Prize in American Historical Fiction

 

Deadline:

December 1, 2012

Website: 

http://www.langumtrust.org/histlit.html

A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a book of historical fiction published in the current year. Submit three copies of books (or bound galleys) published in 2012 by December 1. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Langum Charitable Trust, Prize in American Historical Fiction, 2809 Berkeley Drive, Birmingham, AL 35242.

Writing Fellowships

Deadline:

December 1, 2012

Entry Fee: 

$45

Website: 

http://www.fawc.org

E-mail address: 

general@fawc.org

Fellowships for a seven-month residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, are given annually to 10 poets and fiction writers. Each fellowship includes a private apartment and a monthly stipend of $750. For fellowships from October 1, 2012, to April 30, 2013, submit a personal statement and eight copies of up to 15 pages of poetry or 35 pages of fiction (include a synopsis if submitting a novel) with a $45 entry fee by December 1. Send an SASE, e-mail, or visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Writing Fellowships, 24 Pearl Street, Provincetown, MA 02657. (508) 487-9960.

About Orhuee Couture

Founder : Orhue Guobadia

Somewhere in middle of the hustle bustle of life and the rigidity of her work suits, a woman seeks to embrace her culture in an elegant, modest yet modern way.

Orhuee Couture seeks to bring that woman reprieve.

Made from 100% cotton, 100% linen and top quality Bazin riche. Orhuee Designs is a mix of Africa and Arabia infused with detailed embroidery in all style. All clothes are embroidered, NOT printed.

The design is driven by artistic, modern and luxurious style. The modernism is expressed in the dresses that flow freely, the elegance in the detailed embroidery and the richness in the African material used. The woman wearing Orhuee is embracing her culture and curve in a unique way only she can.

Taking her inspiration from all the African countries she has visited and lived in, the designer who herself loves to be dressed in African clothes and loves seeing women in African inspired clothes, has put together a collection that expresses that very thought.

The Orhuee Couture vision is to create a lifestyle that encourages women to embrace their culture and appreciate the richness in womanhood.

<p>Solus from Solus LeFilm on Vimeo.</p>
Solus (Short Animation)

November 15th, 2012

An CG animated short by graduating students of ESMA Montpellier in South of France. Carl a man in his 50′s try’s to lead a normal life in an unusual situation with his friend Eddy. One day, while he’s looking for food, he finds Sam, unconscious. Carl brings him back home. When Sam wakes up, he will question Carl’s way of life.

Credits 

A CG graduation short co-directed by Robin Bersot, Camille Dellerie, Mickaël Larue and Thomas Rodriguez.
Music : Vincent Gros, Julien Denamur, Laurent Faessel
Voices : Vincent Grass, Thomas Sagols
Mixing : Jose Vicente (Studio Des Aviateurs)

© ESMA Montpellier 2012

via buni.tv

 

 Barbara - Editor at African Digital Art Network

Originally from Nairobi, Barbara Muriungi is a motion designer & animator. After a brief stint working as a sound tech and producing roles in TV and radio, Barbara realised her passion for design and pursued her studies in Motion Graphics and Visual Effects. In between working clients like HBO, Nat Geo, Disney, Fuse, she works on collaborative projects and continues her interests in photography, illustration and travel.

 

HKR: Jean Grae

Speaks Her Mind

to Davey D ….Cake or Death

One of my favorite emcees is the one and only Jean Grae. Witty, smart and deftly skilled on the mic, she’s one of the few folks in Hip Hop I hadn’t interviewed even though we’ve run into each other on a number of occasions. Finally when she touched down in Oakland to a do a show at the New Parrish, last summer (2011)  we got a chance to chop it up. During our interview we covered a variety of topics ranging from how she got her name to the highlights of her career to her roots in South Africa to her process for writing songs and executing her artistic vision…We also talked about the upcoming release of her album ‘Cake or Death’ In short we did Jean Grae 101…

