Black Town & Gown Film Screening and Panel Discussion

Overview

Join us for a screening of the film, Black Town & Gown, which covers the historical legacy of Black presence in the city of Cambridge. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.

The panel will be chaired by co-director Seetha Tan from (Cambridge Sociology), with creative producers Maya Mcfarlane (Cambridge Sociology) and Wolfson Fellow Jenni Skinner.

The film has two distinct parts. The first looks at the Gown and the legacy of the black presence at the University of Cambridge. In this, the focus is on black alumni as well as delving into the annals and collections within the African studies library, and highlights the prolonged struggle to safeguard black archival material. The film makers spoke to black students to provide an insight on the current racialised and classed dynamics related to space and positionality within the university.

The second part of the film is concerned with the Town, which is where the original contribution to knowledge of the production lies, in that it captures intergenerational voices, experiences, and perspectives of the black people who live in Cambridge. This is a film without actors - these are real people, and their voices are authentically presented from start to finish.

The film was created by Wolfson Fellow, Dr Kenny Monrose, and Seetha Tan.

Speakers

Seetha Tan is a filmmaker and Gates scholar completing her PhD in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.

Her research explores postcolonial migration and identity formation in the UK. She has worked in both podcast and film and is interested in the role of creative methodologies in research and public engagement.

Maya McFarlane is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge. She obtained her BA in Human, Social, and Political Sciences (2022) and her MPhil in Sociology (2023) from the University of Cambridge.

Maya’s MPhil thesis explored the role of hairstyling, emotion and memory in the racialisation of predominantly white universities. She has presented the findings of this research at the British Sociological Association and Eastern Sociological Society.

She is currently researching the formation of racialised and gendered class identities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, combining a racial frames analysis with theories of racial phenomenology. Her other areas of research interest include critical walking methodologies and Black feminist thought.00 - Panel Discussion

Jenni Skinner is the African Specialist and Library Manager of the African Studies Library, supporting the research and teaching needs of the University’s Undergraduate and Postgraduate study of Africa, as part of the World Collections Department at Cambridge University Library.

Jenni has a keen interest in the visual arts, with a focus on the visual representation of the global majority, and has hosted two contemporary photography exhibitions ‘Generation Z’, and ‘Stories of Kalingalinga’ in conjunction with Dr Kerstin Hacker from Cambridge School of Arts.

Moving forward Jenni will continue to work with African Lens & Maona Art with a view to supporting future discussions similar to their recent collaboration Insight: virtual conversations with African photographers and filmmakers; as well as the anticipated launch of the next photography exhibition at the Centre of African Studies Women in Perspective with Sudanese Collective & Network, Aswat Al Watan

Programme

17.30 - Welcome Remarks
17.45 - Film Screening
19.00 - Panel Discussion

Details

This event is open to all and free to attend - please register your place.

Refreshments will be available for the audience.

Access

This event will take place in the Gatsby Room on the first floor of the Chancellor's Centre. It has step-free access with a lift and there is an accessible toilet located each floor of the building.

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact our events team - events@wolfson.cam.ac.uk

REACH Hub

The REACH research hub at Wolfson is an interdisciplinary meeting place for the promotion and facilitation of culturally diverse research.