Dr Diarmuid Hester (University of Cambridge), Dr Doug Haynes (University of Sussex) and Dr Joanna Pawlik (University of Sussex)  bring a series of events, As Waves of One Sea, to Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts this November, as part of Being Human Festival. 

Diarmuid tells us more about what they have planned. 

“We are very excited to present As Waves of One Sea at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts in association with Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities: three fantastic events including a live art performance devised especially for the series, an afternoon of exciting talks by academic experts, and a film screening featuring a Q&A with film director Isaac Julien. All the events draw upon the rich holdings in African American culture at the University of Sussex Special Collections.

 For the first event, ‘They Taught Me Laughing To Keep From Crying‘ (20 November, 8pm) celebrated British Ghanaian performance artist Harold Offeh joins academics Doug Haynes, Joanna Pawlik, and Diarmuid Hester as they attempt to piece together the remarkable life of Rosey Pool. A Dutch Jew who taught Anne Frank, escaped from a Nazi internment camp, and subsequently became a champion of Civil Rights for African Americans, when she died Pool left her personal papers and correspondence with many black writers to the University of Sussex. She also left many unanswered questions… Join us for a unique “performance lecture” that shatters the traditional academic talk into a thousand thrilling pieces.

The second event, ‘Treasures from the Rosey Pool Library‘ (21st November, 12.30pm) features a series of short, spotlight talks by four experts in African American culture. Lonneke Geerlings, Shima Jalal Kamali, Professor Maria Lauret, and Dr Mike Rowland have each picked a book from Rosey Pool’s personal library to talk about: see dusty old tomes come to life before your very eyes as our experts describe the horrors of the slave trade, the passion of the Black Arts movement, and Rosey Pool’s politically-radical book collecting…

For the final event, we will screen British director Isaac Julien’s Looking for Langston in association with Eyes Wide Open, Brighton’s queer film strand (21 November, 8pm). Recently the subject of an exhibit at the Victoria Miro gallery in London, where large-format stills from the work attested to its prestige as an artist’s film, Looking for Langston is a classic of black queer cinema. Isaac Julien will introduce the film and stay around for questions afterwards.

Being Human: A Festival of the Humanities is a free nationwide festival which highlights the ways in which the humanities can inspire and enrich our everyday lives, help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world. Book via https://beinghumanfestival.org/us/

We’ve also picked out some sneak peeks of some of the archival materials reference in their projects. Follow our Instagram across the next week to see more.