African Diaspora Heritage and Experience (2021)

Growing up Masi read a lot of books, mostly children's story books and romantic novels as she got older. She realized what she read was mostly content stemming from the 1st world (US or Europe). Not many of the books were ever really of African origin, this wasn't for a lack of material but rather a lack of exposure. In this talk Masi explains what Afro-futurism is and how it can help propel the African culture and essence across the continent in all forms especially media. Masiyaleti "Masi" Mbewe is a third year Media Studies and English student at the University of Namibia, a freelance writer, amateur photographer and host of her own show on YouTube. She is fiercely passionate about art, film, fashion as well as feminist politics and frequently pursues creative ways to share her ideas.

The Library of Africa and the African Diaspora (LOATAD) is located at West Legon in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. It is open to those who want to learn more about Africa’s rich literary history. The library was founded by British-Ghanaian Sylvia Arthur in 2017 when she relocated to Ghana from the UK. According to Sylvia “the oldest book we have in our collection is from 1898 and it’s the African American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar, lyric of lowly life. We have an extensive archive not just of African American writers but of Africans as well. We have a huge collection of works by Ghanaian writers.” She said one thing that will surprise many who walk into the library is “how many black writers there are in the world. Because as you walk into this space we have pictures on the wall of lots of black writers or writers of African descent.”

Witness the unstoppable joy of dancing bomba, Puerto Rico’s Afro-Puerto Rican dance of resistance. Meet sisters Mar and María Cruz who are dedicated to the dance and its legacy of survival, and trace some of the communities where bomba is at its most vibrant, from the Santurce area of San Juan, to Loíza, the bastion of Afro-Puerto Rican culture across the Rio Grande. We meet Jesús Cepeda, a member of the family responsible for keeping this culture alive through the latter half of the 20th century. We also travel to Loíza, and the Piñones area, where community organizer Maricruz Rivera Clementa runs the Corporación Piñones Se Integra (http://www.copipr.com/) dedicated to preserving Afro-Puerto Rican culture and teaching the next generation of bomba dancers.

Arguably Africa's finest filmmaker, Ousmane Sembene remains largely unknown outside of the film community. A talented group of artists is trying to change that.

Also check out http://www.sembenefilm.com/en/film for more information on the Sembène Project.