AfricaLiving

Idea for New Class: Material Culture

2011-11-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

So, I happened upon Verb, a new bookstore/craft store in Berkeley yesterday devoted to dyeing and textiles.

I picked up several books, including this one, which is really beautiful and amazing about a woman's fulbright experience studying textiles in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso. I read half of it last night in one sitting.

Indigo: In Search of the Color That Seduced the World

At the 4S/HSS/SHOT conference last weekend in Cleveland, I attended a panel on the history of indigo and cochineal (red), organized by an Indian scholar I had once invited to do a panel on plant history, Prakash Kumar.

I am slated to introduce a new African history graduate seminar next year. I woke up this morning knowing exactly what I would teach and started the reading list. Let me know what you think!

280H: Material Culture

Fabric is at the heart of cultural production in African spaces. From birth, to initiations, to weddings, to funerals, fabric binds together communities, adorning families, and providing the basis for personal wealth. This course explores emerging research on the social history of textiles and clothing, with special reference to cases in Africa and comparative work in South Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. It seeks to integrate this work with ongoing debates in the field of science and technology studies on innovation, and technology transfer and appropriation.

Through the lens of fabric, we will examine the meanings of diaspora, empire, modernity, post-colonialism and globalization for everyday people. Case material addresses the history behind fibers, dyes, weaving, and construction techniques, as well as issues of industrialization, intellectual property rights, sustainability, and workplace health. Course participants will also learn to “read” fabrics, clothing, and textile technologies for historical information through museum and field visits.

Selected Readings:

Allman, J. M. (2004). Fashioning Africa: power and the politics of dress. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.

Boateng, B. (2011). The copyright thing doesn't work here: Adinkra and Kente cloth and intellectual property in Ghana. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.

Byfield, J. A. (2002). The bluest hands: a social and economic history of women dyers in Abeokuta (Nigeria),1890-1940. Portsmouth, NH, Heinemann.

Fair, L. (2001). Pastimes and politics: culture, community, and identity in post-abolition urban Zanzibar,1890-1945. Athens; Oxford [England], Ohio University Press ; J. Currey.

Gott, E. S. and K. Loughran (2010). Contemporary African fashion. Bloomington, IN, Indiana University Press.

Hansen, K. T. (2000). Salaula: the world of secondhand clothing and Zambia. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

Kumar, P. (forthcoming). The Odyssey of Indigo: Plantations and Science in Colonial India, 1700-1920, Cambridge.

Lemelson, D. and J. Lemelson. (1998). "Whole cloth discovering science and technology through American textile history: an interdisciplinary curriculum intergrating science, technology, and invention with women's, African American, and labor history."

McKinley, C. E. (2011). Indigo: in search of the color that seduced the world. New York, Bloomsbury.

At Mercy Ocansey's Shop in Osu, 2009

Vlisco New Design: Laptops

2011-06-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

I just received some new fabric from Vlisco, in the Netherlands.

It is a limited edition fabric that references the vintage prints with classroom settings-- books, chalkboards.

I really like it, though the repeat is huge! Thinking I may use it make a cover for my ikea desk chair and a book/laptop bag. Sometime ago, I bought a Chinese knock off of the older book prints in Accra, so that you can see the reference.

The Vlisco packaging was really attractive, with color postcards and a glossy brochure for the new campaign.

I would love to attend a Vlisco-sponsored fashion show sometime.

Course Trailers

2009-12-11T21:41:00.001-08:00

I am interested in the future of university education. I record many of my lectures, I put slides up on slideshare. Lately, I've videotaped guest lectures, though not my own classes (yet). Who owns this intellectual property? Even as students occupy various buildings at the University of California, and Wheeler, where I taught all last semester is fetishized, we barely need classrooms to share information and knowledge.

Nonetheless, I have started using simple 1 1/2 minute+ videos to preview my lecture courses.

I had a summer job once working to help plan a corporate archive (2000). At the time, Harvard Business School had a pilot program to organize all of their videotaped lectures online using keywords. Suggesting their approach as a model, I thought it was amazing to consider watching videos online, and to find things in them without word searchable text. Obviously, we didn't have youtube yet. As an intern for the Director of Public Relations at the company, I went through stacks of old VHS tapes: advertisements, interviews with shareholders and founders, corporate parties. I remember especially one day when two people on the marketing floor near my office debated for hours when to introduce the 1-800 number on a TV infomercial that had cost millions to film. Another time, two women shouted over their cubicles whether or not to use passive voice in a print ad. I wonder what became of their corporate video archive, if it is online internally for the company. And whether they still need all the moonlighting poets and former English majors in an internet age.

What is the future of tertiary education in a digital and global age? Will academics sell their lectures? Will we outsource the problem set help abroad? Today I participated in a comprehensive exam, how marvelous to sit together in a room and talk about books. But, the student had asked to just skype rather than commute in for our last meeting (I suggested we meet face to face, but could have gone either way. I hang out all the time with family through videochat). Throughout the exam, we admired the stacks of books in the professor's office where we met. Some of the books were ancient texts, now on google books, the old journals are online. I've been advising students who can't fit in language courses to find online swaps. Students are finding innovative ways to use the web and digital technologies to study, when encouraged. I rarely use a blackboard but when I did the last day of class this semester, several students surreptitiously took photos of them with their iphones and digital cameras. Great idea! I asked them to email them to me and put them up on our course website.

Obama and Collars

2009-11-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

After my post awhile back about collars, and why I may not like them as much as most, I thought these emerging photographs of world leaders at the APEC meetings are appropriate.

Asia is on the rise my friends.
Photograph from the BBC.
another photo from AP, with PM of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong

The Michael Jackson tragedy has given us a round of military jackets and hats, we're definitely nostalgic looking to the Victorian coat and riding breeches. But I think the so-called mandarin collar may make a comeback after a brief renaissance earlier in this century (2002-04).

What's Wrong with the Harvard Magazine Cover

2009-11-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

I rarely take time to read Harvard's alumni magazine in the odd month it finds its way to my latest address. I saw my brother's from several months ago lounging on top of the upstairs toilet in my parent's house during a recent visit. He's living in Tema, Ghana now on a Fulbright and I don't really think he uses snail mail. You can catch him on skype on the gphone he carries everywhere with him.

But when my husband brought in our two copies this month from the Berkeley mail last night, I knew this time they weren't going straight to the recycling bin. Before I even opened mine, I went online, found the url to the cover photo and wrote a tweet (which also appears on my linked facebook profile):

Not sure how I feel about the latest Harvard Alumni Magazine cover http://bit.ly/C657A

"Harvard" is finally taking "Africa" seriously! Yay!

I spent 12 years at Harvard- as an undergraduate doing a bachelor's degree and then PhD in the History of Science Department, and then a two year post doc at a research center.

