In conversation with Eulinda Antonette Clarke-Akalanne

Windrush generation who were treated so horribly.’

Third Year Film and English

Eulinda Antonette Clarke-Akalanne, 81, recently graduated from the University of Bristol with an MA in Black Humanities, having achieved her BA in Anthropology in 2018. Antonette - as she is known - embodies the fact that age should worked as a general nurse, social worker, midwifery sister, senior psychiatric charge nurse and a nurse prescriber. She was in her early 70s when she decided to enrol in an Anthropology BA, catching the 6.15am train from Bridgwater four days a week to attend university, and has found the experience incredibly rewarding. not stand in the way of achieving your goals.

In England, Antonette worked as a nurse in Derby. She lived in a nurses’ home alongside mainly Irish women, who also faced discrimination, it being the era of ‘no Irish, no blacks, no dogs’. She then worked as a health visitor until 2007, when she retired. In retirement she was a respite foster carer and Citizens Advisor, but always felt that something was amiss.

Antonette was born and raised in Barbados, before moving to England aged 18, in 1959, following the UK government’s recruitment campaigns. In conversation with Epigram, she explains that Enoch Powell, former Government minister renowned for his anti-immigration stance, visited her school.

‘He seemed like a nice young man, she said. ‘It just shows how people change. When you’re useful to people you’re the best thing after custard, and when you’re no longer useful you’re trash, like the people of the

Antonette was schooled in Barbados while it was still under British sovereignty, and this was re ected in the teaching content, which was steeped in British history, culture and literature. While she acknowledges that it was a good education, she explained that she learnt nothing about slavery or the history of Barbados and its' people.

In her twenties, during her time as a nurse, she became interested in African history and anthropology, drawn to the exploration of the origins of mankind and the development of society. She considered pursuing further study at The Open University but, despite these interests, she had to prioritise earning a living and raising her three children over enrolling in further education.

Through the degree, she could gain easy access to otherwise highly expensive journals and articles, and she found it invigorating to be around young people. Rather than feeling awkward or uncomfortable, she found that going to the library and sitting amongst young people gave her energy.

‘I love learning and mixing with younger people. The energy they have, the feeling that they are all going somewhere is a type of vibration, a shoot of electricity,’ she said.

Her university work has explored colourism in the UK and Barbados, something that she explains she has experienced in her life.

'Her poetry volume, Euanca (2021), is available in the Arts and Social Sciences Library'

During the course of her life, she

As a girl in Barbados, she was aware that her lighter skin tone a orded her better opportunities than those with darker complexions. Her most recent project, ‘Bristol: Capital of Enslavement’, in which she is involved with eight other people, explores the city’s history with slavery.

She has convinced eight friends to enter university as mature students, and she recommends it to anybody. ‘Age is not a barrier to university studies. It is only thinking that makes one think, so have cour- further education] is not only possible, but well worth it.' brary, and features the likes of 'The Fulani Woman', 'The Windrush Generation and the Hostile Environment Bill', 'Things Change', 'I Am Afrikan' and 'When I Came to England.’ She previously performed her poem 'Windrush' in 2018 in the Houses of Parliament.

Many prospective mature students worry that they don’t have the necessary quali cations or knowledge to enrol in further academic study, but many universities and colleges have a exible admissions policy, taking work and life experience into account.

If you know anybody who is hes- and happiness. And if I can itant about whether or not to pursue further age and go for it. Achieving your goals, at any time in life, brings contentment, a sense of achievement and happiness. And if I can do it, then so can you!,’ she said.

Amongst her other talents, Antonette has been an avid poet, actor and short story writer throughout her life, and has previously performed for Arts Matter Bristol and participated in the Swindon Festival of Literature.

Her writing is often autobiographical, and also addresses issues in contemporary politics. Her volume of poetry, Euanca (2021), is available in the Arts and Social Sciences Li-