Sunday, November 25, 2012

Afro-Colombians

- Films, protest and

Hip Hop group

ChocQuibTown

 

News from the diaspora - One of the most forgotten black communities in the African Diaspora is probably the Afro-Colombian community. But as always, things change. The present peace talks between the FARC rebels and the government  may help the many Afro-Colombians, who are disproportionately displaced because of the conflict. But there is more news.

In 2012 the film Chocó, a film about Afro-Colombian female resilience and endurance, was screened at Berlin Film Festival. And the film La Playa D.C, about an Afro-Colombian teenager in urban Bogota, made it to Cannes. In the music the Afro-Colombians already made headlines when their Hip Hop group ChocQuibTown won a Latin Grammy in 2010. 

So the best starting point is the new feature film La Playa D.C (see video below) which centers on Tomas, an Afro-Colombian teenager struggling with the difficulties of growing up in a city (Bogota) of exclusion and racism against those who look like him. See the review on Shadow and Act. The film runs at African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) - the festival's 20th edition, is held in Manhattan from November 23 to December 9. I hope the film will also be screened in Europe.

The film Chocó (see video below) focuses on a poor Afro-Colombian woman in her twenties, whose days consist of panning for gold and washing clothes for other families to support her two children and alcoholic husband. The simple promise of a birthday cake to her youngest daughter takes the whole family on an adventure which examines the joy and anguish entwined in rural Colombia life. Threaded with the themes of domestic abuse and race, Choco seeks to challenge its audience with a sometimes uncomfortable look into Colombian society, wrote Columbia reports See an interview (video) with director honny Hendrix Hinestroza here

The Protest

But apart from issues within the Afro-Colombian community, being of African descend in Colombia also has its challenges. About this problem URB wrote: "Of all the disappearing acts that punctuate Colombia’s history—from presidential candidates to drug kingpins, FARC warriors, and cocaine jets—none is more deceptive than that of an entire race. Four-hundred years after Spaniards brought African slaves here to mine for gold, most Colombians would rather forget that one in of five Colombians is black. No black beauty queens, no black president here. Hell, even Shakira has straightened her hair."

Being black is one issue, the other one are land and mining rights. Afro-Colombians have practised ancestral, family-run mining operations for generations, but between 2002 and 2010 Colombia’s government gave out 7,500 mining exploration titles to national and foreign mining companies in areas where Afro-Colombians are mining for centuries (see video below). Read more

Hip Hop

The group ChocQuibTown is one of Colombia's famous Hip Hip group. They came together to bring together the stories of the Afro community in Columbia within the country's context, see a video interview here.  The group won a Latin Grammy in 2010 with "De Donde Vengo Yo" (see video below).

If you think that black people in Latin America are cut off from the other black communities simply because they live in South America or speak Spanish, you are probably just as narrow minded as I am. In What's In My Bag (see video below), the band members of ChocQuibTown talk about how they are influenced by black music from US, the Caribbean and Africa.

Black history

Just as every black community Afro-Colombians also have their heroes. One of them is slave revolt leader Benkos Bioho

DrumBeats Manuscripts Submission

Posted by Storymoja Africa ⋅ November 19, 2012

 

We invite manuscript submissions of love stories based on the guidelines attached.

DrumBeats are passionate, sexy love stories from East Africa. They bring to life our very own memorable heroines and heroes, who face varying conflicts on their romantic journeys but ultimately love conquers all.

DrumBeats Romance invites East Africans to tell their own love stories. Capture the love story behind beautiful, sexy, confident, focused, hardworking and romantic East Africans – irrespective of ethnicity or race. Love in the maize field. Love stewed over matoke or Java coffee. Love dressed in a sari or bui-bui or mitumba. About loving that makanga or the IHUB techie.

Kindly email your completed manuscript as a word document to faithgatimi@storymojaafrica.co.ke and copy vaishnavi@storymojaafrica.co.ke

 

If you need practical help to get started, please attend the DrumBeats Romance Writing Kickstart Workshop.

Date:  Saturday, 8^th December, 2012

Time: 9am-2pm.

Venue: Storymoja offices. Second gate (brown) on Shanzu Road, off Lower Kabete Road, behind the Spring Valley shopping centre.

Charges: Kshs 500 (Tea & Snacks provided).

Please book your place and Mpesa the chapa to:

faith.gatimi@storymojaafrica.co.ke  Tel 0722611020

 

About Storymoja Africa

Knowledge is the most powerful engine for economic growth worldwide. To accelerate development in our beloved country, we have to nurture a reading culture that goes beyond academics and politics. Growing Kenya ’s reading culture is Storymoja’s mission as it feeds our business), our personal call as writers, and our patriotic duty. Storymoja is a venture recently formed by a collective of five writers who are committed to publishing contemporary East African writing of world-class standard. We source widely to identify good local writers, help them edit their submissions to exacting standards, and develop eye-catching book-covers.

