Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Monday, October 7, 2019: Exploring Blackness and Policing of Black People in Europe

Margo and Vanessa
Margo
Interview with Vanessa Eileen Thompson

Margo Okazawa-Rey, gender studies professor and a member of the legendary Combahee River Collective, discusses the similarities and differences between anti-Blackness in the U.S. and in Europe with Afro-German scholar Vanessa Eileen Thompson.  Thompson is a researcher at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and a former visiting scholar at UC Berkeley's Department of Ethnic Studies. She is one of the organizers of the upcoming symposium "On the Matter of Blackness in Europe: Transnational Perspectives" to be held at UCLA October 11-12. Find out why a symposium on racism in Europe is being held in the United States!

Click here to listen to the entire interview with Vanessa. 30:33 min

Vanessa Eileen Thompson is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Sociology at Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany. Previously, she was a guest lecturer in gender studies at the University of Cologne and a fellow at the Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research and teaching are focused on critical race and racism studies, black studies (with a focus on Black Europe), gender and queer studies, post- and decolonial feminist theories and methodologies, critical security studies, and transformative justice. Thompson is also engaged in these fields as an activist.  Her current research project focuses on racial gendered policing in Europe and transnational articulations of abolitionist visions and alternatives from a black feminist perspective. Vanessa has published articles on the work of Fanon, black social movements in Germany and France, and racial gendered policing in Europe.


Film: The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo

Then we listen to excerpts of the brilliant documentary "The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo", which chronicles the career and writings of one of the foremost African feminist writers. Aidoo, the author of nine books, two plays and many short works, also served as Ghana's Minister of Education from 1982-1983. After eighteen months, she concluded that she would not be able to realize her goal of free universal education because nationalist ideals had been subverted by the elite. In 2000 she founded the Mbaasem Foundation, a non-governmental organization based in Ghana with a mission "to support the development and sustainability of African women writers and their artistic output."

Much love to all of you who have supported me and KPFA Women's Magazine over these many years. -Kate Raphael


Click here to listen to the show. 59:50 min

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