David Livingstone Birthplace David Livingstone Birthplace

This four-part podcast series, brought to you by The Skinny in partnership with We Are Here Scotland, explores the conversations, questions, creativity and reflections that emerged from Our Stories Between the Myths and Memories: a free weekend of storytelling by artists from the Scottish African diaspora at the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum, October 2022.

EPISODE 4

In this, our final episode of this series, I am going to look at how things will play out in the future. How we collectively imagine our futures was a big theme that rose to the surface during the weekend. Throughout, we looked at imagining otherwise through care and healing.

This four-part podcast series, brought to you by The Skinny in partnership with We Are Here Scotland, explores the conversations, questions, creativity and reflections that emerged from Our Stories Between the Myths and Memories: a free weekend of storytelling by artists from the Scottish African diaspora at the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum, October 2022.

EPISODE 3

In this, our penultimate episode of the series, we’re looking at one of the reasons why this podcast came together. It’s about the stories we tell each other and ourselves. When Natasha was curating this series they said it would look at reflecting on the stories that David Livingstone Birthplace are telling, the stories artists of the African Scottish diaspora are telling, and how these can act as bridges between people, storytelling then became the overall theme. I am going to look at that in a bit more detail now…

This four-part podcast series, brought to you by The Skinny in partnership with We Are Here Scotland, explores the conversations, questions, creativity and reflections that emerged from Our Stories Between the Myths and Memories: a free weekend of storytelling by artists from the Scottish African diaspora at the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum, October 2022.

EPISODE 2
In this, our second episode we explore the joining of disparate dots. And by disparate, that may mean displacement, disconnection from heritage and the stories of our lives but also, how to connect old lives to new, including moving from one continent to another for example.

This was a strong theme over the weekend programmed by Natasha and their creative community, but we also wanted to question what are these dots? Who and what do they represent? How might they join? Do they even join? And hopefully, some of these questions will be answered OR… give us more to think about.

This four-part podcast series, brought to you by The Skinny in partnership with We Are Here Scotland, explores the conversations, questions, creativity and reflections that emerged from Our Stories Between the Myths and Memories: a free weekend of storytelling by artists from the Scottish African diaspora at the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum, October 2022.

EPISODE 1
In this first episode, we explore how we remember and reflect on the past. What has this commission evoked for people? How have they navigated their past experiences and stories? And what questions do they have now?

In this episode S.I. Martin (Author and Historian), Natalie Milor (Curator) and Alasdair Campbell (Communities and Partnership Development Officer) discuss the newly re-opened DLB museum in the context of Black History Month.

The group discuss the redevelopment process and why this work is vital within the museum sector and the wider social and political context. They consider what more must be done to open up collections and archives to communities and the importance of championing untold narratives of Black History. They also explore topics including decolonisation, why 'woke' culture receives so much criticism and what should be next for DLB.

Petina Gappah (Author and International Lawyer) in discussion with Kate Simpson (David Livingstone Trust Trustee, University of Glasgow Lecturer, Livingstone Online Project Scholar)about her 2020 novel 'Out of Darkness, Shining Light'.

"This is how we carried out of Africa the poor broken body of Bwana Daudi, the Doctor, David Livingstone, so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own land." So begins Petina Gappah's powerful novel of exploration and adventure in nineteenth-century Africa--the captivating story of the loyal men and women who carried explorer and missionary Dr. Livingstone's body, his papers and maps, fifteen hundred miles across the continent of Africa, so his remains could be returned home to England and his work preserved there. Narrated by Halima, the doctor's sharp-tongued cook, and Jacob Wainwright, a rigidly pious freed slave, this is a story that encompasses all of the hypocrisy of slavery and colonization--the hypocrisy at the core of the human heart--while celebrating resilience, loyalty, and love.

https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571345328-out-of-darkness-shining-light.html

For more information about the David Livingstone Birthplace, please visit www.david-livingstone-birthplace.org