Each One Teach One Conversation Series: Allyship and Coalition

In this series creatives, the artists, designers and academics will explore, and draw on lived experience, research and activism to further encourage sharing and collaboration.

Subhadra Das and Miranda Lowe will explore the theme of Allyship and Coalition.

Their joint paper 'Nature Read in Black and White: Decolonial approaches to interpreting natural history collections' was published in the Journal of Natural Science Collections, Volume 6, (2018). This received the inaugural President’s award of the Society of Natural History (2021). Das and Lowe explored and proposed the need for wider narratives, as to how we understand history, collection, and museum practice. This can only be approached by a better reflection of colonial histories as this impacts our view of the past which shapes the future. The role that Allyship and Coalition can play is also informed through their individual practices.

Subhadra Das is a writer, historian, broadcaster, and comedian who looks at the relationship between science and society. She specialises in the history and philosophy of science, particularly the history of scientific racism and eugenics. For nine years, she was Curator of the Science Collections at University College London and was also Researcher in Critical Eugenics at the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation.

Miranda Lowe CBE, is Principal Curator at the Natural History Museum. She is a founder member of Museum Detox, a network for people of colour who work in museums, galleries, libraries, archives, and the heritage sector. In 2020, Miranda was named in BBC Radio Four Women’s Hour Power List: Our Planet and is a Fellow of The Museums Lab 2022. She is a trustee at York Museums Trust, a member of Climate Reframe and is the Chair of Culture&.

Moderated by Donata Miller Assistant Curator, Africa and Diaspora, V&A.