This year, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of the radical transformation of the Institute of Race Relations [IRR]. 

On April 18, 1972, the direction and relevance of the IRR was transformed from a policy-oriented, establishment, academic institution to an anti-racist ‘thinktank’ under the leadership of A. Sivanandan. 

This momentous change shifted the Institute’s focus, responding to the needs of Black people and all those affected by racism, and making direct analyses of institutionalised racism in Britain and the rest of Europe.

In this program, we will explore, more deeply, the significance, meaning, and legacy of the 50th anniversary of the radical transformation of the IRR with Colin Prescod. 

Colin Prescod (born 1944) is a British sociologist and cultural activist, originally from Trinidad, who in a career spanning five decades has worked as an academic, documentary filmmaker, theatre maker, and BBC Television commissioning editor, as well as being involved with many cultural and community projects. He is chair of the London-based Institute of Race Relations and a member of the editorial working committee of the international journal Race and Class. Other positions in which he served include as a member of the (London) Mayor's Commission on African and Asian Heritage, on the Greater London Authority's Heritage Diversity Task Force, as founding-Chair (1993–2001) of The Drum, Birmingham, and Chair of the Association for Cultural Advancement through Visual Art (ACAVA), London.

This program is part of a collaboration between Africa World Now Project and the Institute of Race Relations and its journal of Race & Class, based in London, where we engage in transnational dialogue that intentionally disrupts dominant discourses around racial oppression. 

These programs are designed to inform the ways we think about the persistent and evolutionary nature of global racial oppression in order to develop an analysis to radically and systematically address it.

Big big shout out to Sophia Siddiqui with help on producing!

IRR50: harnessing the spirit of transformation: https://irr.org.uk/article/irr50/

Music: Old and New Dreams is the second album by jazz quartet Old and New Dreams. The record features trumpeter Don Cherry, saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ed Blackwell, and was recorded in 1979 … It then fades into … Nala Sinephro – Album: Space 1.8 – Track: Space 8; Going into break – Nala Sinephro – Album: Space 1.8 – Track: Space 1; Outtro: De La Soul with Chuck D, We The People

reflections on IRR50 w/ Colin Prescod

Africa World Now Project is a multimedia educational project that produces knowledge about the African world through a series of methods that include: radio, podcast, publishing, film festivals, webinars, social media, etc.

Africa World Now Project is, in essence, a multimedia open-access 'classroom' that provides actionable information that explores continuities and discontinuities in the history, culture, and politics of the entire African world.

AWNP does this by engaging in organic discussions with scholars, artists, journalists, activists, organizers and others who are intentionally disruptive in assessing the various issues that exist in the entire African world.