This 6 week online course will detail Black women who have fought against colonialism and racism over the last 400 years and examine their varied spiritual belief systems.

Mainstream history consistently ignores the contribution of Black women in general, but many of these women used indigenous spiritual belief systems to sustain their own ideologies and inspire their followers. African civilisations and belief systems were, and are, routinely denigrated by Europeans which has led to stigma and mis-representation.

This is the first half of a 12 week course. Part two dates will be announced shortly. Part One is a general introduction and Part Two will go deeper into specifics and new but related topics.

Tuesdays from 19th May for 6 weeks, 6.30 – 8.30 PM. 

In this 6 week course, we will cover:

• Pre-colonial African belief systems
• Christianity as oppression and resistance
• Sanite, Mbuya, Nanny and Nanny Greg, Yaa, Fannie, Nzingha, Coretta, The Two Amys, Queen
• Mary Thomas, Queen Amar, Yemaja, Oya, Dandara, Nehanda and Graca
• 1970s women soldiers in Africa’s liberaton wars
• Black women’s resistance in English literature
• Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mississippi, Haiti, Angola, Brazil, Cuba, Nigeria: Civil and Human Rights
• Disparaging terms ‘Obeah’, ‘Juju’, the real history of Santeria, Candomble, and Jumbie
• African religious beliefs and Hollywood superheroes
• The African roots of the Zombie & movie metaphors
• White female fragility and the co-options of feminism

We will use obscure and modern film clips, archival documents, rare books and essays, interviews , testimony from the women and their followers and small as well as large group work

Course Objectives:

• Provide political and spiritual context for 40 Black women leaders from 1660s to 1980s
• Explain pre-colonial belief systems and their survival in post-colonial African diaspora
• Analyse and explore white supremacist thought in mainstream media
• Promote the consumption of Black history and literature

Course Leaders: Dr Michelle Asantewa and Tony Warner

Secure your place here