remedios es una figura que vengo investigando y trabajando en los ultimos años.
An Afro-Argentine artist descended from Cape Verdeans. She does self-managed work in the creation of audiovisual pieces for representation. In 2019, she participated as an actress in the play "No es País para Negra 2" by director Alejandro Egido. Since then she has been working with Kukily Colectivo de Artistes Negres, and in 2021 they called her to play María Remedios del Valle, in a documentary that was selected as the winner of a contest organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Nation. María Remedios is a figure that she has been researching and working on in recent years.
Julio Cesar Caicedo: Julio Caicedo -brillante científico, doctor en ingeniería de materiales de la Universidad del Valle y posdoctor de la Universidad de Barcelona.
Julio fue destacado en 2019 como uno de los diez científicos más importantes en el área de materiales y recubrimientos duros. “La mayoría tiene entre 60 y 70 años, y yo no alcanzo a llegar a los 40”, reflexiona el menor de los científicos Caicedo, quien aspira a que este logro sirva de ejemplo para sus estudiantes en la Universidad del Valle. Como parte de los Caicedos, a Olga, Julio y Hugo los unen sus raíces del Pacífico, los rituales familiares y una trayectoria que los ha perfilado como científicos destacados. Esta es la historia de tres vidas consagradas a la investigación.
Julio Caicedo - brilliant scientist, he has a doctorate in materials engineering from the Universidad del Valle and a postdoctorate from the University of Barcelona. Julio was highlighted in 2019 as one of the ten most important scientists in the area of materials and hard coatings. "Most are between 60 and 70 years old, and I do not reach 40", reflects the youngest scientist Caicedo, who hopes that this achievement will serve as an example for his students at the Universidad del Valle. As a part of the Los Caicedos: three siblings dedicated to science, Olga, Julio and Hugo are united by their Pacific roots, family rituals, and a career that has shaped them as leading scientists. This is the story of three lives devoted to research.
Mayra Maturana de Colombia.
A conversation amongst people of African descent in Spanish-speaking Latin America about what reparations mean to them and for their communities.
VOICES FROM HISPANIC SOUTH AMERICA – a conversation with Julio Caicedo, Sol Ra, Mayra Maturana and Dr Adonis Diaz Fernandez
“The tragedy of our time is to have lost the ability to feel loss, the inability of power to rise to its responsibility for human decency” – Salt
Join us as Festival Director, Erica M.B. Ashton chats with Earl Lovelace, award-winning Caribbean writer and playwright praised for his ability to capture the spirited essence, vernacular, and culture of ordinary people. His novel, Salt, was published in 1996 and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) in 1997. Set in Trinidad, the book explores the legacy of colonialism and slavery and the problems still faced by the country through the story of Alford George, a teacher turned politician.
for more info go to our website at www.theblackconsciousnessfestival.com
Hear greetings from the Festival Director, Erica M.B. Ashton, Mr. Eric Phillips of the Guyana Reparations Commission, and an excerpt from Earl Lovelace's "Salt" read by Elisha Efua Bartels. For more information go to www.theblackconsciousnessfestival.com
Join us as we examine the importance and challenges of black-owned business in the diaspora. Kheston Walkins, founder of Allegori engages three strong women of African descent in business - Shannon Allen, founder of US organic certified fast-food restaurant brand, grown™️, Kelly Ifill, founder of Guava, a US-based investment platform that aims to address the racial wealth gap in America by increasing access to capital for Black-owned small businesses, and Carla Williams Johnson, Media Marketing Specialist based in Trinidad & Tobago and founder of Carli Communications.
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Just as we commemorated November 20, Black Consciousness Day in Brazil, we also commemorate the independence of Barbados on November 30. Join as Sean Samad converses with H.E. Tonika Sealy-Thompson, Ambassador of Barbados to Brazil about the independence experience of Barbados, initiatives of the Embassy of Barbados in Brazil to restore linkages with the Barbadian diaspora there and how the issues of independence and black movements across the Americas continue to impact our realities and possibilities for change and development.
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a vibrant discussion about CREATING SPACE TO RESIST & REPAIR - The case of Salvador, Bahia's Afro-Blocos. Aquataluxe Rodrigues, cultural producer with strong affiliations to the world-famous Afro-bloco Olodum, Negra Jho, dancer, actress, cultural activist and 6-time winner of the Ebony Queen competition of premier Afro-bloco, Ilê Aiyê who has been involved with many other Afro-blocos and Afro-Brazilian communities and Valeria Lima, professor and producer among many in areas focused on Afro-Brazilian populations, Afro-Blocos, Carnival in Bahia, Black women, beauty and sexuality will discuss their perspectives with Heather Mac Intosh-Simon.
