About our "Afrofeminisms in Europe" Series
This series aims to be a political interrogation, meditation, and celebration of European Afrofeminisms and Black feminisms.
Black Women Radicals (BWR) presents our new series, “Afrofeminisms in Europe”. This series interrogates the radical positionalites, perspectives, politics, and possibilities of Afrofeminists and Black feminists in Europe. Historical and contemporary activists, writers, scholars, artists, and organizers such as May Ayim, Ika Hügel-Marshall, Olive Morris, Assa Traoré, Stella Dadzie, Josefine Soliman, Suzanne Scafe, Margaret Busby, Fatima Djalo, Lady Phyll, Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, Beverley Bryan, Maud Sulter, Lydia Gratis, Esperance Hakuzwimana Ripanti, and countless others have contributed significantly to our understandings of Afrofeminist and Black feminist political consciousness and organizing in Europe. However, oftentimes their political, intellectual, and cultural productions are siloed in discourses on transnational Black feminisms. This series aims to be a political interrogation, meditation, and celebration of European Afrofeminisms and Black feminisms.
Some questions we will be discussing include:
What can Afrofeminisms and Black feminisms in Europe teach us at this political juncture?
How can Afrofeminisms and Black feminisms in Europe expand our frame of reference on Black feminist thought and behavior?
How are Afrofeminists combatting state, structural, and symbolic violence in their respective communities?
What does queer, trans, and non-binary Afrofeminist and Black feminist movement building look like in Europe?
How does art, culture, performance, and digital technologies play into their organizing?
What does solidarity look like in this context?
In To Exist is to Resist: Black Feminism in Europe (2019), co-editors Francesca Sobande and Akwugo Emejulu offer a critical analysis on Afrofeminism as a thought and praxis. Sobande and Emejulu writes:
“...Afrofeminism insists on grounding analysis and action in the particular and specific histories of colonialism, racial formation, and gender hierarchy of the various European nation-states in which Black women live. Thus, when we speak of European Black feminism, we must ensure that the lived experiences and theorising of Black women on the continent and across different countries and languages is at the forefront of our work” (Emejulu & Sobande, 2019, p. 5).
This series is rooted and inspired by this analysis and is also interested in situating and centering European Afrofeminist and Black feminist political discourses.
Past Events
“Black Women's Media Experiences in Britain and the Rise of Brand "Woke-Washing”
On Tuesday, January 26, 2021, Dr. Francesca Sobande led the teach-in, “Black Women's Media Experiences in Britain and the Rise of Brand "Woke-Washing" for The School for Black Feminist Politics. The teach-in draws on over five years of research related to the digital and media experiences of Black women in Britain. The session addresses how the lives of Black women in Britain are impacted by the specifics of this geo-cultural context, including power dynamics between Britain's constitutive nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales).
Focusing on Black women's various media and marketplace encounters, this teach-in also explores the rise of British brands trying to attract Black audiences and tap into discourse on anti-Black racism in opportunistic and surface-level ways. Put briefly, this teach-in considers questions concerning Black women's production of and engagement with media in Britain, as well as issues regarding the rise of "woke-washing" which involves brands attempting to align themselves with social justice positions to pursue profit and protect their brand image. Shaped by Black feminist thought and understandings of racial capitalism, this teach-in tarries with tensions between the communal, counter-cultural, and commercial qualities of the media experiences of Black women in Britain. You can check out Dr. Sobande’s reading list from her teach-in here.
A Kick In The Belly: A Conversation with Stella Dadzie
On Wednesday, February 17th, 2021 at 12:30 PM EST/5:30 PM GMT, Black Women Radials hosted a conversation with activist, author, and Black British feminist pioneer Stella Dadzie on her latest book, A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery, and Resistance, which chronicles the story of how enslaved West Indian women struggled for freedom in the Caribbean. Moreover Kariima Ali, an activist, organizer, doctoral student, and fellow at the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) and Jaimee Swift, executive director of Black Women Radicals, had an intergenerational and transnational Black feminist dialogue on Dadzie’s pioneering activism in Britain; the importance of honoring Black women’s resistance and leadership; and why transnational Black feminist solidarity is critical at this political juncture.
