Celebrate Black History Month at events across campus

Tue, Oct 3 2017

Black History Month runs on campus throughout October

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) is celebrating Black History Month with a series of events on campus throughout October.

The Students’ Association is hosting a Symposium on October 10 at which GCU’s Dr Ima Jackson will join Glasgow’s first black councillor, Adebayo Aibinu, who is studying a PhD at GCU, and the University’s Alumnus of the Year Dika Odum in a discussion on topics including diversity in education and politics, overcoming racism, and the role of young people in effecting change in their communities. Register and learn more.

Students and staff are invited to celebrate diversity at an evening of dance, food and friendship in the Re:union Bar and Grill on October 13. West African percussion and dance group Ayawara will be performing and members of a range of Students’ Association groups will be speaking. Register for the evening event here

Yetunde Ogedengbe, Students’ Association Vice President School of Health and Life Sciences, said: “With the University, the Students’ Association is delighted to be joining people across the UK to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Black History Month. As the University for the Common Good, GCU works to transform lives at home and around the world, and we are pleased to be creating forums where students, staff and the wider community can get together to discuss promoting diversity and to learn more about each other’s cultures.”

In Sharing Resilience in Black History with the newly ‘othered’- EU migrants post Brexit, GCU’s Dr Leyla De Amicis will lead a workshop exploring experiences of discrimination and coping strategies used by minority communities across Scotland.

Said Dr Amicis: “After Brexit, EU citizens - many of whom are white - have newly experienced feelings of being ‘othered’ and of being told that they don’t belong. We are creating a safe learning space for migrants to learn about the strategies and mechanisms of resilience, empowerment and support that Black and other visible minority people use effectively. Using poetry, novels and the media, as well as film footage and blogs, participants will be able to reflect and learn about prejudice and how to respond to it.”