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Salene Camille Griffith, on-air personality with Heartbeat Radio who has a passion for women's rights takes the opportunity to engage with Dr Kyrah Malika Daniels, whose research interests include sacred arts and ritual healing traditions in the Black Atlantic world, and Caroline Amanda Borges, Brazilian menstrual educator, systemic and integrative therapist and founder of @Yonidaspretas a virtual face to face space for women and menstruating people.
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Join us as we examine Trinidad's landmark Carnival and its roots in resistance and restitution as the New Management Paramin Blue Devils and photographer / visual artist Jordon Briggs engage with Caribbean culture, Carnival and Cultural Industries researcher and Co-ordinator of UWI St. Augustine's Cultural Studies programme, Dr Suzanne Burke.
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Join us as Tyker Phillip discusses YOUTH, BLACK IDENTITY & CIVIL SOCIETY with Kibwe Copeland, President of IKEMBE - the Caribbean's first youth-based organisation focused on reparation and Dr Nathalie Pierre, a historian of the African diaspora who has worked with the Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project and undocumented Haitian neighbours.
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This performance-lecture will expose Tobago’s musical legacy beyond the more commonly known sounds that have come to characterise the island’s musical heritage. Using the examples of Jazz and sacred music, the discussion by Dr Charleston Thomas, Justin Peterkin and friends is a musical demonstration that addresse Tobago’s history in the business of Jazz and sacred music-making and performing in the 20th century. This session is intended to provide participants with a deeper understanding of how music-making and performance on the island have figured as a central part of the island’s intellectual and political life. The musical selections will illustrate the music legacy of the island and will link the emotions of the Diaspora with those on the continent through lyrical address and the interplay between vocality and percussive musicality.
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Join us for the Conversations of Giants
as the notable calypsonian and composer, Llewellyn 'Short Pants' Mac Intosh discusses the history of black consciousness, revolution and where we stand in the Caribbean today with Alan Harewood of the National United Freedom Fighters (NUFF), Khafra Kambon, one of the leaders of the Black Power movement (which brought positive social and economic changes to the country and stimulated changes throughout the English-speaking Caribbean) and Dr Merle Hodge, cultural and social activist (co-founder of Women Working for Social Progress) and a writer.
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"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. –Frederick Douglass" Education plays a big role in black identity and black consciousness. Join Whitney-Amanda Horsham, school counsellor based in the Netherlands, Hughette Saul, an educator in Belize and Dr. Brent Maximin, a professor of psychology, researcher, and writer based in New York City. His research has primarily focused on positive identity development in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
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Edwyn é um artista visual sergipano nordestino e Bruno um dançarino de Salvador, capital da Bahia. Venha ouvir como eles incorporaram tradições e como sua ancestralidade africana impacta suas práticas artísticas.
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Edwyn Gomes is a visual artist from the northeastern state of Sergipe in Brazil and Bruno de Jesus, a dancer from the city of Salvador, capital of Bahia, Brazil. Come hear how they have incorporated traditions and how their African ancestry impacts their artistic practices. Originally conducted in Portuguese but presented here with English voiceovers.
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The sacred stories of Santería are known as patakis (pronounced: pah-tah-KEES). They have been passed down orally from generation to generation for thousands of years, sometimes undergoing subtle transformations over time due to varying interpretative skills on the part of the storyteller, and sometimes due to linguistic and cultural shifts caused by migration to new lands. Join Rawle Gibbons as he chats with Janique Dennis and Adam Ade Ola Pascal about the Pataki and various elements of African Spirituality.
