Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us
How do we learn about the past while living in the present?
Who creates archives and how is history made?
What is it like to dream of Black Scottish history?
Why do our (hi)stories matter?
Hou dae we lear aboot the past whiles leevin in the praisent?
Wha creates archives an hou is history gart?
Whit’s it lik tae dream o Black Scottish history?
Whitwey dae oor (hi)stories maitter?
Ciamar a dh’ ionnsaicheas sinn mun àm a dh’ fhalbh fhad ‘s a tha sinn a’ fuireach san
Latha an-diugh?
Cò a chruthaicheas tasglannan agus ciamar a tha eachdraidh air a dhèanamh?
Cò ris a tha e coltach a bhith a’ bruadar mu eachdraidh nan Albannach Black?
Carson a tha ar (n-each)draidh cudromach?
Follow 14-year-old Ola’s thoughts and dreams in this story about the experiences, history, and lives of Black people in Scotland.
Draw and scribble your own thoughts in pages dedicated to dreaming and drawing.
Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us is a graphic novel illustrated by Chris Manson and co-authored by Francesca Sobande and layla-roxanne hill. It is available in English, Scots (translated by Lesley Benzie) and Scottish Gaelic (translated by Naomi Gessesse). All versions of it can be downloaded below. If you would like to order free print copies, please email: BeingBlackinScotland@gmail.com
Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us (in English)
Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us (in Scottish Gaelic)
Contributors
Francesca Sobande, layla-roxanne hill, Chris Manson, Lesley Benzie, and Naomi Gessesse
Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us (in Scots)
This work was supported by funding from ESRC IAA and AHRC IAA grants from UKRI, provided through Cardiff University.
Francesca Sobande is a writer and senior lecturer in digital media studies (Cardiff University). She is co-author with layla-roxanne hill of Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland (Bloomsbury, 2022) and author of The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).
layla-roxanne hill is a curator and writer, living and healing in Scotland. She organises within and outwith the trade union movement. She is co-author with Francesca Sobande of Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland (Bloomsbury, 2022).
Chris Manson is a mixed Scottish Chinese illustrator and writer based near Glasgow. Originally from Hong Kong, he uses speculative fiction comics to tell stories about identity and the ways in which tradition both empowers us and restrains us. He is the artist for 'Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us', and has previously been published by Quindrie Press in the collection 'Tilt'.
Lesley Benzie is Scots translator o Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us. She scrieves in baith Scots an English an haes 2 poetry collections, Sewn Up an mair newlins Fessen/Reared (Seahorse. 2020). Aat year she also wan a Highly Commended in the Federation o Writers Scotland an Runner-up in McCash Scots Poetry competeetions. In 2021 she wis shortlisted in the Main an Scots categories o the Wigtown Poetry Prize. In 2022 she wis shortlisted for Scots Scriever o the Year in the Scots language Awards. She is a member o Wanderlust Weemen, a 3 poet collectiv.
Tha Naomi Gessesse na sgrìobhadair le Gàidhlig stèidhichte ann an Glaschu aig a bheil ùidh ann am film agus foghlam. Tha iad air a bhith ag obair thairis air grunn fhèisean film agus tha iad an dòchas tuilleadh rannsachaidh a dhèanamh.