What's on for Black History Month 2023

Location: Shaw Library, 6th Floor, Old Building

Join us for this special event with Henry Louis Gates, Jr in conversation with Ekow Eshun, Isaac Julien and LSE's Imaobong Umoren.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (@HenryLouisGates) is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has published numerous books and produced and hosted an array of documentary films.

Ekow Eshun is Chairman of the Fourth Plinth, overseeing the foremost public art programme in the UK, and the former Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. He is the curator of exhibitions including, most recently, In the Black Fantastic at the Hayward Gallery, London, awarded the Association for Art History’s Curatorial Prize for Exhibitions 2023, and author of books including Black Gold of the Sun, shortlisted for the Orwell prize. Described by The Guardian as a ‘cultural polymath’, he is the writer and presenter of documentaries including the BBC film Dark Matter: A History of the Afrofuture, the Tate Modern film series, Exploring the Black Atlantic, and the BBC Radio 4 series White Mischief. He is an LSE alumnus (BSc Government 1990). 

Ayan Ali is a part-time Staff and Student Counsellor at LSE with many years of experience in Higher Education mental health support. She is a psychotherapist, executive and group coach, consultant, and trainer. Ayan helps clients navigate complex questions around identity, work and relationships so they can make meaningful life changes and feel better. 

Isaac Julien is a Turner prize-nominated artist and filmmaker and a recipient of The Royal Academy of Arts Charles Wollaston Award appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2017. Julien creates multi-screen film installations and photographs that incorporate different artistic disciplines to create a poetic and unique visual language, with his recent survey show What Freedom is to Me exhibited at Tate Britain. Born in 1960 in London, he is one of the most prominent figures at the intersection of media art and cinema today. Julien was awarded a Knighthood (Knight Bachelor) in The Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List 2022.

Imaobong Umoren (@ImaobongUmoren3) is an Associate Professor of International History at LSE. Her research interests focus on histories of gender, racism, colonialism, and political thought in the the modern Caribbean, US and Britain.

This event is free and open to all - however pre-registration is required. See more information and get a ticket here:

Register Here

Speakers:

Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr; Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University

Ekow Eshun; Chairman of the Fourth Plinth

Sir Isaac Julien; Turner prize-nominated artist and filmmaker

Chair:

Dr Imaobong Umoren; Associate Professor of International History at LSE

​This event, organised by the International History Department, is a film screening of Il Moro - a short film about the first black man to become a head of state in Renaissance Europe, featuring Daphne Di Cinto.

Alessandro de’ Medici is legitimised into the most prestigious Italian family, but he keeps on being haunted by the stigma of his low birth, inherited from a mother he only barely remembers. When he unexpectedly becomes the first Duke of Florence, Alessandro is forced to face his real father’s inability to accept him and fend off his cousin’s power hungry attacks, while strengthening his self-awareness and his roots. Based on true events.

No pre-registration is required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Location: LSE Staff Dining Room and Coffee Bar, 5th Floor, Old Building

We have an exciting announcement that is sure to brighten up your day! We cordially invite you to LSE EmbRace's Afternoon Social, filled with delightful sweet treats and drinks. This gathering promises to be a great end to your day and an opportunity to connect with fellow members.

The event will be hosted by Charles Stafford (Vice President and Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty Development), and other members of the School Management Committee will also be in attendance.

This event presents a wonderful opportunity to foster connections, enjoy delicious refreshments, and engage in meaningful conversations. We look forward to seeing you there!

To ensure your participation, kindly register here:

Register Here

Please be aware that the staff common room has a limited capacity, which may require us to restrict the number of attendees. Therefore, we encourage you to secure your place promptly.

Location: LSE Lecture Theatre, Centre Building; and online

Distinguished panellists will explore the ethics of researching Blackness at this Black History Month event.

“Research” can be a dirty word for racialised communities targeted for so long as “objects” of scholarly inquiry. For Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC), in particular, “research” can be a site of epistemic violence, of extraction and exploitation. Taking cue from Nigerian feminist scholar Amina Mama’s seminal text, “Is it ethical to study Africa?”, this panel will delve into the contested ethical conundrums of researching Blackness. It features a group of scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds whose epistemological, theoretical and methodological approaches centre on Blackness as a conduit for knowledge production.