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Dance is central to being African. In this riveting conversation, Trinbagonian Brazilianist, Sean Samad engages Brandon Hampton, a dancer of Latin American genres of music who recently launched the podcast, Ritmos Negros in which he explores the African origins and Black contributions to music and dance of the African diaspora with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean engages and Dr. Adonis Diaz-Fernandez, Afro-Cuban, an Instructor at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, who will also be a critical part of the conversation. His formation includes a B.Ed. in Artistic Education (Musicology), Instituto Superior Pedagógico Enrique José Varona (Cuba) and his research interests include Afro-Cuban Culture and Literature, Oral Tradition, Yoruba and Orishas Patakies and Cultural Understanding in the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
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Konpa is the music of Haiti. Short for compas direct, made popular by Nemours Jean-Baptiste, on a recording released in 1955. The name derives from compás, the Spanish word meaning rhythm or tones. It involves mostly medium-to-fast tempo beats with an emphasis on electric guitars, synthesizers, and either a solo alto saxophone, a horn section or the synthesizer equivalent. In Creole, it is spelt as konpa dirèk or simply konpa. It is commonly spelt as it is pronounced as kom-pah.
Compas (Haitian Creole: Konpa Dirèk), is dance music and modern Méringue of Haiti. This méringue style is influential in parts of Africa, the Caribbean, Portugal, France, part of Canada, South and North America. One of the most distinctive characteristics of konpa is the consistent pulsating beat tanbou, a trait common to many styles of Caribbean music.
Workshop Facilitators – Maestro Ricky, Power Surge and Fabrice Rouzier - will dive deep into the origins of the konpa genre, show us how it evolved throughout the years and dive into the fundamental elements of this dancing and groovy rhythm.
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What happens when Afro-Caribbean people turn up in stories that are globally relevant? When our historic and modern personalities are central to the scope of a storyline, and when our actors and actresses bring their best selves to fill roles that are global in their scope – how are we as a people impacted?
We discuss the social and cultural impact of performers from Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, and other Caribbean nations and their influence in Television and Film Productions.
We explore the effects of seeing the likes of Geoffrey Holder, Harry Belafonte, Madge Sinclair, Sidney Poitier Oliver Samuels, Letitia Wright, Rudolph Walker, Heather Headley and Winston Duke grace large and small screens – and how this impacts our sense of self in the performing world.
And we discuss what is the power in creating platforms for sharing our experiences and perspectives? How can filmmakers and talent from this chain of islands tell their collective histories in singular endeavours? What is the magic of Caribbean stories?
How do we actively ensure we continue to influence the global space?
Join with Caribbean storytellers Rudolph Walker, Storm Saulter, Paul Pryce, Christopher ‘Johnny’ Daley and film consultant Nneka Luke as they explore what happens when Afro-Caribbean talent activates on the global stage!
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Em 2011, durante as escavações realizadas no âmbito das obras de revitalização da zona portuária do Rio de Janeiro para as próximas Olimpíadas, foram descobertos dois cais - Cais do Valongo e Imperatriz -, um em cima do outro, e, junto com eles. , um grande número de amuletos e objetos de culto do Congo, Angola e Moçambique. Foi o local de desembarque e comércio de 500.000 a um milhão de africanos a serem escravizados em território brasileiro de 1811 a 1831. Até 2011 tinha sido abandonado, escondido, encoberto. O cais foi oficialmente declarado Patrimônio Mundial em 2017.
Brasileiros Letícia Caetano, carioca, professora de história, mãe, ativista e guia turística do bairro da Pequena África, no Rio de Janeiro, e Anderson H. Gonçalves, carioca de Cachoeira, Bahia, que pesquisa quilombos (Comunidades quilombolas brasileiras), terror racial e o Atlântico Negro, discutem este tópico com Heather Mac Intosh de Trinidad e Tobago.
versão em portugues
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In 2011, during the excavations carried out as part of the revitalization works in the Rio de Janeiro port area for upcoming Olympics, two wharves - the Cais do Valongo and Imperatriz - were discovered, one on top of the other, and, along with them, a large number of amulets and objects of worship from Congo, Angola and Mozambique. It was the site of the landing and trading 500,000 to one million Africans to be enslaved in Brazilian territory from 1811 to 1831. Until 2011 it had been neglected, hidden, covered up. The wharf was officially designated a World Heritage Site in 2017.
Brazilians Leticia Caetano, a native of Rio de Janeiro, history teacher, mother, activist and tour guide of the Pequena Africa (Little Africa) neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, and Anderson H. Gonçalves, a native of Cachoeira, Bahia whose research is on quilombos (Brazilian Maroon communities), racial terror and the Black Atlantic, discuss this topic with Heather Mac Intosh of Trinidad & Tobago.
The conversation was originally conducted in Brazilian Portuguese. This version is with interpretation voice-overs in English.
