The University was proud to celebrate Black History Month 2022 with a wide range of brilliant events, from talks with prominent racial equality activists, to podcast spotlights, to a roundtable event discussing this year's (UK) theme: 'Time for Change: Action not Words'. All of the events were hosted and organised by our students and staff and many involved coordinated collaboration across teams - including with Bath Spa University. Below you'll find a summary of all the incredible contributions to this important month, as well as photos and videos showcasing our brilliant University community.
Inspiration, Courage and Change: Jason Arday in Conversation with Rajani Naidoo on his personal and scholarly journey for racial equity
We began our Black History Month celebrations with a talk between Vice-President of Community and Inclusion, Professor Rajani Naidoo and Jason Arday, Professor of Sociology and Education at the University of Glasgow. Rajani and Jason discussed his inspirational life journey: growing up on a council estate in Clapham, South London navigating autism (Asperger’s syndrome and global development delay), the shock of his first encounters of racism as a child, fundraising and the impact of popular culture and music on his life. The event was well-attended and positively received by attendees, covering a range of other broad subjects including the trauma of racism, mental wellbeing and how universities can develop contextually appropriate mental health interventions. You can watch a recording of this brilliant discussion on the University of Bath Race Equality Taskforce YouTube page.
Lunchtime with poet and author Andreena Leeanne
Jointly hosted by the Culture and Inclusion team, the University of Bath Library team, Kaleidoscope and Bath Spa University, this speaker event involved members of staff in conversation with Polari Prize shortlisted author and LGBTQ+ activist Andreena Leeanne. Andreena, a poet and diversity advocate, read a selection of poems from her debut novel Charred, detailing her experiences from childhood to the present and covering issues of abuse, homophobia and her feelings of isolation and loneliness as a result of this. The talk also involved a quickfire wellbeing chat, where Andreena invited the audience to hear some personally-written positive affirmations to remind them of their self-worth and, in her own words, invite positivity and hope into their everyday lives.
Time for Change: Action Not Words - Roundtable Discussion
This in-person event was hosted at the Edge and organised by the Culture and Inclusion team in collaboration with the Students' Union, chaired by Professor Rajani Naidoo. A mix of excellent speakers from the University - including African Caribbean Society Chair, Favour Oshidero and Sanjae King, Chair of Bath Black Engineering Student Society - and local organisation and social enterprise, B in Bath discussed this year's UK Black History Month theme, 'Time for Change: Action not Words', focusing on what 'action not words' means to them as well as the steps still needed to embed racial equality into our everyday practices. Amidst conversation on this topic, the panel also gave insight into their own experiences and answered questions from the audience, drawing attention to the need for further dialogue and open, honest discussions around discrimination and how to centre conversations about Black futures.
Film Showing - Ouvrir la Voix 
Dr Mariana Bonnouvrier from the department of Politics, Languages and International Studies hosted an educational film showing of Amandine Gay's Ouvrir la Voix (Speak up) for a cohort of first year French language students, after studying an article about the film in class and discussing the reasons behind its creation in Amandine's own words. Students also got the chance to talk about the struggles Amandine faced in creating this piece in the first place, such as struggles to find funding, resorting to crowdfunding and creating her own production company instead, among other things. This was the cultural side of a class aiming to impart the linguistic tools to express goals and ambitions in French, while also recognising the importance of Black achievements in cinema and the additional burdens faced by the Black community when trying to bring these projects to life.
African Caribbean Society Events
Bath's Student African Caribbean Society (ACS) organised a host of fantastic events this year, aimed at bringing the student community together and exploring Black culture and excellence. Spearheaded by the Chair of the ACS, Favour Oshidero, and the ACS committee, celebrations included:
- Black History Movie Night
- A TEDx Talk featuring Dr Nira Chamberlain
- Black History Trivia Night
- A Cultural Showcase
The events were well-attended and popular with students, a testament to the hard work of the ACS and their vision!
Podcast Spotlight 
Throughout Black History Month, the Culture and Inclusion team published a series of blog posts highlighting several different podcasts focused around Black history, culture and creativity. There were entries from well-renowned features such as the BBC World Service that focused on important events in history, as well as popular and culturally-significant shows like Anthems that give a voice to Black creatives looking to share poetry, music and words of wisdom. All the podcasts featured are free-to-listen so if you're looking to expand your horizons beyond Black History Month, this is a great place to start.
Recognising Black History Month with Professor Rajani Naidoo
All the brilliant events hosted by the University across Black History Month were recognised in an interview with Professor Rajani Naidoo, who spoke with Sophie Miles about the importance of Black History Month, our responsibility in recognising it and acknowledging the tireless efforts of Black activists and contributors in changing the global narrative around racial equality. Professor Naidoo spoke on three events in particular and reflected on what we learned from each, with respect to the University's efforts in making institutional change and the ways in which inspirational figures like Professor Arday and Andreena Leeanne give us the courage to always seek ways to do better.
We hope you enjoyed reading about our Black History Month celebrations, and that the efforts and contributions from our wonderful community have emboldened you to take steps in helping enact change. As we move into the remainder of the academic year it is vital that we take these messages of solidarity, struggle and ingenuity from the Black community and, as members of this community and allies, do all we can to support the fight for racial justice everywhere.
Respond