No one was particularly keen on Africa. I had to do a study abroad program through a Black College Consortium in South Carolina when I wanted to go to Ghana in 1997. I was finally able to take Twi classes on campus just as I was completing requirements for my PhD in 2003, but not before I'd struggled through German and French to fulfill language requirements. Imagine if as a heritage student I had spent 12 years studying my father's language, which he was unable to fully transmit in the struggles of immigrant life in America?

So, yes, now Africa is hot! hot! hot!

I see this in the African history survey course I teach at UC Berkeley- enrollment doubled this fall. The UC study abroad program to Ghana has added a new semester program, and students line up to talk to me about going to the University of Ghana-- how do they learn Twi or Ga? what should they wear? what kind of malaria medicine should they take? how can they get involved with an NGO or research project?

Look, we have a president now with ties to Kenya. And everyone in the US has forgotten the independence struggles that for a time made "whites" feel unwelcome on the continent. It's cool to go to South Africa. Celebrities are frequently using orphans from Ethiopia or Malawi as their foil.

So, what's so wrong with the Harvard Magazine cover?

Inside, there are several articles on students 'serving' in various African countries or as the website puts it "Immersed in Africa: Students and service at a new frontier"

[Cough- Africa is a new frontier? For whom? The edge of what? The latest space slated for recolonization?]

These include students of apparently diverse ethnic backgrounds doing work on slum renewal, water access, slavery history, malaria control etc. etc. This is great to see, and really I have few problems with the articles which I've started to skim.

I'm glad that Harvard is taking the Africa language program seriously, and hope that the magazine issue will help raise funds for Rita Breen and her tireless efforts for Harvard's Center for African Studies. I remember working for a Harvard alumni family one summer. The grandmother explained that they always gave to the Harvard baseball team, because they always had. I heard rumors that their locker rooms were by then etched in gold and sided in teak, but she could not be convinced to donate to new causes at the University. The women's choir, I suggested, seeing as how the male ones were better endowed given the gendered history of the university...

Several questions I have with possible answers on the cover choice:

1) Why did none of the other students featured in the magazine appear on the cover?

The photo of is a classic shot, no less because he is apparently white in complexion and wearing a Harvard 2010 t-shirt. He projects the Harvard brand, and is surrounded by smiling, relatively well clothed, not visibly starving brown children. It reminds me of Skip Gates in Africa for his controversial PBS show, actually. The smiling geeky, scholar eager to learn. Further, as my former classmates have been noting, Africa remains pastoral, not only in this shot, but in the stories the articles portray. No skyscrapers here. (As another Facebook Friend noted in his semiotic reading of the cover's lettering, some thought went into this. The "R" in Harvard disappears both on the protagonist's t-shirt behind his backpack strap and on the cover behind his head). I recall when a friend made fundraising calls to alumni in college. "I can't give to that school anymore," an aging alumn told her, "The place looks like Hong Kong now." Ah, all is right with the world, Harvard still admits white alumni kids.

2) Why do we not have the names of the children on the cover?

has no idea who they are, nor does it matter for the purposes of the Harvard establishment. These are not his relatives, they are a foil for his ambitions.

3) Why is "Harvard" in "Africa" during a fiscal crisis?

Let's face it, Africa is relatively cheap. A colleague is going next week to an American Studies conference in South Korea; I'm saving up for the next Society for the Social Studies of Science meeting in Tokyo. Who can do study abroad in Europe with a weak dollar and Asia clearly no longer needs "our" assistance.

4) Back to the cover, why is the white Harvard boy surrounded by children?

Because this is an enduring fantasy of Africa as last frontier. Let's look at another iconic image, from the period of colonial expansion and occupation in the late 19th century. Here, we see the US explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, on the payroll of the notorious Belgian monarch, King Leopold II. Stanley "discovered" a way to walk overland from Tanzania to the mouth of the Congo River. In actuality, he relied on his team of guides who had for many years made journeys through this terrain to procure ivory and enslaved individuals. The constant is of a white- skinned man surrounded by the infants of Africa. Through such images, Africa continues to be seen as a place not of adults, but of children.

5) Why am I worried?

These are powerful images. My husband may say, what is the concern. I see leaders in Africa, Ghana particularly, merely bemused when kind-hearted foreigners come to play with orphans or put bednets over sleeping babes. These are areas where they can little damage, the African elites surmise. But, what is at stake is that foreigners seek to sidestep African governments, which they see as corrupt, weak, and out of touch with the disenfranchised. Foreign intervention continues to establish duplicate welfare institutions when rather, I believe, African governments (despite their frequent weaknesses) must be called upon to create viable structures to serve their citizens.

In other words, why did we see a growth in orphanages in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda or Malawi in the last decade? Foreign donors created a new industry, pulling young people away from social networks, and providing governments with easy ways to ignore their youngest and most vulnerable citizens.

So, these are my first thoughts on what I expect will be a lovely little debate for the next month.

Harvard has "discovered" Africa! Ahh-- advisors and colleagues who probably could not have found Ghana on a map, now want to travel to the continent and write up articles, students want to dance and drum and eat with natives. We have some fun times ahead of us with simple mistakes like this cover, as new fantasies for Africa begin to unfold.

***
Incidentally, here is a recent photo:

With longtime friends, Ato Wilburforce and Sandra Ahwireng in Tema, Ghana in August.

Gender and Sports

2009-08-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

The probing of the South African running starlet Caster Semenya to determine her gender is reminiscent of earlier scrutiny of Sara Baartman, also known as 'Hottentot Venus' during the 19th century. Baartman's genitalia ended up in a jar in a museum in Paris until repatriated to South Africa several years ago.

The statements of Semenya's competitors make one hope something was lost in translation:

'Just look at her,' said Mariya Savinova of Russia, who finished fifth. Elisa Cusma of Italy, who was sixth, told Italian journalists: 'These kind of people should not run with us. For me, she's not a woman. She's a man.'

My husband says I should 'relax'. But how can I when the NYTs prints such a ludicrous statement?

The Bantu, a group of indigenous South African people, often are hermaphrodites but they do not always have obvious male genitalia, said Dr. Maria New, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. They are genetically female yet have both testes and ovaries.

I am not trying to deny a culture of gender plurality among Blacks, either.
This statement is just so problematic. And apparently was slightly edited in the online version:

The Bantu, a group of indigenous South African people, may be more predisposed to being hermaphrodites but they do not always have obvious male genitalia.

'Bantu' refers to a linguistic family of languages spoken widely in Africa South of the Sahara. Bantu linguistic roots are also found in so-called European languages on the continent, including Afrikaans and French, Portuguese, and English creoles.

Bantu has historically been a derogatory term, for instance, South Africa had a policy of Bantustans, segregated homelands for people who were assigned membership in different ethnic groups or 'tribes'. There was also Bantu education, which focused on vocational skills training.

To say that Bantus are a South African tribe is erroneous. Bantu, despite its linguistic basis has become code for 'Black', 'Negroid', or 'African' and is linked to a long history of scientific racism. Basically, the quoted doctor from Mt. Sinai is saying that all Blacks in Africa tend to be hermaphrodites.

