Hi all,
I am sorry but I find the tone of Nathaniel's response somewhat ill
considered.
When I offered to look into the MayDayRooms it was an attempt to find a
practical solution to a problem. I did not expect a response which
stigmatises either myself or MayDayRooms as carping from the margins.
What I see as crucial about BASA is that it brings together people both
from academic and activist backgrounds. This combination has actually
shown itself to have a remarkable power in pushing forward social change.
When Stokely Carmichael teamed up with Charles V. Hamilton to write "Black
Power: The Politics of Liberation", it had an amazing effect.
The first debate about institutional racism occurred at the Dialectics of
Liberation Congress, again an event organised by both activists and
academics. It may have taken time - perhaps as long as it takes for the
students of 1967 to become people of influence by the time the Lawrence
Report was published in 1999 - for institutional racism to be taken
seriously. So please, when discussing processes of social change can we
base our responses on reasoned argument, evidence and mutual respect.
It is not a matter of "moving the study of black experience out of
institutionalised academia" but of finding a suitable venue in central
London.
The UK Centre for Research in Black Studies looks very interesting, and it
would seem sensible for BASA to develop a strong relationship with them.
However as they would appear to be based in Beckton on the outer reaches
of the Docklands Light Railway, I am not sure whether it is likely that
they can come up with a suitable venue. However, if Nathaniel would like
to contact them, perhaps we can see.
Likewise, as Miranda has suggested, Nathaniel could also consider seeing
what possibilities are available at his own institution. The key issue is
finding a suitable venue.
all the best
Fabian Tompsett
> Colleagues,
>
> It worries me that we are considering moving the study of black experience
> out of institutionalised academia, where it has gained some sort of
> footing.
>
> I am impressed by the achievement of Deborah Gabriel and Dr Gil Robinson,
> in anchoring, within institutionalised academia, the new UK Centre for
> Research in Black Studies: http://blackstudiesresearchuk.org/. Let us join
> them or, at least, follow their strategy.
>
> As trite as it sounds, we have to be in it, to win it. No one who wields
> any social or political power in this colonising country will listen to
> those who carp from the margins.
>
> Nathaniel
>
> Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman, PhD
>
> Research Associate in the Philosophy of 'Race'
> Department of Philosophy, University College London
> Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy
>
>
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