tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75953987531312902812024-03-19T01:13:31.045+01:00AFRO-EUROPEwww.afroeurope.blogspot.comAfro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.comBlogger1022125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-13814932989229132882024-03-11T10:00:00.001+01:002024-03-11T11:03:06.357+01:00The Intersection of Identity, Policy, and Black Women's Right to Wear Natural Hair<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/hairvine.io/" target="_blank"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisO8QR4qCiAWNN_AG8L8wG3nzjAEmH8IOw2PlnNBfaqcvtrkVU18cFn1MrXKrtkjLRkrRD85sydjjCFVRU8uD0ujKhV6N3uHDgM-GWkJqctD_tq5f9zm6ZdyCPN7ZQjsWIsuiEDXeEJhTk03Vw6xEGHXSW3vgUTvm2WAMWcyY9fxgi8FWiSsATTHDtj8U/s661/black_women_hair_bias.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="661" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisO8QR4qCiAWNN_AG8L8wG3nzjAEmH8IOw2PlnNBfaqcvtrkVU18cFn1MrXKrtkjLRkrRD85sydjjCFVRU8uD0ujKhV6N3uHDgM-GWkJqctD_tq5f9zm6ZdyCPN7ZQjsWIsuiEDXeEJhTk03Vw6xEGHXSW3vgUTvm2WAMWcyY9fxgi8FWiSsATTHDtj8U/w640-h540/black_women_hair_bias.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>By <a href="http://@hairvine.io">@hairvine.io</a><p></p><p>For Black communities, hair is intertwined with identity and emotional well-being. However, discriminatory policies and societal myths have long placed unfair limitations on self-expression.</p><p>By better understanding the roots of this injustice, people of all backgrounds can help foster inclusive environments where individuals feel empowered in their bodies and heritage. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Understanding Hair Bias </h2><p>Hair discrimination has complex historical ties to systems of oppression but also continues today through implicit biases. </p><p>School dress codes and workplace grooming policies still disproportionately target Black hairstyles, like locs or afros, as “unprofessional.” This regulates how individuals present themselves despite no evidence these styles negatively impact performance. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2022/08/15/four-ways-hair-bias-shows-up-in-the-workplace/?sh=2588a15c69a3" target="_blank">Eurocentric standards of “neatness” fuel rules against ethnic protective styles.</a></p><p>Interpersonally, microaggressions also persist. Backhanded compliments about Black hair being “surprisingly professional” reveal lingering stereotypes. Myths that tightly coiled hair is “difficult to manage” or dirty continue being passed between generations. </p><p>These biases take an emotional toll, especially on Black women and girls. Facing constant critique and messages their natural hair isn’t “acceptable” fuels pressure to undergo expensive, painful procedures to straighten hair, just to avoid discrimination. This creates a heavy burden on wellbeing and self-acceptance.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Why People Discriminate</h2><p>Hair bias ties closely to Eurocentric favoritism for straight hair. After slavery, Black people were expected to conform as a way to be accepted into wider societal structures. Though explicit legal barriers have decreased, implicit pressure to assimilate has never disappeared. This learned behavior persists, as even well-meaning people often center Eurocentric hairstyles, pushing natural Black hair textures to the margins of politics. </p><p>Celebrating one’s hair has become a signal of isolation from other groups when in reality, it is simply the hair that grows from the scalp. </p><p>To be included and accepted, many Black women cover their true identities or use harmful chemicals such as relaxers just to fit into societal expectations. </p><p>Celebrating one’s natural features is seen as counterculture and often offensive. </p><p>Another key driver is a lack of understanding. Many people have had limited interactions with Black hair culture, causing unfamiliar styles to be perceived as odd or unprofessional. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Moving Forward: Fostering Inclusion</h2><p>It is important to understand that centering Eurocentric standards of appearance, or approaching this issue from the assumption that all people have hair, dismisses the lived experiences of many individuals. Natural hair is an aspect of identity that people should not have to conceal. There is an opportunity to foster greater acceptance by addressing the root causes of bias. </p><p>Institutions could audit their policies through an equity lens, consulting diversity experts to identify where standards disproportionately exclude certain groups. Updating language and guidelines to focus on safety and hygiene, rather than regulating personal styles, can help create more inclusive environments.</p><p>Individuals also have a pivotal role to play through self-education and expanding their own mindsets. When unfamiliar with an aspect of someone's identity, it is natural to have questions or feel uncomfortable. Yet leading with curiosity and compassion, instead of judgment, enables deeper listening and awareness.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.zamoranaturalhair.com/post/celebrating-beauty-and-diversity-embracing-the-splendor-of-textured-natural-hair" target="_blank">Celebrating Diversity</a></h2><p>Embracing the vibrancy within our communities enriches everyone's lives. Creating spaces where individuals feel empowered to express all facets of themselves fosters belonging that uplifts human potential.</p><p>The journey continues toward a world where hair discrimination transitions from painful past to history. With understanding and care from all people, barriers limiting identity and advancement because of hairstyles can disappear for future generations. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">What You Can Do</h2><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> Educate yourself on the Crown Act and the history of hair discrimination</li><li> Reflect on and check your own implicit biases </li><li> Show support for those embracing natural styles</li><li> Advocate for policy changes in your school or workplace</li><li> Vote for leaders passionate about diversity and inclusion</li></ul><p>We all have room for growth when it comes to building a just society. </p><p>But step-by-step and heart-by-heart there is hope for transformative change.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.hairvine.io/blog/tags/crown-act" target="_blank">crown act</a> | <a href="https://www.hairvine.io/blog/tags/black-history-month" target="_blank">black history month</a> | <a href="https://www.hairvine.io/blog/tags/hairvine-pro" target="_blank">hairvine pro</a></p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-44635935817680656862019-06-16T22:31:00.008+02:002023-04-22T15:49:05.183+02:00Afropean: Notes from Black Europe is finally here<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBW7eTxrPLpCuWytPx9wVc5vr5YPWQG4nPrkmJjBIDf0wbLcci-GF2EeeHbwmVZqTdBq97mPBnrIyMu-350JhvzYBQLFGscaKqZZ3K-IJYGFYvrwnzVFvkwcUBiz_A5aLiLz1p2NvwSnc/s1600/cover_afropeanbook.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="465" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBW7eTxrPLpCuWytPx9wVc5vr5YPWQG4nPrkmJjBIDf0wbLcci-GF2EeeHbwmVZqTdBq97mPBnrIyMu-350JhvzYBQLFGscaKqZZ3K-IJYGFYvrwnzVFvkwcUBiz_A5aLiLz1p2NvwSnc/w640-h640/cover_afropeanbook.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notes from Black Europe</td></tr>
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Johny Pitts, co-founder of <a href="http://afropean.com/">Afropean.com</a> releases his long awaited book, documenting a journey through and with black communities in Europe.<br />
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'A revelation' Owen Jones<br />
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'<a href="https://amzn.to/2YUSEAp" target="_blank">Afropean seizes the blur of contradictions </a>that have obscured Europe's relationship with blackness and paints it into something new, confident and lyrical' Afua Hirsch <br />
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A Guardian Best Book of 2019 so far <br />
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Search of the Afropeans</h2><p>
'Afropean. Here was a space where blackness was taking part in shaping European identity ... A continent of Algerian flea markets, Surinamese shamanism, German Reggae and Moorish castles. Yes, all this was part of Europe too ... With my brown skin and my British passport - still a ticket into mainland Europe at the time of writing - I set out in search of the Afropeans, on a cold October morning.'<br />
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Afropean is an on-the-ground documentary of areas where Europeans of African descent are juggling their multiple allegiances and forging new identities. </p><p>Here is an alternative map of the continent, taking the reader to places like Cova Da Moura, the Cape Verdean shantytown on the outskirts of Lisbon with its own underground economy, and Rinkeby, the area of Stockholm that is eighty per cent Muslim. Johny </p><p>Pitts visits the former Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, where West African students are still making the most of Cold War ties with the USSR, and Clichy Sous Bois in Paris, which gave birth to the 2005 riots, all the while presenting Afropeans as lead actors in their own story.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEzHzNg2F2OQNv71Ai4aNBybhEvge9d-THt7l7p98-EBpWbNY_SZAekgKlXMch-bZGj-y96KxQuoQ9Nupl64xEXJouqZj6AqbEO0D4C07Q3x4H1DOmMxI-0am4N-maRSxGE3h5d00mgbY/s1600/books_afropean.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="911" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEzHzNg2F2OQNv71Ai4aNBybhEvge9d-THt7l7p98-EBpWbNY_SZAekgKlXMch-bZGj-y96KxQuoQ9Nupl64xEXJouqZj6AqbEO0D4C07Q3x4H1DOmMxI-0am4N-maRSxGE3h5d00mgbY/w640-h480/books_afropean.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">#SLGbookshop</span></td></tr>
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This book is a revelation: a humane, empathetic, urgent and truly eye-opening journey through lives and voices that are so often overlooked and unheard. Johny Pitts brings us Europe on its own terms (Owen Jones)<br />
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Fascinating, urgent and stirring. His humility and honesty are wonderfully refreshing and by the end of the book our perception of the old continent has been challenged and reimagined (Bernardine Evaristo)<br />
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Afropean seizes the blur of contradictions that have obscured Europe's relationship with blackness and paints it into something new, confident and lyrical. </p><p>That a work like this is long overdue does nothing to detract from the originality of Pitts' accomplishment (Afua Hirsch).<br />
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Beguiling...a quest to find unity among African Europeans introduces a singular new voice and reveals an unseen continent...Afropean announces the arrival of an impassioned author able to deftly navigate and illuminate a black world that for many would otherwise have remained unseen. (Colin Grant The Guardian)
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More information at <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/300/300186/afropean/9780141984728.html" target="_blank">https://www.penguin.co.uk/ </a>
