Join us for the ICMuS Research Seminar 2021/ 22 series where we are delighted to welcome Professor Francesca T. Royster.
In this talk, I’ll focus on the collaborative work of Rhiannon Giddens and her all-Black female, all banjo supergroup, Our Native Daughters. The title paraphrases Gayatri Spivak’s 1988 essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak”.
I call on Spivak here to frame the ways that Giddens and her collaborators seek to reclaim and give voice to African American women’s subjectivity and storytelling through the banjo. I’m interested here in the very question of whether Black women speak their authentic stories through the banjo, and whether it will be heard by audiences they seek to reach, particularly other Black women, given its vexed history. I will explore the powerful resonances of Our Native Daughter’s engagement with Black histories of racial trauma and survival for me and my queer family as we watch the group in concert at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
More Online Events Listings MORE
Black Genealogy | DNA Testing and African, American and Caribbean Ancestry
Join the genealogy masterclass with Paul Crooks as he explores the strengths and weaknesses of tracing African origins…
Tracing Your Ancestry | Emancipation and the Slave Compensation Records
Paul Crooks explores reparations through the lens of his ancestry research drawing on his research into the 1834…
Black Ancestry | Tracing Ancestors Back to the 1860s
Paul Crooks is a seminal figure in African Caribbean genealogy, initiating vital research in the 1990s. His groundbreaking…
Colorism Origins | Secrets of the 1817 Slave Registers
Paul Crooks from Ancestry Talks will provide insight into the roots of colorism, stemming from his research into…
Fostering with Bromley information session – August 2024
A free and informal online session to learn more about becoming a foster carer and fostering with Bromley….
Black Ancestry | Tracing Ancestors Back to Early 1800s
Paul Crooks is a pivotal figure in the field of African Caribbean genealogy, having spearheaded essential research efforts…
Black Ancestry | DNA Testing for African Roots
Join the genealogy masterclass with Paul Crooks as he explores the extent to which DNA testing can help…
Fostering with Bromley information session – September 2024
A free and informal online session to learn more about becoming a foster carer and fostering with Bromley….