Screening Event: 'The Big Pride' (1961)

Tuesday 13th June | 17:30 - 19:00 | Room 3.01, Clothworkers South


We look forward to welcoming you to our next session in which we will be screening The Big Pride (1961), a television drama written by Sylvia Wynter and her then-husband, Guyana-born writer Jan Carew. Originally written as a BBC radio play, in 1961 Wynter and Carew were commissioned to adapt the play (originally titled The University of Hunger) for ITV's Drama '61 anthology series.  


Black and white still from The Big Pride (1961). William Marshall as Sutlej sat at a desk while Johnny Sekka as Smallboy stands behind him with his hand resting on his shoulder.
Johnny Sekka and William Marshall in The Big Pride (1961)


Based on real events, The Big Pride is about three escaped convicts in British Guyana attempting to escape not only 'their past but the harsh reality of their lives'. Almost entirely forgotten until it was discovered and restored by the British Film Institute in the 1990s, The Big Pride is described by writer and historian Stephen Bourne as 'a unique visual record of the work of two important dramatists'.


While our discussion will be focused on the film, we are suggesting as optional reading Wynter's essay 'Rethinking "Aesthetics": Notes Towards a Deciphering Practice'. In this essay, divided into two parts, Wynter proposes to move towards a new practice of film criticism based upon ‘decipherment’. She links such a deciphering praxis to the emerging of a “popular Imaginary” opposed to “our present hegemonic Imaginary” (239).


As always this session will be open to all with no expectation of any previous engagement with Wynter's work. Snacks (including popcorn!) will be provided and please do join us for drinks afterwards. The session will be held in room 3.01, Clothworkers South building. Please do let us know in advance if you have any accessibility or dietary requirements or have any other questions or concerns at quiltingpoints@gmail.com.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robinson session 3: Robinson and the Decolonial

Thursday 29th February November | 5:30 – 7:00pm | The Alumni Room (School of English) We are happy to announce interdisciplinary reading group Quilting Points will return after a short break. Following our readings of  Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition  last term, we will begin this year by reading two short essays in which Robinson develops the ideas of that book in relation to thinking about the legacy of decolonial struggles on the African continent. In ' The appropriation of Fanon ', Robinson takes issue with what he sees as postcolonial theory's depoliticized conception of Fanon, and opens this up into a critique of the "native bourgeoisie", which he then develops in ' In Search of a Pan-African Commonwealth ', into thinking through the association between Pan-Africanism and the form of the Nation-State.  Everyone (at whatever level of study & whether enrolled at the University or not)  is welcome, and no prior familiarity w...
Read more

Sylvia Wynter and The Tempest: 'Beyond Miranda's Meanings'

Image
Thursday 18 May | 5:30 - 7:00pm | Meeting Room G01 Written as an afterword to Out of the Kumbla (1994), the first edited collection of critical essays on Caribbean women’s literature, ' Beyond Miranda's Meaning: Un/silencing the "Demonic Ground" of Caliban's "Woman" ' analyses the ways in which race complicates gender, taking a discussion of Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a point of departure. According to Sylvia Wynter, this play not only posits Caliban as ‘the irrational native subject’ but in doing so also relegates 'Caliban’s "woman"' to a space of non-being. As such, the play reenacts the founding structure of the onto-epistemic order of Western Man. Analysing the function of the “ontological absence” of the Black female subject position, it is in this essay that Wynter coins the term “demonic ground”, which has since been taken up by various scholars in different ways, most notably by Katherine McKittrick. As always this sessio...
Read more

Quilting Points Symposium: ‘Racial Capitalism and Cultural Resistance’ - 1st May 2024

  Quilting Points are pleased to announce a symposium on the theme of ‘Racial Capitalism and Cultural Resistance’, inspired by our year-long consideration of the work of Cedric Robinson.  All are welcome to join a group of international researchers for a day of interdisciplinary papers, concluded by a keynote address from Dr. Dhanveer Singh Brar. Please find the full schedule below. There is no registration fee, we welcome people to drop-in on the day, and refreshments will be provided.  Any questions, queries or accessibility concerns please email  quiltingpoints@gmail.com Location : (Room LT 1.28, First Floor, Liberty Building (Moot Court), Belle Vue Road, Leeds. LS2 9JT -  https://maps.app.goo.gl/LbH9q7nj2mBjyXScA  -  https://what3words.com/busy.debit.shows ) Go through the main entrance and go straight ahead through two sets of double doors up to level one. The Moot Court LT is on your right . Accessibility information :  Entry is via the fron...
Read more