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<br /></p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-74502195876467629422017-08-23T00:19:00.003+02:002023-05-01T13:53:02.214+02:00Forthcoming: 'Afropean - Documenting Black Europe'<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBizwA455gkIFey2xW4sFDD-_CaHKHM9vNRg-GVhtYe2iBS7sQucEUzH6WD_Auo-U_GfrHxtcsmAQelTEuT7vixObJgeDLucPoldh8rYw09hwbKqFx3yb0TBMO1YBJgTCdMOP2HpSuIQ/s960/artist_squat_Tacheles.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBizwA455gkIFey2xW4sFDD-_CaHKHM9vNRg-GVhtYe2iBS7sQucEUzH6WD_Auo-U_GfrHxtcsmAQelTEuT7vixObJgeDLucPoldh8rYw09hwbKqFx3yb0TBMO1YBJgTCdMOP2HpSuIQ/w640-h479/artist_squat_Tacheles.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> " Berlin. I visited the famous artist squat Tacheles which this month [September 2012] lost it's long fought battle to stay open." </span></span><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">@Photo and text by Johny Pitts </span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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Early next year Penguin Books will publish 'Afropean: Documenting Black Europe' by Afropean co-founder Johny Pitts.<br />
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Network</h2><p>
One of the reasons Johny wrote the book (and set up Afropean with Nat Illumine and Yomi Bazuaye) was to create a network of like minded people across the continent. </p><p>At the end of the book, Johny would like to create a list of Afro-European-related organisations to increase exposure of the work they are doing. </p><p>Please list any community organisations, online networks or initiatives from your country for consideration on Afropean. </p><p>And if you'd like updates about the book please remember to subscribe to the mailing list (at the bottom left of this page): <a href="http://afropean.com/contact/">http://afropean.com/contact/</a></p>
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Source: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/afropeans" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/afropeans</a><br />
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<br />Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-4134392206695130542016-04-29T16:07:00.005+02:002023-08-02T19:42:10.652+02:00Afro-Russian Photographer Liz Johnson-Artur captures images of Black people in Europe, US and Africa
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</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPo-hDXA_a-7PQ_ydS981UEQIXiWUsQZIFOVAs58-Ph5i0EiOKSL56d4yYJA5z8p3MAw0l1X_jLwfxIiK-mXxQtK7FHthCNTGyjBbDPwpqYQvsUcQuH9ladhHPAoLl-mVM9tK5BTOMXkfmgpMUF253BUKVn78M8tbCmXlA-FkFAaQewulAFOwN4ZH/s1536/Liz_Johnson-Artur.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1536" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPo-hDXA_a-7PQ_ydS981UEQIXiWUsQZIFOVAs58-Ph5i0EiOKSL56d4yYJA5z8p3MAw0l1X_jLwfxIiK-mXxQtK7FHthCNTGyjBbDPwpqYQvsUcQuH9ladhHPAoLl-mVM9tK5BTOMXkfmgpMUF253BUKVn78M8tbCmXlA-FkFAaQewulAFOwN4ZH/w640-h426/Liz_Johnson-Artur.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liz Johnson Artur, self portrait</td></tr></tbody></table>It's the first monograph of Russian-Ghanian photographer, <a href="http://lizjohnsonartur.com/" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Liz Johnson-Artur</a>. The self titled book 'Liz Johnson Artur' is a substantial restrospective overview of 30 years of work. <p></p><p>Both black and white and colour portraiture feature from a diverse range of locations, from Peckham to Russia, US to Africa, The West Indies to Europe. </p><p>Her primarily black subjects are captured without the usual 'music', 'sport', 'ghetto', 'poverty' and 'protest' labels which are still the norm in contemporary photography." (publisher's note.) The places in the book include, GB, US, France, Zimbabwe, Russia, Germany and Jamaica <br />
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</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjddgHGpaEk94Pqjre2LtW4P4WeNgSjOnLnryfNS0fj3kFwn8Btmh4wo_y_S-DcRgV6M0ztcCvdx7Xqcc3gEq9D2hELhjEEKCVO5erJmnQ3PGFR_R5CSaPyiIxT65gwRI67wulelYM80/s1600/cover_book.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjddgHGpaEk94Pqjre2LtW4P4WeNgSjOnLnryfNS0fj3kFwn8Btmh4wo_y_S-DcRgV6M0ztcCvdx7Xqcc3gEq9D2hELhjEEKCVO5erJmnQ3PGFR_R5CSaPyiIxT65gwRI67wulelYM80/w640-h498/cover_book.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover of photo book</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Freelance photographer Liz
Johnson-Arthur has worked for everyone from Sunday Times, Observer magazine,
ID, Dazed & Confused, the Face, Fader magazine. Toured with M.I.A, Blur,
Seun Kuti and Lady Gaga to name. And <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">she photographed Amy Winehouse, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Moss Def and many other celebrities.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When people ask me about my
background it becomes a long explanation,” explains the photographer interview
in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/15/black-in-the-ussr-whats-life-like-for-a-russian-of-colour" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. “I usually start by explaining how my mum is Russian, my dad is
Ghanaian and I was born in Bulgaria...”</span><br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mixed race people in Russia</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After making contact with
her father for the first time in 2010, Johnson Artur decided to start
documenting the stories of some of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>other “Russians of colour”, alongside journalist Sarah Bentley.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Most black Russians I met in Moscow and St
Petersburg had also grown up without their fathers. Some had been fostered or
grown up in children’s homes and had never met their mothers. But we all agreed
that we felt Russian as well as African,” the photographer says.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95elUlCqDx4H2rKpLYhtJDT92wOpSjwOMnOQ_RkmUbTjxAK2Dtzn0TZMiaSVTqWEIbYKH39H_xGdn925aFAqM3bqfpQasmfuCy4htu2sxL45Au9I_W-pqj4p3R-nlpuqaX6VQoDJlcSQ/s1600/girls+in+moskow.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="605" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg95elUlCqDx4H2rKpLYhtJDT92wOpSjwOMnOQ_RkmUbTjxAK2Dtzn0TZMiaSVTqWEIbYKH39H_xGdn925aFAqM3bqfpQasmfuCy4htu2sxL45Au9I_W-pqj4p3R-nlpuqaX6VQoDJlcSQ/w640-h605/girls+in+moskow.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Afro-Russian girls in Moscow. Photo: Liz Johnson-Artur</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Johnson-Artur is one of a
small population of “Russians of colour” born to Russian mothers and African or
Caribbean fathers who were offered free university education in the Soviet
Union during the Cold War. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Her work on </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Russians of colour </span>is featured
in the <a href="http://calvertjournal.com/features/show/5388/red-africa-afrorussians-black-ussr-portraits-generation-identity" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Calvert Journal</a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><br />
<h2>Pictures Black community in London </h2>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But her photographic
journey within black communities began earlier. Liz Johnson-Artur: " I
started taking pictures in 1991, the year I arrived in London leaving
Germany. I was on my way to New York, London was my stop over. Growing up
in Bulgaria, Russia and Germany, I didn’t know much about black
communities in Britain. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Growing up in Germany my
access to black culture or communities was very much limited to black
GIs. and standing in Brixton waiting for the bus I suddenly realised that
I was in a place where all this could be explored. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My camera was somehow a way
of convincing people to let me in; there was never an aim or a strategy. All I
wanted was to be let in – to look and learn. Running up and down the stairs at
123.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWIXl8Zf4eGtS_eLf1CmFWDCpYeNlfMsTzTlfqdIgn5KWESuemLYoIJKKj_O6ppNMLuUI-6m5BOSbLLy2E8Lp8u0oKaGMnxI0_3uVgwcdAiZK_hBsmP-Z4v27skNQWjt0PqpTEVK10zM/s1600/brixton_splash.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="413" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWIXl8Zf4eGtS_eLf1CmFWDCpYeNlfMsTzTlfqdIgn5KWESuemLYoIJKKj_O6ppNMLuUI-6m5BOSbLLy2E8Lp8u0oKaGMnxI0_3uVgwcdAiZK_hBsmP-Z4v27skNQWjt0PqpTEVK10zM/w640-h413/brixton_splash.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rastafarians at the Brixton Splash Festival in London. Photo: Liz Johnson-Artur</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In 2010 Liz Johnson-Artur exhibited
1000s of her photographs in London at a gallery and around markets in South
London. In an interview with Sean Jacobs of Africa Is A Country she talks about making pictures of the black community in London. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Although i have been doing this for almost 20
years, I am still intrigued. Showing the archive in Brixton market is a
good way to return pictures to where I took them. People go about their daily
lives in the market. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So to see them take time out and look at my photographs,
was very encouraging. Setting up a small portrait studio enriched the archive
and also gave me time to record peoples stories. I am hopping to take the
archive around London. Over the years i have covered most parts …”</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIE77i7Uield1bvhXTYMU32mfmFmWzoK5ZZkv_ykDuY4hG69ZlQ7LErBo5cyg4pNL0AgsBi6fYGYHhOWSku2kDEoL43GTOuB3SiztY7AR_zYj5PRGFG1CB7OeCfJdhjok7kviNG3ga0pE/s1600/pictures_portrait_studio.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIE77i7Uield1bvhXTYMU32mfmFmWzoK5ZZkv_ykDuY4hG69ZlQ7LErBo5cyg4pNL0AgsBi6fYGYHhOWSku2kDEoL43GTOuB3SiztY7AR_zYj5PRGFG1CB7OeCfJdhjok7kviNG3ga0pE/w640-h209/pictures_portrait_studio.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Portraits made in the small portrait studio in London. Photo: Liz Johnson-Artur</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Asked whether the mass
media portrayal of black people in Britain has changed over the last 20 years, she
replies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Your question on the
representation in the mass media: I don’t see much change. The make up of the
media hasn’t changed in my view and in order to represent you need more people
who represent."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Documenting the African diaspora </span>
</h2><h2>
</h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">In 2019 Liz Johnson Artur had her first solo show. She presented new sculptural works incorporating photographs selected from her substantial archive of images documenting the lives of people from the African diaspora. </div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UUyeBVLqbc4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /><br />
<h2>Revive the art of storytelling</h2>
Liz Johnson-Artur and Jenny Gallego made the first film of a collection of photography and moving images which aims to revive the Art of Storytelling, encouraging members of the community to retell stories of their life. The film is named 'Shirley'.
