Launching the Black Liberation Commons!
On Thursday, February 8, we open our doors to the new Black Students’ Space: Black Liberation Commons. This multi-use space with a study, meeting, and quiet reflection room is adorned with art from Black artists and stocked with books from Black intellectuals and revolutionaries. Our hope is that this space will be used for what Robin D.G. Kelley calls “freedom dreaming” — an envisioning of not what we are fighting against but what we are fighting for.
The celebration of the Black Liberation Commons is a joint project between:
Events to Take Note of This Month!
Ras Burnett & Nambi feat. Black History Month Panel Discussion
Saturday, February 3 | 7–10PM | The Broom Factory, 305 Rideau St.
Saxophonist, educator, and organizer Ras Moshe Burnett is a Brooklyn NY native. Ras believes in the positive effect of music for socio-political change. He is the organizer of the “Music Now!” series formed in 1999 and a member of the Neues Kabarett collective, both at The Brecht Forum in NYC. A workshop will follow this event, at Next Church, on Sunday, Feb 4. More information can be found at hearkingston.ca
REELOUT 25 presents Africa: Within & Without Shorts Program
Monday, February 5 | 6PM | The Screening Room, 120 Princess St.
The 2024 Kingston ReelOut film festival presents a film shorts program that explores the intersections of racial, sexual, and immigrant identities featuring cinematic stories by Nigerian filmmakers. After the show stay for a riveting discussion with filmmaker Ayo Tsalithaba (they/them/theirs), Queen’s University’s Black Studies scholars, and the Kingston Black Luck Collective. Queen’s community members can access discounted tickets to this and every ReelOut film festival show by using promo code “everybodyblack2024”.
Contemporary Philosophy of Race Conference
February 8–10 | Online & Watson Hall, 49 Bader Ln.
Join us online or in-person for the Contemporary Philosophy of Race Conference. Philosophy of race as a broad field examines issues raised by the concept of race, the practices and processes of racialization, and the persistence of various forms of racism across the world and throughout history. Contemporary philosophers of race face the logics and orders of racial capitalism, coloniality, and anti-Blackness. Register here.
Tynomi Banks at The Grand Theatre
Friday, February 9 | 5:30 – 7:30PM | Kingston Grand Theatre, 218 Princess St.
Queens University, St. Lawrence College, and The Kingston Grand Theatre have partnered once again to put on a free opening Reception featuring authentic Afro-Caribbean foods and an opportunity for community connection and social networking on February 9, 2024, 5:30 - 7:30pm at The Grand Theatre. Following the opening Reception on February 9th, the City's Grand OnStage Season presents the one and only drag sensation Tynomi Banks, a Canada’s Drag Race alumni currently headlining a new Ontario-wide theatre concert series Queen’s community members can purchase 50% discounted tickets to this show with discount code: “TynomiBanks2024”.
Screening + Workshop with Aman Sandhu
Saturday, February 10 | 4PM | The Screening Room, 120 Princess St.
Sunday, February 11 | 4PM | Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 36 University Ave.
Open Secret: The Second Edition continues as a series composed of screenings, conversations, and workshops with artist and guest curator Aman Sandhu. This series takes its departure from Fred Moten’s words that “poetry investigates new ways for people to get together and do stuff in the open, in secret.” Similarly, cinema’s capacity to condition spaces for gathering, and the double maneuver of opacity and transparency inherent in its making sets the precedent for this sort of investigation embedded in collaboration.
Aman’s film program invites us to consider the use of archival material. Searching through archives especially familial ones, might provoke and intensify the discovery of that which has not yet been told. Aman touches on this compulsion of the search, toward that which has not yet been experienced, through his art practice and research on the effects of the rupture in sound and moving image. By making this break, the films in this program have affinities with Afrological improvisation, which moves through “known-knowns,” only to diverge and allow the new to come through. This immersion in improvisation creates unexpected movement and a rhythm that is always already in emergence: what is possible when form deviates and transforms?
Learn more by clicking here.
Bibliography
Still rolling through and holding on, Katherine McKittrick and Kendall Witaszek asked Muna Dahir, Renée Whittaker, Yaniya Lee, Milka Njoroge, Ebunoluwa Amosu, jessica oler, Angela Stanley, and Kharoll-Ann Souffrant what they are reading, listening to, moving to, and moved by as we enter this Black History/Black Futures Month. Read and listen alongside them below!
Muna Dahir, PhD Student in Gender Studies
Abusalim, Jehad, Jennifer Bing, and Mike Merryman-Lotze, eds. Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2022.
Edwards, Erica R. The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of US Empire. New York: New York University Press, 2021.
Washington, Mary Helen. The Other Blacklist: The African American Literary and Cultural Left of the 1950s. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015.
Renée Whittaker, PhD Candidate in Cultural Studies
Davis, Angela. Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2016.
Jackson, Jenn M. Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism. New York: Random House, 2024.
Yaniya Lee, PhD Student in Gender Studies
baer, hannah. trans girl suicide museum. Los Angeles: Hesse Press, 2020.
Brand, Dionne. Nomenclature: New and Collected Poems. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2022.
Gordon, Avery. The Hawthorn Archive: Letters from the Utopian Margins. New York: Fordham University Press, 2017.
Jemison, Steffani. A Rock, A River, A Street. Brooklyn: Primary Information, 2022.
Shibli, Adania. Minor Detail. Translated by Elisabeth Jaquette. New York: New Directions Publishing, 2020.
