Lecturer and Knowledge Exchange Fellow Dr Emma Barnes recently collaborated with Manchester-based community group, Southern Voices, to host public engagement event ‘Exploring legacies of Empire – Perspectives from the Global South’. The event was held on 28th June 2023 at the Working Class Movement Library (WCML) in Salford.
The event was comprised of two 3-hour sessions, both of which were hosted by Afshan D’souza Lodhi. Afshan was a wonderful host who offered insightful and accessible questions apt for our varied audience made up of sixth-form students, young adults from the University of Salford and University of Manchester, and local members of the community. We were delighted to have Désirée Reynolds as our keynote for the morning session. Désirée is writer in residence at Sheffield Archive, and editor, journalist, broadcaster and creative writing facilitator. With Jamaican and working-class roots, Désirée was also able to incorporate her lived experiences of empire into her talk. It was also our pleasure to have Professor of Creative Writing Jackie Kay as our keynote in the afternoon. Jackie is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, and was the Makar, the poet laureate of Scotland, from 2016 to 2021, and the Chancellor of the University of Salford between 2015 and 2022. Both keynote speakers provided us with thought-provoking, yet humorous talks, and created a warm and welcoming atmosphere that enabled people to ask questions, and share answers related to their own concerns and experiences.