 

Wanuri Kahiu

In Post-Production

On Ger Duany Documentary,

'Ger: To Be Separate'

 

by Tambay A. Obenson

 

November 20, 2012 

A documentary she's apparently been working on for about 2 years now, but I'm only just now learning about it...

Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu (probably known mostly for her Focus Features Africa First sci-fi short film Pumzi) is in post-production on a documentary titled Ger: To Be Separate, which chronicles South Sudanese actor, model and social activist, Ger Duany's journey from child soldier, to refugee, to Hollywood actor, and international model, and his amazing journey back home as he votes for the first time for a new Sudan and celebrates its division.

The release of the documentary will mark the beginning of Ger’s mission to help rebuild his country, bringing back education and healthcare facilities.

Some of his onscreen roles include work in I Heart Huckabees, The Fighter and Restless City; although he's probably better known for his work as a model. You may have seen him featured in various fashion campaigns.

I'd expect Ger: To be Separate to debut on the film festival circuit in 2013. 

Watch this CNN profile of Ger for a glimpse at what to expect:

via blogs.indiewire.com

The Pain of Being Poor:

Masculinity and Manhood

in a Recession

November 21, 2012

| by Yolo Akili

Originally published on Good Men Project and cross-posted here with permission.

Yolo Akili brings us a reflective essay about unemployment and barber shop culture in black communities.

 

I saw the pain in their eyes when I sat in the barbershop.

The conversation was about money.

The posture was hunched over,

The pupils lowered;

the heart…heavy.

Phrases echoed across chairs:

“not enough”,

“they won’t pay me”,

“can’t find work.”

At times there were interjections of ambition initiated by Jay Z’s voice on the radio:

“I invented swag/puttin’ super models in a cab”…

After Jay Z the tone of the space would shift,

Someone would say: “I heard they are hiring at this spot in the Bronx!”

“My boy has this plan..”

“Were gonna get on this deal…”

It was as if Jay and Kanye’s economic example was a spark of light; a potential; a possibility.

But when the song ended, the spark faded. And the space was no longer filled with optimism, or pity; or sadness. Just the weight of all. The full, heavy robust weight of it all.

♦◊♦

I know what that’s like.

The first time I was unemployed was in 2007. I had been “released” from a job that was spiritually draining and emotionally destructive.

I stayed for the comfort. And the regular check every month. Even after the scars had started to pile up on my soul. Even after the bags had started to encircle my eyes.

When I was released from that prison, I was still devastated. In my eyes, my economic independence had been stripped away from me. I was forced to find other means of income, which often meant asking for help from others.

It was a very hard thing to do.

Not simply because of my ego. But because of my socialization. You see as a spirit born into a body marked as male by this culture, I had been instructed from birth that to need help, particularly help with money; meant I was wrong.

I was wrong because as a man I was supposed to fend for myself.

I was not supposed to have hard times. I was not supposed to get down on my luck.

And to support this theory; I could turn on the radio to hear all the rappers talk about people like me “Who needed to get their money up.” Who were “Broke b*tches so crusty/disgust me.”

In support of this I could hear all the hetero black women’s narratives of

“sorry a*s broke n*ggas.”

In support of this I could hear all the black men narratives of “broke a*s queens.”

In support of this theory I could hear all the prosperity teachers saying that my lack of income flow was connected to my spiritual impoverishment.

No matter where I looked, I was always to blame.

Not systems.

Not inequity.

Me.

I was wrong.

The shame of not having money sent me down a spiral of internal emotional abuse.

I recanted how dumb I was, how wrong I was, how stupid I was that I couldn’t find work and didn’t have money.

It was so easy to fall into a pit of shame and that shame immobilized me for weeks.

It was so hard to dig myself out of it.

Sitting in that barber shop that day looking at all the brown and black faces I realized:

Some of us never do.

♦◊♦

Male socialization runs so deep through our veins; that for many the shame of not having money, the shame of not being able to provide; collapses upon every other facet of our lives.

Some of us rage because of the shame. Some of us try to nut out the shame. Some us write, trying to force the shame to fall on paper. Some of us rationalize the shame as wrong and tuck it under our intellects. Some of us run away from the shame leaving behind our children and our partners.

Few of us speak the shame. Few of us hold the shame, look at it, and let it be within us but not of us.

Few of us know how… Male emotional castration was the first act of male socialization.

“Stop crying!”

“Man Up!”

“Don’t be a punk!”: Were amongst the first words many of us recall.

But we have to get our feelings back.

We have to acknowledge all that is within us that we can use to re-imagine the hustle; re-imagine the system…without waiting on the powers that be.

We have to dig deeper into our imaginations.

We have to realize that we have a lot together and little alone.

You see, I believe the recession is a ripe opportunity for us to re-imagine how we relate to each other economically.

