As is my usual practice, I end each year with a thread reflecting on my activities on folukeafrica.com and lessons from the past year. Here goes!
My activity on the blog was affected by the fact that I was finishing my book. Which I finished. (Yay!) And is now available for pre-order (go for it!)
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/decolonisation…
My first post of 2022 was a reflection on 2021, which ended with an encouragement to build the new worlds that we need to survive this one.
folukeafrica.com/2021-a-year-of…
My next post was a collection of my online talks and lectures as well as an introduction to my YouTube channel (to which more content will be added this year, fingers crossed!)
folukeafrica.com/lectures-talks…
Next was my post examining the life, times and legacies of Amílcar Cabral. This was quite emotional for me to write and research. It involved not just reading about Cabral but also listening to commemorative music. Some of those songs are in the post.
folukeafrica.com/amilcar-cabral…
Then, I wrote a post explaining why, despite my love for romance stories, the world that #Bridgerton imagined did not go far enough to present a counterfactual that rejected the material logics and consequences of of a colonially ordered world.
folukeafrica.com/romance-is-not…
After that, I wrote a comparative essay about academic trade union disputes, comparing Nigeria to the UK. One clear difference is the 'striking' effect of the laws on what form of industrial action is possible in the UK. I ponder some reasons for this.
folukeafrica.com/university-tra…
My next post was something I had been working on for many years, an indirect answer to the question, 'how do we become better allies?' I argue that an ally is not something we become, but 'allyship' is evidenced by continuous growth combined with action.
folukeafrica.com/are-we-allies-…
In this post, which coincidentally coincided with yet another crisis in 'African studies', I explored the reasons why I think, despite the promise of a field dedicated to the study of Africa, it offers no true home for African people.
folukeafrica.com/africa-missing…
My latest post for 2022 summarised my book, which seeks to look at some of the fundamental concepts of legal knowledge and how these have been affected by their use in the intertwined processes of racialised enslavement and exploitative colonisation.
folukeafrica.com/decolonisation…
On twitter itself, there were a few tweet highlights. For example:
As always, I continue to encourage reading beyond the canon:
Also a reminder of our often limited understanding of history:
Also some publications. First in "What is Legal Education For? @KatieBales2 & I contributed a chapter in which we urge Law Schools to embrace anti racist and decolonial legal education. routledge.com/What-is-Legal-…
Additionally in "Black/African Science Fiction and the Quest for Racial Justice through Legal Knowledge", I comment on 'mainstream' science fiction and its engagement with racialisation in constructing its dystopias and utopias. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
So what has 2022 taught me? Big question. We need to understand the past to understand the present and properly plan for the future. Care is a necessary methodology if we are to survive. In all this, academics have a vital role to play.
We are standing on a mass grave, a wretched earth, its soil soaked in blood. The planet burns with injustice, inequity... burns in fire, and so many cannot breathe on it. Yet, 'back to normal', they cry. We are still in the death zone. For many, normal has always been deadly.
And that about wraps up 2022! It's been a _____ year! But here we are at the end of it. Battered and bruised, but still we are here. I wish you joy, laughter, and peace. But most of all, I wish you rest and refreshing.
Aluta continua. Victoria acerta.
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