Dear friends, colleagues, culture & art lovers,
As the academic year 2020/2021 ends, I have the privilege to have been chosen to become UWE's new Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media Production, within the Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education (ACE).
Senior Lecturer at UWE Bristol - School of Creative and Cultural Industries
After 9 months as a guest lecturer in Music Journalism at BIMM Bristol and 18 months as an associate lecturer in journalism & in the creative industries at the University of the West of England (UWE), I've learned so much, and I intend to focus on critiquing the news, decolonising the news, and cross-media creativity...
I really enjoy working with UWE; the teams are brilliant and creative. I look forward to new projects next year!
In June, I also interviewed one of our students to talk about how the past year and all its challenges affected them: you can listen on The Quarantini Podcast here.
In the meantime, my writing and reflections about art, multiculturalism, African & post-colonial history, activism... led to interesting encounters, projects and collaborations.
Here are a few articles already published:
I AM History
My latest article for the online magazine on 'Black' history and culture.
Poetry
Reflecting on a pivotal year in my life, 2015, I decided to share a poem I started writing after my first trip to Bristol and in the midst of a year of terrorist attacks in my city of birth, Paris, followed by a huge backlash on Muslim people in France.
I hope it will resonate with some of you:
More Writing
I also intend to keep on writing and to pursue my research on multiculturalism and on African-American-European exchanges / relations.
More on this later this year...
The first project around these team is to come out in a couple of months.
Art Book:
Alternative Artists at Arnolfini
I'm currently completing the last edits on an art book with the art gallery Arnolfini as previously mentioned, still as their writer in residence.
It is to be released in September 2021.
Donald Rodney, 'Double Think', 1992
I started working on this book last summer. Some of the artists are from the UK, others were born in Trinidad, Jamaica, Morocco, Sudan, Algeria, Ethiopia or Ghana, so it gives me room to try to weave together the different parts of the African continent - that I have visited or been based in.
The project also retraces the routes that bound Africa with the Americas and Europe.
These are themes that have haunted my work as a journalist, researcher and writer since the mid-2000s as least...
I'd love to create dialogues and generate further encounters with African artists exhibiting in other parts of the world, when this book is out. Do get in touch if you're interested!
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Many thanks for your attention!
I hope to see some of you soon in 'reopening' Bristol or London; or in Europe later in the summer, hopefully...
With my very best wishes,
melissa
Melissa Chemam
Writer, Journalist, Researcher
Senior Lecturer @ UWE Bristol
Email: mchemam@gmail.com
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