Welcome to 'A History of Everyone Else'!
This video-series was set up in 2020 by Rhianna Ilube and Meera Somji, in response to the dominant ‘great men’ story of British imperialism. Every month, Rhianna and Meera research a different moment in history they were never taught at school, and come back to you to share what they found out! All their episodes aim to centre those who have been sidelined from history: the resistance movements, stigmatised social groups, artists, young people and more. They’ve been described as “like a book club for history” – but with a decolonial lens!
We are delighted to partner with A History of Everyone Else and encourage you to join Rhianna and Meera once a month for their interactive live sessions, or catch up later in your own time.
Scroll down for HEE episodes and follow their work on Facebook and Instagram!
A History of Everyone Else: Sessions
Session Six:
Reimagining History from Harare to Berlin
In this session, Rhianna and Meera are joined by Nora Chirikure and Tondi Koschke of Isusu Ffena to talk about Zimbabwean history, and what different memorials – a plaque commemorating the Berlin Conference of 1884 in Berlin, Germany, and a statue of anti-colonial fighter Mbuya Nehanda in Harare, Zimbabwe – tell us about how we remember history and how we commemorate moments of colonial history in different places. The session also covers the ISUSU Pan-African Festival and platform, and the power of reimagining historical moments through a decolonial lens. Watch to learn about the so-called “scramble for Africa”, liberation wars against the British, German ‘Erinnerungskultur’ (culture of remembering), and much more.
Session Five:
Babylon Film Night
In this session, Meera and Rhianna hosted a virtual movie night to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Babylon. Babylon is a cult classic considered by many to be the great UK reggae movie. This film was considered so controversial for its honest depiction of life as a young Black man in the ‘80s that it was banned in the US until 2019. Though this session was not recorded, you can read Meera and Rhianna’s reflections on the film and the session on our blog here.
Session Four:
Who Were the Mau Mau?
Join Meera and Rhianna as they share insights from their recent investigations into the Mau Mau Emergency, a Kenyan campaign for independence from British rule in the 1950s that was met with extraordinary – and heavily concealed – levels of violence.
Episode Three:
Hong Kong, Radical Zines and 70s Protests
Join Meera and Rhianna as they talk to activist and founding member of the Lausan Collective, Promise Li. ***What did it feel like to be young in 1970s HK, stuck in British colonial rule, but with a looming transfer of power to China scheduled to take place in your lifetime? Who started the radical magazine in the ’70s that shaped the politics of the Hong Kong left?*** They chat about all that we’ve learned about Hong Kong’s history, and why radical ‘zines’ (such as “The ’70s Biweekly”) have played such a big part in shaping protests and dissent in Hong Kong up to present day.
Episode Two:
A Virtual Walking Tour on the East India Company with Nick Robins
Meera & Rhianna are joined by historian Nick Robins (author of ‘The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational’) for this virtual walking tour of London, which tells the story of the East India Company by visiting the Company’s pub, headquarters, warehouse, the exchange, finally ending at the statue of Robert Clive in Whitehall.
Episode One:
Who Were the Maroons of Jamaica?
Join Meera & Rhianna as they talk about what they’ve learned this week about the Maroons of Jamaica – the enslaved people who escaped from the British & Spanish plantations in the 16/1700s and set up autonomous free societies in Jamaica which still exist to this day.
The HEE Team