Will we continue even in the face of this to be individuals; isolated and objective?

Will we continue to let our distrust of each other prevent us from economic connection?

Will we continue to cherish our shame in order to excuse our fear?

Will we continue to let the shame contour our hearts and minds?

The football games, the club, the fashion, the diva worship, the fleeting moments of sexual intimacy will not transform the shame of economic disadvantage.

It is only through speaking it, that we can find the courage to divorce our economic disadvantage from our self worth.

It is the only way we can transform that pain to power, by staring that shame straight in the eyes.

Yolo Akili is a Writer, Poet, and Yoga Teacher. He can be reached via his website www.YoloAkili.com or on Twitter as @YoloAkili.

Being Du Bois:

Lessons in the

Management of Identities

November 23, 2012

 

by editor

Kwame Anthony Appiah delivers the Henry Louis Gates Jr. Inaugural Lecture at Yale University, October 2012.

About the Speaker:

Kwame Anthony Appiah is the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University.

Watch ‘Bad 25′,

Spike Lee’s

Michael Jackson documentary

in full | TV Catch-Up

By Sam Gould

November 23, 2012

We present to you Bad 25, the Spike Lee-directed documentary film made to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson‘s landmark Bad album and tour.

The film, which premiered last night (November 22nd) on ABC , offers an incredible insight into Michael’s work-rate and his phenomenal energy as an artist. Taking us through exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and featuring interviews with all the key personalities who put Bad together, as well as those Michael Jackson inspired, it reveals the creative process behind a truly landmark album and tour.

Watch the full documentary film below:

Props: Yardie

 

Outside Looking In

– A Writing Contest

(Poetry or Short Prose)

Posted by Storymoja Africa ⋅ November 22, 2012

 

 

Kenya is many things to different people.

Kenya is home.

Kenya is a second home.

Kenya is beautiful.

Kenya is poor.

Kenya is violent.

Kenya is free.

Kenya is a no-go zone.

Kenya is a must go country.

Kenya is the Big Five.

Kenya is Westgate Mall.

Kenya is South C.

Kenya is Kibera.

Kenya is Pwani.

Or maybe not.

Kenya is Masai Mara.

Or maybe Narok.

Kenya is Baragoi.

Or maybe Eastlands.

Kenya is love.

Sometimes, peace.

Unity? Hmmm…

Kenya is me.

Kenya is you.

Kenya is what?

 

Outside Looking In is a writing contest looking for the perspective of someone looking in.

Your main persona is either a

- foreigner who lives and works in Kenya

- kenyan living and working outside Kenya
 
Your entry can be poetry or short prose or a mixture of both.

Your entry should not be longer than 450 words.

Your entry does not necessarily have to be a direct explanation or description of Kenya. It can be a snapshot of emotion, a moment, a feeling, a prayer, whatever you want it to be.

Contests opens November 22, 2012 at 8am. Send in your submissions to blogs@storymojaafrica.co.ke and mark the subject line as OUTSIDE LOOKING IN.

Deadline is December 5, 6pm.

Prize for top entry: Autugraphed copy of Cut of my Tongue written by Sitawa Namwalie.

Before you go off to start writing, here is a moment captured by Eme Ferreira a 23 year old Spanish lady living and working in Kenya.

Poetry by Eme Ferreira

“Kaĩ ũtoĩ noowe kĩambĩrĩria na kĩrĩkĩro gĩakwa (…)

Horera, horeria meciria.

Nĩgũo ngoro yakwa nayo

Igĩe na thayo ta wa toro

Horeria meciria.” (Njeri Wanjari)

 

“¿No sabes que tú eres mi principio y mi final?

Relaja tu mente

Para que mi corazón

Pueda facilitar tu sueño.

Relaja tu mente.” (Njeri Wanjari)

 

I have begun to read poetry in Kikuyu to the psychiatric patients. I started doing it because, strangely, I realized that when I asked: How are you?, Where is the pain?, Do you have any relatives? … their minds closed off and they looked at me like they wanted to escape.

So I thought it was a good idea. And I watch them, secretly, between the lines. The first day I was anxiously watching their minds turning into a sort of rift. But they stayed. There. Listening.

The second day I saw great emotional receptiveness, until one of them tried to lick me. I asked why. He answered: those words are gnawing something inside me. I stopped to look at his face.

- Tell me about it- I said.

-Will you stay reading forever?- he asked.

-No- I smiled.

-Then stop making me have these reassuring feelings- and then he started crying.

At night I wrote about wrecking each other’s lives. Always. Everything is a war, everything is like if thoughts cannot be beautiful without turning into sin. Everything is pain over here. And I can’t help them because I can’t even help myself. And, obviously, I can’t help you either.

Eme Ferreira was born in 1989. She is Spanish but lives and works in Kenya. She loves Tea, Diet Coke and Poetry. She writes atMenos Lobos, Caperucita.