Events

About the Lecture

Join award-winning writer, filmmaker, and thinker Jude Idada for a thought-provoking guest lecture exploring tensions within the global Black community.

In The Dichotomy Between Continental Africans and the Black Diaspora: A Superiority Complex Rooted in Historical Disconnection, Jude will examine the often unspoken divisions between Africans on the continent and Black people in the diaspora – with a focus on how historical fracture, colonial legacies and cultural dissonance have led to a lack of empathy and sometimes a sense of superiority, between these connected communities.

This interactive talk invites honest reflection and critical dialogue about:

• Why some continental Africans struggle to fully relate to the lived experiences of Black people in the West

• How colonial and postcolonial education has shaped identity, pride and bias

• What solidarity could look like when rooted in shared liberation rather than proximity to power

A short Q&A will follow the talk.

About the Speaker

Jude Idada 

He is a winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, an AMAA best screenplay award, an AMAA for Best Film by An African in the Diaspora, an AFRIFF Globe best screenplay award, and an ANA prize for Drama alongside several other awards. 

Amongst others, Jude was selected as one of the writers for the University of Iowa International Writers Program, the TIFF ‘Adapt This” project, Afrinolly/Ford Foundation ‘Cinema4Change’project, New Directions Filmmakers of the future project by MNET and the Relativity Media/AFRIFF Filmmaking project. 

His films, The Tenant, Queen of the Night and Kofa have won various awards around the world.In addition to this, he has written feature films and television series for various multinational entertainment organizations, like StudioCanal, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. 

He has written and published a collection of short stories “A Box of Chocolates”, an anthology of poetry “Exotica Celestica”, three stage plays “Oduduwa – King of the Edos,” “Sankara” and “L’Otor – The Devils Pilgrimage, the first book in a trilogy of novels “By My Own Hands”, a memoiresque novel “The Debate” and two children’s books “Didi Kanu and the Singing Dwarfs of the North” and “Boom Boom” along with ghostwriting several biographies.

He is a member of the Nigeria Oscar Selection Committee, and was the Chair of the Jury of the Coal City Film Festival, the Witsprouts Storytelling Prize and the head judge of the Quramo Writers Prize. In addition to this, he was also the Creative Director of the AfriCan Theatre Ensemble in Toronto Canada

His plays have been staged at British Council’s Lagos Theatre Festival, the Lagos Fringe Festivaland other cities in Africa, North America, South America, and Europe.

He has written and directed for stage in Canada, US, Nigeria, Ghana, and Guyana.

He has lectured on several topics in higher institutions in North America, South America and Africa.

Jude has been inducted into the National Wall of Role Models at the Black Canadian Awards and founded the Sandra Whiteley Prize for Children’s Literature.

He actively writes observational, and analytical non-fiction and fictional stories across social media, which are aimed at enlightening, entertaining, educating and molding the general public.

He divides his time between Toronto, Canada and Lagos, Nigeria. 

Why This Matters

This lecture forms part of the Black at Sussex programme’s commitment to creating spaces for nuanced conversations within and across the Black community - especially those that challenge internalised divisions and open the door to more empathetic solidarity.

Whether you identify as part of the diaspora, the continent, or both, this session will offer a space to listen, reflect, and speak honestly.

Back to event list

By: Bud Johnston
Last updated: Tuesday, 23 September 2025