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="450" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/17333380" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="800"></iframe><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-20746994754049998482014-03-21T19:35:00.003+01:002023-05-01T13:52:16.841+02:00Introducing afropean.com - Adventures in Black Europe<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjig8ez0vhyphenhyphenb5_RSgG7FOKtEJr1PZt7GZ7Fn9JWUK4osLhP1VdKF1vEmewC980KLu8Oa-LQEJVeS30-zpUcH4HzhVdMCPdoY83z2GBF9d7Ec1f-rgIF3j-iFS4-P9UxBBu_An-KxEvpi_Q/s1600/afropean.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjig8ez0vhyphenhyphenb5_RSgG7FOKtEJr1PZt7GZ7Fn9JWUK4osLhP1VdKF1vEmewC980KLu8Oa-LQEJVeS30-zpUcH4HzhVdMCPdoY83z2GBF9d7Ec1f-rgIF3j-iFS4-P9UxBBu_An-KxEvpi_Q/s640/afropean.jpg" width="465" /></a></div><br />
The Afropean is a new online multimedia, multidisciplinary journal exploring the social, cultural and aesthetic interplay of black and European cultures, and the synergy of styles and ideas brought about because of this union. <br />
<br />
After winning an ENAR Award for our contribution towards a racism-free Europe with our Afropean Culture Facebook page, we hope to build on the work of Erik Kambel's important Afro-Europe blog, which closed in 2013, and will continue to shed light on art, music, literature, news and events from the Afro-European diaspora, as well as produce and commission original essays and projects.<br />
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We currently have in our journal three unique perspectives on what the term means as a cultural identifier. You can read some excerpts below. We explore <a href="http://afropean.com/afropean-style-keeping-it-classic-with-andy-akinwolere/" target="_blank">Afropean style</a> through an interview with British Nigerian TV Host Andy Akinwolere and a <a href="http://afropean.com/an-afropean-in-shoreditch-short-essay-photo-video/" target="_blank">photo essay shot in Shoreditch</a>, London. And we have a calendar of Afro-Europe related talks, calls for papers, exhibitions, events and gigs in our <a href="http://afropean.com/category/agenda/" target="_blank">Agenda</a> section.<br />
<br />
In the coming weeks we'll have interviews with legendary Belgo-Congolese singer Marie Daulne of Zap Mama, get the lowdown on why French Hip-Hop is still a political force to be reckoned with from UK MC turned-Paris native Apocraphe, and revisit a digital journey down the river Thames, exploring themes of immigration with Caryl Phillips. We'll look at Arabic Neo-Soul, with an accompanying travel guide and photo essay about Marrakech.<br />
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We hope you will follow us on this Afropean journey!<br />
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The team: Alice, Johny and Nat<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/afropeans" target="_blank">www.facebook.com/afropeans </a>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-44670791235702971322013-07-01T23:29:00.002+02:002023-04-22T17:17:33.879+02:00Photo book: "An Afropean Odyssey" - A Black European Travel Narrative<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja8_n6vEvf8GBL8rpC1iWEL03dTFWQddwlbPJQlukLIH9lCYB5Rvgnpn_DoBuyeprLtn4eO7X0VXO2LjWGh0ONlcB50jk9kRSZUK-wUhUlSI1s1Gjvx_5Wn65fgWxl-blKnUWNir77F7E/s1500/Hooded+Figure,+Paris.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja8_n6vEvf8GBL8rpC1iWEL03dTFWQddwlbPJQlukLIH9lCYB5Rvgnpn_DoBuyeprLtn4eO7X0VXO2LjWGh0ONlcB50jk9kRSZUK-wUhUlSI1s1Gjvx_5Wn65fgWxl-blKnUWNir77F7E/w640-h479/Hooded+Figure,+Paris.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">@Photo by Johny Pitts </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I left London on a gloomy afternoon in October to travel Europe for five months, searching for the interplay between Black and European cultures, writes Afropean British writer, photographer and TV host Johny Pitts on his website <a href="http://afropean.com/" target="_blank">The Afropean</a>.
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<br />
<a name='more'></a>I came in contact with Black French militants, German anarchists, an Egyptian nomad, Russian Nazis, Cape Verdean favelas, racist football hooligans, the Black Panther party and more, all telling me a tale of an alternative Europe not readily exported to the rest of the world. My journey lead me to the fringes, culturally and geographically, and also became an investigation into my own mixed-race identity. See <a href="http://facebook.com/afropeans" target="_blank">Facebook.com/afropeans</a> <br />
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Text: Johny Pitts *<br />
<br />
Marcel Proust is quoted as saying 'the true act of discovery consists not of finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes'. I thought of that on the day I left in search of 'Black Europe', on a cold October morning. I wanted to do both at the same time though- see new places but also present an alternative view of them as that rarest of creatures- the Black European explorer.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgig0ZP2V4s3XzH3-NCYZQ03f1AzPNK2GosK7BXaVbbMJvV6YerGUO5VXY7vw68a1ffxzuJeA2YArQAHSjTKWMzQitaT5oeNz4wAXeQTsZUoyn4GRzcZV1vkFhBPvHkfZHFBSXSK_HHgJk/s714/Johny+Pitts.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="581" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgig0ZP2V4s3XzH3-NCYZQ03f1AzPNK2GosK7BXaVbbMJvV6YerGUO5VXY7vw68a1ffxzuJeA2YArQAHSjTKWMzQitaT5oeNz4wAXeQTsZUoyn4GRzcZV1vkFhBPvHkfZHFBSXSK_HHgJk/w640-h581/Johny+Pitts.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Johny Pitts in Moscow</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p> And so I set out in search of a Europe that isn't always offered in the tourist literature of its great cities...London to Paris, Brussels then Amsterdam, Stockholm over to Moscow, Berlin down to Rome, across the Riviera to Marseilles, Madrid and Lisbon, strangely ending up back in Britain- Gibraltar, where Europe kisses Africa.<br />
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</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidB0uTi7YadrgMVce9If5RLxcc0L7eppEHkMNbvaexdEfoQB49Afou4Q_AY2sbWi2bB43Wd8B5R8_FmoCUGIeZxajcLTFm9YebMgs91P9XEvesL3IJPVlBJpml0oROrcaSxxM6P7hdSuk/s960/girl_in_london.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidB0uTi7YadrgMVce9If5RLxcc0L7eppEHkMNbvaexdEfoQB49Afou4Q_AY2sbWi2bB43Wd8B5R8_FmoCUGIeZxajcLTFm9YebMgs91P9XEvesL3IJPVlBJpml0oROrcaSxxM6P7hdSuk/w640-h479/girl_in_london.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/julia-sarr-jamois-style-photos_n_3379170.html" target="_blank">Julia Sarr-Jamois </a>on a rainy day in Oxford Street in London</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p> Initially I imagined flaneuring my way around only taking photographs of cool Afropeans- those artists, musicians and fashionistas who had managed to find some sort of cultural coherence in their Black European identities and created what might be described as a kind of 'post post-colonial' aesthetic. I wanted to find a diasporic unity that was as solid as African American culture and celebrate this coming together of cultures and races. Whilst I certainly did find (and photograph) these people, I was naive to think I'd come back with a trendy little coffee table book which offered only a convenient view of Black people in Europe.<br />
