Lecturer’s animation series explores Black intellectual thought
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The lives and works of major anti-colonial thinkers are told in a four-part animated series written and produced by Dr Marcela Pizarro Coloma for Al Jazeera English.
Still from ‘Sylvia Wynter: Beyond man’. Illustrations by Stefania Sottile
The series of short, animated films ‘Race Historicised: Epistemologies of Colour’ explores the history of the Black radical tradition. Four episodes each focus on the intellectuals W.E.B. Du Bois, Aimé Césaire, Sylvia Wynter and Frantz Fanon.
Dr Pizarro Coloma, Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, has produced and written the films, working with artists, writers and musicians from around the world. With award-winning graphic designer Pierangelo Pirak, she collaborated with young artists, mostly from the Global South, to bring the animation to life.
Still from ‘W.E.B. Du Bois: The Power of Double Consciousness’. Illustrations by Williams Zouzouo
The idea for the series came about in 2020, when the police murder of George Floyd sparked anti-racist protests around the world. The series begins in the US, but moves on to showcase thinkers from the Caribbean, who travelled to Europe and Africa and had impact internationally.
The importance of intellectual history when news reporting - focussed on the present - offers limited understanding was a major motivation for creating the series, and especially for reaching younger generations.
News is by definition forgetful and it has little time to deal with wider contexts, history and indeed, revolutionary thought. So, I proposed a series of animations on the lives and work of key Black radical intellectuals.
Dr Marcela Pizarro Coloma, Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
Animation was the preferred format, with the hope of engaging more viewers with the complex ideas that the series covers, as it works well in the digital age. Dr Pizarro Coloma added, “These pieces are made for a generation of people interested in the history of resistance. I hope people watch them, be it on their phones, in classrooms, cinemas, community centres, and indeed in galleries - because they are also objects of art for all to see."
Still from ‘Frantz Fanon & Colonial Psychosis’. Illustrations by Héloïse Dorsan-Rachet
Dr Pizarro Coloma also produced ‘Media Theorised: Reading against the Grain,’ which showcased the work of five key thinkers on media, and is also available on Al Jazeera English.