In September 2022, the Fi Wi Road interns led the inaugural Black Research Futures Fair at the University of Birmingham. From the name, to the key themes and conference programme, the Fair was designed by them to bring together students, academics, and researchers from across disciplines. See the full 2022 programme.
As part of the fair Black students and researchers from across our networks were invited to contribute their own works in connection to the three central themes of this year’s fair: Inspirations, Aspirations, and Diversions.
‘BLACK RESEARCH FUTURES’
FI WI ROAD FAIR 2022
INSPIRATIONS
Who and what are the people, ideas, spaces which inspire us? Those things which drive us towards our goals? In acknowledging our inspirations we map those who have come before us, and who laid the foundations for the work we do now.
ASPIRATIONS
Our collective and individual aspirations lie at the cohesive middle ground between inspiration and diversion. What are our hopes? What are we looking toward? How will you take your inspirations and shape a new and exciting future?
DIVERSIONS
Our diversions enable us to challenge tradition and expand expectations and norms within academia. What does it mean to be unapologetic and outspoken - to create new spaces rather than wait for a seat at the table?
‘Rising from the ashes’: the potential of historic black community-led organisations for future black research
Black Research Futures Fair 2022
Interactive: Rush Me virtual space
Tracing the links between Africa the Caribbean and the UK in terms of some key exchanges in Healthcare, Military and Transport
Decolonising Keele: an exploration of the perceptions and barriers to the university-led implementation of Decolonising the Curriculum
Investigating Spintronic Materials For Iridium Replacement In Energy Applications
This poster is part of research exploring alternative materials to be used in modern devices.
Silently Loud: Racism in Academia
A powerpoint presentation with 8 slides describing the presence of racism in academia, a case study on resistance and a small introduction to UKRI funding and systemic racism.
Living for future, we need today
This poster summarize[s] the Kenyan Peasants League’s theory of prefiguration and demonstrate how it relates to Huey P. Newton’s theory of intercommunalism, hereby looking at prefiguration through the lens of gender, class and (neo-)colonial positionalities.
Rush Me
Tracing the links between Africa the Caribbean and the UK in terms of some key exchanges in Healthcare, Military and Transport
The Effects of Extreme Poverty, Repressive Government, and Political Instability on Deforestation and Climate Change in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) The Way Forward
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is characterized by significant social vulnerability, political instability, food insecurity, and high rates of poverty. Projected increases in temperature, more extreme weather events, and changes in total precipitation and rainfall variability are likely to exacerbate these challenges, particularly since agriculture, the majority of which is rainfed, is a central engine of the DRC’s economy and the primary source of livelihood for most Congolese people.
The contention that geography and gender are inextricably connected
Geography shows the structures and systems in society that influence the fluid relationship with genders that interlinks culture. This essay explores the narrative that they are inextricably connected through the past and modern forms of power.
Imagining the City - Sensory Remapping of Brixton
[Brixton] is internationally recognised as a locus of Black British and diasporic culture, and when examined beyond surface level, is rich with expressions of a distinct local Black ‘Brixtoner’ identity.
The Kings ain’t playin’ no one tonight: Desanctifying property as an abolitionist practice in Sacramento
Sacramento’s history exemplifies the successive regimes of urban renewal, redlining and predatory financial practices that have decimated the economic and political power of black communities and restricted them to state abandoned, militantly policed neighborhoods
BLACK MEN VILLAINS OR MARTYRS: WHAT PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS DO ABSENT FATHERS HAVE ON THEIR BLACK SONS?
Like everyone there is a need for positive role models and seeing those in which look like you and represent you, your culture and background.
Tethered
A mutable presence in their prime wanting to be fixed in later life, In these houses, still misaligned losing hope in your house…
1919, the Year History forgot: ‘riot’ and interraciality in a decolonial school curriculum
In a time of politics and pandemics further combined with job competition, 1919 is a year that ought to be part of not only how we think about the First World War, but further taught on the national curriculum.