The conversation was supported by the Black Cultural Archives, the only national heritage centre dedicated to collecting, preserving and celebrating the histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain. Courtesy of the Black Cultural Archives, there was a showing of some of Dadzie’s archives, particularly examining archives of the Organization of Women of Asian and African Descent (OWAAD), an activist organization for British Black and Asian women established in 1978, with founding members including Dadzie, Olive Morris, and Gail Lewis. OWAAD has been called “a watershed in the history of Black women's rights activism in Britain”. You can read our interview with Stella Dadzie here.
Afrofeminism In France: Political Autonomy as a Compass
On Monday, February 22nd, 2021 at 1 PM EST/7 PM CET, activist and scholar Fania Noël led a teach-in on “Afrofeminism In France: Political Autonomy as a Compass" for The School for Black Feminist Politics.
The Coordination of Black Women (Coordination femmes noires) held their first public meeting in Paris in October of 1977. Founded in May 1976 (two years after the formation of the Combahee River Collective in the United States), the Coordination did not escape the fate of the invisibilization of Black women and our movements in France. Afrofeminists operating largely online, sharing texts and analyses, became visible around the year 2013 by problematizing issues in the anti-slavery and anti-colonial struggles. This emergence was largely seen as a trend. A grammar of novelty was mobilized to both describe and de-legitimize these forms of activism, especially in contrast to older, more historically legitimized struggles: class, of course, but also issues around race. Afrofeminist collectives faced many accusations from different actors (i.e. State, the right, the white left, white feminist organizations, anti-racist movement in France, and also Black organization predominantly led by men).
Amongst those different groups, many wanted to keep us around to add color to group photos of demonstrations and to diversify the movement on paper without being accountable to our political demands considered a minority. Afrofeminists face also another form of erasure from abroad where grassroots collective Afrofeminist organizing is erased in favor of Black women public figures with large audiences or scholars. This teach-in focused on how radical Afrofeminist politics and organizing evolve and thrive in France and how we became determined to neither disappear nor allow ourselves to be walked on and choose political autonomy as a compass. You can check out Fania’s reading list from her teach-in here.
Black Deaf Justice in Europe: A Conversation with Lydia Gratis
What does Black Deaf Justice in Europe look like? On Saturday, April 17, 2021, Black Women Radicals had a conversation with activist, writer, and educator Lydia Gratis who offered important insights on movement building at the intersections of disability, race, gender, class, and more from a European context. Gratis, who was born in South Africa and raised and is based in Ireland, will provide an in-depth discussion on deaf Black Diasporic organizing, movement building, and activism from a European context. This event is a part of Black Women Radicals ‘Afrofeminisms in Europe’ series, which is a political meditation, interrogation, and celebration of European Afrofeminisms and Black feminisms. Watch the event here.
Afro-German Women Still Speak Out: A Conversation on Afro-German Women’s Movement Building
On Saturday, April 24th, 2021 at 12:30 PM EST/6:30 PM GMT+2, Black Women Radicals hosted the event, "Afro-German Women Still Speak Out: A Conversation on Afro-German Women’s Movement Building." The conversation featured Ms. Abenaa Adomako and Dr. Tiffany Florvil.
In 1986, the book Farbe bekennen (which was later translated to English and published in 1992 as Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out) was published. Edited by Afro-German activists May Ayim and Katharina Oguntoye and white German feminist-activist Dagmar Schultz, Showing Our Colors was the first book published by Afro-Germans. That same year, the Initiative of Black Germans (ISD), an advocacy organization for Black Germans and ADEFRA (Afrodeutsche Frauen), a feminist and sister organization of ISD created by Black German feminists and lesbians, were founded.
