New Ethnicities: Study Day

Since the early 1980s, John Akomfrah’s moving image works have offered some of the most rigorous and expansive reflections on the culture of the black diaspora, both in the UK and around the world. The Unfinished Conversation, 2012, presents a moving portrait of the life and work of distinguished cultural theorist Stuart Hall, who led the Cultural Studies department at the University of Birmingham from 1964.

The New Ethnicities: Study Day invites the public to reflect on Hall’s text New Ethnicities (1996), which highlights the artistic practices of the likes of Akomfrah in tackling and disrupting notions of Black identities in Britain. According to Hall, “identity is not an essence or being, but instead, a becoming that is part of an ever-unfinished conversation”.

Invited speakers (academics, artists, activists, and young people) will respond to the text and installation. They will examine discourses of identity, situating their lived experiences, knowledge and artistic practice within the current conjuncture of recent socio-political and cultural events. Emphasis is placed upon ‘institutional racism’, ‘culture wars’, Black Lives Matter protests, Brexit, and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 in Britain’s Black and ethnic minority communities. 

This event is presented by Midlands Art Centre in collaboration with Birmingham City University’s Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR) and the Stuart Hall Foundation, with contributions from academics and fellows. In keeping with Hall’s desire to ensure young people participate in shaping our society, members of The GAP Arts Project and Civic Square will participate in a series of discussions leading up to and during the Study Day.