#5 Natasha A. Kelly & Olive Vassell on Black activism, communities, memorials – and why #BlackLivesMatter goes far beyond the 2020 protests

February is Black History Month!


 


Black communities have been making major contributions to
Europe's social and cultural life and landscapes for centuries.
However, their achievements largely remain unrecognized by the
dominant societies, as their perspectives are excluded from
traditional modes of marking public memory.


 


hörscript hosts Julia Bauer and Felicitas Friedrich welcome
Natasha A. Kelly and Olive Vassell, editors of »Mapping Black
Europe. Monuments, Markers, Memories«, as guests on this podcast
episode.


 


Along with sharing valuable anecdotes around their more than
3-year-long work on the volume, they discuss questions like:


 


What makes a community a community?


How did the global political movement of #BlackLivesMatter manage
to unite Black people beyond nations, despite the world
simultaneously being in the midst of a pandemic?


What historically important statues, monuments and memorials
exist all over Europe – without the majority of people being
aware of the often invisible work and stories behind them?


 


In the initially last episode of hörscript, listeners learn about
the complexity of Black identities, the importance of Black
scholars and Black knowledge as part of academic curricula, and
how both (grassroots) activists and academics play a huge role in
making the largely untold and almost forgotten histories of
important Black icons and personas visible.


 


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About BEAN (Black European Academic Network):


 


http://beaneu.org/de/black-european-academic-network-bean/


 


About Mary Seacole and her statue in London:


 


https://www.maryseacoletrust.org.uk/


 


The book »Mapping Black Europe. Monuments, Markers, Memories«,
the books from former episodes, and more about transcript and the
podcast:


 


https://linktr.ee/hoerscript.podcast


 


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00:12 – Intro


 


02:32 – Welcoming Natasha A. Kelly & Olive Vassell +
discussion of the process of the book »Mapping Black Europe.
Monuments, Markers, Memories«


 


06:10 – What are the characteristics of the Black community?


 


10:33 – How #BlackLivesMatter influenced the work on the book


 


17:43 – (The lack of) Black Studies in the curricula of European
/ German universities


 


24:40 – BEAN: The Black European Academic Network


 


29:14 – Which memorial of Black Europe is a must-see? The story
of Mary Seacole


 


33:19 – Closing words interview


 


34:03 – Outro, conclusion, + and our goodbyes!


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