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</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeGOrVAasJ68t9L_MFaDTrrqAvb9YBEnQekjWqDk7Bpif5McpV64eoINnUp9kCDvyaGz87nYCR0gR7-BluEcuN1kqtFWLptXpk6BS6atHvN5xVR7vZV9XMgy7fncu9qRuqnWMmZExgETs/s960/sitting_black_man.jpg"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeGOrVAasJ68t9L_MFaDTrrqAvb9YBEnQekjWqDk7Bpif5McpV64eoINnUp9kCDvyaGz87nYCR0gR7-BluEcuN1kqtFWLptXpk6BS6atHvN5xVR7vZV9XMgy7fncu9qRuqnWMmZExgETs/w640-h479/sitting_black_man.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Still, resisting cliched depictions that ghettoised or victimised the communities I visited, I let the people I met tell the story of the continent...from Belgian-Congolese artists to Egyptian nomads, Black French militants, Swedish musicians, German anarchists, racist football hooligans, Russian Nazis, Nigerian students and more.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBizwA455gkIFey2xW4sFDD-_CaHKHM9vNRg-GVhtYe2iBS7sQucEUzH6WD_Auo-U_GfrHxtcsmAQelTEuT7vixObJgeDLucPoldh8rYw09hwbKqFx3yb0TBMO1YBJgTCdMOP2HpSuIQ/s960/artist_squat_Tacheles.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBizwA455gkIFey2xW4sFDD-_CaHKHM9vNRg-GVhtYe2iBS7sQucEUzH6WD_Auo-U_GfrHxtcsmAQelTEuT7vixObJgeDLucPoldh8rYw09hwbKqFx3yb0TBMO1YBJgTCdMOP2HpSuIQ/w640-h479/artist_squat_Tacheles.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> " Berlin. I visited the famous artist squat Tacheles which this month [September 2012] lost it's long fought battle to stay open."</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p> Often this meant being led to the figurative and literal periphery of societies, so in many ways my journey became a tour of the outskirts of Europe- the multicultural hinterlands...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clichy-sous-Bois" target="_blank">Clichy Sous Bois</a> in Paris, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinkeby" target="_blank">Rinkeby</a> in Stockholm, <a href="http://wikimapia.org/4790490/Cova-da-Moura" target="_blank">Cova Da Moura</a> in Lisbon...<br />
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</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KLBXyaZPhFmVCUlOgJtm38_lY3xgK4SFcurTVw34NVN_xnXh8Rrs4jczR0uo8Q4WFdKcgNqurtCRR_uVTfWrH9dF8cJdbAslRO1kANAvvT96ccqcUpDtSGezqAb1P-9ggINgVZ7zfVs/s960/Cova_Da_Moura.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KLBXyaZPhFmVCUlOgJtm38_lY3xgK4SFcurTVw34NVN_xnXh8Rrs4jczR0uo8Q4WFdKcgNqurtCRR_uVTfWrH9dF8cJdbAslRO1kANAvvT96ccqcUpDtSGezqAb1P-9ggINgVZ7zfVs/w640-h479/Cova_Da_Moura.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">"Last
year [2012] I spent time in Lisbon, and visited the European Favela of 'Cova
Da Moura', home to a large Cape Verdean community. Described as a 'no
go' zone for police, I was lucky enough to be escorted by an ex
resident. I saw poverty, and was threatened by a local gangster, but I
also felt a strong community spirit and was introduced the beautiful
Cape Verdean folk music 'Morna' in a small makeshift cafe."</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p> Throughout my trip the <a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/">Afro-Europe blog</a> was one of the very few resources I had to help me navigate my way around, and became a second companion when I felt lost in the cold urban wilderness of Russia or the dangerous Banlieues of France.<br />
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</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4kB9gQ7IRbGAEaivXOwOqPqVV3JJZ581jVPMh4p7AQCvyfQiAlYBpvJx_MXur0IahEGZcbHufIt-QRTUTWcJrdbFaNRGf7r70ga-Sc8paTTHETLp4uI9kazuzeBi9QlQ45Bv8Dvs5cg/s1500/Near+Patrice+Lumumba+University,+Moscow.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4kB9gQ7IRbGAEaivXOwOqPqVV3JJZ581jVPMh4p7AQCvyfQiAlYBpvJx_MXur0IahEGZcbHufIt-QRTUTWcJrdbFaNRGf7r70ga-Sc8paTTHETLp4uI9kazuzeBi9QlQ45Bv8Dvs5cg/w640-h479/Near+Patrice+Lumumba+University,+Moscow.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> "<span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Near Patrice Lumumba University</span></span><span class="fbPhotoTagList" id="fbPhotoSnowliftTagList"><span class="fcg"> — in <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag withTagItem tagItem"><span class="textTagHovercardLink taggee">Moscow, Moscow City</span></span>."</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p> And so here I am proud to share this introduction to my story and present some of my photographs before the travel narrative and photo essay is released next year as a book. I felt it important to write and take pictures, trying to make images with my pen and tell stories with my camera, and let each one fill in what the other couldn't describe.<br />
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</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrMpXiogzIDgJgZRdOZ14LQg1XSPBQa0tQw4BUuWcCvzVQp_YecyobYCyR4X15wEhE01HJjqgJbHXUrx4naSRW9ju9wvyrrZ9gBLGs-wHWPMzQnpXXsF3NRqaPslYtMh1J817dDBCr0Q/s960/Parisian_banlieue_of_Clichy_Sous_Bois.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="479" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrMpXiogzIDgJgZRdOZ14LQg1XSPBQa0tQw4BUuWcCvzVQp_YecyobYCyR4X15wEhE01HJjqgJbHXUrx4naSRW9ju9wvyrrZ9gBLGs-wHWPMzQnpXXsF3NRqaPslYtMh1J817dDBCr0Q/w640-h479/Parisian_banlieue_of_Clichy_Sous_Bois.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"type":45}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption"> "I spent five days alone in the Parisian banlieue of Clichy Sous Bois."</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>As the underlying cause of the project is to promote dialogue between various Black communities living in Europe, as well as with white Europeans who are curious about, or influenced by Black culture themselves, I invite people to join a Facebook community I set up when I started the book <a href="http://facebook.com/afropeans" target="_blank">Facebook.com/afropeans</a> – here you will find more of my photographs, but also various imagery from other Afropean artists; music videos, art, and literature that tell their own story.<br />
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Johny Pitts, June 2013<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">Johny Pitts is a writer, photographer and TV host based in London. Winner of a Decibel Penguin Prize for new writers, his short story "Audience" was included in the anthology 'The Map of Me' published by Penguin Books. In 2012 he collaborated with author <a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2012/10/film-bend-in-river-london-story-of.html">Caryl Phillips on 'A Bend in The River' </a>-a project for the BBC/Arts Council run 'Space'. in March 2013 he held his first international photography exhibition in Belgium as part of the 'What is Africa to Me Now?' conference at Liege university. As a TV host he presented for MTV UK and ITV1, and can currently be seen on the BBC.</span></i>
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Video: A photo-montage from my travels around Europe looking at Afropean/ Black European culture with Joy Denalane's 'Vier Frauen' (Sara Tavares, Chiwoniso, Déborah, Joy Denalane) as a the soundtrack.
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-KY9qDV6Fhc" width="465"></iframe>
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* Johny Pitts was invited by Afro-Europe to write the <a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2013/05/moving-towards-end-of-afro-europe-blog.html">last post </a>for the blog. All pictures are copyrighted<br />
<br />
A wealth of information about Afropean identity edited by Azizi Powell: <a href="http://pancocojams.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/what-afro-european-afropean-mean.html?m=1" target="_blank">What "Afro-European" & "Afropean" Mean</a> </p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-44769026873799359702013-07-01T18:22:00.005+02:002023-12-08T23:39:40.691+01:00The vibe of the Heesterveld Creative Community in Amsterdam Bijlmer<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB4BJTUCJfnIdQZJZPOKN1ABEY6A2cCHnTQUjo_TIEkWl8KTYEi-2HRoh0vGefVdO_deJ7514RVpB7sfVs3c5gx3gKOY_A190DPfbH4z_awyXg7NVoUcYfg_sRlD6oZZrg2zgnHOuQufg/s635/heesterveld.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB4BJTUCJfnIdQZJZPOKN1ABEY6A2cCHnTQUjo_TIEkWl8KTYEi-2HRoh0vGefVdO_deJ7514RVpB7sfVs3c5gx3gKOY_A190DPfbH4z_awyXg7NVoUcYfg_sRlD6oZZrg2zgnHOuQufg/w640-h478/heesterveld.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Less than five years ago the housing complex Heesterveld was a no-go area in the predominantly Black neighbourhood in Amsterdam Bijlmer. A lot of (youth) crime, pollution and nuisance had set the complex up for demolition, but a creative urban development plan changed the neighbourhood completely.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Today, the buildings are colorfully painted and are now the homes and workplaces of creative entrepreneurs, artists, students and original Bijlmer residents. <div><br /></div><div>The complex is now the home of the <a href="http://www.heesterveld.nu/" target="_blank">Heesterveld Creative Community (HCC)</a>. There is space for catering, a community shop and a collective space where there is room for debates, performances and exhibitions. So if you are in Amsterdam check the place out.
