Reimagining the Archives

Virtual Salons: Discourses on Black Italia
In collaboration with NYU Florence
Reimagining the Archives &
Centering Black Histories

Benjamina Efua Dadzie, writer, researcher
Justin Randolph Thompson, artist
Simone Frangi, researcher, writer, curator
Theophilus Imani, author, artist

Moderated by
Candice Whitney, writer and translator
Angelica Pesarini, NYU

The episode will be broadcast live on Casa’s Facebook Page and website

Archives and museums have histories of perpetuating systemic racism and colonialism. How are curators, artists and activists reimagining and rebuilding the archives to center Black experiences in Italy? What is their process, and how does it intersect with community building and grassroot movements? In this roundtable, invited speakers will explore the role of practitioners and scholars addressing these issues of flattening the experiences and works of people of the African diaspora in the archives, exhibitions and museums.

In ENGLISH.

About Virtual Salons: Discourses on Black Italia
How can one unpack the intersectional layers of race, identity and citizenship in Italy? Inspired by Professor Angelica Pesarini’s course at NYU Florence, Black Italia, each episode will provide leading scholars, writers, artists and activists an opportunity to dig deep into questions about race, racialization, identity, citizenship, and more in Italy. By the end of the series, viewers will learn: an overview of how race and identity exist in colonial and post-colonial Italy; how racialization impacts immigrants and youth of immigrants with Arab backgrounds; strategies used by artists and journalists of the Mediterranean to tell a story about Italy; the diversity of experiences of Afro-Italian women, as featured in Future, edited by Igiaba Scego; how Black Lives Matter Movement has impacted anti-racism activism and citizenship rights in Italy. This series will be co-facilitated by Candice Whitney, Writer, Translator, and Fulbright Researcher to Italy 2016-17 and Professor Angelica Pesarini, NYU Florence.