2024: History Matters – Affirming the History of Africa and the African Diaspora
Professor Hakim Adi is an award-winning historian. He was the first historian of African heritage to become a Professor of History in Britain when he was appointed Professor of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora in 2015. In 2018 he launched the world’s first online MRes in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora which has trained many students of African and Caribbean heritage as historians, including six currently engaged in PhD research. In what can only be described as an attack on Black history and training Black historians, in August 2023 the University of Chichester unilaterally suspended all recruitment to the MRes and terminated Hakim’s employment. In this lecture, Professor Adi reminds us of the importance of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora, what it teaches us about the world we live in today, and the need to fight to ensure this history is protected, better known and understood.
Meet the panel:
- Panel discussion chaired by BBC Radio Presenter Dotun Adebayo MBE
- Members of the Young Historians Project, Hannah Francis and A.S. Francis.
2022: The War on Culture: What Next?
“It’s not a “Culture War”, it’s a War on Culture. It’s being waged against our arts, culture and heritage organisations, and against our universities under the banner of a “war on woke”. Using Frantz Fanon’s essay on Racism and Culture as a guide, and taking stock of the 125th anniversary of the 1897 looting of the Benin Bronzes, the talk brings those issues up to date by asking what an anti-racist, anti-war movement for culture could look like today, as we resist ongoing assaults against education, equality and the arts”. This lecture was given by Professor Dan Hicks, a writer, curator and Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at Oxford University. His most recent book, The Brutish Museums: the Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution (Pluto Press)
Panel discussion and audience Q&A, chaired by Roger McKenzie.
Meet the Panel:
- Onyekachi Wambu Executive Director of the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD)
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP – Chair of the All Party Group on African Reparations
- Dr Janice Cheddie – Writer and researcher on visual culture and heritage
2020: Bernie Grant 20th Anniversary Lecture
The 2020 Memorial Lecture was delivered by Jeremy Corbyn, in his final public appearance as leader of the Labour Party. During his time as party leader, Labour’s membership numbers soared as people were attracted to his anti-austerity stance and informal, socialist style of politics. Alongside his long political career, Corbyn is an activist who participated in Anti-Fascist Action, the Anti-Apartheid Mocement, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and has been a longstanding advocate for a united Ireland and recognition of Palestinian statehood. In this lecture, Jeremy Corbyn shares some memories of his good friend, colleague and comrade Bernie Grant.
2019: The Battle for Black Studies
The 2019 Memorial Lecture took place on 10th April and was delivered by Professor Kehinde Andrews. Prof. Andrews is the first ever UK professor of Black Studies and has attracted media attention on the matter of decolonising the curriculum. His book Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century generated considerable debate about black radical thought and its relevance to today’s discussion about race.
The following link will take you to an audio recording of the lecture:
