The University is celebrating Black History Month with a series of events – including a lecture by award-winning artist Akala - at its Canterbury and Medway campuses.
The events form part of the University’s Inspirational Speaker Programme and are aimed at developing a conversation around race and belonging within the context of academic attainment and student success.
The headline event will see MOBO Award-winning UK hip-hop artist, writer and historian Akala deliver a lecture at the Canterbury campus on Monday 9 October. The lecture is entitled Critiquing epistemology: A history of Black Britain.
Other events include a visit by mathematician Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, co-founder of social enterprise Stemettes, which supports young women into science, technology, engineering and maths careers. She will meet students at the University’s School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science at the Canterbury campus on Wednesday, 18 October.
Throughout October there will also be a Black History Month art exhibition entitled Celebrating Kent’s Black Professors. This will feature artistic recreation of images of black professors by students from the University’s School of Music and Fine Art, and provide synopses of the professors’ research interests and contribution to scholarship.
The exhibition will be launched on Wednesday 18 October at Chatham Historic Dockyard’s Mess Deck at 17.30. On the same day at Chatham Historic Dockyard, a lecture entitled Contribution of Black and Asian Soldiers to the First World War will be delivered by Junior JD Douglas, co-producer of Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame.
As well as marking Black History Month, all the events will celebrate student success at Kent. For more details. Kent Union also has a full programme of events.