These are the kinds of things that make me keep teaching African history...

From Michael to Gates to Obama

2009-07-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

Especially as I am now in Ghana, the idea that any of these men are Black seems less plausible.

Yet, our obsession continues. How can a Black man be simultaneously White, a Professor and a Criminal, a President and a Non-Citizen?

The world grapples with Métissage- Mixture- Hybridity. (as captured by top stories on Google News tonight)

Delta Flight 166 JFK-ACC

2009-07-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

Today has been a mess on Delta Flight 166 from JFK to Accra, Ghana

(I'm writing down the sequence of events before I forget).

The flight was supposed to leave JFK Thursday July 23 at 5:30 pm, but once we were on board, they found a fault with the plane (collision detection system).

So, we off loaded and waited for a new plane scheduled to depart at 8:30 pm. By the time the plane came, the crew and pilots were close to the end of their shifts.

The airline started to hand out food vouchers, but stopped around 9 pm, telling us we were to board soon and would be fed on the flight.

We got on the plane anyways, and they took us from JFK to Atlanta around 10:30 pm. We were delayed as they took fuel off the plane, since we would be too heavy to land there.

On board, we were fed one brown roll with butter, laid over with three slices of egg and slices of cucumber. I did not receive a drink, but may have slept through a beverage service.

We got to Atlanta at 1:30 am to pick up a new crew. PEOPLE WERE STARVING! There was a man with an oxygen who needed new oxygen. Several small babies.

Needless to say, by 4:00 am, we were still on the plane, sitting on the tarmac, with no news.

Several rumors: the main runway was closed, so they were offloading cargo to lower the weight to use a short runway. the new crew had never gone to ghana and were freaked out.

People started walking around asking for info. Up to this point, everyone was very, very calm. Unnervingly calm.

They brought police, who said we were agitating, and the crew did not feel safe.

So now, they've canceled the flight. We are at a hotel in Atlanta, hoping to fly on a new plane today at 2 pm.

The funny thing is that Delta has never flown direct between Atlanta and Accra, and the pilots were trying to figure out a new flight plan. We will if all goes well get to Accra in the dead of night.

The Mosque in Morgantown

2009-06-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

The Mosque in Morgantown is a great new film that premieres on PBS tonight (10 pm, but check local schedules). The film tells the story of Asra Nomani, a Washington Post journalist, who was friends with Daniel Pearl, and with him the day of his capture in Pakistan. Worried about the spread of extremism, she tries to change gender norms at the mosque her father founded in Morgantown, West Virginia. It is a compelling film about social change, religion, and community in multicultural America.

For me, the film really resonates with my own experience growing up in rural Pennsylvania in the thick of religious and cultural integration at a university campus. Immigrants from Russia, Ghana, El Salvador, all circulated in a primarily German church, bringing their own experiences and values. Our church was strangely a haven of relative progressiveness, compared to parochial university administrators glibly calling for diversity and bumbling through attracting 'minorities' to campus. But, I did find myself at youth groups of friends, or other settings where the hell-speak, and 'women must submit' curdled my blood.

Thanks to my brother, I had an opportunity to see it at a pre-screening event last weekend with the director and highly recommend you check it out. Director Brittany Huckabee has set up a comprehensive website for the film, and expressed interest in coming to show it at campuses, and religious and community centers in the Fall. If you'd like to sponsor a screening, please contact her directly.

I was interested to hear at the screening that the director grew up in a conservative christian community in Colorado and was attracted to Nomani's struggle given her own religious experiences. Even though the film is fully about Islam, it has the signposts that will make sense to all people of faith, as well as to those who make their way around God.

On Collars

2009-05-31T13:47:00.001-07:00

Blue Collars, White Collars.

No Collars?

A friend posts a photo of her infant nephew online in a little shirt with a 'popped' collar. He looks adorable. It reminds me of the Ivy League Days, and the standing collar as sign of prep school confidence. Today, my husband is wearing a tunic shirt without a collar , the Nehru style I associate with the vague tones of Marxism and Intellectualism that swirled in the background of my growing up experience. The first suit I had sewn for myself in Accra, was a modified gray, pinstripe political suit-- a gesture to the Nkrumah-era political suits with mandarin collars, just the stand, no full collar. (Not sure if the jacket on Osagyafo, above, is collared or not...)

A recent Vogue article champions the new basics which include, I notice, three blouses with collars, 2 suit jackets with lapels, a parka with sleeve details and tweed collar. Also, a tuxedo vest.

When I was last in San Francisco trying to buy a suit jacket in an hour, I had trouble finding one with lapels, and ended up with two sweater jackets w/ shawl collars.

All of this is to say, yes, the collar is classed, but have I been bred to shun collars?

Further musings: I have been thinking recently about how Mennonite clothing styles influenced my early perceptions of appropriate attire, alongside the dashikis, boubous, and political suits. For women, anyway, the modest, hand-fashioned aprons and traditional dresses were collarless. The pious look of the priest.

[Note, perhaps my father was drawn to a German church in rural Pennsylvania due to its musical similarity to the German/Swiss Protestantism of rural Akwapim, pictured above?]

Towards a Ghanaian-Menno eclecticism.

Photos (Africa Report 1966, Missionaries in Aburi c. 1905 Basel Mission photo Archives)

Possible Genocide in Nigeria's Oil-Rich Niger Delta

2009-05-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

Activists are saying that thousands of civilians have been killed, and many more displaced in Nigeria's Niger Delta region this week. Transcript here.

Chantal Biya revisited

2009-04-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

Apparently, those photos with the pope have brought her wider attention, including a recent trip to LA, where she met Paris Hilton. First Lady of Cameroon with Hilton Hotels Heiress. Fast friends? Slide show here.

First Lady of Cameroon style

2009-03-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone keeps talking about the Pope's stance on condoms. I just want to know more about Mrs. Biya, married to the president of Cameroon. What style on the day that the Pope arrives. What power her husband exhibits by bringing him to their country.

Nouveau Monk Fashion

2009-02-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

I went to this fascinating talk by Shane Claiborne on the New Monasticism Saturday. Long story how I ended up at it, met a graduate student who knows him and is active in the local Social Justice scene here. It was quite an experience watching him wrap a web around a hall of students and young professionals.

He grew up in Tennessee and worked with Mother Theresa in Calcutta and is apparently like the poster-child of a new simple living, urban, sustainable christian mov't. His theology sounded like Hellfire-meets Catholicism-meets Amish-meets DeadHead- meets Rastafarianism. Or in other words, 'I think I'm hot and look like Jesus and Bob Marley at the same time'. And somehow, he managed to convince the audience that there was no reason to feel guilty of sin, or fearful of hell, but that pleasure was to be found in celebrating the simple life as the early Christians once did.

