Welcome to our Correcting Our Collecting Seminar in the Midlands! Join us in this one day seminar on independent African heritage practice for community practitioners engaged in preserving, sharing and activating community histories and producing community knowledge.
Through in person sessions with guest speakers from the African Diaspora Mtichell Esajas (co founder, Black Archives Amsterdam), Sylvia Arthur ( founder, Library of Africa and African Diaspora/ Ghana) Dr. Etienne Joseph ( Co – founder Decolonising the Archive/ U.K.) Professor Stanley Griffin (Co – Author of Decolonising the Caribbean Record) The participants will explore independent, African-centred approaches to thinking about and practicing archiving and librarianship.The day will provide a taste to the Correcting Our Collecting archive training course led by Decolonising the Archive‘s Directors Dr. Etienne Joseph and Connie Bell. The combined aim of the day’s sessions are to increase awareness of culturally appropriate approaches to heritage practice for underserved communities and to present an access point for people keen on building and sustaining capacity for these skills within African heritage communities.
The day’s programme is built upon DTA’s pedagogical practice surrounding ‘The Pan African Archive’ – developed from knowledges emerging out of their London-based but internationally networked approach to archives. Collaboration and co-production being central to their methodology, the day enables connections with experts who are doing the work in the Caribbean, Europe and on the African continent.We are honoured to collaborate with the Stuart Hall Archive Project Conjunctures team of Professor Patricia Noxolo and Dr. Rita Gayle for this seminar. Whilst we are not always aligned with his theories, Hall’s understanding of a conjecture as a moment of danger and opportunity; a call to intervention through practical action is something that resonates with our work in the precarious and uncertain context in which we all live today.
Program time 18th June, 2024 11am – 6pm
11am: Registration (teas and refreshments)
11: 30am: Welcome and Introduction
11:45 am Ritual Rites and Performance (Presentation)
12pm Guest presenter Connie Bell ( Decolonising the Archive DTA) Memory, Ethical Structures and Exchange a guide into a cultural practices
Workshop
12:45pm Guest presenter Sylvia Arthur ( L.O.A.T.A.D. Library of Africa and The African Diaspora) Building a cultural repositiory that supports cultural preservation and legitimises the African literary cannon on a national and global platform.
1:30pm LUNCH (Vegetarian and Vegan friendly)
2:15pm Guest presenter Mitchell Esajas ( Black Archives Amsterdam) Mapping Points of Departure and documenting the histories of Surinamese and African people in the Dutch context.
3:00 guest presenter Dr. Stanley Griffin ( Decolonsing the Caribbean Record)
Workshop
3:45 AFTERNOON TEA
4:15pm Q & A with graduates of the Correcting Our Collecting Community Archive Course with members of the audience. Title: How does this course allow them to support their community and address the urgent need to preserve the African experience in Britain
5:00pm Round table conversation led by Dr. Etienne Joseph (Decolonising the Archive DTA)
( Panel Conversation with Professor Pat Noxolo, Dr. Rita Gayle etc ( Conjunctures Strand Team, part of The Stuart Hall Archive Project) Title: Drawing from Stuart Hall’s Conjecture theory, how may we apply this as a guide for communities at threat of erasure and how / or does it speak to how to assert accountablity and self repair
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