Small Acts and Identity
Thursday 28th October | 5.30pm-7.00pm | Zoom/ Parkinson building Seminar Room B.08
We're pleased to announce that our second meeting of the year will pair the introduction to Paul Gilroy's 1996 book Small Acts: Thoughts on the Politics of Black Culture and the essay ‘British Cultural Studies and the Pitfalls of Identity’.
Gilroy’s introduction to Small Acts opens a varied collection of essays which reflect on different forms and conditions of black art and culture and their political possibilities, and analyse a particular moment of black British history. The introduction takes culture as the site for the exploration of the debates and political tensions which emerge around the representation and identities of black communities. Organising itself around a critique of ‘ethnic absolutism’, it begins to lay the ground work for a vital discussion of race and culture which challenges the use of homogenous concepts of unity to secure racial identity. Additional reflections on gender, technological development, and vernacular culture come together to produce a political exploration of black cultural forms which recognises the contingencies of community. Placing the introduction alongside ‘British Cultural Studies and the Pitfalls of Identity’ we can begin to trace some of the key concerns with race relations, the politics of representation and identity, the historical conditions of their emergence and conceptualisation, as well as some of the resistance his approaches have provoked.
This meeting will be our first hybrid meeting will be held over Zoom and on campus simultaneously. A campus map can be found here and directions to Parkinson SR B.08 and information about access here. If you need any assistance accessing either meeting please get in touch
Gilroy’s introduction to Small Acts opens a varied collection of essays which reflect on different forms and conditions of black art and culture and their political possibilities, and analyse a particular moment of black British history. The introduction takes culture as the site for the exploration of the debates and political tensions which emerge around the representation and identities of black communities. Organising itself around a critique of ‘ethnic absolutism’, it begins to lay the ground work for a vital discussion of race and culture which challenges the use of homogenous concepts of unity to secure racial identity. Additional reflections on gender, technological development, and vernacular culture come together to produce a political exploration of black cultural forms which recognises the contingencies of community. Placing the introduction alongside ‘British Cultural Studies and the Pitfalls of Identity’ we can begin to trace some of the key concerns with race relations, the politics of representation and identity, the historical conditions of their emergence and conceptualisation, as well as some of the resistance his approaches have provoked.
This meeting will be our first hybrid meeting will be held over Zoom and on campus simultaneously. A campus map can be found here and directions to Parkinson SR B.08 and information about access here. If you need any assistance accessing either meeting please get in touch
To join us online for this meeting and to receive a reminder about the session please email Ghada at en14gh@leeds.ac.uk to be added to the mailing list, through which you will receive the Zoom link.
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