Exploring African and Black Identities

KPFA - Womens Magazine

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 10-11. Find out why a symposium on racism in Europe is being held in the United States!

Then we listen to excerpts of the 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.”

The documentary is offered as a thank you gift for your donation to KPFA during this hour. Go to KPFA.org/support and click on Films.

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