In this Black History Month 2023 event co-organised by the LSE’s Department of Methodology and the Department of Social Policy’s Race Matters Initiative, speakers will reflect on how they embed critical and transformative techniques in researching Black subjectivities. Discover how members of our distinguished panel evaluate the mental health consequences of the Windrush scandal on Caribbean and Black African people in the UK; address experiential and institutional dimensions of ‘race’, racism and anti-racism in Mexico; examine the role of Afro-Colombian activists in designing and implementing cultural policies; and use hip-hop aesthetics to explore the metaphysics of Blackness.

The panel (18.30-20.00) will be followed by a reception (20.00-21.00).

Pre-registration is required. Audience members can attend in-person or online.

Register Here

Panellists

Rochelle Burgess; Associate Professor in Global Health and Deputy Director of the University College London (UCL) Centre for Global Non-Communicable Diseases.

Mónica Moreno Figueroa; Professor in Sociology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow in Social Sciences at Downing College, Cambridge. 

Kandya Obezo-Casseres is an Afro-Colombian PhD candidate in Social Policy at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Maxwell Williams is Senior Researcher at the Runnymede Trust where he conducts quantitative and qualitative research on the experiences of minority ethnic groups in areas ranging from housing and homelessness to the culture industries.

Co-Chairs

Patrick Kwasi Brobbey is an LSE Fellow at the Department of Methodology, The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Robtel Neajai Pailey is Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). 

Location: MAR2.06.

As a special event to celebrate Black History Month, Embrace and Power have come together to put on a “meet the author” book club event. 

We are delighted to be welcoming Climate Researcher and Author Brianna Craft to LSE campus. Brianna’s first book, Everything That Rises came out in April 2023. This Climate Change memoir personalizes the realities of climate change by paralleling the relationship we have with our planet to the way we interact within our own home. 

This Book Club event will start with an “In Conversation” between Brianna and event chair, Serena James. The second half of the event will give the attendees the opportunity to share their thoughts on the book, ask Brianna questions about the book and/or her experience as a Climate Researcher and COP delegate.  

This event is open to all staff/students to attend – but pre-registration is required.

Sign up here

You are encouraged to read the book but the event is open to all whether you have read the book or whether you are interested in the themes of the book and Brianna’s research and would like to learn more. 

The Author

Brianna started in the UN climate negotiations in 2011. Four years later, she witnessed the adoption of the Paris Agreement first hand. Brianna works to further equity in the negotiations for the world’s poorest countries, which have done the least to cause the climate crisis but are the most vulnerable to its impacts. From a small town in Washington State, Brianna lives in London. When she’s not writing justice-focused climate stories, Brianna works as a Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development. Brianna holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from Brown University and is an alumna of the University of Washington.

The Chair

Serena James, PAGE Student Advice and Support Manager, and co-chair of LSE Power, our internal staff network for professional women at LSE.

Location: Shaw Library, 6th Floor, Old Building

To celebrate Black History Month, join us for this conversation between LSE alumnus Arun Blair-Mangat and LSE President Eric Neumayer. 

Arun Blair-Mangat (@arunblair) is a critically acclaimed actor, writer, voice artist and singer and an alumnus of LSE. He is currently a writer on Spellbound (Hulu) and is working on a comedy script commission for Avalon. Arun’s original comedy script Sexual Adventures of a Brown Boy is being developed, along with several exciting projects in the US. Also in the works is a musical feature film based on his stage show, QU4RTER (The Other Palace).

This event is free and open to all - no ticket or pre-registration is required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. 

More details

Speakers:

Arun Blair-Mangat; actor, writer, singer and LSE alumnus

Chair:

Eric Neumayer; Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Planning & Resources)

Location: MAR2.04.

Join us on Tuesday 24 October as we celebrate Black History Month with the Department of Management. This year’s Black History Month celebrations are all about Celebrating our Sisters, Saluting Our Sisters, and Honouring Matriarchs of the Movement, therefore we would like to take this opportunity to explore Women of Colour Within the Workplace!

In this panel discussion, we will be exploring biases through the eyes of minority female leaders and we will end the evening with some drinks to celebrate Black History Month.

Pre-registration is required for this event. Given the limited number of places available, please cancel your reservation if you are unable to attend the event.