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/HeesterveldCreativeCommunity">https://www.facebook.com/HeesterveldCreativeCommunity</a>
<br />
<br />
Here the scene at the Block Hiphop festival in 2012 in the courtyard of Heesterveld.
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/O9Tn5shS7Kg" width="465"></iframe>
<br /><br /></div><div>
Also interesting to visit if you are the Bijlmer is the <a href="http://www.bijlmerparktheater.nl/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bijlmerpark Theatre</a>
<br />
and the image collection building <a href="http://www.imagineic.nl/english" target="_blank">Imagine IC (Imagine Identity and Culture)</a>
<br />
and the cultural platform :<a href="http://www.p14.nl/" target="_blank"> PAND14 </a>
<br />
Also check:<br />
<a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2013/05/a-black-american-walking-through-black.html" target="_blank">A Black American walks through Black Amsterdam: The Bijlmer </a><br />
<a href="http://bijlmerexpress.blogspot.nl/" target="_blank">Bijlmerblog</a><br />
<br /></div>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-58609991019459277842013-06-30T22:21:00.020+02:002023-11-18T17:51:46.205+01:00A list of more than 30 Black European writers and poets you should know<div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihj8V1c_GkCRd_qLOke-bLHYVYlGGyV0wVLYxrdKhvB79bx14bqzOTNfEohWBpcP83ocfTlyYY-r3lqh8z-6UxUFNTQ-I4LsiuHDOsrfvlVluT_i4GNsv29qteWkgi93KPNNQxgr3f9hs/s1600/pic_Linton_Kwesi_Johnson.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihj8V1c_GkCRd_qLOke-bLHYVYlGGyV0wVLYxrdKhvB79bx14bqzOTNfEohWBpcP83ocfTlyYY-r3lqh8z-6UxUFNTQ-I4LsiuHDOsrfvlVluT_i4GNsv29qteWkgi93KPNNQxgr3f9hs/w640-h326/pic_Linton_Kwesi_Johnson.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linton Kwesi Johnson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Interested in reading literature from Black European writers? Here is a list of more than 30 Afro-European writers and poets you should definitely know. The order is purely random, so it’s not a ranking. <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">1. Léonora Miano (FR)<br /></h2><h2 style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUZSZv7cOnUpwAvZhXU3Ttbp3EcsngJ5Mi4lCJ6QemsqLXi3E12g5es18nMr7i1IYOVgIUxS1HsEe9n7XlLsKjJrNDnrvRFX9__IB03yhYxo5ATHPrHIkJEZVOupo3FB9aJfkFHj_ob17jc-YIwtuX0y_RpCHwwe7-5j3fYTDTkkxVA2V-4ksEN1KJ/s944/L%C3%A9onora_MianoLa.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="944" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUZSZv7cOnUpwAvZhXU3Ttbp3EcsngJ5Mi4lCJ6QemsqLXi3E12g5es18nMr7i1IYOVgIUxS1HsEe9n7XlLsKjJrNDnrvRFX9__IB03yhYxo5ATHPrHIkJEZVOupo3FB9aJfkFHj_ob17jc-YIwtuX0y_RpCHwwe7-5j3fYTDTkkxVA2V-4ksEN1KJ/w640-h360/L%C3%A9onora_MianoLa.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Léonora Miano</td></tr></tbody></table></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div><p>
La Saison de l’ombre, is a story by French writer <a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2012/11/video-les-afropeennes-afro-french-women.html" target="_blank">Léonora Miano</a>.
The story is set during the height of the slave trade, in the
sub-Saharan village of Mulongo. It is the moving story of the villagers’
struggle to cope with the shocking kidnapping of twelve tribe members
during a mysterious fire. <br />
<br /> Léonora Miano is a Cameroonian author (born 1973, in Douala) who lives
in Paris since 1991. Her debut novel L'Intérieur de la nuit (Dark heart
of the night) was translated and published by University of Nebraska
Press in 2005. She received the prix Femina in France for La Saison de
l’Ombre (published by Grasset in 2013).</p><p>With La Saison de l’ombre
Léonara Miano continues her project of documenting the 400-year
experience of sub-Saharans during the dark times of the slave trade. </p><p>In the video Miano talks about her book.<br /></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MwJyfr8Mym8" width="560"></iframe> </p>In
her previous book, Les Aubes Ecarlates, the second volume of the
trilogy Suite Africaine, a child soldier is haunted by ghosts of the
past, slaves who didn’t survive the trip to America. Read more at <a href="http://wordswithoutborders.org/dispatches/article/new-in-french-leonora-mianos-la-saison-de-lombre#ixzz3gwnxX3oM" target="_blank">http://wordswithoutborders.org/ </a><h2 style="text-align: left;"> </h2><h2 style="text-align: left;">2. Bernardine Evaristo (UK)<br /></h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3bYgSXb8Rr5ofqwPbgoK2bUl-RISrbToucTi6WsvmULHvES-FfrvcsG5Y7FWGeP08jdCUdXLtscofMAfK1-wTHPJB0klMEMs8gTiHwG-AgOcKoPYzAaWNPASKEAXC3E64nUUSoPLZhco/s1600/pic_bernadine_everisto.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3bYgSXb8Rr5ofqwPbgoK2bUl-RISrbToucTi6WsvmULHvES-FfrvcsG5Y7FWGeP08jdCUdXLtscofMAfK1-wTHPJB0klMEMs8gTiHwG-AgOcKoPYzAaWNPASKEAXC3E64nUUSoPLZhco/w640-h309/pic_bernadine_everisto.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bernardine Evaristo</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p><a href="https://bevaristo.com/" target="_blank">Bernardine Evaristo</a> is an author, academic, and activist, born in London in 1959, born to Nigerian father and white English mother. </p><p>She
is best known for her novel "Girl, Woman, Other," which won the Booker
Prize in 2019, making her the first black woman to win the award. <br /><br />Evaristo
writes about race, gender, and identity, often through the lens of
Black British experiences. Evaristo's work often about on the
experiences of Black British women, whose voices have historically been
marginalized in British literature. </p><p>In the book "Girl, Woman,
Other" she also explores the voices of Black women. And also mixes her
own experiences as biracial women in the UK. In cllip she says: "I have
members of my family, we're all mixed race, right, so white
English and Nigerian. But members of my family who would identify as
mixed-race or just aren't uninterested in it. <br /><br />So I chose to
identify as a Black woman many years ago and I think that's how society
sees me. But I totally respect somebody who says well I'm mixed-race so why
should I identify with one side. </p><p>They won't identify as white because
they can't, because society will say well you're not. But actually they
can say that's who I am, I'm biracial, I'm multiple heritage, I'm
mixed-race. That's absolutely valid and fine and that's what I am within being black. </p><p>So a lifetime of having these conversations has been put into this novel."</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NLgGsKJeXsQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p>Evaristo is also a professor of Creative Writing
at Brunel University and has been an advocate for greater diversity in
the publishing industry. She co-founded the Brunel International African
Poetry Prize, which seeks to promote African poetry and foster
connections between African poets and the global literary community.</p><div style="background-color: white; border: medium; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> </div><h2 style="text-align: left;">3. Radna Fabias (NL)</h2><h2 style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjynz9UQAuT1A-AWj61_tUXurmnS8DckplFfOAa_o4Tz0LIMsjB0ef9wsvyHUYQbwzU9Jn_XjBp-LZ_i_cvOCdXdFcmJtcefA5BpezS_gydzdP86LsFHGN9sZCTLC6-IL4Kr3wxWtxzt-pWNvHFxiEwd-Hsf5TZADzqiObtB6JtilbKyFBlFFRBnJSi/s849/Pic_RadnaFabias.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="849" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjynz9UQAuT1A-AWj61_tUXurmnS8DckplFfOAa_o4Tz0LIMsjB0ef9wsvyHUYQbwzU9Jn_XjBp-LZ_i_cvOCdXdFcmJtcefA5BpezS_gydzdP86LsFHGN9sZCTLC6-IL4Kr3wxWtxzt-pWNvHFxiEwd-Hsf5TZADzqiObtB6JtilbKyFBlFFRBnJSi/w640-h280/Pic_RadnaFabias.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radna Fabias</td></tr></tbody></table></h2><p><a href="https://radnafabias.com/" target="_blank">Radna Fabias</a>