He was accompanied with a bluegrass band complete with banjos and old, old songs I didn't even know from the menno days or Anglican services in Accra. It made me think, hey, I should start a religious mov't=)

Apparently, he sews his own clothes and possibly his own shoes in a rundown section of North Philadelphia where he lives in a commune. He mentioned how he was impressed that Mother Theresa, a connection he made during college that is clearly his claim to fame, only wore the worst, discarded shoes that led to her feet being deformed.

As my mother mentioned when I said I'm glad I learned to cook and sew growing up given our current economic depression, 'A lot of those things take a lot of time, and you will probably have more money than time.' No reason to romanticize the hippy-back to nature days as they are now re-manifested in urban environments.

(photos, Jude Adams , Erik Stenbakken )

Live the American Dream

2009-02-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

My brother mentioned that when he watched the inauguration of Barack Obama in Ghana at an internet cafe restaurant full of guys, it furthered the idea that the United States is the land of ultimate opportunity.

I just saw this photo pointing to this ad while listening to old emissions of Couleurs Tropicales on Radio France International (screen shot).

I am living in the New America under Obama. So far, so good. I wonder if the 'Diversity Visa Lottery' will continue indefinitely. Long live the American Dream.

Waiting to be Rescued

2009-01-15T13:18:00.000-08:00

This brilliant photo, just posted by Janis Krums of the US Airways crash in the Hudson near Manhattan is a perfect metaphor for right now. At this moment, the United States has crashed and we are all waiting on the wings, standing in lifeboats, hoping that President Obama can rescue us.

Are Zippers Too Expensive?

2008-12-16T00:42:00.000-08:00

I recently decided to sew a pair of trousers for the holidays.

I had some soft brown cloth (tencel) that I wanted to use, but no brown zippers. I could go buy a zipper, or I could find a pattern that doesn't need them.

At first, I was looking at a featured pattern on the free-pattern site, BurdaStyle. (This is a ploy to enter the US market- Burda Media is one of the largest publishing houses in Europe and has publishing a pattern magazine, Burda Moden in Germany for several decades).

The Thai Fisherman's pants seemed kind of cool, but perhaps too baggy.

I had been noticing that sarouel pants are in, judging from the French fashion magazines and even bought a vintage '90s pattern awhile back.

These retro tie-pants always look good in a batik, I have an old pair I convinced a street tailor to sew for me in Osu.

In the end, I settled on this 2004 Burda pair that I could download instantly from sewingpatterns.com.

It was as I was sewing these that I suddenly realized that the no-zipper look is just everywhere this season!

So I ask, are manufacturers feeling lazy to buy a zippers, too? Is this part of the environmental, eco-chic movement? No zinc, no petroleum products, only organic cotton for me approach?

Well, my trousers are super comfortable, adjustable and I think I'll make a second pair. I've always hated sewing in zips anyways.

Ironies of Life

2008-12-11T16:58:00.000-08:00

To have been trained your whole life to succeed in the United States, then to realize that maybe success is to be had elsewhere is a strange thing indeed.

I wonder how many people headed home to China, India, Nigeria, Brazil, Indonesia etc for the New Year will stay and try their luck. When is the optimal time to leave the United States, the United Kingdom, France?

One Indian returnee explains:

"When I got on the plane and left the U.S. for India, my dad said, 'I worked my whole life to give you the opportunity to be educated and work in the U.S., and the first thing you do after a few years of work is fly right back to India,' " said Samvir Sidhu, also 25, who recently left behind a Wall Street job - and his American citizenship - to join a private equity firm in New Delhi.

"It was quite an ironic revelation."

I wonder how Obama feels, for example. After all this, would it be better to have been raised in Kenya or Indonesia? Power is for those who change the rules and anticipate when they are shifting. I remember a wedding I attended a couple years ago in Boston. Nearly everyone I spoke to was living in Asia, whites included. The newly weds were some of the wealthier friends I had from college and their friends were similarly poised to read the writing on the walls.

For those of us who stay, perhaps life will be mundane and fairly similar to the chances we might have had elsewhere. Abdulrahzak Gurnah, the Tanzanian novelist, writes in the voice of the narrator of Desertion (a small town college lecturer):

"When I contemplate myself and what I have become, I think of all those battles my mother and father fought to live and love as they wished. I think of their plans and anxieties for our futures, of my own labours with uncongenial material, of all that planning and striving to arrive at this life of small apathy that I could have arrived at with no effort. Irony is the unforgiving register which gives everything back to us."

Ironic times. Ironic Lives.

Dear Uncle Barrack

2008-11-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

I received this email, "Dear Uncle Barrack" from a friend in Ghana today (full text below). The supposed letter to President-elect Obama from a Nigerian relative makes a number of humorous requests. Previous recipients seemed to have been in Accra and London, and I'm sure by tomorrow the entire Nigerian diaspora will have received the email, if they haven't already. It is making the rounds, much like the photo of East Africans loading onto an over-packed truck 'en route' supposedly to the White House.
You may take offense, but I can't imagine that Obama will be immune to the extended African family. In his memoir, Obama commented on his journey to Kenya, that it seemed he might be related to anyone in the streets, and wondered as he looked in the face of each passerby if he might be his brother...

Indeed, the BBC reported on the day of the results of the election in Kenya

He has done us proud, the family said, and the joy was evident in their wide smiles and easy manner.
They said they are definitely going to visit the president-elect and his family, although they had not started making plans.
Auma said she was looking forward to making chapattis - a local flatbread - in the White House with Michelle Obama. His grandmother says that is his favourite food.

So, here's the letter from the long-lost cousin in Nigeria (and although it is written in the style of the typical 419 scam letter, it does seem more than half-plausible that Obama has kin in Nigeria). I love how Africans can claim a piece of Obama in ways that I don't think African-Americans in the United States can. The world is a funny place. And one thing is sure, the times have changed, but how no one is sure yet.

Dear Uncle Barrack,
Congrats on your assumption to the throne of US. We your Nigerian famili are very happy for you and for ourselves. It is our turn now to chop US national cake and our enemies cannot do anything about that.

I was to come to see you personally at Wite aus but I was not allowed at the airport because of say no fisa. I told them I am Obama kosin bet they refuse me. Your new elesion is a very good news for the Obama clan in Kenya and the famili in Nigeria . When I fest went to the family aus in Kenya to tell dem we are one famili they did not agree but my pastor from my church make 3 days dry fast and give me a special sponge to baf in barbitch after this they accept me. Becos they don¢t remember the sister of your granfada mother dat went to Nigeria and mari a shief live near Lagos in 1956 which is also my own personal great grandfada.

