71 with questions and meanings of blackness, and the theories and practices that attend to the category of blackness both within and beyond the Global South. This sustained attention to notions of blackness has become increasingly important in a global moment defined by harmful forms of racism/anti-Blackness, which has in turn inspired transnational forms of solidarity and resistance, but has also animated debates on the multiplicity of the black experience. Ultimately, GBSS is meant to offer scholars, artists and activists a space to present their ideas and work in progress. This year’s Summer School, titled Black Articulation Otherwise, brought in a wide range of scholars, practitioners, activists, artists and ordinary people from across the globe. The guest presenters comprised of leading scholars on black studies, feminist studies, Literary studies, theatre and performance, African Diaspora studies, sexuality, trauma etc. from across the globe. These scholars included Donette Francis, Gabrielle Goliath, Pumla Dineo Gqola, Phumi Mtetwa and Tavia Nyong’o. Several of whom are research associates at the centre. The summer school had an online and hybrid programme comprised of a series of public webinars and some by-invitation only smallgroup sessions. On the one hand, the small-group zoom sessions, which privileged participants from or connected to the continent, aimed at cultivating more intimate conversations with the guest presenters. Those gathered for these sessions were invited to reflect on a selection of reading material and resources provided by our guest presenters. These small-group sessions are in line with the centre’s efforts to foster a meaningful local and transnational community of thought and praxis. On the other hand, the public webinars comprised of presentations by our guest speakers which were then followed by questions and reflections from the participants. The public webinars were all recorded, and videos have been posted to our YouTube channel, where they continue to garner views. The first session – “Imagine There’s No World: Queer Transections of Afrofuturism and Critical Fabulation” – was hosted by Tavia Nyong’o on 15th November 2021. In the small-group session which brought together 19 participants, Nyong’o steered a stimulating conversation on Afrofuturism. Nyongo’s selection of reading material – Saidiya Hartman’s (2008) “Venus in Two Acts,” Kodwo Eshun’s (2003) “Further Considerations of Afrofuturism,” and his own book chapter “Afro-Fabulation and the Fictions of Ethnicity” – enabled productive engagements with the possibilities and limits of Afrofuturism. By allowing the participants to make contributions through a jam board, Nyong’o elicited varied and thought provoking conversations on the meanings of Afrofuturism. Nyong’o began the public webinar by provocatively advancing the idea of “ending the world as we know it.” Drawing from a wide range of material and resources, he extended the conversation to thinking about the possibilities of black invention and or fabulation beyond imperial maps and archives. The second small-group session (24th November 2021) was hosted by Donette Francis. The title of this session was: “Creole Miami: Quotidian Entanglements of the Americas.” Donette’s small-group session invited individual participants to reflect on the meaning of creole/ creolization through the lens of their experiences, or “the place or (space/time) history.” In addition, she asked us to think through what creole/ creolization helps to “describe, or make sense of,” and what, if any, are its limits. This proved to be highly generative as the 13 participants’ responses questioned the categories of identity in inventive ways. In this small-group discussion, Donette managed to elicit an understanding of how the theories of creole and creolization travel. Thinking from Miami but extending beyond the boundaries of the nation-state, Donette’s presentation provoked a confrontation with the many articulations of Blackness that exist in various space/times. Further, she emphasized the need to pay attention to localised configurations of power, and how these structure racial formations and identities, and more importantly, elicit practices of refusal and possibility. As with Tavia, her public webinar brought together folks from across the globe (South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, UK, US etc.), itself a reflection of the spirit that animated the discussions. The texts that Prof Francis provided for her section included: Donette Francis and Allison Harris’s (2020) “Introduction: Looking for Black Miami”; Donette Francis’s (2020) “Juxtaposing Creoles: Miami in the Plays of Tarell Alvin McCraney”; Edouard Glissant’s (2008) “Creolization in the Making of the Americas” and; MichelRolph Trouillot’s (2006) “Culture on the Edges: Creolization in the Plantation Context.” The last session of the summer school (9th December 2021) was led by Gabrielle Goliath and Pumla Dineo Gqola. The session was titled “‘Wet Eyes’: As If Blackgirl Freedom Has Come.” During the public webinar, Pumla and Gabrielle examined the “texture of Black Feminist friendships … against and beyond patriarchal spacetime.” Capitalising
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