(1983) was born and raised in Curaçao. She is a graduate of HKU
University of the Arts Utrecht. She debuted as a poet with the poetry
collection Habitus (2018) which won all major poetry awards in the
Netherlands & Belgium, amongst which the Herman de Coninck prize and
the Grote Poëzieprijs. </p><p>She was hailed as the Dutch literary talent of 2019 by Dutch National newspaper De Volkskrant. </p><p>In the video she performs the poem 'Oorlog/War" </p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GAqZHPZdqtE" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><p> </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">4. Igiaba Scego (IT)<br /></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXSAAjORLl18u7AJwcw26lPY23BAOHwkJq1Xsyl04n37qSTRBwwPySzGmCF4_STJClWjgT7yMbcX6jL4aavdZZw5dDjXdxakA1lOMR_KRLa5mMnXZPLYCCuo4pqdFsSpBKhyGBl74ACto/s1600/auda.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXSAAjORLl18u7AJwcw26lPY23BAOHwkJq1Xsyl04n37qSTRBwwPySzGmCF4_STJClWjgT7yMbcX6jL4aavdZZw5dDjXdxakA1lOMR_KRLa5mMnXZPLYCCuo4pqdFsSpBKhyGBl74ACto/w640-h338/auda.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Igiaba Scego </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
The diasporic novel 'Adua' (2015) by Afro-Italian writer <a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2011/07/video-meet-black-italian-writer-igiaba.html">Igiaba Scego</a> is translated in English, the novel will published by New Vessel in June 2017. <span id="result_box" lang="en"><span title="Il ritratto di una donna, Adua, alla ricerca di sé in un lungo viaggio dalla Somalia a Roma."> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span id="result_box" lang="en"><span title="Il ritratto di una donna, Adua, alla ricerca di sé in un lungo viaggio dalla Somalia a Roma.">Adua is a portrait of a woman who is in search of herself trough a journey from Somalia to Rome. The Italian magazine </span></span><span id="result_box" lang="en"><span title="Il ritratto di una donna, Adua, alla ricerca di sé in un lungo viaggio dalla Somalia a Roma.">Panorama writes: "This book depicts the soul and the body of a daughter and a father, illuminating words that are used every day and swiftly emptied of meaning: migrants, diaspora, refugees, separation, hope, humiliation, death.” </span></span>See the synopis, exerpt and reviews at <a href="http://newvesselpress.com/books/adua/" target="_blank"> Newvesselpress.com</a> Also see <a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2011/07/video-meet-black-italian-writer-igiaba.html" target="_blank">Afro-Europe: Video: Meet black Italian writer Igiaba Scego</a></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
5. Zadie Smith (UK)<br /></h2><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcn1YLGGxYQLnQukTWYVj6xn2L9w1yW38UvhE-og3tlXTm_b-xqmgiEzb-lVB-vHzwrlCkCGpbW3CKjFi3g5Xzjn00tee7Y0HPrb1HQ5VMKSWThFKY3LV7MVyDWrO8cE-0MaEa-iRWpc8/s1600/Zadiesmithpic.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcn1YLGGxYQLnQukTWYVj6xn2L9w1yW38UvhE-og3tlXTm_b-xqmgiEzb-lVB-vHzwrlCkCGpbW3CKjFi3g5Xzjn00tee7Y0HPrb1HQ5VMKSWThFKY3LV7MVyDWrO8cE-0MaEa-iRWpc8/w640-h292/Zadiesmithpic.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zadie Smith. Photo by JACKIE NICKERSON</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
In the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/t-magazine/zadie-smith-swing-time-jeffrey-eugenides.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FSmith%2C%20Zadie&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=collection" target="_blank">New York Times</a> British writer <a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2011/04/zadi-smith-about-her-mother-father-and.html" target="_blank">Zadie Smith</a> talks about Jamaica, her search of identity in Africa and her new book “Swing Time”. And just recently she discussed the intersection of class & race in nurturing literary creativity in working class minorities at NYU. <br />
<br />
It's Zadie Smith’s first novel since 2012’s NW. The story about “two brown girls [who] dream of being dancers”, will come out this winter, her publishers have announced.<br />
<br /><br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XI8MQIrrUMM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/529304/swing-time-by-zadie-smith/9781594203985/" target="_blank">Editors note</a>: An ambitious, exuberant new novel moving from North-West London to West Africa.<br />
<br />
In an interview, at NYU, Smith is very sceptical about the future of Black writing in the UK, "like in England Black writing is really struggling still and me and I
guess Monica Ali and a few other people who published in 2000 thousand
and one I guess, we have felt this was going to be the beginning of
something and it really has not been the beginning of anything. And
there is this African Diaspora of writing but they're wonderful writers
but they're all like upper-middle class African writers but black
British working-clothes writers that's not a thing that's happening." See video.</p><p><br /><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x9lrl-Ym7L8" width="560"></iframe> </p><p> <br />
Perhaps off topic, but Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in<a href="https://livestream.com/schomburgcenter/events/2831224/videos/45613924" target="_blank"> conversation with British novelist Zadie Smith </a><br /><br /><br />
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">6. Alain Mabanckou (FR)<br /></h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglnMXWdqXmezp1039onOKF2ReU191FacZ1B05rhiA1daWY8HuryqjqZKpwXo4omoczS75ojKK2uR2DSbmbnUTuvpwEKy1_KuKWp10SsgAIag_snTYTsjAFSNsujMmW221Acl-4JEt1dY8/s1600/pic_alain_mabanckou.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglnMXWdqXmezp1039onOKF2ReU191FacZ1B05rhiA1daWY8HuryqjqZKpwXo4omoczS75ojKK2uR2DSbmbnUTuvpwEKy1_KuKWp10SsgAIag_snTYTsjAFSNsujMmW221Acl-4JEt1dY8/w640-h345/pic_alain_mabanckou.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alain Mabanckou</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div><p>
What happens to a Congolese man who is anxious to demonstrate the
failings of the Black community in Paris, and repeatedly insists that he
is not a racist? You will find the answer in the populair French novel
Verre Cassé, or in English, Broken Glass by French writer Alain
Mabanckou.<br /></p><p>The author of seven novels and six collections of poetry, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Mabanckou" target="_blank">Alain Mabanckou</a>
is already well known and celebrated across the Francophone world. His
novels have been translated into more than fifteen languages, including
Hebrew, Korean, Spanish, Catalan, and Norwegian. In 2006, he was awarded
France’s prestigious Prix Renaudot for his novel Mémoires de por-épic
(Memoirs of a Porcupine), a literary interpretation of a number of
African folktales. </p><p>He is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and decorated authors writing in French today, according to <a href="http://criticalflame.org/alain-mabanckous-broken-glass/" target="_blank">Critical Flame</a>.</p><p>In an interview (video) he opens up about how fictional characters have inspired him, from his teenage years until today.
