{"id":4658,"date":"2023-06-22T10:22:12","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T10:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=4658"},"modified":"2023-06-22T17:52:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T17:52:53","slug":"am-i-a-woman-or-a-slave-a-formidable-event-supported-by-bars-presidents-fellowship-scheme-ifemu-omari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=4658","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Am I a Woman or a Slave?\u2019 A formidable event supported by BARS President\u2019s Fellowship Scheme \u2013 Ifemu Omari\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two decades ago, I discussed the idea of doing a PhD on Mary Prince with a Senior Lecturer from a Russell Group university. \u201cIt\u2019s already been done.\u201d he retorted. And then, a little more spirited, he said, \u201cThere\u2019s something I want to show you.\u201d I swivelled in his direction on the chair in his small book-crammed office. He opened two large doors to reveal ceiling-to-floor of spine-bound brown books. \u201cThis is where PhDs end up\u201d, the Doctor of Philosophy concluded glibly. \u202fA few days later, he sent me an essay on Mary Prince written by one of his students, published on the University\u2019s website. I was highly critical of the essay\u2019s central argument but had neither the language nor the platform to challenge it.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fast forward to 2019 when my PhD supervisor at the University of Wolverhampton, Ben Colbert, drew my attention to the BARS Stephen Copley Award. I carefully read the brief and informed Ben that, \u201cI can\u2019t see myself in this.\u201d Ben assured me that I would be fine and much to my surprise, I won the award which took me to the Mitchell Library in Glasgow to investigate the archives of the pro-slavery journalist, James MacQueen. Consequently, I presented a paper in the NASSR\/BARS conference in August 2022 called \u2018Antics and Theatrics: British and West Indian newspaper\/periodical (Re)presentations of Mary Prince\u2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Am I a Woman or a Slave? The Formidable Layers of Mary Prince\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9OPtuZLmc9M?start=15&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I often describe my PhD journey as a dense forest in which I have created a path but as I walk down the route I have carefully constructed, the path, almost of its own accord, branches out in different directions. This tests my discipline to stay on track. Occasionally, I find a tangential lane irresistible \u2013 I tell myself that I\u2019m not changing directions, just modifying the shape of the path a little. Such was the case when I saw the invitation to apply for a new BARS award. Besides (I told myself) opportunities rarely appear in a timely fashion and the Mary Prince website \u2013 my main reason for applying for the BARS President\u2019s Fellowship \u2013 had been at the back of my mind for some time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an African Caribbean scholar, I am keenly aware that since Britain\u2019s clumsy attempts to dismantle the infrastructural evidence of chattel slavery and colonisation, this sceptred isle has been uneasy with itself and its relationship with the Caribbean \u2018other\u2019. I am also acutely mindful of the fragmentation and the invisibilities of African Caribbean histories which lead me to continually examine my own role as a black scholar.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since beginning my PhD research, I have observed a number of historical milestones \u2013 the Windrush scandal (2018); the Covid pandemic (2020 onwards); the murder of George Floyd (May 2020) and the international protests which followed led by Black Lives Matter (BLM). These events have intensified my self-scrutiny as a black scholar in the academic spaces within which I interact.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><object class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Am-I-a-Woman-or-a-Slave-poster-2-copy-1.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Am-I-a-Woman-or-a-Slave-poster-2-copy-1.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-c7143eff-cf36-406d-b802-e9ff02332050\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Am-I-a-Woman-or-a-Slave-poster-2-copy-1.pdf\">Am-I-a-Woman-or-a-Slave-poster-2-copy-1<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Am-I-a-Woman-or-a-Slave-poster-2-copy-1.