BEEN BLACK

Vi genomför en serie workshops tillsammans med ungdomar från den afrikanska diasporan, med ett fokus på att utforska svart historia och att utmana formen för hur historiebildning ofta paketeras. Vi vill bättre förstå vilka delar av den svarta historien som unga afrosvenskar är intresserade av att lära sig mer om. Vi vill också använda möten med ungdomar till att inkludera dem i utformandet av den Virtuella Institutionen genom en demokratisk process. Hur ska Afroinstitutionen se ut och hur kan vi använda fantasin som en frigörande motståndsstrategi? Detta vill vi undersöka genom projektet BEEN BLACK.

BEEN BLACK HANGOUT

On the 22nd of September we invited our members to a conversation around the Been Black initiative and how to move forward with the organization. The hangout was also a way to invite new people and spark ideas on how we can help each other to continue to build the community. Around 10 people showed up, both new and old members, and the following is a summary of the notes from our members.

What do members feel about the Afro-Institution?

The Afro-Institution has become a diverse meeting place where you can meet different types of Black people (since the people you know personally tend to be similar to oneself).

  • Important to find a place to network with Black people

  • A space focused on Blackness and what it means

  • A space where we can go and be ourselves without feeling excluded

How can the Been Black initiative continue?

  • A black book club (*since this meeting a Black Literature Club is in the works)

  • Learn more about our black thinkers and political leaders

  • Show that Blackness is so much more than suffering

  • Celebrate our food cultures

  • A learning space where skills are shared: a member declares a goal and other members mobilize around that goal to use the skills that are in the community to help each other move forward

  • Braiding session (*a braiding session was held at the Been Black event on 15th of Oct)

  • Portraits where we wear our traditional clothes (*started at Been Black event 15th of Oct)

  • Music events where we showcase black local talents

  • Use our networks to reach young people e.g. siblings of friends, tiktok users, national network

  • A dream exploration - a guided conversation

  • Watch “really Black movies”

How do we feel about the Afro-Institution as a name?

  • Legit, serious - really like it

  • Serious enough for me to get attracted to it

  • Sounds official

  • Almost academic, a place that contains knowledge

  • A powerful message to send, “it is serious to be African”

Residenset 

In the summer of 2022, for a whole week between the dates of 11-17 of July the AIG-family, of several generations took the boat from Saltholmen to the island of Asperö. For that week a white big house located close to the water, with several rooms, two porches, a glazed terrace, a movie room, sauna, a balcony and a big yard was ours. The plan for the week was to be able to hang out, heal, laugh, share, swim, eat and attend various workshops together. We were all there for different reasons, for different amounts of days and that was part of the beauty. For a week, we got to try out and imagine what a future Afroinstituionen building could feel like, look like and mean to us both individually and as a collective. 

It was lovely to see how quickly it became a habit for us to take a short walk to the boat stop to greet the new arrivals. How the stares became distant as the embraces, laughter and love filled the air. 

Aron Zahran held a storytelling workshop that had us all gathered around a digital fireplace in the living room. The stories told to us had been passed down from families and opened up conversations about various topics as well as laughter and food for thought.

Veronica Odetunde and Aviwe Apleni had a writing workshop. That started with everyone writing down topics that we wanted to talk more about. The folded papers were picked one by one and resulted in various poems that we wrote together. The session sparked interesting conversations held in different corners of the house, some also documented on film

Aviwe Apleni and Ismaila Jallow had a film screening where they showcased their project for us in the cinema room. This was an intimate moment where we were reminded of the talents and creativity that lies within Afroinstiationen but also within us. 

Nathan Hamelberg came to share his knowledge on Afrofuturism. While we were seated in the glazed terrace enjoying Tanzanian food from Mama Alice we listened to the lecture which sparked a lot of great conversations and inspiration for the Afro-institution. 

Nathan’s introduction on Afrofuturism became a bridge to a painting workshop with the incredibly talented artist Kim Demåne. Kim shared his journey and also thoughts on how imagination as tied into being able to re-imagine one's future. We then spent the afternoon releasing our creative imagination by painting a new image inspired by two separate objects. 

