About Shared Narratives
Uchenna Ngwe and Ankna Arockiam formed Shared Narratives in 2020 as a way to support and highlight the work of researchers of colour who work predominantly in the performing arts. Shared Narratives aims to create a platform for academic voices that are often hidden, particularly in conservatoire and university settings.
Conceived as an online event from the outset, the first conference took place in November 2020, sharing research produced by researchers of colour while developing a collaborative networking space for us as academics and practitioners.
Originally from India, Ankna Arockiam moved to Glasgow in 2011. Since then, she has graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and continues to study singing with Margaret Izatt and Sangmesh Swamy. Ankna is currently completing her PhD, studying the musical, cultural and social identities of young Western classical musicians in Indian cities. Her singing career continues and as a soloist, she has performed in various festivals and venues across India and the UK. She regularly collaborates with other musicians and artists, she is part of Naad-Hara, an Indo-Scottish band based in Glasgow; Saanjh, a classical trio with piano and tabla; and Raag n Tonic, a Bollywood band.
Apart from singing and research, Ankna is the founder/director of Glasgow Sitare, a singing group for South Asian women in Glasgow; co-founder of Shared Narratives, platform for researchers of colour; and is on the Board for Children’s Classic Concerts, Nevis Ensemble and MusiQuE.
Dr Uchenna Ngwe is a London-based oboist and researcher. Her academic explorations into creative practice investigate the lives and work of historical Black classical musicians in Britain from the perspective of a performer-curator-activist. She is founder of the online research project plainsightSOUND – highlighting historical Black classical musicians in British classical music – and is a lecturer at both Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and the Royal Academy of Music.
In addition to being a busy freelance musician and educator, Uchenna has been a contributor and presenter on BBC Radio 3 and is artistic director of Decus Ensemble – a flexible, mixed-instrumental group dedicated to performing lesser-known and under-explored works for classical chamber ensemble.