Milka Njoroge, PhD Candidate in Gender Studies
Odumosu, Temi. “The Visitation.” In Sasha Huber: You Name It, edited by Mark Sealy and Gaëtane Vern, 125-129. N.P.: The Power Plant, Autograph, and Mousse Publishing, 2022.
Schuller, Kyla. The Biopolitics of Feeling: Race, Sex, and Science in the Nineteenth Century. Duke University Press, 2017.
Singh, Julietta. No Archive Will Restore You. Santa Barbara: Punctum Books, 2018.
Ebunoluwa Amosu, MA Student in Gender Studies
Falola, Toyin. Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009.
McKittrick, Katherine. Dear Science and Other Stories. Durham: Duke University Press, 2021.
jessica oler, PhD Student in Gender Studies
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. Translated by Charles Lam Markmann. London: Pluto Press, 1986.
hooks, bell. All About Love: New Visions. New York: William Morrow, 2018. First published 2000 by William Morrow.
Angela Stanley, Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Black Studies
Bailey, Moya. Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women's Digital Resistance. New York: New York University Press, 2021.
Hibbert, Talia. Get a Life, Chloe Brown. New York: Avon, 2019.
Schalk, Sami. Black Disability Politics. Durham: Duke University Press, 2022.
Kharoll-Ann Souffrant, Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Black Studies
Chancy, Myriam J.A. Voix / Éclairs / Tonnerres. Translated by Chloé Savoie-Bernard. Montréal: Les Éditions du Remue-Ménage, 2023.
Pierre, Alexandre. Empreintes de Résistance: Filiations et Récits de Femmes Autochtones, Noires et Racisées. Montréal: Les Éditions du Remue-Ménage, 2021.
Discography (Stream on Spotify here)
Beyoncé. “MY HOUSE.” Single. Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia, 2023, streaming audio, Spotify.
Blu and Exile. “The World Is… (Below the Heavens).” Track 13 on Below the Heavens. Sound in Color, 2007, streaming audio, Spotify.
Burns, Cat. “live more & love more.” Single. Since 93 and RCA, 2023, streaming audio, Spotify.
Chronixx. “Spanish Town Rockin’.” Track 1 on Chronology. Soul Circle Music and Virgin EMI Records, 2017, streaming audio, Spotify.
Commodores. “Nightshift.” Track 2 on Nightshift. Motown, 1985, streaming audio, Spotify.
Doechii. “Crazy.” Single. Top Dawg Entertainment and Capitol Records, 2022, streaming audio, Spotify.
Erivo, Cynthia. “Stand Up (From Harriet).” Single. Back Lot Music, 2019, streaming audio, Spotify.
Garlin, Bunji. “110 Overcharge.” Track 1 on Real Stink Riddim. Bad Beagle, 2024, streaming audio, Spotify.
Guthrie, Gwen. “Ain’t Nothing Goin’ on But the Rent.” Track 5 on Good To Go Lover. Island Records, 1986, streaming audio, Spotify.
Kiwanuka, Michael. “Cold Little Heart.” Track 1 on Love & Hate. Polydor, 2016, streaming audio, Spotify.
Laveaux, Mélissa. “Needle in the Hay.” Track 8 on Camphor & Copper. No Format!, 2008, streaming audio, Spotify.
Libianica. “People.” Single. 5K Records, 2022, streaming audio, Spotify.
Martins, Dave, and the Tradewinds. “Not a Blade of Grass.” Single. Penny, unknown, vinyl.
Moïse, Teri. “Les Poèmes de Michelle.” Track 1 on Teri Moïse (Edition Deluxe). Parlophone Music France, 1996, streaming audio, Spotify.
Monáe, Janelle. “Know Better.” Featuring CKay, Seun Kuti, and Egypt 80. Track 11 on The Age of Pleasure. Wondaland and Bad Boy Records, 2023, streaming audio, Spotify.
The Pharcyde. “Runnin’.” Track 2 on Labcabincalifornia (Deluxe Edition). The Bicycle Music Company, 1995, streaming audio, Spotify.
Renaud, Mélanie. “Ma Liberté.” Track 2 on Ma Liberté. Tacca Musique, 2001, streaming audio, Spotify.
Rufus and Chaka Khan. “Tell Me Something Good.” Track 2 on The Very Best of Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan. MCA Records, 1982, streaming audio, Spotify.
Russell, Allison. “Take Me to Church.” Single. Birds of Chicago, 2023, streaming audio, Spotify.
Savage, Tiwa and Asake. “Loaded.” Single. 222 Entertainment and Everything Savage, 2022, streaming audio, Spotify.
Scott-Heron, Gil. “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Track 1 on Pieces of a Man. Flying Dutchman, 1971, streaming audio, Spotify.
Simi. “Woman.” Single. Studio Brat and M.A.D Solutions, 2021, streaming audio, Spotify.
Simone, Nina. “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” Track 1 on Broadway-Blues-Ballads. Philips, 1964, streaming audio, Spotify.
Solange and D’ Angelo Lacy. “Sleep in the Park - Twin Shadow Remodel.” Single. Terrible Records, 2012, streaming audio, Spotify.
Somi. “Pata Pata.” Track 7 on Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba. Salon Africana, 2022, streaming audio, Spotify.
Stetson, Colin. “A Dream of Water.” Track 6 on New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges. Constellation Records, 2011, streaming audio, Spotify.
Teni. “YBGFA.” Track 1 on TEARS OF THE SUN. Sugar Mummy Records, 2023, streaming audio, Spotify.
XXXTENTACION. “Look At Me!” Single. Bad Vibes Forever and EMPIRE, 2017, streaming audio, Spotify.