Co-constructed with a collective of students from UCLouvain, Afrika United Kap, the Afro-Récits project looks at the invisibility of racial discrimination in society and at university in particular. It aims to support Afro-descendant student collectives in building opportunities for structural change towards a more egalitarian society.
The project entitled: ‘Afro-Récits: S'émanciper pour lutter contre les discriminations raciales ’, stems from various exchanges with students from African diasporas studying at UCLouvain and from the ‘ Décolonisation’ working group at UCLouvain, whose remit was to draw up a report on the role of the university in decolonisation. It also draws on the conclusions of the interdisciplinary colloquium organised by the NGO Avocats Sans Frontières and MIT, in which Louvain Coopération took part, bringing together African diasporas living on the continent. Finally, it was built around discussions with the organisation ITECO, which aims to put citizens back in the driving seat of society, and with whom we continued the reflections.
One of the major issues identified by these various players is the invisibility of racial discrimination in society and at university in particular. Afro-descendant students also said they needed tools to help them think about themselves, put words to this discrimination and develop the ability to take action by speaking out for themselves, with a view to emancipating themselves and raising awareness among their peers.
.