Abstract

In this lecture Nimako will use the notions of parallel histories and intertwined belongings, which were developed in his book entitled: The Dutch Atlantic to address why racism still remains a consistent factor in the lives of many people but, at the same time, is denied by many others. By parallel histories and intertwined belongings Nimako means a people who share the same space but have fundamentally different experiences and memories. With regard to the transatlantic ‘slave’ trade we see that the captives shared the same ship as their captors (i.e. intertwined belonging) but the histories of how they boarded the ship and conditions on the ship were fundamentally different (i.e. parallel histories); in a similar vein the enslaved might have shared the same space on a plantation or a dwelling with the enslaver (i.e. intertwined belonging) but the histories of how the enslaved and the enslaver ended up on the same space and the imposed division of labour by the latter on the former also differed fundamentally (i.e. parallel histories). These parallel histories and intertwined belongings in turn gave rise to different understanding and notions of freedom and emancipation. The formal abolition of slavery made citizenship (as opposed to common space) an intertwined belonging and parallel memories (as opposed to different experiences) parallel histories. Nimako will also argues that these parallel histories and intertwined belongings are relevant to our understanding of Eurocentricism.



Bio

Kwame Nimako (MA, Sociology; PhD Economics, University of Amsterdam) teaches Internatio¬nal Relations at the Graduate School of Social Sciences (GSSS), Universiteit van Amsterdam.
Dr. Nimako is the author or co-author of some 30 books, reports and guide-books on economic development, ethnic relations, social policy, urban renewal, and migration. His recent publications include: The Dutch Atlantic: Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation (with Glenn Willemsen, Pluto Press, 2011); Reorienting the world: with or without Africa? (MnM Working Paper No. 5; University of South Australia, 2011); Nkrumah, African Awakening and Neo-colonialism: How Black America awakened Nkrumah and Nkrumah awakened Black America, In: The Black Scholar, (June 2010); Theorizing Black Europe and African Diaspora: Implications for Citizenship, Nativism and Xenophobia (with Stephen Small) In: Black Europe and the African Diaspora: ed. D. C. Hine, T. D. Keaton & S. Small (University of Illinois Press, 2009); African Regional Groupings and Emerging Chinese Conglomerates. In: Big Business and Economic Development: Conglomerates and Economic Groups in Developing Countries and Transition Economies under Globalization ed. Barbara Hogenboom and Alex E. Fernandez Jilberto (Routledge, London. 2007); Designs and (Co)-incidents: Cultures of Scholarship and Public Policy on Immigrants/Minorities in the Netherlands (with Philomena Essed) International Journal of Comparative Sociology (2006, vol. 47: 281-312)


He is currently working on a book on Public History, Museums and African Diasporic Memory in England and the Netherlands (with Stephen Small)