Ingrid Ziggi Alexander CBE: Community Historian, UEA graduate
By: Alumni Team
Ingrid Ziggi Alexander CBE is a Dominican-British writer and community historian, with a professional background in HR and executive and non-executive roles in both public and private sectors. Ingrid graduated from UEA in 1973 with a BA in English and American Studies. Her website - Ziggi Alexander Connects - showcases the range of projects that she has initiated or contributed to.
Ingrid recently shared her UEA memories with us:
Here am I in my young 70s looking back to the early '70s when I entered adulthood through the UEA portal. My memories are episodic. I used to think this was due to being a migrant whose first language is Kwéyòl, but it’s most likely the result of ageing, compounded by chemo brain.
Ingrid Alexander standing outside Norfolk Terrace around 1972.
I do know, unequivocally, my passion for social justice, influenced by the U.S. civil rights movement, led me to UEA’s School of English and American Studies. (Plus, my mother wanted me to follow in the tabloid reported footsteps of Princess Anne, whom they claimed would attend.) At first I was disappointed: Huckleberry Finn, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman did nothing to ease my growing frustrations about the historical and contemporary injustices against people who looked like me. I was saved from being a pain and a total bore by:
- Champagne and cornflakes parties hosted by [Sir] Angus Wilson
- Pigeon hole 'wanted' note from Drama Soc for a 'black girl' to join cast of The Crucible
- Getting the part of Tituba and heading to London with a borrowed reel to reel tape recorder to capture the accents of Jamaicans. (What?!!) Yes, I know that Tituba was allegedly Bajan, but in those days, I, too, leaned into the prevailing stereotype that all English-speaking West Indians were Jamaican
- Causing collective shock at a [Sir] Malcolm Bradbury seminar for stating Moby Dick was rubbish
- Acting “the rebel” at 2 sit-ins, the reasons behind which I have long forgotten
- Learning about the wider world from the frequent political shout-downs till dawn, first in Waveney Terrace, then later in Norwich digs, and
- Attracting a diverse group of friends.
Ingrid Alexander performing as Tituba in The Crucible at UEA around 1972, along with a newspaper review of the production.
By graduation in 1973, I was an almost fully liberated, feminist, anti-racist, lapsed Catholic, with an evenly distributed social conscience and lively campaigning spirit.
Since those heady days I’ve collected more degrees and became a PhD drop-out. My first job as Community Relations Officer (Acton) tested my commitment to give back. Burnt out after 3 years, I went to Tokyo to teach English as a Foreign Language, but was back on course after six months, when I joined Brent Libraries. By the end of my careers, I’d traversed the public, private, voluntary and charity sectors in a range of roles that would not make sense on paper. I’ve recorded it all on a website - Ziggi Alexander Connects - because I have had untold adventures, and I continue to write articles and poetry. At the moment I’m working on a piece looking at claims that big companies knowingly benefit from prison slave labour in their supply chains.
As I look back on my herstory, the time at UEA stands out preeminent for being the most significant, character-shaping period of my continuing development.