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Title
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'Black Britain and Nelson Mandela' book launch
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Date
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March 14, 2025
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Description
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This event celebrated the launch of 'Black Britain and Nelson Mandela', an exploration of Nelson Mandela's legacy on Black intellectual thought on race and social justice in Britain. Hosted in collaboration with Senate House Library and SOAS Library, it brought together a panel of distinguished speakers to discuss the book's themes, insights, and significance. The speakers for the evening included:
Christopher Roy Zembe
Gregory Alake
Nadia Joseph
Sireita Mullings
Prof. Gus John (moderator)
About the speakers:
Christopher Roy Zembe is a Lecturer in History at De Montfort University. His research interests are, colonial and post-colonial histories and the African diaspora. His published work consists of: a book entitled "Zimbabwean Communities in Britain Imperial and Post-Colonial Identities and Legacies"; a Chapter entitled "Quest for a Cohesive Diaspora African Community: Reliving Historic Experiences by Black Zimbabweans in Britain" in a book on ‘New Perspectives on Black British History’; and an article in the Journal of Migration History entitled "Migrating with Colonial and Post-Colonial Memories: Dynamics of Racial Interactions within Zimbabwe's Minority Communities in Britain".
Gregory Alake's academic interest and specialist area focuses around the South Africa TRC with papers in “Instead of TRC Amnesty, would a different approach have delivered a better future for South Africa?, Role of International Law and Institutions in managing and preventing conflicts – How effective are these bodies? Public Service Procurement – the health and local authority experience”.
Greg Alake is a procurement specialist with over 30 years’ experience in Health services, Local Authority and Higher Education. He was formerly Head of Procurement at University College London, Contracts Manager at Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Contract Advisor at Goldsmiths, University of London and most recently as the Senior Category Manager for Mid Essex NHS Trust.
Nadia Joseph has been involved in South African politics personally and professionally. The daughter of veterans of the liberation struggle, she herself worked for the Anti-Apartheid Movement in London and remains an active campaigner around issues of social justice. Nadia’s role as Research and Content Lead for The Liliesleaf Trust UK is to deliver a major pilot-programme of engagement in the heritage of the Movement Against Apartheid (MAA) as part of a National Lottery Heritage funded project.
The wider aim is to expand the reach and impact of the overall TLTU programme and help prepare for a successful launch at the Centre of Memory and Learning (CML). This will be located at the newly designed former headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC) at 28 Penton Street, Islington. This site is of significance to Nadia as it was at the heart of the exiled liberation movement in the UK in which her parents played key roles. Nadia also works on a freelance basis as an educator through an initiative Education Through Culture, as well as a writer, editor and in the trade union movement.
Sireita Mullings-Lawrence is a visual sociologist and artist who completed a BA in Art, Design and Education at the University of the West Indies (Mona) and Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts, where she majored in photography and graphic design in Jamaica. She later returned to the UK to study an MSc in Multimedia at the University of Westminster. It was during this period she began working as a community arts practitioner locally and internationally.
Sireita draws upon the arts as a tool that renders the subjective realities which characterise the often-misunderstood positions of young people. Theoretically her work draws upon postcolonial studies, race and representation and she uses participatory and visual research methods pivoted on themes of digital creativity, youth, class, gender, social enterprise, social exclusion, inclusion, belonging, migration, education, safety and danger.
Prof. Gus John is a Grenadian-born writer, education campaigner, consultant, lecturer and researcher, who moved to the UK in 1964. He has worked in the fields of education policy, management and international development. As a social analyst he specialises in social audits, change management, policy formulation and review, and programme evaluation and development.
Since the 1960s he has been active in issues of education and schooling in Britain's inner cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and London, and was the first black Director of Education and Leisure Services in Britain.