Sign up here

Alumni panellists:

• Regina Quartey
• Anuoluwapo Adenuga
• Joy David

Location: Sheik Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building; and online

Join us for a talk by Kehinde Andrews about his new book, The Psychosis of Whiteness.

An all-encompassing, insightful and wry look at living in a racist world, by a leading black British voice in the academy and in the media. Take a step through the looking-glass to a strange land, one where Piers Morgan is a voice worth listening to about race, where white people buy self-help books to cope with their whiteness, where Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are seen by the majority of the population as 'the right (white) man for the job'. Perhaps you know it. All the inhabitants seem to be afflicted by serious delusions, like that racism doesn't exist and if it does it can be cured with a one-hour inclusion seminar, and bizarre collective hallucinations, like the widely held idea that Britain's only role in slavery was to abolish it. But there is a serious side too. Black and brown people suffer from a greater number of mental health difficulties, caused in no small part by living in a racist society. Society cannot face up to the racism at its heart and in its history, so the delusions and hallucinations it conjures up to avoid doing so can only best be described as a psychosis, and the costs are being borne by the sons and daughters of that racist history.

In-person event: no re-registration is required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Online event: registration is required (open from 4th October, 10am)

Register here

This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

Speakers

Kehinde Andrews (@kehinde_andrews) is the UK's first Professor of Black Studies, at Birmingham City University where he led the establishment of the first Black Studies programme in Europe, the Chair of the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity and editor in chief of Make It Plain. He is the author of Back to Black: retelling black radicalism for the 21st century and The New Age of Empire: how racism and colonialism still rule the world.

Sara Camacho-Felix (@SFelix18) is an assistant professor (Education) and Programme Lead for the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme.

Chair

Maël Lavenaire is a Caribbean and Latin America historian and Research Fellow in Racial Inequality at the LSE International Inequalities Institute.

Location: The Alumni Centre, Centre Building

Are you planning a visit to campus soon? We've planned just the perfect afternoon for you on Thursday 26 October. Kickstart your afternoon with a performance by Michal Szymanowski, a rising star among Polish pianists of the new generation. Afterwards, join us for a riveting tour of campus - You'll have the chance to rediscover old haunts and explore exciting new buildings including the new rooftop terraces. 

After the tour, indulge in some well deserved relaxation and conversation with fellow alumni in the cozy ambiance of the Alumni Centre lounge where complimentary afternoon tea awaits. Next, join the LSE Library for an enlightening archive drop in session celebrating Black History month. Not an opportunity to miss out on!

Conclude your day on campus with a classic LSE lecture hosted by the Department of Economic History on the 'The economic government of the world, 1933-2023'. 

We can't wait to welcome you back to campus.

All events are free to attend and details on how to attend each event is listed below. Feel free to attend all events or just a selection.

More detail

Location: LSE Library, The British Library of Political and Economic Science

Join us for an early evening sneak peek at the archives in celebration of Black History Month with LSE EMBRACE!

Archives on display will include material from the Women In Entertainment on Black Theatre groups, significant LSE alumni and staff, newsletters of Black Women's Group Brixton and books from the Myra Sadd Brown Memorial Library. Material from journalist and activist Claudia Jones, politician Diane Abbott, and Kenyan peace activist Wangari Maathai will also be displayed.

You can also learn more from our friendly team of curators and archivists who will be on hand to answer any questions and talk more about using archives and special collections in your teaching, research or for personal interest.

Book a place to register your interest and receive reminders about the day or just drop in and stay as long as you like!

Register here

If you can't make it, follow the Library on Twitter or Instagram where they regularly share items and stories from our rich online and printed collections. We love to hear how you are using them!

Location: CBG 1.06, Centre Building, LSE

As part of Black History Month, the International Inequalities Institute and Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme invite you to this event, open to all staff and students.

Dr Maël Lavenaire (LSE International Inequalities Institute) takes you on a journey to the 1960s, 70s and 80s in his home country of Guadeloupe (French Caribbean), where the struggle for political independence started in 1963 and turned into an armed struggle 20 years later. The event shines light on Caribbean scholar Professor Jean-Pierre Sainton and his singular contribution to Caribbean history.

This event is free and open to the public. However, you must pre-register here. Given the limited number of places available, please cancel your reservation if you are unable to attend the event.

