008 Zakiya Mckenzie: Collective Memory, Decolonising the Archives and Wandering the Woods

In this episode we chat to Bristol-based writer and researcher Zakiya Mckenzie about decolonising the archives, collective memory and the histories of plants and their relationship to the histories of people. We discuss the inextricable links between land in England and Jamaica and the need for more radical and decolonial ways of mapping stories, land and time than the models left to us by the horrors of empire, as explored in Zakiya's recent pamphlet Testimonies on the History of Jamaica, Vol. 1 (out now with Rough Trade Books).  You can buy a selection of Zakiya’s work from Storysmith with a 10% discount, tune in to the episode to find out more. References: Testimonies on the History of Jamaica, Vol 1 by Zakiya Mckenzie (Rough Trade Pamphlets: 2021) A collection of Zakiya's writing as Writer-in-Residence with the Forestry Commission can be found here.  A Chapter in Women on Nature, ed. Katharine Norbury (Unbound: 2021) A Chapter in The Wild Isles Anthology, ed. Patrick Barkham (Head of Zeus: 2021) Her BBC4 Production on the Forest of Dean, can be found here.  Other References: Dennis Potter: The Art of the Invective, Selected Non-Fiction 1953-1994 (Bloomsbury: 2015)  & his classic TV Series 'Singing Detective' and 'Pennies from Heaven'