Our first keynote speaker, Shirley Ann Tate, is Professor of Race and Education and Director of the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality in the Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Beckett University, UK and Honorary Professor at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. Her area of research is Black diaspora studies broadly and her research interests are institutional racism, the body, affect, beauty, ‘race’ performativity and Caribbean decolonial studies while paying attention to the intersections of ‘race’ and gender. She has written widely on these topics.
Our second keynote speaker, Goldie Osuri, is Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Warwick. She was Director of Undergraduate Programmes for Sociology between 2014 - 2018. She has worked with Race and Learning and Teaching issues through many different administrative roles previously in Australian academia.
Our panel discussant, Yasmin Ibrahim, is a Reader in International Business and Communications at Queen Mary, University of London. Her ongoing research on new media technologies explores the cultural dimensions and social implication of the diffusion of ICTs in different contexts and its implications for humanity. She also writes extensively on the notions of ‘Othering’ through dominant themes of migration, border controls, Islam and terrorism.
Yasmin will be facilitating a panel discussion among Jennifer Agwunobi, Suparna Chatterjee and Jenny Rodriguez. Suparna is Assistant Professor of Sustainability and Global Cultures at Xavier University, Cincinnati, USA. Her research focusses on the political economy of globalization, neoliberalism, gender and poverty. Jenny is Senior Lecturer in Employment Studies at the Alliance Manchester Business School. Her research focuses on intersectional inequality in work and organisations, and the interplay between identity, work and regulation.
Our evening programme is curated by Mojisola Adebayo (BA, MA, PhD. FRSL). Mojisola is a playwright, performer, producer, director, researcher, facilitator and teacher. She has worked in theatre for social change for 25 years, from Antarctica to Zimbabwe. Her own plays include Moj of the Antarctic: An African Odyssey (Lyric Hammersmith), Muhammad Ali and Me (Ovalhouse), 48 Minutes for Palestine(Ashtar Theatre), Desert Boy (Albany Theatre), The Listeners (Pegasus Theatre), I Stand Corrected (Artscape and Ovalhouse), Asara and the Sea-Monstress (Birmingham REP - Emerge) and The Interrogation of Sandra Bland (Bush Theatre). Publications include Mojisola Adebayo: Plays One and The Interrogation of Sandra Bland and Mojisola Adebayo: Plays Two (forthcoming) (Oberon Books), 48 Minutes for Palestine (Methuen), the co-written Theatre for Development Handbook (Pan) as well as numerous academic chapters. Mojisola is an Associate Artist of Pan Arts and Rose Bruford College and lectures at Queen Mary, University of London.
Documentation for the event will be kindly provided by Words of Colour, a creative communications agency that promotes, facilitates and develops writers of colour – of all genres, collaborates with arts and creative industries to increase cultural inclusion, and creates multi-platform and multi-media projects to reshape the single narrative misrepresenting culturally diverse communities.
Maria D’Amico is a freelance illustrator and Health Researcher, she has designed the
artwork for the BARC collective. She comments: “I loved creating the illustrations, we wanted to create eye-catching and powerful images which embrace the experiences of women of colour: capturing our love, friendship, solidarity and intellect! I hope they empower people from all backgrounds to feel the vitality and strength that we all have within us!“. Maria is a Trial Manager at the Pragmatic Clinical Trials Unit at Queen Mary University of London. She has a degree in Biomedical Sciences and a Masters in Clinical Research. Maria has over 4 years of research experience contributing to large childbirth studies. Her research includes developing strategies for the prevention of diabetes in pregnancy and understanding the unintentional effects of clinical trials on participants in women’s health research studies. Maria is a UCU union representative contributing to developments in bullying & harassment procedures and workplace culture.
Building the Anti-Racist Classroom 