Thirty-five years later since the publication of Showing Our Colors and the founding of ISD and ADEFRA, how do we pay homage to and learn from the life, leadership, and legacies of pioneering Afro-German women activists? In what ways can their activism give insights about current and future understandings of Afro-German women’s movement building? How can Black feminists learn from, recognize, and contextualize Afro-German women’s movement building as a part of the grand legacies of the radical Black feminist tradition? The event “Afro-German Women Still Speak Out” features pioneering Afro-German human rights activist Abenaa Adomako, co-author of Showing Our Colors and co-founder of ISD and Dr. Tiffany Florvil, author of Mobilizing Black Germany: Afro-German Women and the Making of a Transnational Movement. Adomako and Florvil will engage in a transnational and intergenerational conversation on Afro-German women’s politics, leadership, and activism. Watch the event here.
Black Women’s Radical Resistance in Britain
On June 7, 2021 and in collaboration with Haymarket Books, we hosted the event “Black Women’s Radical Resistance in Britain” featuring an intergenerational conversation between Dr. Beverley Bryan and Jade Bentil.
Black women’s radical resistance and resilience in Britain has and continues to fuel, sustain, and transform social movements in the European context and outside of it. As leaders, organizers, survivors, and resistors, Black women’s activism in Britain and in the African Diaspora is critical to past, present, and even future understandings of the Black radical tradition. With this, how do we honor, celebrate, and learn from Black British Women Radicals who paved the way for us to be here? The event, “Black Women’s Radical Resistance in Britain” will featured an intergenerational conversation between two radical Black women activists and academics. Watch the event here.
(Left to Right): Jaimee Swift, executive director of Black Women Radicals; Trinice McNally, creative director of the I SUPPORT BLACK WOMEN campaign; Svét Chassol, image and communication consultant and strategist; Virgil Abloh, founder of OFF-WHITE; Rose Ndengue, activist of Sawtche Collectif; and Tara Mukekucilolo, activist of Mwasi-Collectif. Photo Credit: @jb8balls on Instagram.
I SUPPORT BLACK WOMEN PODCAST: BLACK PERSPECTIVES IN FRANCE
In collaboration with the I SUPPORT BLACK WOMEN campaign created by Black queer activist, feminist, and migrant, Trinice McNally and Virgil Abloh, founder of OFF WHITE, Black Women Radicals co-hosted the I SUPPORT BLACK WOMEN podcast event in Paris, France for OFF WHITE’s Imaginary TV. Speaking with Black French activists, organizers, and creatives, the event centered on Black perspectives in France and the importance of dialogue and solidarity across the African Diaspora. Panelists for the event included: Tara Mukekucilolo of the Mwasi-Collectif, a Paris-based Afrofeminist and Pan-African Collective fighting for Black Liberation; Rose Ndengue of Sawtche Collectif, an Afrofeminist, Decolonial, and Diasporic-centered Collective based in Lyon, France; and Svét Chassol, a powerhouse image and communication consultant and strategist. Watch the discussion here.
Afro-Italian Feminists Speak: On Citizenship, Activism, and Politics
On Sunday, July 18th, 2021, Black Women Radicals hosted the online event, “Afro-Italian Feminists Speak: On Citizenship, Activism, and Politics”. The conversation featured four Afro-Italian feminists who are resisting and organizing for intersectional racial justice in Italy and in the African Diaspora. Italy is a popular tourist site and while the country promotes a global image of being “inclusive” of its denizens, this conversation will focus on the viewpoints of Afro-Italian feminists who will give critical insights about Italy’s anti-Black policies and the historical erasure of Black communities in the country. Moreover, this conversation interrogated how Afro-Italian feminists are fighting for the rights and dignity of Afro-Italians, African migrants, and Afro-descendants in Italy and how they use politics, art, culture, and more to ensure their voices are heard in Italy and beyond. Watch the discussion here.