SOAS University of London

Black History Month

SOAS University of London is celebrating Black History Month with a varied programme of talks, concerts, film screenings, and exhibitions.

Black History Month

Black History Month is held every October in the United Kingdom. The aims are to promote knowledge of black history and experience; circulate information on positive black contributions to British Society; and heighten the confidence and awareness of black people in their cultural heritage.

African Textiles

African Textiles from the Karun Thakar Collection is an exhibition of one of the world’s largest private collections of African textiles.

The exhibition will include over 150 examples of textiles from Morocco, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon, and aims to examine the links between west and north African textile traditions.

Venue: Brunei Gallery, SOAS
Date: 11 October to 14 December
Time: 10:30AM to 5:00PM

The Soul of East Africa

The Soul of East Africa is part of the SOAS Concert Series organised by the Department of Music at SOAS.

The concert will feature the Ugandan singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Seby Ntege, who is a renowned master of many folkloric instruments, including the akogo thumb piano, endongo lyre, adungu harp and the one-stringed fiddle called endingidi.

Venue: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS
Date: 18 October
Time: 8:00PM to 10:00PM

Abina and the Important Men

Abina and the Important Men is an animated film, which tells the real-life story of a 19th century West African woman who challenged both the colonial system and the institutions of enslavement.

The film will be followed by a Q&A with Trevor R. Getz, from whose graphic history book the film was adapted.

Venue: Djam Lecture Theatre, SOAS
Date: 21 October
Time: 5:00PM to 7:00PM

Think Like a White Man

Think Like a White Man is the title of a satirical self-help book by fictional professor of White People Studies, Dr Boulé Whytelaw III.

The book’s real author Nels Abbey joins Symeon Brown in conversation, to expose the prejudices of the modern workplace and to highlight some of the daily battles black people face both in the corporate and wider world.

Venue: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS
Date: 21 October
Time: 6:30PM to 8:30PM

SOAS Student Union

SOAS SU has put together an amazing programme of activities to celebrate Black History Month with a range of events from film screenings to talks and open forums. These events aim to celebrate literary excellence, poetry, music, films and address contemporary issues. For further details about the events, please visit SOAS SU Facebook Page.

Centre for African Studies:

The University of London's Centre of African Studies is the largest centre of expertise on Africa outside Africa. Founded in 1965 at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) where its administration is still based, the Centre has since 1991 assumed formal responsibility for co-ordinating, stimulating and promoting interdisciplinary study, research and discussion on Africa within the University; and promoting a wider awareness of African issues. 

CAS full events listing