Also we gotta give Jean props for doing a great show and being gracious after I spilled the drink she brought me all over her…

Click the link below to peep the Hard Knock Radio Interview w/ Jean Grae

Download: hkr-jean-grae-edit.mp3

 

<p>KILL SCREEN VIDEO from W.A.R. Media on Vimeo.</p>

__________________________

 

FOOD INTERVIEW:

Jean Grae at Il Bagatto

By Lea Faminiano

 06/01/2012

>via: http://www.thecouchsessions.com/2012/06/food-interview-jean-grae-at-il-bagatto/

Why are All Eyes on the

David Patraeus Infidelity Saga,

But Complete Silence on

Military Rapes?

 

David Patraeus

The recent shake up in amongst military leaders has evolved into the ultimate soap opera. First we have General David Patraeus being forced to retire from the CIA last week for cheating on his wife and now we have General John R Allen under investigation who took Patraeus’ place in Afghanistan.

The person who blew the whistle on Patraeus was a family friend named Jill Kelley. She was being harassed by Patraeus’ lover and biographer Paula Broadwell who thought that Kelley was somehow romantically linked to the general. The truth of the matter is that Kelley and her husband have been longtime friends with the Patraeus’. This was not known to Broadwell who resented the close relationship she perceived Kelley had with the general. She responded by stepping to Kelley and sent off a bunch of threatening emails warning Kelly to stay away.

Late yesterday,  the story took a new twist when it was announced  that General Allen who was recently nominated to head the U.S. European Command and NATO forces in Europe may have some involvement. His nomination has been put on hold while he’s being investigated for sending 20-30 thousand pages of emails to Jill Kelley over the past two years. Everyone wants to know whats going on with those two. They have not said if there was some sort of romantic hook up or if he had been revealing government secrets. Right now the word from Leon Panetta is Allen had ‘inappropriate communications‘ with Kelley..

General John R. Allen

Thus far damn near every news agency is on top of this story as folks are seemingly eager to see heads roll. It’s the big talk all on Capitol Hill with lawmakers like Senator Diane Feinstein and Congressman Peter King demanding further investigation. They are furious that they were ‘left in the dark’. Today there will be hearings.

It’s good to see that the military brass and people sitting in the halls of power have stepped up to hold folks accountable. If having an affair is a big ‘no-no’ in military circles, then I say right on for being hard-nosed in enforcing the rules. We should expect more from our men and women in uniform.

With that being said, what’s confusing, ironic and quite sad is the lack of media fan fare and the lack zeal to see heads roll around the fact that the military is the scene to tens of thousands of rapes every year. Very few are demanding to know why in 2010 we had close to 20 thousand rapes on military bases? Yes, you read that right,. America’s dirty little secret is that we have horrifically high number of female soldiers being raped by their male counterparts.. Some of you reading this may think I’m trying to be sensational with my numbers, but rest assured I’m not. I’m quoting stats from Department of Defence. There’s an Academy nominated heart wrenching documentary called The Invisible War that unearth’s this under reported story.

Jill Kelley

One would think more of us would be outraged especially after we had several months of discussion about ‘legitimate rape’ during the Presidential campaign. One would’ve thought that we as a society would be moving quickly to purge not only those responsible for these sexual assaults but also the military leaders whose watch in which these rapes occurred. Why aren’t we having news conferences about someone like Patraeus,  Allen or some other high-ranking general being kicked out and investigated because thousands of rapes have occurred under their leadership?

Sadly most of us have remained oblivious to the rapes on military bases or have simply turned a blind eye. Others have the nerve to rationalize an explain how the military has strict rules around officers having affairs while remaining dead silent on the rapes epidemic…Explain that one..

More importantly explain what steps we intend to take to eradicate rapes in the military. Why is our mainstream media focusing on the Generals but silent as a church mouse on a horrific act that’ll leave many severely scared for a lifetime? I guess we as a society are comfortable with the War on Women continuing.

