2022-2023 Events

Wednesday April 12, 4:40 p.m Davis Lecture Hall

Je suis Noires / Becoming a Black Woman 

Rachel M’Bon &Pamela Ohene-Nyako

A film screening plus panel discussion of the film Je suis Noires / Becoming a Black Woman (2022).  One of the film’s co-directors, Rachel M’Bon, will introduce the film and she will be joined by Afro-Swiss scholar and activist, Pamela Ohene-Nyako, for a panel discussion after the film.

In Switzerland, a land of consensus and neutrality, unprecedented voices are being raised by women who are fighting for the recognition of structural racism, deconstructing stereotypes and claiming their dual Swiss and black identity. In this context, Rachel (Barbezat) M’Bon, a Swiss-Congolese journalist, begins her own quest for identity. On her way to emancipation, she questions her past, her present and holds up a mirror to her country and her peers.

Monday, Nov. 14, at 4:45 p.m. in Hum 401

 “Afro-Descendants and Their Political Participation in Belgium: What Are the Stakes and Challenges?”

Fatoumata Sidibe

Fatoumata Sidibe will talk about the political participation of Afro-descendants in Belgium over the past twenty years and its impact on the political landscape. She will examine the electoral stakes for the political parties and the strategies and claims of diversity candidates. She will also discuss the impact of representatives from Sub-Saharan origin.

Born in Bamako, Fatoumata Sidibé, journalist, writer, painter, and politician, has lived in Brussels since 1980. She has worked in journalism, communications, and social matters. She has also been an advocate for human rights for a long time. Elected to the Regional Parliament of Brussels for ten years, she left the political arena in 2019 to take up other challenges. She remains an honorary MP and she has been awarded the rank of Knight in the Order of Leopold.

Tuesday 25 October at 4:45 pm, HUM 401

 “Jean-Jacques Dessalines – Le Vainqueur de Napoléon” Followed by Q&A

Arnold Antonin’s latest masterpieces.

Arnold Antonin will then answer all your questions in a Q&A on this ” first feature-length Haitian film about the Haitian Revolution and the War of Independence- and the very first documentary anywhere in the world on Jean-Jacques Dessalines.”

Dessalines is Haiti’s mythical figure and main founder. This film restores him in his complexity and opens a debate on the Haitian crises and colonial heritage.