The Red and the Black – The Russian Revolution and the Black Atlantic
13-15 October, 2017, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.
Conference to be held at the Institute for Black Atlantic Research (IBAR), University of Central Lancashire, Preston, from Friday 13 October 2017 to Sunday 15 October 2017, to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution. With sponsorship and support from the British Association for American Studies, the US Embassy London and the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
‘Every Negro who lays claim to leadership should make a study of Bolshevism and explain its meaning to the coloured masses. It is the greatest and most scientific idea afloat in the world today…’ – Claude McKay, 1919.
The Russian Revolution was not only one of the most critical events of the twentieth century in its own right but an inspirational event across the ‘black Atlantic’ as a blow against racism and imperialism. For colonial subjects of European empires internationally as well as black Americans, the Russian Revolution promised the hope of a world without oppression and exploitation. This conference aims to build on the growing scholarship and literature in this area to explore the impact the revolutionary events in Russia during 1917 made across the African diaspora and the subsequent critical intellectual influence of Marxism and Bolshevism on the current of revolutionary ‘black internationalism’ in its aftermath.
Keynote speakers: Prof. Winston James (University of California, Irvine), Prof. Hakim Adi (University of Chichester) and Dr. Cathy Bergin (University of Brighton). With special performances from Linton Kwesi Johnson, Tayo Aluko and David Rovics.
Event organisers: David Featherstone, Christian Høgsbjerg, Alan Rice and Olga Tabachnikova.
For more information on the event including details on how to register and to download a copy of the provisional programme please see this link:
Conference website:
https://theredandtheblack.wordpress.com/