Something to think about..

written by Davey D

PS.. Wanna give some additional food for thought about this case..We have a couple of things going on here.. First is the cover ups and silence of the high number of rapes in the military. Second we have the fallout around Patraeus.. Here’s an article that breaks down who Paula Broadwell is..she was more than just a biographer..

A Covert Affair: Petraeus Caught in the Honeypot?

By Justin Raimondo

 November 12, 2012 “Information Clearing House” - The outing of Gen. David Petraeus as an adulterer, and his subsequent resignation as CIA Director, was carried out by an unknown FBI “whistleblower” who leaked the facts of the FBI investigation into the General’s private life to Rep. Eric Cantor. The New York Times reports:

“Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, said Saturday an F.B.I. employee whom his staff described as a whistle-blower told him about Mr. Petraeus’s affair and a possible security breach in late October, which was after the investigation had begun.

“’I was contacted by an F.B.I. employee concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain Director Mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security,’ Mr. Cantor said in a statement.

“Mr. Cantor talked to the person after being told by Representative Dave Reichert, Republican of Washington, that a whistle-blower wanted to speak to someone in the Congressional leadership about a national security concern. On Oct. 31, his chief of staff, Steve Stombres, called the F.B.I. to tell them about the call.”

The FBI probe apparently started in late spring, when several people associated with Petraeus — not just the one woman, as has been reported elsewhere — received harassing emails. The emails were traced to 40-year-old Paula Broadwell, national security analyst, military intelligence veteran, and author of a biography of Petraeus. Authorities believed his email account may have been hacked, and this led to a remarkable irony: the CIA chief’s emails were monitored, without his knowledge, whereupon it was discovered Broadwell may have either had access to his account or tried to obtain access. In any case, in the course of their spying, FBI monitors discovered a large volume of emails to and from Broadwell. Looking for evidence of a security breach, all they found was evidence of a “human drama,” as one anonymous FBI official put it: an illicit affair between Petraeus and Broadwell.

Petraeus was only informed of the investigation on October 25 or 26. So here we have the astonishing fact of the CIA’s head honcho being spied on for a period of months by our own law enforcement officials.

Or maybe it wasn’t a simple case of complaints about “harassing” or threatening emails. Fox News avers:

“The FBI had been investigating an unrelated and much broader case before stumbling on the affair. Fox News has learned that during the course of this investigation, the name of biographer Paula Broadwell came up. The FBI followed that lead and in doing so, uncovered his affair with her.”

What was this “much broader case”? Almost certainly it was a counterintelligence investigation, i.e. a pushback against efforts by some foreign entity to penetrate or otherwise compromise US secrets. We can only guess at the specifics, however we do know that in the course of that investigation Broadwell’s name “came up.”

On the surface, at least, Broadwell is not the sort of person whose name would come up in a counterintelligence investigation: a West Point graduate, where she earned degrees in political geography and systems engineering, she seems like the veritable embodiment of All-American
red-white-and-blue super-patriotism. This biographical account on her high school website says

“Paula pursued a military intelligence career abroad, serving in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During her service, especially after 9-11, Paula’s intensity was directed toward the war against terror; her contributions and efforts to thwart terrorism have been commended by the U.S. Army and by Europe’s Special Operations Forces Commanding General. In this arena, she has planned counter-terrorism initiatives presented to NATO and worked on transnational counter-terrorism issues with foreign and domestic agencies, U.S. Special Forces, and the FBI.”

Graduate studies at the University of Denver in Middle East studies enabled her to travel to “Jordan and Israel,” and make a swing through the Persian Gulf and Europe where she spoke at various conferences. This triumphal tour was capped by a Harvard fellowship “for study in Syria and Iran.”

