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NYBALF 2026 
EVENTS

SATURDAY SEPT 18

ChatGPT Image Aug 31, 2026, 10_15_59 PM.png

Friday Sept. 18 2026 • 2:00 PM | Institute of African Studies, Columbia University

The Stranger at Home: Afrophobia and the Limits of Black Solidarity

Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs · Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

Across the twentieth century, Pan-Africanism imagined a commons linking Africa and its diasporas through shared histories of dispossession, resistance, and return. The present has strained that promise. With South Africa as a central point of departure, this conversation examines how African migrants are made into strangers within African and Black political life. Bringing together writers, scholars, and migrant-rights organizers, the session asks how citizenship, labor, class, borders, national injury, and state failure shape the limits of solidarity, and what solidarity requires when it must become more than a slogan: law, shelter, public services, political voice, and everyday infrastructure.

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

SATURDAY SEPT 19

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

SUNDAY SEPT 20

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

Let the Poets Govern.jpg

CRAFT AND PRACTICE · 10:00 AM

From the Transcription Centre to the Schomburg Center: A Wikidata Edit-a-thon

​Sisonke Msimang · E. Tendayi Achiume · Sean Jacobs ·
Amaha Kassa · moderated by Abosede George

A hands-on archival and digital-knowledge session focused on the Schomburg Center’s Transcription Centre Interviews with African Writers audio collection. The event comprises an introduction to Wikidata followed by an edit-a-thon in which participants create and improve entries for writers, works, and organizations represented in the collection. Advance registration, a Wikidata account, and a laptop will be required.

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