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Thousands of people are dancing now, rubbing together, faces bright with sweat and excitement. Thousands of voices are singing together in creole: “Zouk la sé sel medikamen nou ni — so kon sa. Si sé sa mem’an nou zouké.” Zouk is the only medicine we have — that’s how it is. So let’s go and zouk.(©Kassav: Doctor Zouk | Caribbean Beat Magazine)
Kassav' (the legendary French Caribbean Zouk band formed in 1979) mixed a spicy cocktail of calypso, reggae, beguine, gwo’ka, Haitian cadence, bolero and rock, the result electronically stylised through funk. As the name Kassav' (crushed cassava mixed with coconut and sugar to make a biscuit) suggests, the mixture has to; otherwise, it becomes poisonous.
Karla Gonzales who recorded and toured with Kassav' for four years chats with legendary Jocelyne Béroard, the band's female lead, about her life, her experiences, Kassav's music and legacy.
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Being black and a part of an LGBTQIA+ community has been a site of much tension and debate. Join Xoë Sazzle (the author of "Love is Love", the song that inspired the conversation title) who will lead a discussion on how the issues of pride, diversity and inclusion affect members of these communities and their associates. Joining Xoë will be Amir Hall, artist and MFA student (T&T), Reverend Jide Macaulay of the House of Rainbow (UK) and Dr JonPaul, write, speaker, storyteller (USA).
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Actress/producer/choreographer/dancer Abeo Jackson engages with Jamie Philbert of Bois Academy and Quan David of Volta Miúda Capoeira in Trinidad and Tobago. Come hear how the body and understanding of it allow for art and skill to connect to blackness, identity and resistance.
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The development of Calypso and Soca will be demonstrated and discussed by two stalwarts of sound who have cradled our music industry for decades - Martin 'Mice' Raymond and Robin Foster. We will look at the historical background of traditional and contemporary styles related to the beats around the indigenous music of Trinidad and Tobago. Foster and Raymond will show that traditional Calypso is just as much a theatrical art form as it is a musical art form.
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Dr. Marsha Pearce, a cultural theorist from Trinidad and Tobago who works at the intersection of visual culture, communication studies, and audience/reception studies with a focus on Caribbean identities and the poetics and politics of representation, chats with visual artists Ken Crichlow of Trinidad and Tobago and Awodiya Toluwani Samson of Nigeria on their work and identities.
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What is Afrofuturism? Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science and philosophy of history that explores the developing intersection of African diaspora culture with technology. Come find out lots more as Conrad Parris chats with Dr. Reynaldo Anderson and Dr. Dike Okoro.
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Black women have always been known for their strength and beauty. In this conversation of many path clearers, the first black Ms Universe, Janelle Penny Commissiong chats with Sheryland Neal, the first African-American to enter the celebrated beauty queen competition (A Noite da Beleza Negra/ The Night of Black Beauty) of the first Afro-bloco in Salvador, Ilê Aiyê and Helder Dias, founder of HDA Agency in São Paulo, the first modelling agency in Brazil specializing in black models since 2000.
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Mike Okwoche, International broadcast journalist and the Head of Anchors at Television Continental (TVC) in Lagos, Nigeria will discuss the state of Africa's social transition with Dr. Kenneth Ombongi, Senior Lecturer at the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and Bukola Samuel-Wemimo. Dr. Ombongi's research interests have revolved around the power dynamics of Kenyan politics; change and continuity in colonial and post-colonial settings; the instrumentality of the state in social change; biomedicine and its historically inherent role as a ‘tool’ of control and domination. Bukola Samuel-Wemimo is a broadcast journalist whose experience traverses reporting, production and anchoring.
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Dash Harris Machado, doula, multimedia journalist, and entrepreneur (Panama), Kedenard Raymond (Haitian-American diplomat) and Sa'Nia Carasquero (T&T) chat about what it means to black in Latin American cultures and spaces and the many challenges it presents. Are Haiti and the French Caribbean part of Latin America? How do we identify and does that change the way we live.
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We engage with 3 musical artists of Trinidad & Tobago, the legendary calypsonian and composer, David Michael Rudder, soca composer - Jelani ' Pops' Shaw and singer-songwriter - Candice Alcantara discussing the depth, value and power of creating music in the African diaspora.
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Velluma Azevedo (Brazil), Emmanuela Douyon (Haiti) and Heather Mac Intosh (Trinidad & Tobago) discuss Citizenship & The Black Body in the Americas
The conversation is both in English and Portuguese and was part of The Black Consciousness Festival 2020
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