While Broadwell’s current academic affiliation is with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, her previous post was deputy director of the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies at Tufts University’s Fletcher School. The Center, according to its self-description, “distinguishes itself by a philosophy that maintains counter-terrorism should be predictive, preventive and preemptive, with the latter being a last resort.” Founded in 2005, the Jebsen Center was made possible by the generous donation of one Jan Henrik Jebsen, heir to the Norwegian shipping fortune, who gave $1.3 million to set it up. Jebsen, a former investment banker with Lazard Freres, is the principal of Gamma Applied Visions Group, an international octopus with tentacles all over the place: part arms dealer and weapons developer, part “green” energy company. As one might expect from someone who has so much of his multi-billion dollar fortune invested in making and selling armaments, Jebsen is on the board of directors of the distinctly warlike Hudson Institute, where Scooter Libby, Douglas Feith, Michael Ledeen, and practically every neocon you’ve ever heard of have found refuge.

While, in true neocon fashion, Hudson scholars conjure a wide diversity of imminent “threats” to the US, includingChina and Russia, their main focus is the threat of Islamist radicalism, especially as it impacts Israel. Indeed, Hudson operates inside Israel, where it pushes the far-rightist views of the most extreme elements in Israeli society: the settler movement, and the faction of Likud angling for war with Iran. It has also focused its attention onpurging universities of academics who don’t toe the right-wing ultra-nationalist Likudnik line.

More recently, former Hudson president and “trustee emeritus” Max Singer — who has since moved to Israel, where, as a “public policy consultant” at Bar Ilan University, he spends his time inciting violence against Palestinians — is on a mission to protect Israel from the alleged threat posed by the President of the United States.

The Jebsen Center has been equally useful to the neocons. Richard H. Schultz, head of Tufts’ International Studies program (of which the Center is a part) was a signatory to the Project for a New American Century’s “open letter” to President Bush urging war with Iraq and a number of other Middle Eastern actors in the wake of 9/11. Here he is recommending the importation of Israeli “anti-terrorist” techniques to pacify the restless natives of Iraq. Here is another Jebsen Center scholar describing alleged terrorist actions engaged in by Iran worldwide. And then there’s the testimony of this guy:

“The idea of overthrowing the Iranian government through covert but peaceful means is not original. The project was first brought to my attention in August 2006 when I worked as an intern research assistant at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Diplomacy’s Jebsen Center for Counter-terrorism. I worked for the then director of the center Brigadier General Russell Howard (Ret.) on a project titled Bringing Down Iran Without Firing A Shot. I wasn’t very experienced in the world of covert operations in the field or in the academic realm but I was very interested in becoming involved in it. General Howard, on the other hand, was not only a counter-terrorism strategist but a veteran Special Forces officer, an academic, and a tutor. It was General Howard who introduced me to the idea of targeting factors specific to Iran in order to adapt to the country’s specific needs. He had six factors which he believed were important: The military use of ongoing insurgencies within Iran, political strife, economic strife, declining oil revenues, demographics, and deteriorating infrastructure.”

Interestingly, in November of 2006, during her tenure at the Jebsen Center, Broadwell led a group of Fletcher School students on a trip to New York City to meet with then Iranian UN representative Javad Zarif. Both arealumni of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

All this establishes a context that goes far beyond the titillating details of the alleged affair between Petraeus and Broadwell — and this is no doubt what set alarm bells ringing in the intelligence community when it was revealed. Is there really any need to point out the uses of the “honeypot” in intelligence-gathering and other covert activities regularly engaged in by spooks of all nations? From Mata Hari to the Mossad agent who lured Israeli nuclear scientist Mordecahi Vanunu, sex is a time-honored weapon in the war of spy-vs-spy. A secret affair with the CIA Director is the equivalent of the Honeypot Olympics, and we have to ask: was the remarkably fit Ms. Broadwell a lure? If so, she’s won a Gold Medal.

