I have a few events coming up in London, which I wanted to let you know about. I’m pretty excited about these because although I have spoken at many platforms this year including a series of talks about gender equality in Bermuda, and keynotes about women, feminism and inclusion in Lagos and Brussels, as well as panels and debates in Spain, the Netherlands, AE, Norway, Germany and in the UK outside of London, all year I have not spoken at any events in the city where I live!
This Saturday, on the 7th of July I will be speaking at Cultural Compounds @ City University, a one-day symposium to “explore how the cultural and the personal conditions of African diasporic society relate to current practices and theories, our knowledge of the past and contribute to our aspirations for the future.”
On July 26, I’ll be ‘In Conversation’ with author and educator, Kehinde Andrews, for a launch event of his book “Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the Twenty-First Century” at Foyles Charing Cross Road.
One of the recurring themes that keeps indirectly coming up in the spaces that I encounter; and that I have been reflecting about a lot is that of “language”, especially the fact that so many of us – individually and collectively – use the same words to describe different things. Blackness, for example, means vastly different things to different groups of people.
No doubt these types of questions will be raised during the upcoming discussions. They will also be reflected on in my debut book Sensuous Knowledge out in 2019 (I’m so excited!).
There is a lot to say about the book writing process, and one day I will share my experience of it. The opportunity to interweave ideas is one that I am absolutely relishing in. But that said, I also miss blogging and the dialogue with readers that I am aware of when I write here. Basically, I want to say that although MsAfropolitan is more quiet than usual because I have immersed myself in book writing, you can certainly expect this space to continue to explore and expand. Those of you who have read this blog over the years know that the process has always been an organic one anyway.
I hope you are all enjoying the hot summer if you’re in town. It’s a treat if also somewhat disconcerting in relationship to global warming!
Hope to see you at one of the above events.
Image is by Lois Mailou Jones
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