</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t_lyGqQggac" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /> </p><p>Alain
Mabanckou was born in Congo-Brazzaville in 1966. He spent his childhood
in the coastal city of Pointe-Noire where he received his baccalaureate
in Letters and Philosophy at the Lycée Karl Marx. After preliminary law
classes at The Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville, he received a
scholarship to go to France at the age of 22.</p><p><br />
</p><h2 class="post-title entry-title" style="text-align: left;">7. May Ayim - Afro-German Poet May Performs Poem Against German Nationalism (DE)<br /></h2><p>
</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Mhura7EwcqRKssihCtcB3UIUQUI-JdRLrZUEaLOWQip-nuMCCFUwLyaW9Yept3Q25kOiujPYfemYqLc4pxHUokTxCNSktq10ehCMS_tqLhGEaXAQu5mYc0zzWBV4vXWOpA1_Dq6nMAk/s1600/may_ayim.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Mhura7EwcqRKssihCtcB3UIUQUI-JdRLrZUEaLOWQip-nuMCCFUwLyaW9Yept3Q25kOiujPYfemYqLc4pxHUokTxCNSktq10ehCMS_tqLhGEaXAQu5mYc0zzWBV4vXWOpA1_Dq6nMAk/w640-h313/may_ayim.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">May Ayim. Photo by Dagmar Schulz</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
Afro-German poet <a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2012/05/download-afro-german-may-ayims-writings.html">May Ayim </a>(1960 - 1996) began the year 1990 with the
poem Borderless and brazen: a poem against the German “u-not y” . She
discovered that the German reunification in 1990 excluded everyone who
was not white and German, and was part of a minority. The poem was
published after her death in the book ' Grenzenlos und unverschämt' (in
English: 'Borderless and Brazen').<br /><br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3_4N_v9mbho" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p> “borderless and brazen: a poem against the German “u-not y.”<br />i will be African<br />even if you want me to be german<br />and i will be german<br />even if my blackness does not suit you<br />i will go<br />yet another step further<br />to the farthest edge<br />where my sisters – where my brothers stand<br />where<br />o u r<br />FREEDOM<br />begins<br />i will go<br />yet another step further and another step and<br />will return<br />when i want<br />and remain<br />borderless and brazen<br />1990<br />for Jaqueline and Katharina<br />(Translation by May Ayim)</p><p> </p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">8. Marie NDiaye (FR)<br /></h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0GdnlhKQsKpTwsAaVsiCh-JoquuiF8jxOFRcgEBfjvhM8PQNv3efBjJ3uuF7ldtTekwhEXYOy8J7iO0PzHM5YDztF7u5TsC3nYQyFKxY9mk3GGn64qc_1R-4Zu-gWcv7sJ6nIHZIpA0/s1600/Pic_Marie_NDiaye.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0GdnlhKQsKpTwsAaVsiCh-JoquuiF8jxOFRcgEBfjvhM8PQNv3efBjJ3uuF7ldtTekwhEXYOy8J7iO0PzHM5YDztF7u5TsC3nYQyFKxY9mk3GGn64qc_1R-4Zu-gWcv7sJ6nIHZIpA0/w640-h288/Pic_Marie_NDiaye.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marie NDiaye</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<br />
<a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2013/02/french-author-marie-ndiaye-is-finalist.html">Marie NDiaye’s</a> 'Three Strong Women' ((French: 'Trois Femmes puissantes')
won the Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award, when
it appeared in 2009 and made her, according to a survey by
L’Express-RTL, the most widely read French author of the year.</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ysGlM76xnn4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p>
The title suggests a story about three strong women, but that is not the
case. "This isn't really a novel about three strong women because, out
of the three protagonists, one seems delusional, one a victim of
circumstance, and the other a deranged man", writes British writer <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/three-strong-women-by-marie-ndiaye-trans-john-fletcher-7785722.html" target="_blank">Bernadine Everisto</a>. <br /></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
9. Linton Kwesi Johnson (UK)<br /></h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihj8V1c_GkCRd_qLOke-bLHYVYlGGyV0wVLYxrdKhvB79bx14bqzOTNfEohWBpcP83ocfTlyYY-r3lqh8z-6UxUFNTQ-I4LsiuHDOsrfvlVluT_i4GNsv29qteWkgi93KPNNQxgr3f9hs/s1600/pic_Linton_Kwesi_Johnson.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihj8V1c_GkCRd_qLOke-bLHYVYlGGyV0wVLYxrdKhvB79bx14bqzOTNfEohWBpcP83ocfTlyYY-r3lqh8z-6UxUFNTQ-I4LsiuHDOsrfvlVluT_i4GNsv29qteWkgi93KPNNQxgr3f9hs/w640-h326/pic_Linton_Kwesi_Johnson.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linton Kwesi Johson</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linton_Kwesi_Johnson" target="_blank">Linton Kwesi Johnson</a> needs no introduction. Much of his poetry is
political, dealing primarily with the experiences of being an
African-Caribbean in Britain. "Writing was a political act and poetry
was a cultural weapon," he told an interviewer
in 2008.<br />
<br />
He has also written about issues such as British foreign policy, and the
death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach. His most striking and
celebrated work was arguably produced in the 1980's, with Johnson’s
spirit of anger and protest finding its ideal subject and opposite under
Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government. </p><p>Poems such as
'Sonny's Lettah' and 'Di Great Insohreckshan' (both featured here)
contain accounts of police brutality upon young black men, and capture
the period’s unwritten attitude of resistance and antagonism in their
empathic descriptions of rioting and imprisonment. Told via the
uncompromising, yet generous and inventive use of unstandardised
Jamaican patois, the poems are alive with Johnson’s relish of the tics
and rhythms of spoken language.<br />
<br />
See more at: <a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/linton-kwesi-johnson#sthash.1mc0mflr.dpuf" target="_blank">http://www.poetryarchive.org</a><br />
<br />
<br />
The poem 'Sonny's Lettah' is of course famous. So the video and the written poem.
<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7uvY5qU7ayg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
The written poem: <a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/sonnys-lettah" target="_blank">Sonny's Lettah</a><br />
<br /><br />
Video: Di Great Insohreckshan
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hpypYcMe16I" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"> A meeting between Edouard Glissant and Linton Kwesi Johnson</h3><p></p><p>
This short film is a classic. The late French Caribbean writer Édouard
Glissant (1928 – 2011) and the Britisch Jamaican Dub poet Linton Kwesi
Johnson discuss the concept of identity.<br /> </p><p>The late writer
Édouard Glissant (1928 – 2011) is widely acknowledged as one of the most
important Caribbean writers of the past half-century. </p><p>In 2002,
Linton Kwesi Johnson became the only second living poet and first black
poet to have his work published in Penguin`s Modern Classic series. Both
poets are major key-figures of this and the last century, Linton Kwesi
Johnson, the father of Dub poetry and Edouard Glissant, has been
nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature for his writings on
creolization processes and aesthetics of worldliness. These two friends
meet on a summer day....<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jql4ctFACwY" width="545"></iframe><br />
<br />
Starring Edouard Glissant, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Sharifa
Rhodes-Pitts, with music by Linton Kwesi Johnson and Paul D. Miller
a.k.a. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Child.
I loved the conversation and the atmosphere.<br />
<br />
You can see the entire film at <a href="http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/4034/Making-History" target="_blank">Culture unplugged </a>
</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">10. Sharon Dodua Otoo (DE/UK)<br /></h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ3yqS6K7jq6Arw8W7JnNvGTYZg_3Gkv41G-Q-sQRKushcIk2S5vdq7htzasYFbQpnhVfTRq5jyGhyphenhyphenHBks4SzDVTIj7hJ8N0dRbIxU4i9cgPHmBaavsYVUSznzqpLejEcrGgVID-WqPUo/s1600/Sharon_dodua.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ3yqS6K7jq6Arw8W7JnNvGTYZg_3Gkv41G-Q-sQRKushcIk2S5vdq7htzasYFbQpnhVfTRq5jyGhyphenhyphenHBks4SzDVTIj7hJ8N0dRbIxU4i9cgPHmBaavsYVUSznzqpLejEcrGgVID-WqPUo/w640-h289/Sharon_dodua.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sharon Dodua Otoo. Photo by SN/ORF</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
"Black British writer won the major German-language fiction award in 2016. <a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2011/10/wanted-writers-who-want-to-write-about.html">Sharon Dodua Otoo</a> takes €25,000 Ingeborg Bachmann prize with Herr Gröttrup Sits Down, about the rocket scientist who worked for the Nazis, then the USSR, " wrote <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/12/black-british-writer-wins-major-german-language-fiction-sharon-dodue-otoo-ingeborg-bachmann-prize" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. She won the award in July. <br />
<br />
Sharon Dodua Otoo started her journey back in 2011 when she launced her <a href="https://www.edition-assemblage.de/sharon-dodua-otoo/" target="_blank">witnessed book series</a>. A books series which captures the voices of German authors in English. A project that turned out to be very succesfull. </p><p></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MBUp420TSXs" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
In an interview (video) on ORF, Dodua Otoo is asked what literature can do that political engagement can't do. She explains that political engagement to her means protesting and <span class="st"> voicing your opinion</span> on social issues, like racism. Literature on the other hand can give people the oportunity to let them see the world from another perspective. This will perhaps create the possibility that we can be more emphatically towards each other. <br />
<br />
</p><h2 class="post-title entry-title" style="text-align: left;">11. Warsan Shire, The British Poet Who Gave Poetry to Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ (UK)<br /></h2><p><br />
</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfN4FCYSVDs25EcGIcRywWLoq5-UIyLxBfKk2LSq2psXBfjQWSmczTG8osXizUej4smQYWjFS7ksDQ-mASd6o1pV59PHT3RATdb-Eec5QUXFSej0yj13h3573OaWbKfS120sMxEiY-1fk/s1600/Warsan_Shire.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfN4FCYSVDs25EcGIcRywWLoq5-UIyLxBfKk2LSq2psXBfjQWSmczTG8osXizUej4smQYWjFS7ksDQ-mASd6o1pV59PHT3RATdb-Eec5QUXFSej0yj13h3573OaWbKfS120sMxEiY-1fk/w640-h346/Warsan_Shire.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warsan Shire</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsan_Shire" target="_blank">Warsan Shire</a> needs no introduction. "When the credits roll on Beyoncé’s new visual album, “Lemonade,” which had its premiere on Saturday on HBO, one of the first names to flash on screen doesn’t belong to a director, producer or songwriter. It belongs to a poet: Warsan Shire, a rising 27-year-old writer who was born in Kenya to Somali parents and raised in London," writes <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/arts/music/warsan-shire-who-gave-poetry-to-beyonces-lemonade.html?_r=0" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">The New York Times. </a></p><p> <br />