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-c7143eff-cf36-406d-b802-e9ff02332050\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to global protests from America to Japan and from Brazil to Israel, George Floyd\u2019s murder sparked a spate of activity and conscientisation world-wide. For instance, in July 2020 all the top 10 books on the New York Times\u2019s bestseller list were about racism. And closer to home, Bernardine Evaristo\u2019s novel <em>Girl, Woman, Other<\/em> and Reni Eddo-Lodge\u2019s book, <em>Why I\u2019m No Longer Talking to White People About Race<\/em> became the first books by British black women to top the UK\u2019s fiction and non-fiction paperback charts, respectively. The businesses of many of my friends who worked in HR and Diversity thrived from a surge in soul-searching by institutions all over Britain. I was asked to run courses in Decolonising the Curriculum but like many of my HR consultant friends, my optimism was short-lived; complaints amounted to the same weary conclusion: \u201cThey\u2019re still not listening\u201d. My decolonisation courses were poorly attended \u2013 they had been quickly added to educational programmes with little thought about objectives, publicity and so on. But at least the establishments had put them on \u2013 Tick!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even before the public murder of George Floyd, this experience of institutional short-termism was all-too common amongst black professionals like me. I have concluded a long time ago that often white institutions do not listen with the intention of gaining new knowledge and to consider how they will adjust their central position in response. They, especially universities, owing to their long-established position of power through the dispensation and validation of knowledge, believe in their own superiority. Consequently, new knowledge serves to reinforce their elevated sense of selves and high positions in society and further entrenchment of their dominant culture.\u202fThis is epitomised in the oft paraded statement that universities are \u2018custodians of knowledge.\u2019&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BARS has reawakened some kind of hope that all may not be lost with \u2018the custodians of knowledge\u2019. Having only attended one BARS conference and interacted with BARS members, I believe that the organisation\u2019s soul-searching long pre-dated the events of May 2020. For me, BARS is a scholars\u2019 community who is always asking questions. Not only did the BARS President\u2019s Fellowship scheme appeal to people of colour but I was also attracted to the award\u2019s openness; the elasticity of the remit evidenced that BARS want to listen, want to grow with its membership and because of its membership \u2013 in short, to be relevant. So, I had no hesitation in applying.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everything about my vision to create and launch a website during Women\u2019s International week, aimed at local community access was realised on Monday March 6 at 2pm at the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton. My event, \u2018Am I a Woman or a Slave; the Formidable Layers of Mary Prince\u2019, sold out twice on Eventbrite. The audience from the Windrush generation and younger, non-academics and scholars gathered in one space and discussed issues which arose from my presentation about Mary Prince\u2019s narrative, <em>The History of Mary Prince; A West Indian Slave Related by Herself.<\/em> Choreographer Aderonke Fadare and her dance troupe performed an original piece interpreting the Mary Prince story. I also devised WomanChat \u2013 a panel of African Caribbean women who responded from their own perspectives to my presentation and Aderonke\u2019s dance performance. These brilliant women chaired by Ruth Minott were as follows:\u202fNicola Taylor Brown, a PhD researcher in Criminology and Women; Pat Clarke, chief executive of the Sandwell African Caribbean Mental Health Foundation; Kerensa Hodges, an MA student in Artificial Intelligence, Dr Nneoma Otuegbe, researcher in Black women\u2019s fiction, and our choreographer, Aderonke Fadare. This was followed by a Q and A.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/PIX-Ruth-and-Ifemu.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/PIX-Ruth-and-Ifemu-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/PIX-Ruth-and-Ifemu-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/PIX-Ruth-and-Ifemu-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/PIX-Ruth-and-Ifemu-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/PIX-Ruth-and-Ifemu-624x832.jpg 624w, https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/PIX-Ruth-and-Ifemu.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Ruth and Ifemu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Mayor Sandra Samuels opened the event. She was the first black woman to have held the post in Wolverhampton. So, it was apposite that she delivered the keynote speech about Mary Prince, the first black woman to have had her slave narrative published.\u202fMayor Samuel\u2019s closing remarks in her warm speech, were simple and resonant \u2013 \u2018Take care of yourselves\u2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mayor-Samuels-and-husband-with-Ifemu.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mayor-Samuels-and-husband-with-Ifemu.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4660\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mayor-Samuels-and-husband-with-Ifemu.