What Linett has done- & is doing- is keeping the artform, holding it & passing it on to the next generation (she is an active mentor of women DJs), to speak back to the erasure that constantly shrouds us as Black women. That is not a small thing- it is radical. That is resistance in its most tender form & it is the same spirit that moves through the work I do.

Something people do not always understand about research like mine- research that is personal, ancestral, emotionally weighted- is that the environment in which you process & write it matters. It is not a luxury consideration. It is a methodological one. Sitting in a cafe in Zanzibar or Addis Ababa, laptop open, hot chocolate, fresh juice or tea arriving, music somewhere in the background or coming from my earphones- that is not indulgence.

Choosing to be a digital nomad at that moment- exhausted, over-extended, a one-woman team carrying some of the heaviest research of my life- was not a retreat. It was resistance. It was joy, chosen deliberately & without apology, as an act of defiance against every structure that had demanded my brilliance without protecting my humanity. I stopped fighting. & I lived instead.

I am writing this after a conversation with a friend who had just completed her PhD...At one point, she gently described us as being in the in-between.

I can’t believe I really organised & conducted all of this – a three-year, multi-site research project across three countries on three continents, employing three methods. (Three is definitely my magic number, lol!) It’s amazing to see how my proposal, once just a collection of ideas & a plan, has truly come to life.

Since childhood, I have found joy in being surrounded by books.....to step into the role of writer-in-residence- not just anywhere, but at the Library of Africa & the African Diaspora (LOATAD)- is a dream come true.

From the very beginning, UCC offered me an academic home away from home. It was a perfect match. Its proximity to key research sites, its academic depth, & the welcoming spirit of its community made it ideal. I came in search of connection & understanding. What I received was more than I imagined, especially since I hadn’t even known about it properly beforehand.

I stepped off the plane into Ghana, equal parts excited & nervous, with no idea what to expect– or whom.

Mis-Doctoring erases the years, effort & expertise behind a PhD. Why does it happen? Why does it matter? And how can we fix it?

The first year of my Leverhulme Trust project was the 'UK leg' which I detailed in a previous post. However, the start of my second year...

A reflection of my time as a visiting fellow at the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank (ACIJ/JMB).

As I sit here writing & thinking about my postdoc year, I can’t believe how quickly time flies or how much can be done in a year with...