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Amy Ashwood Garvey and the Political Aesthetics of Diasporic Social Spaces in London

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Symbolism 14
This chapter is in the book Symbolism 14
Nydia A. SwabyAmy Ashwood Garvey and the PoliticalAesthetics of Diasporic Social Spaces inLondonThrough an analysis of the social spaces she created in London, this article high-lights Amy Ashwood Garvey’s role in unifying, empowering, and mobilizing the Af-rican diasporic community in London. Drawing on primary and secondary sourceresearch, the author puts three arguments forward: First, by invoking and produc-ing an inherently African diasporic aesthetic, Amy Ashwood Garvey created aforum where a wide range of diasporic activity could take place. Second, overtime these gathering places acquired a spatial ontology in that they became a me-dium through which the African diasporic community marked its presence in Lon-don and on the world stage. And lastly, whether it be a nightclub on CarnabyStreet, or a recreation center and communal living space in the heart of LadbrokeGrove, the social spaces Amy Ashwood Garvey created always had a political pur-pose. This paper illustrates that these social spaces were hubs of political activity,outlines the grassroots organizations that were launched therein, and recalls thewell-known Pan-African leaders who frequented them.On Thursday November 5, 2009, the Octavia Foundation, in partnership with theNubian Jak Community Trust, unveiled a Blue Plaque commemorating the lifeand achievements of Amy Ashwood Garvey. The unveiling ceremony, whichwas conducted by former Jamaican High Commissioner Burchell Whitemanand ex-Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Timothy Coler-idge, and attended by a host of community activists and local historians, was fol-lowed by a reception with Caribbean food, calypso music, and speeches frompeople who knew Amy Ashwood Garvey and her work. Since that time, the Oc-tavia Foundation has produced an hour-long documentary calledHidden Hersto-ries: Women of Change,which focuses on the lives of four women, among themAshwood Garvey, Claudia Jones, Octavia Hill, and Jayaben Desai. The buildingthe plaque is mounted on features quite prominently in the film, and the seg-ment on Ashwood Garvey concludes at the unveiling ceremony, with Whitemanstating that the Blue Plaque is significant because the community in which AmyAshwood Garvey lived and worked“needs to remember her and for those whodon’t know her, to learn about her, so that the present community can appreciate

Nydia A. SwabyAmy Ashwood Garvey and the PoliticalAesthetics of Diasporic Social Spaces inLondonThrough an analysis of the social spaces she created in London, this article high-lights Amy Ashwood Garvey’s role in unifying, empowering, and mobilizing the Af-rican diasporic community in London. Drawing on primary and secondary sourceresearch, the author puts three arguments forward: First, by invoking and produc-ing an inherently African diasporic aesthetic, Amy Ashwood Garvey created aforum where a wide range of diasporic activity could take place. Second, overtime these gathering places acquired a spatial ontology in that they became a me-dium through which the African diasporic community marked its presence in Lon-don and on the world stage. And lastly, whether it be a nightclub on CarnabyStreet, or a recreation center and communal living space in the heart of LadbrokeGrove, the social spaces Amy Ashwood Garvey created always had a political pur-pose. This paper illustrates that these social spaces were hubs of political activity,outlines the grassroots organizations that were launched therein, and recalls thewell-known Pan-African leaders who frequented them.On Thursday November 5, 2009, the Octavia Foundation, in partnership with theNubian Jak Community Trust, unveiled a Blue Plaque commemorating the lifeand achievements of Amy Ashwood Garvey. The unveiling ceremony, whichwas conducted by former Jamaican High Commissioner Burchell Whitemanand ex-Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Timothy Coler-idge, and attended by a host of community activists and local historians, was fol-lowed by a reception with Caribbean food, calypso music, and speeches frompeople who knew Amy Ashwood Garvey and her work. Since that time, the Oc-tavia Foundation has produced an hour-long documentary calledHidden Hersto-ries: Women of Change,which focuses on the lives of four women, among themAshwood Garvey, Claudia Jones, Octavia Hill, and Jayaben Desai. The buildingthe plaque is mounted on features quite prominently in the film, and the seg-ment on Ashwood Garvey concludes at the unveiling ceremony, with Whitemanstating that the Blue Plaque is significant because the community in which AmyAshwood Garvey lived and worked“needs to remember her and for those whodon’t know her, to learn about her, so that the present community can appreciate

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Foreword from the Editors v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Special Focus: Symbols of Diaspora
  5. Introduction: Symbols of Diaspora 3
  6. Tied to the Land: A Semiotic Challenging of Terms Concerning Land as Used in Diaspora Discourse 19
  7. Diasporic Memory and Narratives of Spatiotemporality 43
  8. Amy Ashwood Garvey and the Political Aesthetics of Diasporic Social Spaces in London 59
  9. The Symbolism of Emplacement and Displacement in Sudanese British Fiction by Tayeb Salih and Leila Aboulela 75
  10. Ain’t I a Woman? A Mother? A Nation? ‘Woman’ and ‘Nation’ in Pre- and Post- Independence India 93
  11. Christmas in the Diaspora: Dislocating Symbols in Kipling, Cary and Dabydeen 111
  12. Two Stone Lions: Law, Home, and Diasporic Sovereignty 131
  13. Oddity Magnified: In Search of Identity in Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans 149
  14. Writing Her Own Story: Acculturation, Metatextuality and Symbolizing Queerness in Shamim Sarif’s I Can’t Think Straight 163
  15. ‘A Bootless Inquisition?’ Searching for Imaginary Homelands in The Tempest 183
  16. General Section
  17. Discourses of Terror in French and Spanish Novels after 9/11 201
  18. William Earle’s Novella: Obi, Obeah and the Ideological Work of Haunting 221
  19. A Great Good Place or Ghastly Pile? Representations of the English Country House in Recent British Fiction: Metamorphosis of a Literary Motif 245
  20. Book Reviews 273
  21. Contributors 285
  22. Index 291
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110407990.59

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Foreword from the Editors v
  3. Contents vii
  4. Special Focus: Symbols of Diaspora
  5. Introduction: Symbols of Diaspora 3
  6. Tied to the Land: A Semiotic Challenging of Terms Concerning Land as Used in Diaspora Discourse 19
  7. Diasporic Memory and Narratives of Spatiotemporality 43
  8. Amy Ashwood Garvey and the Political Aesthetics of Diasporic Social Spaces in London 59
  9. The Symbolism of Emplacement and Displacement in Sudanese British Fiction by Tayeb Salih and Leila Aboulela 75
  10. Ain’t I a Woman? A Mother? A Nation? ‘Woman’ and ‘Nation’ in Pre- and Post- Independence India 93
  11. Christmas in the Diaspora: Dislocating Symbols in Kipling, Cary and Dabydeen 111
  12. Two Stone Lions: Law, Home, and Diasporic Sovereignty 131
  13. Oddity Magnified: In Search of Identity in Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans 149
  14. Writing Her Own Story: Acculturation, Metatextuality and Symbolizing Queerness in Shamim Sarif’s I Can’t Think Straight 163
  15. ‘A Bootless Inquisition?’ Searching for Imaginary Homelands in The Tempest 183
  16. General Section
  17. Discourses of Terror in French and Spanish Novels after 9/11 201
  18. William Earle’s Novella: Obi, Obeah and the Ideological Work of Haunting 221
  19. A Great Good Place or Ghastly Pile? Representations of the English Country House in Recent British Fiction: Metamorphosis of a Literary Motif 245
  20. Book Reviews 273
  21. Contributors 285
  22. Index 291
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