Between workshops we cooked together, wrote poetry, meditated and Ismaila showed a prototype of a VR-project he is developing. Several of us noted that Virtual Reality can be a great medium for reimagining both future and history. If you have any ideas about how VR can be used to build the Afro-Institution, please let us know. We believe VR have great potential when it comes to education and strengthening the self-image of people in the African diaspora. 

On Saturday we were joined by the multidisciplinary artist and designer Nontokozo Tshabalala. Nonto deepened the discussion around using Afrofuturism as a way to re-imagine history and possible futures by facilitating a talk in a safe and inclusive way. Nonto challenged us with questions and reflections on what an Institution could or should look like, unafraid of asking the hard questions without losing the warmth in the room (a warmth that always is felt in her presence). Also shout out to Nonto’s mother, who joined us in her visit from South Africa!

Also a major shout out to Thobile, who cooked Chakalaka for us. And Isatou who cooked Domoda together with Roxanne’s Wonjo. Delicious things that enforced the feeling of home and family the last days of the residency. Some of these moments were caught in the TikTok-video that maestro Ayla whipped out. Thanks for that Ayla! That video really increased our reach. 

Another beautiful thing to witness was how the younger generations of the Afro-Institution came together. Watching Maxine, Tati and Justice play together was a reminder of how important these spaces are for us and a strong motivator to keep building them. Our ambition is that this iteration of The Residency is the first of many and we hope that you will join us going forward. 

Some words from Nonto:

What does the future look like for black people? How do we see ourselves in it and do the things we care about now exist there? What would it mean to be black in 2050 in Sweden? What takes us to a future? These were some of the questions we touched on branching off from what Nathan had taken us through the day before. Some of the points gathered from the conversation were that the people would like to:

- Fight from a place of joy rather than necessity. 

- For others to realise that the spaces we create are for us to be our own students of that knowledge.

- Embrace each other from a place of counsel culture rather than cancel culture.

Afroinstitution as an institution:

- A space to try our different thoughts

- A space that shows a mixture of reality and fantasy

- Lots of Art

- A space to be a weird black boy/kid

-A space to learn new things as part of reeducating ourselves

Been Black "portraits and braiding"/Debbie McIntosh and Mette Genet

Hello family, on Saturday the 15th of October, we held a workshop at Frilagret. 

We had a wonderful turnout and were met by both regular and new faces :) 

We had a braiding workshop by Debbie McIntosh, who left being affectionately known as “Auntie Debbie”, she taught us different braiding techniques and different ways to tie a “Gele”, one of many Nigerian styles of head wraps, which in itself is an art form. 

We had some conversations around our relationship with hair and shared some memories about our experiences “in the chair”. Hair in the black community is usually such a hot topic because we have both a proud and painful history with it. The history of braiding can be  traced back to thousands of years ago and is a significant marker in our identity as Black people. 

In an article written by Maya Allen for Byrdie.com, she states that “In many African tribes, braided hairstyles were a unique way to identify each tribe. Braid patterns and hairstyles were an indication of a person’s tribe, age, marital status, wealth, power, and religion.” So I think we can conclude that powerful messages and thousands of years of knowledge has been passed down through the art of braiding. 

We also know that though colonialism and slavery (I won’t delve deep into that, because we are about Black joy ) , a lot of people were stripped of that identity but isn’t it beautiful that even though they tried to break us, we’re able to meet up in 2022 in all our black diversity to relearn the skills that are surely imprinted in our DNA? 

The second part of the workshop was held with talented photographer Mette Genet, who took portraits of the beautiful people who attended. The photos were taken on a film camera, which she will develop and share with us at a later stage. The process of film photography in itself can teach us a lot about trusting the process, being patient and intentional , in an age where a lot of things are about instant gratification. 

It’ll be amazing to see how we are captured and immortalised through someone else’s lense and gaze, the whole experience felt really authentic, nostalgic  and a little soul baring because we are all so used to taking a million selfies and using filters to portray what we think is the best version of ourselves. 

It was truly such a beautiful experience and I think the key take aways from this were 

◦ It’s never too late to learn a new skill. 

◦ We are resourceful and talented in our own ways and it’s important to pass our knowledge down.

◦ Be intentional and patient with yourself, the beauty of life is in the process and not the result  

◦ And as Solange Knowles once said in song”Don’t touch my hair”. 



Xx 

Thobi

My journey and our story with Nonotokozo Tshabalala

After a deepdive into Black history with Amat Levin and Michael Barrett we met in Nonto’s space. Stepping into “Nonto’s space” is a place of warmth, soft straight-forwardenss and a warm embrace to every new and old person she meets. Nontokozo Tshabalala is a multidisciplinary artist and space holder who took us on a journey by asking the question ‘who’s child are you?’. It was sent out to participants prior to the session as a way to encourage ways of exploring ourselves. How could we find the answers about ourselves? Some of us asked fathers, grandparents, cousins, country-people while some of us browsed the depths of the internet and social media for clues of our heritage. 

The question led us into a ton of conversations. What does it mean to have a connection to your birth parents? To your community and culture? What do we do when we do not have that connection because of different types of separations? With a shared experience of Blackness, our cultures and experiences vary between all of our fam-members. 

Nonto held an emotional and intimate space where we could share our stories not only with words and tales, but also through our body language and mirrored through our emotions. We held each other as our different stories led us to tears, laughter, and thrills all while opening up to people we had never met before. That is the beauty of the gatherings - new people join and share parts of themselves, pouring into the community and together creating a sense of belonging. 

Some words from Nonto:

Holding space for conversations is one thing I am now realising more than ever, as something I am good at but also have an immense passion for it. I believe that when we hold space for each other to have conversations, we allow ourselves our humanity as we all are trying to figure out life not only as people but specifically black people. During this gathering I loved how, we allowed ourselves to be open about how our histories affect us and what that means for our growth and affirming ourselves in the world. 


Group picture

Världskulturmuseet med Amat Levin och Michael Barrett

Den 30:e mars samlades vi på Världskulturmuseet för det första eventet inom Been Black. På programmet stod en eftermiddag med fokus på Svart historia: Micheal Barrett, afrikaintendent på Världskulturmuseerna, skulle ta oss på en guidad visning av en utställning som berör den afrikanska kontinenten. Sedan följde ett boksamtal med Amat Levin om hans nyutgivna bok, Svart Historia. Expectations were high!

Som alltid när vi samlas i en lite större grupp på en offentlig plats, är det lätt att känna igen oss: A lot of smiles and a lot of melanin! Du som joinar oss första gången behöver aldrig leta länge, you’ll know.

Uppslutningen var bra, både redan existerande medlemmar och nya personer var på plats. Många av de nya personerna var unga, vilket var väldigt kul att se. Den yngsta var 11 år! Eftermiddagen inleddes med en kortare introduktion av Afroinstitutionen och oss styrelsemedlemmar, innan Michael tog oss på den guidade visningen.

För de allra flesta av oss var det första gången vi såg utställningen på Världskulturmuseet. Och för många av oss, var det dessutom första gången vi var på en utställning där svarta personers erfarenheter var normen både i utställningsmaterialet och bland besökarna. Visningen var otroligt lärorik och behandlade ämnen som spiritualitet, kultur, möten mellan människor, samt vilka narrativ som överlever i historien. Vi fick också chansen att ställa frågor till Michael och diskutera bland annat återlämning av stulna (eller på andra sätt omoraliskt införskaffade) föremål, historisk representation, upprättelse och efterforskning på utelämnade perspektiv i historieberättandet. Efter visningen var det dags för fika med kanelbullar (afrosuedies som vi är), innan boksamtalet drog igång. Michael ställde frågorna och Amat kom med svaren. Hur konstrueras svarthet i olika kontexter? Hur behandlar man muntliga vs skriftliga traditioner? Hur avgränsar man sig när man ska skriva om ett så ofantligt brett ämne som Svart historia? Det var slående hur mycket tid Amat har lagt ner på att efterforska material till sin bok – och superintressant att höra hans tankar. Svart historia är definitivt en bok alla elever borde få läsa i skolan.

Engagemanget var högt i vår grupp, någon satt och simultantolkade hela samtalet till engelska för de som inte pratar svenska (BIG UP!!), och flera personer från vår grupp ställde frågor till Amat under frågestunden. Konversationerna fortsatte sedan inom gruppen. Som avslutning presenterade Nontokozo Tshabalala den nästkommande workshopen inom Been Black, som skulle äga rum ett par veckor senare.