Now the famili has choose me to diskus some important matas with you. You know you have been long in Amrica and have forget our traditions but tank God we, your famili are hia to guide you to be rill African man. As a president, you must have a male son in office who will take over after you die and since ya wife Mitchell has not able to do that, we have find a wife for you from your fada village. The famili have already chose a good girl from de village not like Amrica or lagos gals who are too stubborn to obey the famili. She is a humble well behave and edicated gal who study sewing and fasion disine so she can help with sewing your suit wen e tia and also unifom for ami and soja. I hope ya waif will assept famili shoice becos we have fogif her for her winchcraft wich dont allow her to have a male son but if not, she can go back to her fada. Even my pastor has say your younger thoter may need a deliverance becos her granmoda want to give her winsh and ogbanje spirit to chop. Please don¢t wori about what dis will cost becos I will do it with my own pusonal moni becos we are one famili.

I also want to tell you that I want to set up NGO for hades unfans in Kenya and I can be the leader of the NGO. I have a good standard six degree and also studied computa at Iyana Ipaja so am well qualify for dis. Please I need your help for this.

I hope you will consider my request. I will also like your personal mobile so I can call you. Please greet Auntie Minchel and the shindren for us. God bless you and may all your enemies fall down and die

Til I hear you, I am

Yours amiable cousin

Ifedayo Obama

Iceland enters the Third World?

2008-11-20T08:00:00.001-08:00

Okay, it's Iceland that's being bailed out by the IMF...but related to my earlier post on where exactly is the "Third World" today..

Let us witness this extraordinary (un)development

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $2.1bn (£1.4bn) loan for Iceland, after the country's banking system collapsed in October.

The loan is meant to help the country "restore confidence and stabilise the economy", the IMF said in a statement.

Iceland is the first Western European nation to get an IMF loan since 1976.

Considering the United States has required similar bailouts as of late, to the tune of $700bn...

Of Black Presidents

2008-11-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

BBC radio host Gilles Peterson did a stellar show on November 6, 2008 that has many hidden tributes to the election of Barack Obama.

Including the Mad Skillz 1995 hit The Nod Factor reference

I be blowing up spots like I was sending out mailbombs
stay calm and be nodding, see I’m like a black president.

Let's substitute 'mass emails' for 'mail bombs', why don't we=)

'Nod to the Nod Factor:

Where is the Third World?

2008-11-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

In 1989, Arne Schiøtz wrote of the global inequities at work then:

It is now increasingly realized that the dividing line in the world does not go between the one-fifth living in developed countries and the four-fifths living in developing countries. The real division is between the half of mankind living in countries where conditions are improving year after year, generation after generation, and the other half of mankind who live in countries where conditions are deteriorating, i.e. in countries where you are worse off than your father was, and can expect your son to be even more worse off than yourself.

Today, in 2008, two decades later, I wonder where the dividing lines are. For the first time in my life, after a visit to Ghana this summer, I wondered why I was returning to the United States. Now that everyone in the world has been made aware of the economic nightmare at work, I wonder why I stay in the US. Other places I have visited that look increasingly promising: India, Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa...

Understanding this Historical Moment

2008-11-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of talk about the legacy of the civil rights movement to understand how Barack Hussein Obama has been elected President of the United States of America.

"Rosa Parks sat, so that Martin Luther King could stand. Martin Luther King stood, so that Barack Obama could run. Obama ran so that our children can fly!"

And in his acceptance Obama thanked those who had worked for civil rights in America's past.

But, to understand this historical moment, we must also look to the struggle for independence in Africa. Obama also has to thank Jomo Kenyatta, the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya or Kwame Nkrumah who led Ghana to independence from Britain. These were the individuals who set a pathway for Black African leadership on the world stage. They had links to the civil rights movement in the United States, too. Martin Luther King Jr was inspired by his visit to Ghana during the independence celebrations in 1957.

Directly, they provided the infrastructure that allowed Obama's father to have the opportunity to leave Kenya to study at the University of Hawaii (where he met Obama's mother), and at Harvard University. True, Obama, Jr. explains that only one month when he was eight defined his relationship with Obama, Sr. But the circumstances of his birth and his trajectory to Harvard Law School, and now the White House are tied to the choices made by his father and those who came before him.

I see things from this perspective as someone whose white mother met her Ghanaian husband at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960s. Obama lost his parents, and barely knew his father. But, those of his parent's generation who similarly fought uphill battles to make it in this country and provide a future for their children knew their own. People who immigrated to the United States, from Africa, and from other parts of the world formerly viewed outside of the US political spectrum saw how he could change the country they had always believed in.

At this moment, at this time, I only ask that people embrace Obama for all he represents. And this is indeed a piece of Africa and the struggles that have been fought for liberty there as well.

Overheard

2008-10-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

A Dinner Play or "After Angola"

The conversation at the other table at the restaurant was so fascinating, I started taking notes.
Between an older man and woman. The guy looked a proper ass, and when he went to the gents for the second time, I nearly went up to the woman to ask what was she doing with him?! Not sure if she was a wife, mistress, ex-lover. Almost a sibling, but too much sexual tension.

At first it was a lively banter about his work abroad, how he was never in England, but the money was good. Some snafu about a 2,000 pound rental car payment he'd had to cover, "But with the money you're earning it can't be too difficult." Something about a plot with 8 bungalows on it. Request to the waitress for chili sauce for the shrimp crackers that was "really hot". "Can you make it hotter? We like it hot." Then it got ugly...

W: Well you've been doing this for 18 years and you love it.
M: You have been to.
W: And, I've always given you the benefit of the doubt.

[this is when I pricked up my ears. It could only go downhill from there.]

W: Except for that horrible girl!! Oh, what was her name. She stayed with us in Richmond?
M: [man feigns ignorance.] The American girl.
W: The one you met in Amsterdam. What was her name.
M: Hmmm...
W: I got very jealous of her.
M: That was then, this is now.
W: And we went running in Richmond Park with her.
M: Now, now.
W: Which is why when we went to Richmond Park--
M: Have we been here this year?
W: We were here 6 weeks ago.
M: There's no way we were here 6 weeks ago.
W: We sat there. Why wouldn't we know if we were here?
M: Because we weren't.
W: This place was closed up for awhile, you know.

[I tuned them out for a few moments, noticed the Lady's black sweater top had clunky, dark, fake jewels sewn along the neckline. Here hair was in a sort of flipped bob that wasn't sure if it was brown or blond, and definitely needed a trim.]

W: We came here 4 weeks ago!
M: Nope, nope.
W: Well, I can get the credit card bills and check.
M: I'm sure you will find we weren't here.

[Then they choked in unison on the spicy hot soup they had slurped non-stop for 4 mins. Purple faces. Maybe the sex was good?]

W: We really must talk about. We must have this conversation.
M [pouring more and more clear, green wine into her glass]: Not now.
W: And what about Kay? What have you told her?
M: inaudible
W: It hasn't been easy, you know. All these years. You'll never live in England.
M: And your point is--
W: inaudible. Now that you've got this opportunity.
M: You dare say what?
W: what about Kay?
M: It's up to you.
W: What do you mean?
M: It's up to you.
W: After Angola, you'll never live in the UK again.
M: I hope to God not. I'm trying to avoid England like the Plague.
W [to waitress as I signed my check and rushed to the door]: Can we have our food?
Waitress: She's cooking it now.

