GHOST: Guests and hosts in the age of migration

Open Mic Event

Contact: cathywilcock@gmail.com

Guests and hosts in the age of migration
- Talk and discussion with Cathy Wilcock
- Spoken word headliners: Luke AG, Mustafa Abubaker and Samah Abdu
- Open mic: bring your voices, words, poems, texts, stories, improv...

Join us for a talk and discussion followed by spoken word performances around the theme 'Guests, hosts and the role of the imagination in the age of migration'

Motivation text: While forced immigration to the UK has always happened, it has become an increasingly politicised issue over the last 10 years. Against the backdrop of the Tory ‘hostile environment’, what are the ways in which communities in the UK are hosting migrants? How do people work within, around and against hostility and what can we do to be the most ‘moral’ hosts? Perhaps this involves a radical reimagining of the identities of guests and hosts altogether? Perhaps the imagination, both creative and political, is key to addressing toxic forms of belonging and recalibrating identities to be more inclusive, dignified and solidaristic.

Cathy Wilcock is a researcher based in the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague. She completed her PhD at the University of Manchester and specialises in the political anthropology of migration. She works with Sudanese communities in the UK and the Netherlands and is interested in music as a form of transnational claim-making. She is also a songwriter and spoken word artist as one half of the Manchester and Rotterdam-based duo Gymnast.

Luke AG has recently won spoken word awards at Hammer and Tongue at the Edinburgh Fringe, H&T at the Royal Albert Hall and the Hastings Fringe Slam. With a distinctly political and historical message, Luke uses poetry and rhyme to work through a narrative of his own life, and the people around him. Originally from Hastings, a lot of his poems work through his journey from a small town to the big city, with a couple of pit stops along the way. Catch him at this intimate event before he starts filling stadiums.

Samah Abdu is a Sudan-born cultural awareness campaigner, spoken word artist and chef working on creating a social space for international Sudanese diaspora to artistically engage in dialogue. She encourages artists and creatives to learn about Sudanese culture and heritage through Niolotic music jam nights and sharing cultural food knowledge with local and international citizens. She also campaigns for social justice, human rights and equality through collaborating with local community kitchens.

Mustafa Abubaker is a Sudanese activist and spoken word artist who works on youth and community development in Sudan. Born in Ivory Coast, raised in the Middle East, he studied and lived in New York before returning to re-discover his homeland. In Sudan, Mustafa founded Makaan Arts and Culture org., studio1, Sudan Drums and more to create safe spaces for youth to express and develop themselves through open mics, poetry nights, music nights, discussion forums etc. Mustafa started various initiatives and programmes targeting social change through arts, as well as bringing together youth from Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan to develop skills for addressing social change and development through arts.

Entry: Free

Time: 3:00pm (Doors and Open mic sign up from 3pm)