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mayor-Samuels-and-husband-with-Ifemu-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mayor-Samuels-and-husband-with-Ifemu-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mayor-Samuels-and-husband-with-Ifemu-624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Mayor Samuels and her husband with Ifemu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When I cast my mind back to 2004, I now imagine that my retort to the glib response \u201cIt\u2019s already been done\u201d should have been \u201cShakespeare\u2019s works are four centuries old but he\u2019s still being done\u201d.\u202fAnd as a custodian of my own knowledge, I continue to tread gently through the dense forest which is my PhD, taking care to value, validate and valorise the scattered fragments of our diasporic African Caribbean literary histories.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would like to thank Dr Helen Davies, my supervisor who supported my application and Dr Nicola Allen; Professor Sebastian Groes who supported an additional application to the University of Wolverhampton\u2019s Centre for Transcultural and Transnational Research (CTTR) \u2013 this grant paid for Aderonke and her dancers. I would like to thank BARS for making me feel that I belong with this thriving scholars\u2019 community, and naturally, I am very grateful to have been made the first recipient of the President\u2019s Fellowship. And of course, I am ever grateful to my supervisor Dr Ben Colbert who \u2018saw me\u2019 when I couldn\u2019t see myself in this scholastic space. Nuff Respect, Ben!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aderonke-Fadare-dancer-and-choreographer2.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"575\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aderonke-Fadare-dancer-and-choreographer2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aderonke-Fadare-dancer-and-choreographer2.jpeg 575w, https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aderonke-Fadare-dancer-and-choreographer2-168x300.jpeg 168w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 575px) 100vw, 575px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Aderonke Fadare, dancer and choreographer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ifemu Omari is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Wolverhampton. Her research explores the paratextual apparatus around the slave narrative&nbsp;<em>The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave<\/em>&nbsp;(1831).&nbsp; Ifemu is passionate about public engagement with diverse and non-academic communities. Examples of this are: \u2018The Whip-In Conversation with Juliet Gilkes Romero\u2019, (on-line interview, October 2020); \u2018This Book Was Not Meant For Us &#8211; A Fresh Look at the History of Mary Prince\u2019, (on-line presentation, November 2021); \u2018From Struggle to Freedom\u2019 \u2013 A series of weekly seminars at the Sandwell African Caribbean Mental Health Foundation (in person, Oct &#8211;&nbsp; Dec, 2021);&nbsp;\u2018The Uses of Literature: Arts, Culture and Wellbeing in Times of Crisis\u2019 (in-person panellist, April 2022); \u2018The Big Book Review: Reviewing Shakespeare\u2019 (in-person presentation with Prof. Sebastian&nbsp;Groes, May 2022); \u2018An Interactive Pictorial Seminar of Memories, Fun and a few explorations based on the Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon\u2019 (in-person presentation, June 2022). She taught Literature for 14 years at Fircroft College, Birmingham and has also taught Literature at the Universities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton. She was shortlisted for the BBC Radio 3\/AHRC New Generation Thinkers\u2019 scheme (2021).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For more about the BARS President&#8217;s Fellowship, see the link below: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-bars-blog wp-block-embed-bars-blog\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"jIXCy9hLHK\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=4267\">BARS President\u2019s Fellowship 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;BARS President\u2019s Fellowship 2023&#8221; &#8212; BARS Blog\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=4267&#038;embed=true#?secret=joEwlGR2JQ#?secret=jIXCy9hLHK\" data-secret=\"jIXCy9hLHK\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two decades ago, I discussed the idea of doing a PhD on Mary Prince with a Senior Lecturer from a Russell Group university. \u201cIt\u2019s already been done.\u201d he retorted. And&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=4658\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":""},"categories":[7,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4658"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4685,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4658\/revisions\/4685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}