Stella Dadzie: on Black women’s narratives and decolonizing British history

Stella Dadzie and Sofia Akel discuss the importance of reclaiming and recording Black women’s narratives; placing their experiences centre-stage, not just socially but also historically. Black women have been long relegated to the margins of history. Decolonizing that history means unearthing many, many untold narratives.

Stella Dadzie has been at the forefront of that work for many years. She is a founder member of OWAAD (Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent), a national umbrella group that emerged in the late 1970s as part of the British Civil Rights movement, and was recently described as one of the “grandmothers” of Black Feminism in the UK. Her career as a teacher, writer, artist and education activist spans over 40 years. Verso are proud to publish her work, including The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain (co-authored with Beverley Bryan and Suzanne Scafe), and A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance (forthcoming later this year).

https://www.versobooks.com/boo....ks/2694-the-heart-of
https://www.versobooks.com/boo....ks/3699-a-kick-in-th

This video is a part of a series looking back at 50 years of radical publishing at Verso, as well as the development of left-political movements and intellectual landscapes in that time. See them all here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veBduK_2dR8&list=PLsDzjQVZ_pAJpDxIN__7zvF6WbIMCO9DC

Sofia Akel is an education activist and researcher, campaigning and leading work to tackle institutional racism in education, the awarding gap and to decolonise our learning. She has worked in a number of universities and students’ unions, holding various elected, specialist and consultancy roles. Currently, she is leading London Metropolitan University’s race equity work for the Centre of Equity and Inclusion. https://twitter.com/sofiaakel