Broadwell’s actions — sending emails that were bound to be traced back to her — appear to make little sense on the surface. But if the goal of luring a 60-year-old geezer into an affair with a much younger woman was to expose him, and get him fired, then surely her antics succeeded in accomplishing that goal.

So who would have an interest in getting rid of Petraeus? Here’s where the Cantor connection comes in. The tip by an anonymous “FBI employee” that wound up in Cantor’s office two weeks ago came through Rep. David Reichert, Republican of Washington state, who has a friend who knows the whistleblower. Cantor then spoke to the whistleblower directly, who put him in touch with FBI Director Mueller.

Cantor is a great friend of Israel, and Petraeus — not so much. The General was attacked, as you’ll recall, by partisans of the Lobby, including Abe Foxman, when he delivered testimony before Congress citing Israel as a strategic liability in the Middle East. As the executor of the new Obamaite policy of sidling up to Islamists, not only in Libya but also in Syria and Egypt, Petraeus was no doubt seen by the Israelis as an enemy to be neutralized.

Broadwell’s affiliation with the Jebsen Center, and the Center’s connection to the neoconservative network, sets the scene: a young, attractive woman with impeccable national security credentials throws herself at Petraeus, and he takes the bait. Whether she’s been recruited by a foreign intelligence agency at this point or not is irrelevant: he’s already put himself in a vulnerable position, and there are any number of actors on the international stage more than willing to press their advantage.

Will we ever know the full story? At this point, the story is so hot that it may burn the cover story — “it’s all about sex” — right off the wrapper. Because there’s more — a lot more — here than meets the eye. When Cantorpledged to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he and his fellow Republicans “will serve as a check on the administration” in regard to the President’s policy toward Israel, he was clearly aligning himself with a foreign leader against American interests as perceived by the White House. But would he really go this far — deliberately taking down a key figure, one beloved by Republicans, in order to keep his promise to Netanyahu?

Stay tuned to this space, because this story is moving fast….

Update: This morning [11/12/12] the New York Times reports:

“F.B.I. agents interviewed Ms. Broadwell for the first time the week of Oct. 21, and she acknowledged the affair, a government official briefed on the matter said. She also voluntarily gave the agency her computer. In a search, the agents discovered several classified documents, which raised the additional question of whether Mr. Petraeus had given them to her. She said that he had not. Agents interviewed Mr. Petraeus the following week. He also admitted to the affair but said he had not given any classified documents to her. The agents then interviewed Ms. Broadwell again on Friday, Nov. 2, the official said.”

Bingo!

Only if you are old, rich and

from a specific region

Posted by cosmicyoruba  June 16, 2012

When I read the title of Minna Salami’s most recent post, “There were no matriarchies in precolonial Africa”, my first thought was “oh no but this is a generalisation!” I approached the post carefully and by the time I had finished reading it, I found that I agreed with most of Salami’s points. Especially when she says that arguing about mythical matriarchies that existed before the evil Westerners came and destroyed everything “numbs the anger of the persisting patriarchy we have found ourselves in for centuries…curbs revolution…controls feminist activism…reinforces gender stereotypes…[and] lets male privilege off the hook when inhabited by men who “at least” are aware of how motherly women warriors once ruled in some distant age”.

Salami’s post gave me a lot to think about, and as I ruminated over the post and comments, several questions came to mind.

“Queen Nzingha”

 

Is matriarchy truly good for all women?

What did woman power in precolonial African societies truly mean for all women? We know patriarchy benefits some men more than others, and does affect men albeit in different ways. As bell hooks eloquently puts it in her essay “Understanding Patriarchy”, “patriarchy is the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation”. Following this train of thought, perhaps matriarchy does not mean good things for all women in a given society.