**
I knew from the start that the man was ridiculous. He had a large satchel behind his chair that looked like it cost at least $500. Strung between the handles were two extremely long and thin baguettes in paper. Baguettes? Who needs baguettes at 8 pm on a freezing cold evening. Were they for later? In the morning when they'd be stale? And they were too thin to even cut and spread butter on. A full suit, white shirt, pointy shoes. And he gave me a sneer when I sat down near their table- only one other person was in there, also alone, towards the back, but I thought it best not to take one of the other tables set for 4 people. Then I realized he was actually checking me out, probably wondering which country I was from, as I'm sure he considered himself to be an expert on that sort of thing.

Kew, England
29 Oct 2008

An Obama Supporter in Berkeley, CA

2008-10-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this gentlemen on the bus this summer in Berkeley. A true believer, who has undoubtedly seen worse than I have in his lifetime- from MLK to OJ to OJ, again. I hope that he gets to celebrate the Dream of a Black President Come True.

More Dead Bears

2008-09-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin- A new twist in the 2008 elections

2008-08-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

I've actually been to Wasilla Alaska, hometown of the new Republican Vice Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin.

I realize her politics are suspect, but my immediate delight to see a female running mate for McCain makes me realize how much I disliked Hillary Clinton. This is going to be an interesting election season. I understand why Obama felt he needed to pick Biden as a foil to his younger, blacker self, but I'm still disappointed he didn't go with Sebelius or Richardson.

One thing is clear, Palin's family enjoys hunting. This lovely photo of her parents watching the results come in was quickly pulled down by Reuters. The computer scientist husband figured out how to get it from a cached version on the browser. An entire Bear!!! or Two on the den wall?!!! Whoa.

AfricanFuturist

2008-05-09T14:50:00.001-07:00

Unknown
Originally uploaded by Africanfuturist

One of Ghana's top fashion and design photographers goes by AfricanFuturist on flickr. I am always inspired by his amazing images, the latest are a collection of photos for the Unknown jewelry line.

K.Baka Inspiration

2008-03-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

A painting I bought in Ghana by K. Baka has provided several years of inspiration thus far. Currently, it hangs in my sewing/writing room above my desk. On the opposite wall is a filing cabinet with a mini-shrine inspired by the painting. It includes masks from Cameroon, Ghana and Guyana and framed pages from a waterfall calendar. K. Baka sells his paintings and batiks through the National Geographic Store (Novica). According to their website, his full name is Kwabena Kufuor Afriyie-Addo Jr and he was born in 1968.

No Admittance to Marsh Theater

2007-06-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

So, I'd hoped to write a little promo for a play running at the Marsh Theater this week. 'Tings dey Happen' is a one man show conceived by Dan Hoyle about the various intrigues surrounding oil drilling in Nigeria.

My husband and I are new to the area and had a little bit of trouble finding the discreet Marsh Theater off Valencia St in the San francisco Mission District.

As it turned out, we were ten minutes late to the performance Saturday.

The woman at the box office/table set up just outside the entrance to the small theater first told us that we would have to reschedule and come to a later performance. When we looked at her in disbelief-- mind you we had pre-purchased our tickets online and were holding the receipt-- she offered that we could stand at the back, but she wouldn't be able to seat us. It is now 12 minutes after 5 pm.

Apparently, the Marsh theater is a free-seating establishment and they do not hold seats for late-comers.

Or do they? It was one of those akward moments that you may have experience at a point in your life. I for one was bounced from an upscale restaurant in Palo Alto some years back. I was with two other individuals, all of us visiting Stanford for a weekend recruitment of admitted minority graduate students. We asked for a table and were promptly escorted through the restaurant, the dishroom, and deposited in a back alley. Suffice to say, I did not opt to attend graduate school at Stanford. Was it because one of us was chicano and two of us mixed- American and Ghanaian. Were we too swarthy for their fine establishment? These are the kinds of experiences that can make you become paranoid.

So, we moved to stand at the back of the theater. It was dark and the woman at the boxoffice/ usher on duty was doing nothing to light our path or make it easier to see where to stand at any rate. Stand?? We had paid for seats, but I digress.

I'm short, so immediately saw that given the way seats had been set on risers, I would not be able to see, so moved towards the aisle. The woman at the door bounded in front of us, possibly shoving my husband and announced rudely, 'No, No! I can't have you tripping over people to find seats!'

Calm down lady! We've barely even walked into the theater! We are willing to try your absurd proposition of standing in the back for 90 minutes! When you walked in front of us we assumed you were about to lead us to an area of the theater where we might be.

But no, she escorted us to the door as I simultaneously said, "I'm leaving!"

So, we only saw about 2 minutes of 'Tings dey Happen'. All I caught was a skinny white kid on a dim stage speaking in a convincing Nigerian accent. We left at the point that he unfurled a map of Africa and the (apparently white) audience began to warm to his subject.

Finding ourselves in the bright sunshine (who schedules a theater event for 5 pm?) on the street, we went to the cafe next door as suggested by our most unhelpful host. I managed to spy a young cashier at the counter and asked if she was the one we were to speak to about rescheduling.

Then, I said loudly for all in the cafe to hear, "I'm extremely offended. I'm a professor of African History and my husband is a writer hoping to review the play. We have been refused seats and asked to reschedule. I'm extremely offended."

My husband walked out of the cafe. I soon followed. We are writing a formal complaint.

San Francisco is not ready for us. A play on Nigeria? I mean, really the ironies are too many.

Bamako released in San Francisco!

2007-06-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

Abderrahmane Sissako is by far my favorite African filmmaker. He is Mauritanian, raised in Mali, trained in film in Russia. I first fell in love with his film, La Vie Sur Terre at Fespaco in 1999. Then, I saw him win the grand prize at Fespaco for Heremakono in 2003. My friend Riley and I flew the next day to Mali on a flight with some of his crew (the golden stallion flew with us too!).

His latest film, Bamako is absolutely brilliant. He puts the IMF and World Bank on trial in the courtyard of his father's home in Mali. It's especially timely, since Wolfowitz just resigned and he is mentioned in the film. But it's more than just an African-style courtroom drama. It's a lyrical portrayal of everyday people trying to survive with gorgeous music, apparently by a little known Ghanaian women singer from the 70s, Christine Azuma (Koranteng informs me).

For those unfamiliar with Sissako's films, be prepared for a visual, intellectual and musical feast. The Discourse of structural adjustment infuses the everyday life of a Bamako household. Thoughtful, provocative, it is Sissako distilled at his best.

For one week in San Francisco and Berkeley.

Travel tips to Ghana

2007-05-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Some advice for people travelling from the US to Ghana...

If you are a student or teacher, you may be eligible for lower travel rates through STA Travel. They have local offices near most universities and in major cities around the world. They also have good online support (give them a call). Usually you cannot book your flights directly on Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity as the Accra airport (ACC) requires you to work with an agent or airline directly. But check, there are times when it goes through.

