EDCMA

Description

What might it mean to listen as a form of resistance — and to compose as a way of bearing witness? In this talk, Dr Liz Gre introduces Endarkened Co-Composition, a sound- and storytelling-based methodology she developed that centers Black and Indigenous traditions of meaning-making. Grounded in Black feminist theory, decolonial critique, and now considering an application in medical anthropology, this approach challenges dominant paradigms in reproductive health research by refusing abstraction, silencing, and epistemic violence — particularly as they affect Black and Brown birthing individuals. Endarkened Co-Composition positions listening not as passive reception, but as an active, relational, and ethical engagement. Through examples of past creative work and reflections on co-produced futures, Dr Gre considers how this methodology can transform the way we research, witness, and co-create knowledge around birth, care, and embodiment.

Our speakers:

Dr Liz Gre is a Black Midwestern American composer, multi-disciplinary artist, researcher, and vocalist known for her genre-less compositions created through collaboration. Her artistic practice is deeply rooted in storytelling and the visceral realms of the imaginary, exploring the opacity of human experience.

As a sound artist-researcher, Liz delves into the applied use of Endarkened Co-Composition—a collaborative method she developed for generative sound and music-making. This approach centres Black and Indigenous forms of storytelling and story-keeping, utilizing methods such as storytelling, interviews, and informal exchanges. Endarkened Co-Composition is a non-linear process focused on creating a space of endarkened co-presence where shared stories and experiences fundamentally shape the sonic outputs.

Currently, Liz is a cross-departmental Lecturer at the University of Southampton in Music and Art and Media Technology. She also serves as the EDI Lead for Music. Her work has been exhibited at notable venues such as Lindisfarne Castle (Holy Island, UK), Lisson Gallery (London, UK), The Union for Contemporary Art (Omaha, USA), and Queens Museum (New York, USA).

Princess Banda's research interests converge socio-medical anthropology, Black feminist scholarship and methodologies, racial health disparities, and racial-social justice. Building on my Masters’ thesis- where she explored how gendered systemic racism and intra-racial dynamics of gender influence Black (UK-based) women’s susceptibility to hypertension (Durham University, 2020)- her DPhil research project extends the study of these two factors to Black maternal health.

Inspired and convicted by what has been dubbed as a ‘Black maternal health crisis’, Princess is researching Black UK-based women’s intergenerational experiences of racism during the maternal period; i.e., during pregnancy, birth, and post-partum. She is acting on their calls to name the racialised violence they experience as ‘racism’, and is repositioning anti-Black racism as a systemic (not social) determinant of health.

This is an in-person event, which takes place in the Violet Laidlaw Room (6.02), Chrystal Macmillan Building, School of Social and Political Science.

This event may be recorded. The recording will be used for internal University of Edinburgh teaching purposes only.

The event is organised and chaired by Lucy Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology, University of Edinburgh.