Archiving For Ourselves

In this event we launch a 30-minute audio documentary “A Merciless Light - Covid 19 in Newham” that shares stories of how Covid 19 was experienced by communities in Newham in ways that have not been acknowledged or accounted for in official reviews and records, serving as a reminder that archiving for ourselves is urgent and necessary work. The documentary will be followed by a conversation with four panellists: New Delhi based oral historian Aanchal Malhotra whose second book In the Language of Remembering will be published this autumn, Sadiya Ahmed, founder of Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative in the UK, Asmaa Jama, who is part of the Camel Meat + Cassette Tapes project at Dhaqan Collective and Ghazal Haqani, co-producer of “A Merciless Light - Covid 19 in Newham” to discuss why recording and archiving at this time is so important, and the role that oral history can…