Black Diaspora Feminist Perspectives in Australia: A Conversation on Identity, Solidarity and Power
Images of educators and activists Huna Amweero (left) and Sydnye Allen (right). Photo Credit for Amweero’s image: Serwah Attafuah. Photos courtesy of Huna Amweero and Sydnye Allen.
Educators and activists Huna Amweero and Sydnye Allen share their feminist perspectives on being Black women from the Diaspora living in Sydney, Australia.
On Saturday, June 26, 2021, Black Women Radicals hosted the Zoom conversation, “Black Diaspora Feminist Perspectives in Australia” which featured educators and activists Huna Amweero and Sydnye Allen who shared their perspectives on identity, solidarity, and power in Australia. Amweero and Allen are co-producers and co-hosts of the weekly radio show WHERE WE AT on Radio Skid Row 88.9FM, which focuses on their lives as women from the African Diaspora living in Sydney. Radio Skid Row is a community radio station in Marrickville, Sydney, Australia and has a nearly 40-year history of radical broadcasting and serving marginalized communities.
Amweero and Allen spoke about the importance of recognizing and understanding Black diaspora perspectives in Australia and particularly how state and structural violence impacts the lives of First Nations People and Black diaspora communities; how Radio Skid Row and WHERE WE AT serves as a safe and activist-oriented space for communities at the margins; the power of Black Diaspora feminist organizing in Australia; and why transnational Black feminist solidarity is crucial.
About the panelists:
Huna Amweero (she/her) is a Black Arab screenwriter and radio producer born in so-called Australia (Sovereignty Never Ceded). While she has worked in commercial radio and other predominantly white stations, Huna prefers to speak on her work at Radio Skid Row 88.9FM, a community radio station with a nearly 40 year history of radical broadcasting. Building on the station’s legacy of centering the most marginalised, Huna’s focus at Skid Row has been creating jobs, training programs and bringing Skid Row’s rich history into the digital space. She is the current President of Radio Skid Row’s board and hosts a weekly radio show (Sunday 10am) called WHERE WE AT - which spotlights Black diaspora perspectives and community building in Sydney. As a screenwriter, Huna’s work aims to unravel oppression while embracing the fictional freedom of allowing marginalised characters to play out their imperfections on-screen.
Sydnye Allen, Ph.D (she/her) is an African-American writer. She lives in Sydney, Australia and works as a creative writer and audio maker. Sydnye is an early childhood and tertiary educator. She co-presents a weekly show called Where We At with Huna Amweero on Radio Skid Row 88.9FM.
Suggested resources to learn more about First Nations and Black Diaspora Perspectives in Australia
Radio Skid Row 88.9FM , a community radio station in Marrickville, Sydney, Australia and has a nearly 40-year history of radical broadcasting and serving marginalized communities.
WHERE WE AT, a weekly radio show on Radio Skid Row 88.9 FM produced by Huna Amweero and Sydnye Allen who are women from the African diaspora living in Sydney.
Common Ground is a First Nations-led not-for-profit. We’re working to shape a society that centers First Nations people by amplifying knowledge, cultures and stories.
Afrika Connexions, is the longest-running African program in Australia. It started out in the 80's as an anti-apartheid program, expanded in the 90s to embrace the growing African community in Sydney, and is still going strong in the same timeslot (Sundays noon–3pm) on Radio Skid Row 88.9 FM.
Sisters Inside, an independent community organisation based in Queensland, Australia which advocates for the collective human rights of women and girls in prison, and their families, and provides services to address their individual needs.
Barbara McGrady is a leading First Nations photo-journalist. Her photographs form a significant visual record of First Nations identity and contemporary representations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly the positive contributions they make to culture and community.
Aileen Moreton-Johnson’s pioneering book, The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty.
Claire G. Coleman’s book, Terra Nullius.
Marlene Cummins is a jazz blues singer, saxophonist, songwriter, artist, Aboriginal Australian activist, broadcaster, dancer, and actor. In 2014, she co-wrote with Rachel Perkins her biographical documentary, BLACK PANTHER WOMAN. The documentary details her activism in the Australian Black Panther Party as well as her 40-year fight with addiction.
IN MY BLOOD IT RUNS, a film which documents ten-year-old Dujuan is a child-healer, a good hunter and speaks three languages. As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him we see his spark and intelligence. Yet Dujuan is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare and the police. As he travels perilously close to incarceration, his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his western education lest he becomes another statistic. We walk with him as he grapples with these pressures, shares his truths and somewhere in-between finds space to dream, imagine and hope for his future self.
Kaiya Aboagye’s article on “Australian Blackness, the African Diaspora and Afro/Indigenous Connections in the Global South.” The proud daughter of a Ghanaian man and Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander woman, Aboagye’s PhD research centers the shared experience between people of African descent and Indigenous/Black Oceanic peoples of Australia.
Watch an a video interview of Kaiya Aboagye on Talk Black Table.
Read Aboagye’s interview titled “Shades of Black”.
Read about Aboagye’s project to end violence against women in Papua New Guinea.
Bla(c)kness in Australia, guest edited by Sujatha Fernandes and Jared Thomas, which examines the histories, experiences, and cultures of Aboriginal people and people of African descent in Australia.
Growing Up African in Australia, edited by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Magan Magan, and Ahmed Yussuf
Growing Up African in Australia: racism, resilience and the right to belong, a review by Kathomi Gatwiri
Blackness as Burden? The Lived Experience of Black Africans in Australia by Virginia Mapedzahama and Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo