“Black Lives Matter Movement in a Global Context” (Global BLM in short) invites scholars around the world to contemplate two interconnected topics. The online symposium will take place on September 8, 2023. Click here to register

Introduction

First, how has BLM been in conversation with racial and ethnic justice movements outside of the US? BLM has developed into a global movement with transnational ties and influences and has been in dialogue with social movements and activism outside of the US. Still, the scholarship has yet to catch up with this development and has mainly focused on BLM in the US. We aim to address this gap by bringing to the fore the scholarly work on non-US movements that have responded to and resonated with BLM to address racial and ethnic injustice.

Second, how has the BLM been discussed in the global and transnational public spheres? What does it mean to even say “Black Lives Matter” outside the US, amid different categories and definitions of Blackness, race, racism, ethnicity, etc.? To what extent have international solidarities formed under the rhetorical rubric of BLM? BLM has become a global topic that shapes public awareness and understanding of racial injustice and other vital issues related to democracy and inequality. Discussions about BLM occur even in the least expected places, such as China. Such discussions also transcend the borders of nation-states and occur in transnational public spheres, with participants from various countries engaging in social media platforms.

Exploring these two questions – one about social movement and the other about the public sphere – can start a new agenda with a global perspective on social movements and public discourses centered on racial injustice. Systemic racism has never been a country-specific problem. Instead, since its inception, it has been an artifact of intersecting colonialisms, imperialisms, slave trades, international wars, and other exploitative global processes. Discussions about BLM function as a mirror and a lamp. As a mirror, they compel people to reflect on similar issues in many countries worldwide; as a lamp, they shed light on related topics such as democracy, oppression, and social inequality. We hope this conference can pave the way for a more self-conscious effort to examine these issues from a global perspective.

Schedule

Time slots (EST)	Presentations
9 am-9:10 am	Bin Xu, Karida Brown, Jean Beaman – Opening Remarks
9:10 am-9:45 am	Li Yao-Tai “Black Self-serve”: The Depreciation of Blackness and Perception of Racial Hierarchy among Taiwanese Netizens
9:45 am-10:20am	Philippe Marlière The Adama Traoré Committee, Black Lives Matter and the challenge to the French Republic
10:20am-10:40am	Short Break
10:40am-11:15am	Bolaji Balogun & Konrad Pedziwiatr “Czarne jest Polskie” (Black is Polish) BLM Antiracist activism in Poland
11:15am-11:50am	Zahi Zalloua Black-Palestinian Solidarity: BLM and the Politics of the Wretched
11:50am – 1:30pm	Lunch Break
1:30pm-2:05pm	Bin Xu, Xueqia Zhang & Lingxiao Chen How to say “Black Lives Matter” in Chinese?: Debates in a Transnational Public Sphere
2:05pm-2:40pm	Jasmine Kelekay “Even in Sweden”: Reverberations of the Black Lives Matter Movement in Sweden
2:40pm-3pm	Short Break
3pm-3:35pm	Pamela Nwakanma From Black Lives Matter to EndSARS: Women’s Socio-Political Power and the Transnational Movement for Black Lives
3:35pm-4:10pm	Nazia Sharmin Solidarity among Black and Dalit lives
4:10pm-5pm	Bin Xu, Karida Brown, Jean Beaman – Concluding Remarks & Open Discussion