That some African cultures today still have traces of matrilineal practices suggests that these societies may have been matriarchal at some point in history. However, while some may cheer upon seeing “matri…” anything, these practices are not always beneficial to women. Initially, I would not have considered that matrilineal practices may be more disadvantageous for women yet now I know it happens. This recent article examines matrilineal inheritance among the Balues of Cameroon. In Balue society, inheritance is passed through the female line, but women do not inherit instead when a man dies the first son of his sister inherits his property. Here we have a matrilineal society that completely ignores women in favour of the sons they birth. It is interesting that a Balue woman labels matrilineality “the worst tradition that the Balue people have” and that women have formed groups to challenge this tradition.

As it may be, the presence of matrilineal inheritance, not matter that this tradition does not exactly profit women, suggests that the Balue were a matriarchal society once upon a time. It is entirely possible that there were African societies that progressed from matriarchal to patriarchal systems. Examples can be seen in the male appropriation of ritual power a topic I have discussed on this blog as it has been dissected in African cinema (see here and here). There are countless African societies that have myths of early Queens. Queen Ebulejonu is said to have founded the Kingdom of Igala and all the kings of Igalaland pierce their ears in memory of Queen Ebulejonu. Ancient Queens were mentioned in Dr Gus Casely-Hayford’s show “The Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Bunyoro and Buganda“. Another example is with the BaChokwe who “say that the female ruler Ruwej was overthrown by her brothers. (Another version says that Ruwej married a BaLuba chief who took over her political functions and imposed patrilineal descent.) To preserve their matrilineal ways, BaChokwe oral history says that they split off from the BaLunda and migrated south to Angola. Among the BaLunda themselves, the name Ruwej remained as one of the titles of female officers in court councils”. In addition, recall the Hausa oral tradition of Bayajida who is said to have married the Queen of Daura, their seven sons founded the seven Hausa city-states. It is conceivable that Daura was a matriarchal society before their Queen married Bayajida and the system changed from woman power to man power.

I am not one who believes that “matriarchies” never existed in Africa, and elsewhere. At the same time I am aware that systems of power can abuse and may not always benefit the groups of people whose lives the system claims to improve. There can be no denying that there have been countless African women, most of their names forgotten, who wielded enormous amounts of power. However at the risk of imagining utopia, we should not take these facts to mean that all African women had access to the same levels of power.

“Queen Amina”

 

The requirements

Now regarding the title of this post, “Only if you are old, rich and from a specific region”. The most powerful women in several African communities were usually the oldest women in the lineage. Respect and admiration for women was usually linked to birth, motherhood and age as can be seen in the Yoruba gelede tradition. Even in societies that were generally free for all there were still avenues that were the sole maintenance of “full men”. For example, women in precolonial Igbo society were very free, Igbo women could own property and pass this property to their daughters, sex work was not a crime, gender and sex were fluid, women had the right to divorce…yet women were forbidden to see masquerades. That is all women except for the oldest born woman in the community who could become the girlfriend of a masquerade. At the same time it is necessary to mention that “full women” had their own avenues that “full men” could not dream of getting close to. (Here I use “full men” and “full women” because in societies where men could become women and women could become men, there were sections of society that were not open to transgendered people).

The most powerful women from African history whose names are popularised in most spaces on African history today were old, rich and came from specific regions that allowed women to attain established levels of power. I find it mildly annoying when the popular few remembered historical women, Yaa Asantewa of Ghana, Queen Amina of Nigeria and Queen Nzingha of Angola are portrayed as young women in art or fiction. This is not only factually wrong but gives a very false impression that any woman, young or not, in any part of Africa could have risen to power and controlled armies. Yaa Asantewa, Queen Amina and Queen Nzingha all came from royal families, they were also not young when they utilised their woman power. Yaa Asantewa is said to have been a grandmother when she rallied her people to fight against the colonising British while Queen Nzingha was not the only powerful woman in that area at the time. Similarly Queen Amina is said to have come to the throne (not immediately) after another similarly powerful Queen who may have been her mother.

(This is not to say that there were no young women who came from poor backgrounds and/or societies that were hostile to “woman power”, it is just telling that the names of these women are largely forgotten today. Similarly when we talk of how African men in the past married several wives, we forget that not all men had the wealth or ability to marry multiple wives. Unless one believes in that utopia, that every man in any precolonial African society was either rich, or poor, that is on the same level, it is wrong to assume that every man from the King, chief or clan head, to the blacksmith, the labourer or the slave could afford to marry more than one wife.)

It is fascinating that those who try to convince me that African women do not need feminism because of the supposed abundance of “matriarchies” in the African past, can only provide those three names (Yaa Asantewa, Queen Amina and Queen Nzingha) when there are more women to remember. Dahia al-Kahina, the Amazigh priestess who fought against Arab invasion of North Africa in the 7th century and Kimpa Vita of Congo are relatively well-known. Others such as Wanankhucha of Somalia, Nehanda Nyakasikana of Zimbabwe, Muhumusa of Uganda, Nomtetha Nkwenkwe of South Africa, Alinesitoué Diatta of Senegal, and Gudit Isat of Ethiopia who challenged the Christian Azumite empire and founded the Zagwe dynasty, are not so celebrated outside specific spaces. Now, even though I happen to known of several powerful women in pre-colonial Africa, I would never agree that feminism is something African women should not bother with.

“Yaa Asantewaa”

 

So, what exactly is matriarchy?

In the end it will depend on what you classify as matriarchy and how you would measure woman power. Which brings me to my third pondering, how has living under a patriarchal system affected understandings of what woman power was like in the past? Max Dashu puts forward matrix (from the Latin for “womb”) cultures which are “built on the act of women bearing and sustaining life”, their social, economic and cultural organization follows kinship through mothers…without having to be concerned about determining paternity, or enforcing patrilineage through a sexual double standard”. Based on this one could argue precolonial Igbo society qualifies as a matrix, woman right culture, although as I’ve suggested not all women had access to the same amounts of power.

Dashu challenges the assumption that male domination has governed human society forever and instead posits that patriarchy is simply a historical development. I have personally encountered people who blame the emergence of patriarchy on women, because of earlier “matriarchy”. However Dashu claims that matrix societies are usually egalitarian, they do not, for example place female deities over male ones. Matrix societies did not “enforce a patriarchal double standard around sexuality, property, public office and space; that did not make females legal minors under the control of fathers, brothers, and husbands, without protection from physical and sexual abuse by same…[or] confine, seclude, veil, or bind female bodies, nor amputate or deform parts of those bodies…[There] have been cultures that accorded women public leadership roles and a range of arts and professions, as well as freedom of movement, speech, and rights to make personal decisions”.

I must say that I prefer “matrix cultures” to “matriarchy” even though I do not subscribe to the believe that matriarchy is the exact opposite of patriarchy and is just as dominating. The topic of a mythical matriarchal past has come up before, though not in African contexts. The former quoted sentence is part of Dashu’s response to the feminist book by Cynthia Eller, The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an Invented Past Won’t Give Women a Future.

To round up, it is just as discounting to argue that women have always been subordinate to men’s dominance as it is to argue that the existence of matriarchies destroyed all manifestations of the subjugation of women. Models that were not completely patriarchal or matriarchal have existed in the past. And in those societies that were patriarchal, the degree of domination was not always equal. Reality is always complex especially when looking at the enormous and diverse African continent.

*

I have recently completed reading The Female Colonial King of Nigeria by Nwando Achebe. The Female Colonial King of Nigeria is entirely fascinating and I highly recommend it. I have failed at updating my blog as scheduled for the past three Wednesdays, but inshallah, two weeks from now I will launch a series of posts centred around Nwando Achebe’s historical biography. I hope to raise more insight on female power in pre-colonial and colonial Nigeria with the upcoming posts, as well as to further illustrate why and how female leadership does not necessarily mean better things for all women. Not to mention how woman power could be curtailed in even those societies that were reasonably free for women.

