DOCUMENTING BLACK ITALY is a series of conversations about contemporary Afro-Italians lead by Italian-Ghanaian filmmaker-activist-educator Fred Kudjo Kuwornu.
IN ENGLISH / ONLINE / FREE
November 11th, 2021
December 9th, 2021
February 3rd, 2022
February 3rd, 2022 [important: the time for this discussion has changed to 5:30-6:30 PM]
Everyone is encouraged to register for all the three events
Black Lives Matter in Italy and the legacy of Colonialism
Thursday, November 11th, 6:30-7:30 PMONLINE / IN ENGLISH / FREE
This multi-media lecture aims to give a reasoned answer considering the nature of American institutional systemic racism structurally and statistically different from the Italian one, offering the audience of the event a cultural and semantic framework to interpret the current condition in Italy with the contest of the past of Italian Colonialism. When was racism born in Italy? Who are the Afro-Italian activists? Which is the composition and history of Black Italy? Is there any collective memory of the Italian past? On which battle is black activism in Italy engaged?
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Once in the new window, click on the Register button in the upper left blue box.
Representing Blackness in Italy (from Art History to nowadays) December 9th, 2021 [important: the time for this discussion has changed to 5:30-6:30 PM]
February 3rd, 2022
Thursday, December 9th, 5:30-6:30 PM
ONLINE / IN ENGLISH / FREE
Live-streamed conversation on the visual histories of Blackness in Italian culture lead by filmmaker, scholar and activist Fred Kuwornu. For over a decade, Kuwornu, an Italian-Ghanaian independent scholar, has been involved in narrating and analyzing the experience of the African diaspora in Italy from historical, sociological, and political perspectives. Utilizing examples of visual culture ranging from the 1200s to 2020s, Fred will illuminate conceptions of Blackness underlying contemporary Italian culture.
Click here to register
Once in the new window, click on the Register button in the upper left blue box.
Black Italians and Digital Culture in Contemporary Italy
Thursday, February 3rd, 6:30-7:30 PM
February 3rd, 2022 [important: the time for this discussion has changed to 5:30-6:30 PM]
ONLINE / IN ENGLISH / FREE
In recent years social media have become the main platform where new artistic talents but also black activists are imposing themselves in Italian culture. This multi-media lecture explores the role of Black girls in Italy and their contribution in a variety of fields including the world-renowned Italian fashion and beauty industries, the role of Black artists in the music and entertainment industry. Social Media Entrepreneurship has emerged as an important strategy for Afro-Italians seeking to advance new narratives about Blackness and its inclusion within the material and symbolic boundaries of Italy. At the same time, Afro-Italian entrepreneurship is transforming Italian material culture, and, by extension, the meanings of "Italianness" itself. See more info at https://www.blackitalia.info/blaqit
Click here to register
Once in the new window, click on the Register button in the upper left blue box.
Fred Kudjo Kuwornu is an Italian-Ghanaian filmmaker, activist, educator, producer, born and raised in Italy and based in New York. He is best known as the director of critically acclaimed documentaries such as Blaxploitalian, Inside Buffalo and 18 IUS SOLI. His documentaries deal with political and social themes, such as racism, interracial relations, diversity, Afro-Italians and Black diasporic identity in Italy and the African diaspora in the world. His mother is an Italian Jew, and his father is a Ghanaian surgeon who lived in Italy since the early 60’s. Fred Kuwornu holds a Master of Arts in Political Science at the University of Bologna, Italy with a focus on sociology and mass communication studies. After work on 2007 Spike Lee’s film “Miracle at St’ Anna”, Kuwornu produced and directed the Award-winning historical documentary Inside Buffalo, about the African-American segregated 92nd Infantry Division which fought in Europe during Second World War. Inside Buffalo had viewings at the Pentagon, the Library of Congress and it received a letter of congratulations by President Barack Obama. In 2016, He released “ Blaxploitalian 100 Years of Black in Italian Cinema ”, a diasporic, hybrid, historical, critical, dimensional and cosmopolitan documentary about actors of African descent in Italian cinema. In 2020, he was the voice over for the Italian version of the Netflix educational show Bookmarks-Celebrating Black Voices. On July 2021, He launched the platform BlackItalia.info and "Teaching Black Itay" a one week refresher online course for teachers which explores the contemporary presence of the African diaspora in Italy. The first edition of the course has been joined by 95 professors and scholars of Italian studies. For more details on Fred Kuwornu’s biography, please visit https://www.dotherightfilms.nyc/bio-fred-kuwornu.
