Emma Dabiri Instagram – Cover story @violetsimonofficial DISRUPTORS ISSUE ♥️
Being a disruptor means challenging the status quo and going against the grain in your sphere of life. What makes you a disruptor? What was the catalyst that prompted you to start challenging the status quo?
From a young age I saw there was a gap between what was “official” and what was ‘true” and I often had a visceral reaction to injustice and hypocrisy. I saw the way the powerful controlled narratives, but power and corruption often go hand in hand, so often what we are told is the ‘right’ way or the ‘just’ way is often just the way that serves the best interests of the ruling classes, and is often morally bankrupt. I think it is an ability to recognise this and a willingness to challenge hegemonic thinking that makes one a disruptor
What is your background and what was growing up like for you? What were some of the main challenges you faced and milestones you achieved growing up? How did those experiences influence the person you are today and the profession or vocation you do today?
An avid reader from a young age, I turned to books to try and make sense of my experiences and started reading black history as a child.
Funnily enough, while it was my isolation growing up in Ireland that in many ways set me in the direction of my studies – I moved to the UK after school to study history and African Studies at SOAS – it was also the fiercely anti imperialist tradition that runs through so much of Irish culture that shaped me too.
As I got older, read more widely, as Ireland changed and I started to be able to rehabilitate my relationship with it, I started to see more and more the parallels between Black and Irish radical traditions and became increasingly drawn to politics of coalition. I believe that international solidarity against oppression and exploitation is the only way we might possibly overcome all of the injustices people face globally today.
#happyinternationalwomensday ♥️ | Posted on 08/Mar/2024 14:23:32