Location: Wolfson Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building

As part of Black History Month, we invite you to a conversation with Dr Joshua Myers about his latest book, Of Black Study (Pluto Press, 2023). Through an in-depth study of the work and lives of Black intellectuals (June Jordan, W. E. B. Du Bois, Sylvia Wynter, Jacob H. Carruthers Jr., Cedric J. Robinson and Toni Cade Bambara), Dr Myers invites us to seriously question the ‘lies’ of the West and its Academy, or to use Du Bois's phrase, the 'half-truths' of Science. Calling for a return to the radical ideas (or dreams) that led to the emergence of Black Studies in the neoliberal university, Of Black Study invites us to (re)read Black history in the light of a commitment to being undisciplined.

This event is free and open to the public. However, we invite you to register by using Eventbrite. Given the limited number of places available, please cancel your reservation if you are unable to attend the event.

Register here

Speakers

Joshua M. Myers is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. He is the author of Of Black Study (Pluto, 2023), Cedric Robinson: The Time of the Black Radical Tradition (Polity, 2021), and We Are Worth Fighting For: A History of the Howard University Student Protest of 1989 (NYU Press, 2019), as well as the editor of A Gathering Together: Literary Journal.

His research interests include Africana intellectual histories and traditions, Africana philosophy, musics, and foodways as well as critical university studies, and disciplinarity. His work has been published in Critical Ethnic Studies Journal, Washington History, The Journal of Academic Freedom, The Journal of African American Studies,The Journal of Pan African Studies, The African Journal of Rhetoric, The Human Rights and Globalization Law Review, Downbeat, The New Inquiry, Pambazuka, Obsidian, and Burning House Press, among other literary spaces.

In addition to serving on the board of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations and the editorial board of The Compass: Journal of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations, he is the senior content producer at the Africa World Now Project, and served as the co-coordinator of the SNCC Legacy Project’s Black Power Chronicles Oral History Project and as an organizer with Washington DC’s Positive Black Folks in Action. He is currently working with SNCC Legacy Project's Digital Movement Platform.

A central thread that guides all of this work is an approach to knowledge that takes seriously that peoples of African descent possess a deep sense of reality, a thought tradition that more than merely interprets what is around us, but can transform and renew these spaces we inhabit—a world we would like to fundamentally change.

rémy-paulin twahirwa (he/they) is a community organiser and doctoral researcher in sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). rémy's research project focuses on the coloniality of migration by examining the use of administrative detention against asylum seekers, refugees and other displaced persons labelled as 'migrants' in the UK. As an abolitionist, rémy has been involved in migrant justice work over the last decade in so-called 'Canada' and more recently in the UK. He can be reached at @remypaulint.

Chair

Mahvish Ahmad, Assistant Professor in Human Rights and Politics, Department of Sociology, LSE

Location: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House; and online

In tandem with the theme of Black History Month, "Celebrating our Sisters, Saluting our Sisters, and Honouring Matriarchs of Movements", this panel discussion analyses the role of black women in social, cultural and political movements historically and in our times.

In-person event: no re-registration is required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Online event: registration is required (open from 9th October, 10am)

Register here

This event will be available to watch on LSE Live. LSE Live is the new home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

Speakers

Mame-Fatou Niang (@MameFatouNiang) is Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the Carnegie Mellon University. She is the author of Identités Françaises, the co-author of Universalisme, and the founder and Director of the Center for Black European Studies and the Atlantic. She conducts research on economies of the living/living economy, blackness in contemporary France, and French universalism.

SM Rodriguez (@SM_Rodriguez77) is Assistant Professor at the Department of Gender Studies at LSE. They have previously served in appointments at Hoftra University, Stony Brook University, the State University of New York, and as Director of LGBTQ+ Studies at Hofstra University. They are the author of The Economies of Queer Inclusion: transnational organizing for LGBTI rights in Uganda, and the forthcoming, Abolition in the Academy: scholar-activists in the global movement for penal abolition.

Chair

Joanna Lewis (@joannalewisnews) is the Chair for the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She is a historian of Africa. Her latest publication, Women of the Somali Diaspora (2021, Hurst), is a study of resilience after conflict through the experiences of Somali women refugees and their community in the London diaspora.