“Can I enjoy the nostalgia reserved for the rural for the urban?”
Reflecting on the stanza from the poem “And What Will My Descendants Say about their ancestral home, the Council Estate”, this series of seminars will engage with the question of Urban Nostalgia.
What is nostalgia?
Do we ignore the negative aspects of our longing for a glorious past?
A follow-up to Mr Pink’s House, these two evenings will see discourse surrounding our various London(s). We will explore and reflect on the different sights, sounds, smells and tastes that come to us when we remember.
Joining us for this first session will be Senior Lecturer in Sociology and History at Goldsmiths, University of London Dr. Alex Rhys-Taylor, writer, curator and archivist Naz Hamdi, and essayist, poet, artist, gardener, and academic Edward Adonteng, who is curating the series.
Urban Nostalgia: Part II will be announced in due course.
Speakers
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Dr. Alex Rhys-Taylor
Dr. Alex Rhys-Taylor
Alex is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Department in Sociology and History at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research looks at processes of social change in cities, with a focus on embodied experiences. His work has looked at the smell and flavour of cities and their relationship to gentrification, racism and multicultural formations. He is also interested in urbane behaviours, etiquette and notions of civic virtue and is currently undertaking research into space, masculinity and leisure in cities.
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Naz Hamdi
Naz Hamdi
My name is Naz and I am a writer, archivist and curator from Newham, east London. I mostly document music, film, nightlife and culture, as well as co-running a film club called Shineemo Village with my best friend, Safa. Shneemo Village is a space to watch and discuss popular films or cult classics with my local community and peers. I also work in communications at No Signal and Recess, where I blend my love for storytelling and cultural exploration.
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Edward Adonteng
Edward Adonteng
Edward Adonteng is an essayist, poet, artist, gardener, and academic from South London. He describes himself as a bridge-builder, facilitating discourse on several themes and creating platforms for people to thrive and fully exercise their ingenuity. Recently published as a Contemporary Ghanaian Poet, Edward ruminates on ways that human beings can communicate with each other in a new world that ignores the “little things." He focuses on intellectual histories, epistemology, and anti-colonial thought/practice within academia. His attitude around growing is simple - to grow is to be human.
