DMDI Network UK Summit: Iwowo, Marfo, Bandaranayake to Lead Discourse on Transnational Media Collaboration
Vanessa Obioha
The interdisciplinary network Developing a Media Decolonisation Imaginary (DMDI), focused on ethics in transnational media research, has announced the lineup of speakers for its upcoming summit.
Titled ‘The Artist as Public Intellectual: Rememory & Sankofa for an Imaginary of Ethics in Transnational Media Collaborations,’ the two-day summit will feature notable figures such as Dr. Samantha Iwowo, Principal Lecturer in Directing Drama for Film and TV at Bournemouth University; Prof. Charles Marfo, Provost of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana; Sri Lankan filmmaker and founder of Lanka Cine Media, Lanka Bandaranayake; and Dr. Jacqueline Maingard, Associate Professor in the Department of Film and Television at the University of Bristol, who will deliver one of the keynote speeches.
The hybrid event, set to take place online and at select hubs in the UK and Sri Lanka, seeks to engage audiences in the ‘Global South’ beyond academia. Inspired by Toni Morrison’s concept of Rememory, which encourages revisiting and reimagining the past to foster healing and innovation, and the Ghanaian philosophy of Sankofa, which emphasizes progress through the integration of relevant cultural heritage, the summit will explore how artistic exchanges—focusing on history, socio-cultural heritage, filmmaking, and indigenous media knowledge—can advance ethical approaches to transnational media research, practice, and pedagogy.
“We see the need to highlight some of the indigenous knowledge systems, media icons, philosophies of the global South which are currently under-acknowledged in the framings of transnational media engagement to advance innovations around ethics in such collaborations,” said Dr. Iwowo, who also serves as the Early Career Research Lead for the Centre for the Study of Conflict Emotion and Social Justice, (CESJ), Bournemouth University. “In summary, the DMDI network from which this two-day event has been created is undertaking research to advance innovations in ethical transnational media collaboration.”
The summit, which begins on Thursday, November 28, will feature showcases from various artists across Africa, Asia, and the UK. Panel discussions will cover themes such as transnational media collaboration, immigration, leadership, and women’s empowerment.
“The summit is seeking to develop north and south transnational media collaborations,” remarked Prof. Karen Fowler-Watt, Director of CESJ. “It offers a rich and varied range of cultural artefacts, ranging from poetry, music and drama to film screenings and visual exhibitions. And we really look forward to welcoming lively discussion, to listening to and learning new ideas, which I think is an incredibly important part of the whole network, and to working on future collaborations that I feel sure will be spawned by this important initiative.”
Among the films to be screened are ‘Deferred,’ a 2024 documentary by Bandaranayake on the gender-empowering possibilities of higher education in Sri Lanka amidst recent UK immigration changes; ‘Queen Mothers of the Asante Culture,’ directed by Dr. Fortune Tella, a lecturer at KNUST; and ‘In Conversation with a Wall,’ directed by Dr. Iwowo. The event will also feature a poetry reading by Prof. Nduka Otiono, Director of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University, Canada.
A special panel ‘New Notions on Africana Womanism: Probing the Songs of Onyeka Onwenu,’ will recognise the artistic impact of the late Nigerian female music icon in the field of African gender studies.
“As someone brought up and educated in Western feminism, I have found Africana Womanism to offer a fascinating counterpoint. I think there is much Western feminists can learn from the alternative perspective it brings,” said Dr. Christa Van Raalte, Associate Professor of Film and Television, Bournemouth University.
The DMDI Network, which is made up of three universities and 31 scholars, artists, and media practitioners, is led by Bournemouth University’s CESJ Centre and KNUST, Ghana. Partners include the University of the Liberal Arts, Bangladesh; Lanka Cine Media, Sri Lanka; and the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE).