I've also had good results with Indian-run travel agents who are used to planning low-cost travel for immigrants. When I was in Boston, the local agent I used was: Apollo Travels in Central Square (617)-876-4471. They have made flight arrangements for my family living elsewhere. It might be worth giving them a call, but you need to be persistent and patient.

'Summer' (June-August) and Christmas/Eid (Dec-Jan) are peak seasons. During these periods it is usually difficult to get flights in and out as they book up quickly with Ghanaian students and families on holiday. In general, you should expect to pay at least $2500. If you can fly before June 1st for any reason, you may be able to get a low season rate below $1500. Airlines to check:

My preferred airline is British Airways, which partners with American Airlines. You can book directly on baa.com, provided you call them once you make the online reservation.
You can now fly directly through NYC or DC on a new Delta route. Check delta.com
Ghana International Airlines also flies from London for less, though it is sometimes difficult to book a good rate from the US.

Be very careful to read the itinerary closely before booking. Especially if an agent at STA makes your flight and is unfamiliar with travel to West Africa. Things to avoid: Any flights that have you making quick stops in neighboring African countries: Luftansa via Lagos (Nigeria) and the Libyan Airlines Afriqiyah via Tripoli or Dakar etc. Although they can be cheaper, friends and family have lost luggage and experienced delays. Also check the hours for very long flights with long layovers. On the other hand, if you are a hardcore backpacker, up for more sketchy methods of travelling, you might check sleepinginairports.com for more on how to get around Africa on the (extremely) cheap.

(Don't forget you need a visa to fly to Ghana. Check the embassy website. I recommend sending it through the NYC office and calling daily until your passport is returned. If you are yet to get a United States passport, do that ASAP also through the express service as there are now several month delays given new requirements flying to Canada and the Caribbean).

If you are going for a conference, check with the organizers as they may also be making group flights for speakers. You must have someone meet you at the airport as it is not safe to just find a taxi. Many hotels will arrange for a pick up.

Obama for Prez?: Washington Post typo and shades of gray.

2007-02-03T23:22:00.000-08:00

Allow me some musings on the Obama trail...

Hoping Obama runs for prez, if only for the political correct- drama and possible soul-searching that will ensue...oh boy.

Note Nedra Pickler's typo and double entendre in a recent washington post article: 'other blacks candidates' [sic]

'Sen. Joe Biden tried on Saturday to stem the damage from the botched launch of his presidential campaign as underdog candidates in the Democratic field looked to gain momentum from the party faithful...

Biden got right to the matter that has threatened his candidacy before it even gets off the ground. The Delaware senator spent his first day as an official candidate Wednesday explaining his statement that Obama is "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean," raising questions about how he viewed other blacks candidates.'

There may be reservations about what Biden actually said (listen to original recording), and something about journalists quick to take his statements out of context...But on the PC front, I think his mis-speak and Pickler's typo ('the other' or 'other blacks' or 'other black candidates'?) suggest volumes about the unspoken misgivings circulating on Obama's candidacy. This guy is tooo good to be true.

--------
And 'Bright', as it were. Reminds me of Tim Burke's work on the conflation of race, intelligence, skin tones, and cleanliness in African soap advertising see: Lifebuoy Men, Lux Women: Commodification, Consumption, and Cleanliness in Modern Zimbabwe.

photo: 'New Lux brings out the star in you'- A bright soap advert in Ghana.

--------
Something about things rhyming with 'white.' Homi Bhabha's point that the colonial Indian subject was 'not white, not quite.' And the infamous Harold Ford smear campaign in the Tennessee senate race. 'Harold Ford, just not right'
Watch the Republican negative campaign ad

If Ford is not right, not quite, not white, what of a (darker-complexion) Obama. Or will bright-ness prevail? Or was Ford just not clean enough, not married and churched enough?
Watch Obama's campaign bio video

------
Given Obama's recent African roots, it makes sense to bring in the diasporic perspective. I found this BBC reader's comment that 'Obama is white' interesting (believe Kofi is from Ghana.) Particularly as Ghana's last president was 'half-caste,' as they say, and part of his original popularity was that he 'was white' but was cool with other lower-ranked military guys and didn't put on airs.:

'Kofi Atuah: I am afraid I can't agree that Barack Obama is a black man. He is half white and then half black, and so contrary to popular views that doesn't make him black. Perhaps he is white and where I come from he'll be regarded as such. At any rate, he is probably a good politician and deserves any success he gets.'

photo: Rawlings with Clinton during state visit to Ghana. ( clinton's african heritage?)

-----
Personally, I think Barak Hussein Obama is onto something with this 'Audacity of Hope'. The dystopia and sheer despair in the baby-boomer democrats, I believe, is because they have lost hope in white male leadership. The failure to imagine an alternative reality where the growing minority (or in california, non-majority) of brown-skinned citizens (often immigrants) might take up leadership positions in the United States is part of this despair. It is akin, perhaps to the white minority despair at the end of the apartheid years. South Africa would collapse, they feared, because black leadership was not a possibility. Hillary, I believe, is not a real answer. Yes, she will subvert white male leadership, but she is still perpetuating the dynastic traditions instituted through the Reagan-Bush-Bush presidencies. Passing authority to female widows, spouses and daughters of former male leaders is an approach well known in South Asia. Democracy?

It remains to be seen...Barak is the only black senator at the moment, the third ever. The leap to the presidency seems like a big jump, but I wish him luck and look forward to the ride.

photos: Hillary w/ Bill in Aspen (1999); Indira Gandhi w/ Jackie Kennedy in New Delhi (1962)

RED Manifesto: Another Band-Aid?

2006-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

I am teaching a course on the history of health in Africa and had my students discuss the Gap RED ads (and the 'I am African' campaign as well) in class. We read the new book by John Iliffe, The African Aids Epidemic: A History. I highly recommend you take a look at it if you want to know more about the history of efforts to stop AIDS in Africa.

On one hand, I think the RED lines may have good side effects (despite my concerns, see below). They are raising awareness about the HIV crisis and some, if not all, of the money will go to helping people with the disease.

This is a major crisis that will require creative solutions around prevention and treatment. It is estimated that 25 million people in Africa are living with AIDS (vs. 1 mil in North America). The epidemic has been especially bad in parts of Southern Africa, with rates as high as 1 in 4 people affected.

I believe profits go towards the Global Fund, which supports research not only on AIDS, but also TB and Malaria- two other major diseases in Africa.

The 'I am African' campaign raises money for AIDS drug treatments in particular.

On the other hand, I have serious reservations about the overall impact and genuine value of the campaigns, especially those that require you to buy something in order "to make a difference." See especially the highly simplistic GAP RED manifesto (vs. the Communist Manifesto) Lucky magazine says Red is the "it" color. Somehow, this reminds me of the Lucky Strike "Green" wartime marketing gimmick. Why have kids in the streets wearing red instead of protesting the greens, beiges and taupes in Iraq...

