The Artist as Public Intellectual…Bringing Rememory and Sankofa to Imagined Futures of Ethical Transnational Media (Research) Collaborations

“The Artist as Public Intellectual…” explores the concept of "Rememory," as defined by Toni Morrison (1987), where revisiting and reimagining the past helps heal, dream, and innovate. It also draws on the Ghanaian concept of Sankofa, which encourages looking to the past to guide progress toward the future. Using these ideas, the event looks beyond academic spaces to engage the Global South’s artistic and cultural knowledge. It will examine how histories, cultural heritages, filmmaking, and indigenous knowledge systems—related to media, identity, gender, and textiles—can inspire ethical and innovative approaches to transnational media research, practice, and teaching.

 The event focuses on North-South transnational media collaborations, particularly addressing challenges of exploitative practices in international partnerships. To create equity in such collaborations, there is a need to replace hierarchies with decolonial networks committed to mutual and fair exchanges. As Ngugi (2017) suggests, cultures should be taught “with a nod to other cultures,” allowing them to enrich and inspire one another. This event embraces the idea that artists, as public intellectuals, can act as conduits for these transformative exchanges.

The program includes lectures, panel discussions, film screenings, poetry readings, a stage play, music, book readings, and a photo exhibition. These artistic works will reflect on silenced memories, diverse experiences, and perspectives from intersectional identities, generations, and cultures of the Global South. The event will question dominant ideologies and the injustices in transnational collaborations while imagining equitable futures. As Angela Davis (2013) states, “locating art at the heart of… discussions of the possibility of change” is essential, and this event seeks to amplify that vision.

Spotlight on South Asia

Prof. Jude William Genilo
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Head of the Media Studies and Journalism Department and the Director of ULAB's Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)
Bangladesh

Panel Discussion on “Sankofa in Bangladesh Visual Arts: Re-imagining the Past, Gazing at the Future”.

Prof. Dr. Jude William Genilo, Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, Prof. Anisha Datta from King's University College at Western University, Canada, will be joined as chairs in the panel discussion titled Postscripts on Colonial (Dis-)Continuities.

Lecture in “Exploring Bangladesh Muslim Identity Through Cinema in a Culture War of Secularism and Faith” by Nandita Tabassum Khan: Senior Lecturer, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.

Lecture in “Dhaka—A City of Contrast, Contradiction, and Uncertain Future” by Nibras Bin Sayed: Lecturer, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.

Film Screening:

Red Blue Green (2023)

OSCAR-nominated film, Red Blue Green (2023) directed by Amrutha Palaressi and produced by Avinash Nair, BU alumnae of Film & TV.

Red Green Blue is an introspective journey into the minds of three characters whose lives intertwine through the symbolic representation of the primary colours. Each character is haunted by their environment: a graveyard, a bathroom, and a living room, all of which hold a mysterious and deadly allure. As they face their inner demons, their stories converge on a dark stage where life, death, and eternity blur into one. Through striking visuals and chilling moments, Red Green Blue explores the emotional and psychological fragility of human existence.

Film Screening:

Deferred (2024)

Deferred (2024), directed by Lanka Bandaranayake. (A DMDI research output).

“Deferring that Unconditional Admission Offer”

Ambitious and academically successful Sri Lankan young women, who have long dreamed of studying abroad, now find themselves at a crossroads due to new UK immigration policies that prevent them from bringing their spouses along. Their deeply personal and emotional journeys unfold as they navigate the harsh reality of choosing between their educational goals and their familial bonds.

Film Screening:

Defying The Storm (Work In Progress) Directed and Produced by Tazeen Bari

Defying The Storm is the story of Pakistan’s Lady Health Workers and their invaluable contribution in the 2022 floods providing life saving care to their communities, despite being impacted by the floods themselves and despite being under resourced, over burdened and underpaid. Lady Health Workers have been fighting for their rights for years and are one of the largest labour unions and grassroots women’s movements in Pakistan. We follow union leader Bushra Bano Arain as she goes on a membership drive through Sindh to expand union membership and examine how the critical link between climate change and labour rights must not be ignored.

Sri Lankan Executive Producer, Director, Events Curator, and Published Author Nayomi Apsara will be joining a panel for screenings & discussions of DMDI research outputs.

This UKRI-HEIF-funded event is organized by Developing a Media Decolonisation Imaginary (DMDI), a network focused on ethics in transnational media research. The network brings together three universities and 31 scholars, artists, and media professionals. It is led by CESJ Centre of Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, with partners including the University of the Liberal Arts in Bangladesh, Lanka Cine Media in Sri Lanka, and the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE) in Nigeria.

Professor Karen Fowler-Watt, Director, Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion and Social Justice, Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are delighted to be hosting this important 2-day event – “The Artist as Public Intellectual”. The Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion and Social Justice champions interdisciplinary research, focused on these 3 research themes of conflict, emotion and social justice and with a particular emphasis on inequality, diversity and marginalisation. The work of the DMDI network aligns perfectly with this focus. The event on November 28-29th - comprised of 3 universities and 31 scholars, artists and media practitioners - presents an artistic showcase, seeking to develop north-south transnational media collaborations. It offers a rich and varied range of cultural artefacts – ranging from poetry, music and drama to film-screenings and visual exhibitions. We look forward to welcoming lively discussion, to listening to new ideas -- a very important aspect of the network, listening to and learning from each other - and to working on future collaborations that I feel sure will be spawned by this important initiative.

Samantha Iwowo, the Research Lead for Developing a Media Decolonisation Imaginary (DMDI), is a Principal Academic in Directing Drama for Film and Television at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom.

Sri Lankan filmmaker and film scholar Lanka Bandaranayake, the South Asian industry partner in the Developing a Media Decolonisation Imaginary (DMDI).
Founder and CEO of Lanka Cine Media, Sri Lanka.

Ghanaian filmmaker and scholar Marcia Abdul-Korah serves as the Project Manager for Africa in the Developing a Media Decolonisation Imaginary (DMDI) research initiative.

From 28 Nov 2024
Until 29 Nov 2024
Hybrid (Online and inperson)
Bournemouth University, UK; KNUST University Ghana; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Makerere University, Uganda; Kings University, Canada
Academic discipline: