- Ship imagery
- The concept of the Black Atlantic
- Nationalism
2. Music
- Music as an example of the workings of the Black Atlantic
- Music as a form of Black cultural production (see example)
- The question of authenticity
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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11 comments:
The articles, “The Uses of Diaspora,” and “Decentering the United States in the Studies of Blackness in Brazil,” both suggests that the idea of the black diaspora cannot be defined as a monolithic entity, but instead a wide-ranging array of black cultures that has some similarities, but differs in geographical regions, gender, sex and class etc. In essence the idea of a diaspora is one that is indefinite. In this case, is there a need to study black cultures worldwide on a separate case basis or should black cultures be studied together because of the general idea of black struggle and oppression?
Shantala L. Thompson
Decentering the U.S. in the Studies of Blackness in Brazil
“if the biggest heir to Eurocentrism is U.S.-centrism, the latter is also the main beneficiary of Afrocentrism, since both use the same tools to place the U.S. as the great emanating center of narratives” (14).
The U.S. does try to influence other countries to emulate the practices. And, even though African Americans are at the bottom of the ladder (political, economic, educational, etc), they are still considered to be in a better position than people of African descent in other geographic locations. U.S.-centrism does benefit from African American centered diaspora studies or paradigms because it reflects the idea that “The U.S. is so great that even U.S. Blacks--who are placed at the bottom--are better than Blacks outside the U.S.” I found this to be rather interesting because I never thought that there was a hierarchy in the Black diaspora.
The author wrote that “The election of U.S. forms of blackness as the utmost reference for the studies of blackness in Brazil should be analyzed in connection to our own tendency as Brazilians to look at ourselves from a marginal standpoint: formerly at the margins of Europe, and currently at the margins of the U.S.” (15).
Do you think that it is really possible for Brazil can successfully stop referring to U.S. studies on the ideas of blackness since the U.S. controls so much of the information being transmitted in the world? I am inclined to doubt that it is possible. I am doubtful because it seems to be so hard for African Americans to stop living according to Western standards of beauty since it is heavily promoted. As much as African Americans embrace the idea that Black is beautiful, perms, skin bleachers, s-curls products, and colorism are yet to go out of style. With that said, the Brazilian embracement of a theory of blackness that is not based on U.S.-centrism, and the actual practice of reinforcing that theory may never coincide.
Amelia David
The articles for the Jan. 28 class illustrated nicely what I inferred from the film, "Nice Colored Girls," in that black has no clear definition other than being opposite from whiteness. Therefore "black"defined on a global scale has differing definitions of who is included in the group. The "black" diaspora is something that would have to be understood in a global way with a definition that was, in my estimation as being the oppostite of white. What this brings me to is, is this an accurate way to define "black"? It raises the question of the famous assertion of W.E.B. DuBois and the color line being the problem of the modern era and belting the world, what happens when the color line becomes blurred or hard to distinguish?
I do not know why I cried when I saw the film "The Language You Cry In". I thought I would not cry, since I am not black. I did not know much about black history or black culture, which was one of the reasons why I chose this course, but I do know what it is like when people lose their legacy left by their ancestors. Language, is in many respects a tool used by oppressors. In history, when some parts of China were colonized by the Japanese invaders during World War One and Two, the Chinese language was in danger of distinction. My grandma told me that Japanese soldiers came into their school and forced them to speak Japanese only. That is why my grandma can speak Japanese even fifty years after the wars. My grandma was lucky enough to have already learnt to speak Chinese at the time she was forced to learn Japanese. Otherwise, she would never be able to speak her own language. The reason why oppressors use language as a "master's tool", in my point of view, is that language is the carrier of a nation's history, culture, value and so forth. If a nation loses its own language, it means that it will lose its history, its culture and its value as well. How can a nation still be a nation without all of those? I believe the history of black people is a whole other story. They were forced to give up their own languges in some cases and chose to use the oppressors' languages "vuluntarily" to survive in other cases. Just as the linguist in the film says, we are angry at the cruelty in human history. It is not only a sad history of black people but also a shameful part of human history.
First, I want to correct one typographical error in my last comment. It should have been "extinction" instead of "distinction" in Line 11. Sorry for that! And then, I want to say something about one of the first week's readings. While I was reading Kraut's "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham", I could not help asking why this article about dancing was assigned in our first week's readings. But after seeing the video on the homepage of Blackboard, I think I found the answer somehow. I kept hearing the word "agency" in the video by which I was quite confused. I then looked it up and got its meaning which is "the capacity for human beings to make choices and to impose those choices on the world". I think it makes more sense when we think about dance/diaspora in that way. Dancing is a way to express oneself especially when words were not enough. Body is one of the few things others cannot totally control. When words and opinions are controlled by the oppressors, one will try to find other ways to express their feelings and to trace their cultures. Take hip-hop for example, it is not only a way of dancing but also a way to describe and critique social reality.
The Language you cry in was more than the music, I felt as though the film was illustrating the connection between people. More importantly a connection to the essences of what you were in relation to a shared past to better understand the present and you're palce in it.
As in "The Language You Cry In" there is a deep-seeded connection across time and space between Black peoples that demonstrates the commonalities of African language, culture, ritual, etc. througout the Diaspora. The video emphasized the importance of memory and the power that remembrance holds despite history, language or environment. Memory then seems to be the thread that holds the web of Diaspora together. With that said, in the Edwards article, "Uses of Diaspora", there is discussion early on about the return to Africa but what is most poignant about a 'return' is not the literal sense but the ideological value of 'returning.' That there is and has been a 'returning' and essentially a remaining of memory is evident throughout "The Language You Cry In" and Kraut's article "Between Primitivism and Diaspora which illustrates the connections of Diaspora through dance. However, even though these connections seem strong it would be interesting to ponder how pure other connections have remained through space, time and memory to the original African root. How much can really be preserved despite a history that professes such distance from African roots?
I enjoyed the documentary “The Language You Cry in,” and I think it definitely shows that history can be preserved through memory. The connections between the Gullah people and the people in Sierra Leone were amazing. The documentary also showed why it is important to have a focus on oral traditions in historical and cultural research, it gives the people being studied a stronger voice in their history.
The only issue that I have with this video is that it did not to a good job of telling the history of the Gullah people. This may allow the viewers that do not know the history Gullah people to generalize the Gullahs with all African Americans. The viewer must understand that the Gullah people is one of the few groups of African Americans that strongly preserved African culture through language, culture etc.
- Shantala L. Thompson
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Pogus Caesar - Muzik Kinda Sweet at Birmingham Book Festival 2010
Foreword written by Paul Gilroy
Muzik Kinda Sweet is an evocative and nostalgic look at iconic Black performers from the last 25 years. Candid snaps on city streets contrast with the vibrant energy at stageside, revealing the personalities behind an influential generation of music heroes.
Birmingham based photographer Pogus Caesar worked up close to his subjects with an early model Canon Sureshot camera, developing by hand. The results are very human portraits which counterpoint today’s digital photography.
This highly collectable Limited Edition book includes stunning black and white photographs of Stevie Wonder, Grace Jones, Jay-Z, Cameo, Jimmy Cliff, Dennis Brown, Lynden David Hall, MC Hammer, Augustus Pablo and many more.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75913636@N00/5122553369/in/photostream/
Published by Punch and OOM Gallery.
MUZIK KINDA SWEET BY POGUS CAESAR 1st - 30th October 2011
The British Music Experience at O2 presented by the Co-operative, in association with OOM Gallery will be showcasing an exclusive exhibition of 38 rare photographs celebrating legendary black musicians working in the UK.
Using a simple camera photographer Pogus Caesar followed the musicians and singers around the famous venues producing a collection that celebrates a style of black music that brings together the UK, the US and the Caribbean.
From Stevie Wonder in 1989, Grace Jones in 2009 and Big Youth in 2011, this unique exhibition documents how black music, in its Reggae, Soul, Jazz and R&B tributaries of sound, has changed and renewed itself over the decades.
Journeying from Jimmy Cliff to Jay-Z via Mica Paris and Mary Wilson of The Supremes to David Bowie's bass player Gail Ann Dorsey, these images conjure up an alphabet of the music of the Black Atlantic.
The photographs selected from OOM Gallery Archive are also as much about the clubs and venues, as it is about the singers, producers and musicians. The Wailers at The Tower Ballroom, Sly Dunbar at The Hummingbird Club, Courtney Pine at Ronnie Scott's, Cameo at the Odeon Cinema, Ben E. King at the Hippodrome and Soul II Soul's Jazzie B at BBC Pebble Mill, many venues now lost to regeneration or renewal, and only recalled through memory and imagery.
http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/muzik-kinda-
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