Ðj Undërdøg

● ÄFRIC▲ GO SLOW​`​•​.

Two seasons of

easy African listening​.​.​.

by Lunchbox Theory

☼☼ Ðj Undërdøg  ●  ÄFRIC▲ GO SLOW`•.¸ ......... Two seasons of easy African listening... by Lunchbox Theory

about

• SLOW DOWN (verb)
The verb SLOW DOWN has 5 senses:

1. lose velocity; move more slowly
2. become slow or slower
3. cause to proceed more slowly
4. reduce the speed of
5. become less tense, rest, or take one's ease

Before we get to that, a gut check is in order. Slowdown Anywhere means a slowdown everywhere. A period of slow economic growth, especially one that follows a period of robust growth. Unlike a recession, economic growth during a slowdown is not necessarily negative.

The beauty of the slowing down is that it enables whoever wants to explore and to experiment within, to do so alone. This eliminates dependence on an outer authority, the need to be affiliated with any organization and the obligation to accept a certain ideology. Once you understand the steps, you walk the walk in your own, individual way.

Go Slow Lyrics...
Fela Kuti

Go slow, go slow

[Chorus]
Go slow, go slow!

Go slow, go slow
Go slow, go slow
Go slow, go slow
Go slow, go slow

Man must be man for him land o
I say, man must be man for him land o
You must agree with me
Man must dey work for him land o
You must agree with me
Man must dey chop for him land o
You must agree with me

When go slow catch you for your house

[Chorus]
Ole make yeye!

Impossible
Impossibility
Impossibilityism
Impossibilityismalogy

[Fela starts scatting]

Impossibilityismalogicalization
Impossibilityismalogicalization, baba

When go slow catch you for your house
When go slow catch you for your house
When go slow catch you for your house

You dey make your business every day
Then your head start to ache
Because car crush dey for your head
Your nose start to run
Because water pour cool for your head
You dey cough cough every time
Because carbu air dey for your throat
You dey shaking shaking like a paper
Because your yansh cold like ice
Go slow catch you

[Chorus]
Go slow, go slow!

Go slow don't come
Go slow, go slow
Go slow, go slow

You dey make your business every day
Then you buy your motor car
Or you join your public transport
Then you start to go for work
Then suddenly, suddenly, suddenly
Lorry dey for your front
Tipa dey for your back
Motorcycle dey for your left o
Taxi-moto dey for your right
Helicopter dey fly fly for your top o
You self don dey for cell
Go slow catch you

[Chorus]
Go slow, go slow!

Go slow don't come
Go slow, go slow
Go slow, go slow

credits

released 26 March 2012

Short Sharp Stories Competition

(a project of The National Arts Festival,

South Africa)

Deadline: 30 November 2012

CEO Tony Lankester of the Grahamstown National Arts Festival and his team have agreed to underwrite prize money for a new fiction award under the name Short Sharp Stories. A collection of short fiction will be published annually, and will be launched during that year’s National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

Joanne Hichens is thrilled to announce that the first of these volumes, with prize money attached, will be this collection of crime-thriller fiction stories.

In this collection veteran crime authors will be included as well as new voices, with an original take on things. At least twenty stories will be published in what will be an exciting home-grown collection which shows the diversity of writers in SA. With this latest development, then, the deadline has now been extended to 31 November 2012.

All writers interested in the seamy, nasty, murderous, sometimes all too human side of life may submit their slick, sexy, flirty, dangerous, thrilling, twist-in-the-tale stories set in South Africa. The competition is open to South African citizens. Stories of between 2500 and 5000 words are to be written in English. Independent judges will choose the winning stories after the initial selection process by a panel of writers.

A full set of rules will be published on the website on 30 August 2012. Any queries can be directed to Joanne Hichens and submissions are also to be made via email.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: short.sharp.stories@gmail.com

Website: http://shortsharpstories.com/