Some food for thought:

1) Will the campaigns continue after the holiday season?

AIDS drugs need to be taken for life and are relatively expensive for everyday families in Africa, despite international efforts to get drug companies to lower costs. It is probably unsustainable to have outsiders buy you medicine that you will need to take for many, many years...It is important to work with African governments to create infrastructure to produce generic medications (for AIDS, malaria etc) in African countries. It also may be useful to explore alternative therapies developed by indigenous healers, although not at the expense of getting people drugs that are known to work (this is the broad area in which I conduct research).

2) What other major problems may be on the horizon that we are not even aware of?

This is not the first campaign to save Africa at the holidays. In 1984, there were famines on the continent, and musicians united to create the song "Feed the World". Then, the issue was getting food to people who were not receiving it due to environmental and political reasons. Ironically, this is the same period in which the AIDS crisis was beginning to reach epidemic proportions. In other words, now that talking about AIDS in Africa has finally become cool (after 20+ years of crisis), what other problems are under the surface.
You can see the lyrics to Feed the World here

3) How does focusing on the crisis in other countries allow us to ignore the AIDS epidemic in the United States?

Importantly, AIDS is a major killer of African American and Hispanic women. Although there are now drugs that can keep people alive for many more years than before, we need to continue working on prevention and testing campaigns within the US.

The struggle continues...

African American/ African-born

2004-08-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

I have been reading with interest recent articles on the problematic category "African American".

I agree that we need to acknowledge the diversity of those of African descent residing in the United States. But I also think it would be useful to explore the crisis of the "African" identification mark in Africa itself, particularly in countries with large settler populations such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

In such contexts, the term "Africa-Born" is sometimes used to categorize those who have made Africa their home despite their racial heritage. It is clearly a controversial agenda, witness Idi Amin's deportation of Indian nationals or Zimbabwe's Mugabe crusade to rid his country of white farmers.

photo: An excellent dramatization of this current identity question in Africa is the Zambian theatre group Born African - a three-man show incorporating the experiences of black, white and mixed Africans.

The New York Times article this Sunday, "African-American" becomes a term for debate, --apparently precipitated by the political aspirations of Barack Obama, an "African-American?" of Kenyan descent-- misses this key point:

This month, the debate spilled into public view when Alan Keyes, the black Republican challenger for the Senate seat in Illinois, questioned whether Mr. Obama, the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, should claim an African-American identity.

"Barack Obama claims an African-American heritage," Mr. Keyes said on the ABC program "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos. "Barack Obama and I have the same race - that is, physical characteristics. We are not from the same heritage."

"My ancestors toiled in slavery in this country," Mr. Keyes said. "My consciousness, who I am as a person, has been shaped by my struggle, deeply emotional and deeply painful, with the reality of that heritage."

Some black Americans argue that black immigrants, like Mr. Kamus, and the children of immigrants, like Mr. Obama and Mr. Powell, are most certainly African-American. (Mr. Obama and Mr. Powell often use that term when describing themselves.) Yet some immigrants and their children prefer to be called African or Nigerian-American or Jamaican-American, depending on their countries of origin. Other people prefer the term black, which seems to include everyone, regardless of nationality.

The debate over who can be African-American is clearly tied to the affirmative action agenda which has always suffered from a poverty of logic. It seems that only recently a wider spectrum of Americans are noticing the problematics of getting ethnic/race-based funding to the "real Blacks."

The Barack Obama piece in the Times was preceded by an earlier piece on June 24 by Sara Rimer and Karen W. Arenson, entitled, "Top Colleges Take More Blacks, but Which Ones?" A friend forwarded me the article with the note, "uh-oh, they're on to us":

At the most recent reunion of Harvard University's black alumni, there was lots of pleased talk about the increase in the number of black students at Harvard.

But the celebratory mood was broken in one forum, when some speakers brought up the thorny issue of exactly who those black students were.

While about 8 percent, or about 530, of Harvard's undergraduates were black, Lani Guinier, a Harvard law professor, and Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Harvard's African and African-American studies department, pointed out that the majority of them -- perhaps as many as two-thirds -- were West Indian and African immigrants or their children, or to a lesser extent, children of biracial couples.

Much of the article drew from a recent undergraduate thesis by Aisha Hayne on the breakdown of Harvard's Black community. Of course, none of us with African roots who had struggled to make sense of the college social scene in recent years was surprised. I can remember like yesterday the painful first Black Students Association meeting of my college career where everyone went around to introduce themselves. Who was truly Black, or what African-American studies Professor Skip Gates (note the white wife) has affectionately termed the "black indigenous middle-class "?

The first New York Times article left me feeling rather uncomfortable. Koranteng and I had a heated debate, his take was don't let the politics of this get to you. I said, watch out, this means that you will have requests for affirmative action-keyed information including more details for black ancestery. Indeed, the Harvard alumni magazine followup article to the NY Times piece quoted Haynie:

"Harvard could do a better job of recognizing the differences between black students. The tendency is to see it as 'a black face is a black face'" says Haynie. "On the admissions form, you could put down where your parents and grandparents were born. If you have two black applicants, one from the American South, the other from the Caribbeaan, the black American may have come a lot further than the Caribbean student."

Somehow I doubt this will happen at Harvard where Affirmative-Action is very close to getting the boot [Note President Larry Summers recent speech on more financial aid to increase economic diversity].

And don't think I'm not aware what a scam much of this affirmative action money is. My favorite is the Ford Foundation Fellowships for Minorities recently re-christened "Diversity Fellowships". Up until this year a friend who is a first generation college student of Cuban-Dominican ancestery was ineligible (only Puerto-Ricans, African-Americans, Native Americans and native Hawaiians). Meanwhile another friend with a prominent Haitian doctor for a father was cruising on multiple minority fellowships including a Ford.

I was discussing the ironies of the Ford Foundation criteria last week with a few friends, when one woman- of Jewish descent with parents born in Southern Africa pointed out that she was African-American strictly speaking. Everyone laughed and said of course she wasn't.

Yet her situation speaks to an even more hidden pattern of migration- white Africans. It seems to me that all of these roundabout ways to get away from racial terms- African American instead of Black, Coloured, Negro only returns us to the crux of the matter... Where does race end and African begin?

A Tale of Two Countries

2004-06-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

I really like Henry Bonsu's recent article "A Tale of Two Countries" for the Guardian.

He notes the irony of the Ghanaian government's promotion of Ghana as an ultimate tourist destination when the aspirations of many inside are to someday get outside.

It is funny how we all can project our fantasies onto the otherside. Ghana as all embracing motherland, good food, lovely weather, a locus of Black empowerment. UK/US as land of opportunity, money, money, money, money, running water, working bureaucracy, equality.

You don't know how to appreciate what you've got until you don't have it.