Fictive Kinships & Counter Narratives - Whiteness, race, and the space beyond

Work to understand whiteness, and a move beyond it to a place of liberation and shared, intersectional goals.

Featuring
Amahra Spence, Natasha Ruwona, Chris Daemmrich

In this work we seek to understand the origins of whiteness but to move towards a space outwith and beyond one defined by race logic - to a place where alternative ways of dreaming, living, and being can be explored with a focus on shared, intersectional goals.

Whiteness, and white racialised identity refer to the way that white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups of people are compared. Whiteness is subsequently deployed as the ‘normal’, where nonwhite people are seen as inferior, as other. Whiteness is therefore a primary source of systemic racism.

In context to whiteness and race, fictive kinships are perceived social ties that are based solely on the colour of someone’s skin and are therefore considered to be fictional or unreal. An example of this may be where, in relation to class, a fictive kinship is created between a capitalist elite and a working class group of people. In reality, this ‘kinship’ continues to afford all advantage to the capitalist elite with little to no benefit to the working class group of people in terms of solidarity, rights, economic advancement, or wellbeing. Any ‘kinship’ is based on skin colour alone and is therefore fictive.

With counter narratives we seek to move towards more liberated spaces which are not defined or set by predetermined structures or practices. Spaces which enable ideas, dreams and imaginations and are shaped by new stories, social settings, systems of value, and structures of organising.

This discussion exploring these critical themes is a key contribution to further cultural work due for later publication.

Contributors:

Amahra Spence
Amahra Spence is a UK-based artist, cultural producer and spatial practitioner who views her intergenerational work through the lenses of equity, service and community.

Amahra is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of MAIA, a mission-led arts and social justice organisation. Justice, access, care and joy are at the heart of the organisation’s work featuring projects like the Freedom Fund, which supports Black Artists in the Midlands, and the Black Land & Spatial Justice Fund, which aims to redefine the relationship between land and space.

Natasha Ruwona
Natasha Thembiso Ruwona is a Scottish-Zimbabwean artist, researcher and programmer. They are interested in Afrofuturist storytelling through the poetics of the landscape, working across various media including; digital performance, film, DJing and writing. Their current project Black Geographies, Ecologies and Spatial Practice is an exploration of space, place and the climate as related to Black identities and histories. Natasha is interested in different forms of magic and is in particular drawn to the power of the moon.

Natasha completed a curatorship for Africa in Motion Film Festival 2019 and was selected as Film Hub Scotland's New Promoter for Glasgow Short Film Festival's 2020 edition. They are a Project Coordinator for UncoverED, Assistant Producer for Claricia Parinussa, a Committee Member for Rhubaba, Board Member of the CCA, and Assistant Curator for Fringe of Colour.

Chris Daemmrich
Chris Daemmrich is an architectural advocate, designer and educator based in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, who facilitates Collab., a Collaborative Design Workshop focusing on racial, gender and economic justice.

Chris serves on the board of the National Organization of Minority Architects’ Louisiana chapter, and is a co-facilitator of Emergent Grounds for Design Education, a member of the Tulane School of Architecture's Young Alumni Council, steward of the Architecture Lobby's Racial Justice Working Group, and a board member of the Association for Community Design.

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Security & Accessibility
This event is being hosted live on Zoom and is being recorded for later public access. The Architecture Fringe takes the online safety and security of our guests and audience members seriously. Following best practice, upon registration, you will be sent a Zoom link where the event will commence at the allotted event time. This link is for registrants only. Thank you for your support and for joining us!

This event will feature automated closed captioning which will appear either within the call itself or in a separate window which will sit alongside Zoom. We have requested all contributors to speak slowly and clearly to allow for the captioning to be as accurate as possible. We will also review the closed captioning to ensure it accurately reflects the event when the recording is shared on our YouTube/social media channels.