In 2012 Warsan Shire became the first ever <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-24375551" target="_blank">Young Poet Laureate for London</a> at the age of 25. <br /></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AzCUGhdnGvI" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p>One of Warsan Shiri famous poems, is the poem '<a href="https://genius.com/Warsan-shire-for-women-who-are-difficult-to-love-annotated" target="_blank">For women who are difficult to love</a>'. This poem used Beyoncé for the clip 'Hold up' from the album "Lemonade".<br />
</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PeonBmeFR8o" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br />
</p><p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/apr/27/warsan-shire-young-poet-laureate-beyonce-lemonade-london" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> writes, "She writes of places where many Beyoncé fans rarely go, the portions of London where the faces are black and brown, where men huddle outside shop-front mosques and veiled women are trailed by long chains of children. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
12. Caryl Phillips (UK)<br /></h2><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_AHJRULlKDXp1eByW9oskq_QbOCphVu2iZEIoTmh6N6kugZ-7YhNApYFCmCNgANbvfT5EERguYbN06-UIbaXPeedwZs_e4hmTxiii5RzNkyeW5uWjHK2bkeEi6GERXn6wwuu-BF-GSY/s1600/carly_phillips.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_AHJRULlKDXp1eByW9oskq_QbOCphVu2iZEIoTmh6N6kugZ-7YhNApYFCmCNgANbvfT5EERguYbN06-UIbaXPeedwZs_e4hmTxiii5RzNkyeW5uWjHK2bkeEi6GERXn6wwuu-BF-GSY/w640-h302/carly_phillips.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caryl Phillips</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
The European Tribe is the first book of essays by <a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2012/10/book-colour-me-english-by-caryl.html" target="_blank">Caryl Phillips</a>, published in 1987. Seeking personal definition within the parameters of growing up black in Europe, he discovers that the natural loneliness and confusion inherent in long journeys collide with the bigotry of the "European Tribe"—a global community of whites caught up in an unyielding, Eurocentric history.<br />
<br />
Phillips illustrates the scenes and characters he encounters, in places like poverty-stricken Casablanca, racy Costa del Sol, and peaceful Provence, where he muses with writer James Baldwin over dinner about the state of the human spirit. He explores Venice through the Shakespearean outcast Othello and views Amsterdam through the eyes of young Anne Frank. <br />
<br />
The European Tribe was awarded the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize. </p><p>In 1993 he published historical novel Crossing the River. It's story
about three black people during different time periods and in different
continents as they struggle with the separation from their native
Africa. He dramatised the novel and wrote a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0848cvn" target="_blank">story of love and race set in Yorkshire during the Second World War</a>. <br /></p><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e6sZCiGzgOU" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p>Phillips writes on the trans-atlantic slave trade from many angles, and his writing is concerned with issues of origins, belongings and exclusion. <br /><br />
</p><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
13. Gisèle Pineau - Exile (FR)<br /></h2>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMWRCULVRvSKMJB9eEPpcF0A4rRZM9-xJKKczlMZnC66d6XRf7WrJkSjiYA1AZ3jbW9lHoVuIGM2K9s1OKybDAbwnrzBWuHzdmWaiTMoxeDClyNIK_p1D_k7jBqoWTmGMjFMv1O6HDPsg/s1600/pic_gisele_pineau.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMWRCULVRvSKMJB9eEPpcF0A4rRZM9-xJKKczlMZnC66d6XRf7WrJkSjiYA1AZ3jbW9lHoVuIGM2K9s1OKybDAbwnrzBWuHzdmWaiTMoxeDClyNIK_p1D_k7jBqoWTmGMjFMv1O6HDPsg/w640-h269/pic_gisele_pineau.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gisèle Pineau</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gis%C3%A8le_Pineau" target="_blank">Gisèle Pineau </a>was born, and spent the first fourteen years of her life, in Paris. Her parents, originally from the island of Guadeloupe, were
part of the massive transplantation of Antilleans to the métropole after World War II (<a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2013/06/the-migration-of-black-people-from.html" target="_blank">Bumidom</a>). </p><p>Most had left their homeland hoping to improve their
lives and their children’s prospects. Born French nationals, all theoretically enjoyed equal footing with the Parisian French. The color
of their skin, however, meant a far different reality for Pineau’s family and their fellow émigrés.<br />
<br />
They lived on the outskirts of the city
and on the margins of French society and culture. 'Exile According to Julia' ('L'Exil selon Julia'), 1996, is Gisèle Pineau’s compelling portrait of alienation and exile, which was born of that experience.</p><p> An interview with Gisèle Pineau.</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NzbK4hJb7DQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p>Exile According to Julia is a novel about longing to belong, longing for stability, longing for a sense of self, a home. This autobiographical work is Gisele Pineau’s third novel and a beautiful tribute to the grandmother who provided her with pieces of this precious belonging, and in return Pineau bears tender witness to this grand mother, “Man Ya” (a.k.a. Julia of the title), revealing her joyous secrets of life in the process. <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166416/Review%20Exile%20According%20to%20Julia.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y" target="_blank">Review University of Minnisota</a><br /> </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
14. Aminatta Forna
- The memory of love (UK)<br /></h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHkZHsRV6aHOkYQrPTnj8MwNPRo4BXLUZEjBtPznnkELWh07sZ4RB5JNCiAckSeCpUA9TqoPE5yKtftkFNWmeam9uJjegy3-8VTcwBWv74fftub-5fSFMud74seq9xq2bxEuvoNdMc60/s1600/Aminatta_Forna.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHkZHsRV6aHOkYQrPTnj8MwNPRo4BXLUZEjBtPznnkELWh07sZ4RB5JNCiAckSeCpUA9TqoPE5yKtftkFNWmeam9uJjegy3-8VTcwBWv74fftub-5fSFMud74seq9xq2bxEuvoNdMc60/w640-h333/Aminatta_Forna.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aminatta Forna</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2011/06/novel-memory-of-love-wins-aminatta.html">Aminatta Forna</a> is a British author and former journalist born in Scotland in 1964. She is born to a Scottish mother and Sierra Leonean father. </p><p>Her work is characterized by themes such as identity, displacement, and the human relationship with nature. One of her highly acclaimed books is the memory of war.<br /></p><p>'The memory of love' is a story' (2011) of war, says Aminatta Forna in an interview. And that's exactly what it is. </p><p>Her story is a luminous tale of passion and betrayal, encompassing the political unrest that racked Sierra Leone in the late 1960s and the ruinous civil war of the 1990s, as well as the days of tenuous quiet when those who managed to stay alive struggled to cope with the physical and mental scars of those years, wrote the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/books/review/Mengiste-t.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>. <br />
</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zHq8RcywX0M" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><br />
The Memory of Love, winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Award 2011, was described by the judges as "a bold, deeply moving and accomplished novel" and Forna as "among the most talented writers in literature today". </p><p>The Memory of Love was also shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2012, the Orange Prize for Fiction 2011 and the Warwick Prize for Writing.<br />
<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">15. Alex Wheatle - Brixton Rock (UK)<br /></h2><p>
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</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSv287jc51OyEeR8gMPI9B3WWXrtO1SarqXiSMASFvf7d8eDkRWxD7hsvAdx-AJlQafezfLt1VkC8gATl2pW7XzNPMmp_D3O5igLSsJjSQhXy4XZ75HKVAsbf-WmT2zztXOyQGKJWklQ/s1600/pic_alex_wheatle.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSv287jc51OyEeR8gMPI9B3WWXrtO1SarqXiSMASFvf7d8eDkRWxD7hsvAdx-AJlQafezfLt1VkC8gATl2pW7XzNPMmp_D3O5igLSsJjSQhXy4XZ75HKVAsbf-WmT2zztXOyQGKJWklQ/w640-h280/pic_alex_wheatle.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alex Wheatle</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p><a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2011/06/news-portal-for-uk-based-african-and.html">Alex Wheatle</a> grew up in a children’s home and went to prison after
taking part in the Brixton riots in 1981. While serving his sentence, a
cellmate advised Wheatle to start reading books.<br /><br />“James Baldwin,
Richard Wright, and the poetry of Langston Hughes – that informed me
greatly,” says Wheatle in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190711-the-books-that-turned-a-life-around" target="_blank">this clip from BBC Culture’s Textual Healing event at the 2019 Hay Festival</a>. “So when I left I came out a much more
educated man than I was when I was first sentenced.” </p><div style="text-align: left;">The BBC made a film about his live 'The story of Alex Wheatle and the Brixton uprising of 1981'<br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/izVLJvKc_f8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"> Brixton Rock</h3><p>The story Brixton Rock (1999) is set against the backdrop of the Brixton race riots in London in the 1980s, the novel tells a story of overcoming obstacles from a teen's perspective. Brenton Brown, a 16-year-old mixed-race youth, has lived in a children's home all his life and is haunted by the absence of his mother.<br />
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Complications arise, however, when he finally meets his mother and then falls dangerously in love with his half-sister. Killer Terry Flynn also scars Brenton's life and leaves him wanting revenge. Through it all, this determined teen is driven to pursue education and recognize his true self in the midst of chaos.<br />
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</h2><h2 style="text-align: left;">16. Thomté Ryam - 'Banlieue noire' by (FR)</h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxqs7X0wGp2ulkgoS6jpX5Gx9novwGY_wsbePkwhSMjdXz_w7gYvYqTS4X2Yeq7XbkBVPR3W9XW3BbNM9dOk7yIR-AJ6IToev0lhJS8Oe9OVNpCl90XpyCormakmzLmUqtnClyIeUakc/s1600/pic_Thomt%25C3%25A9_Ryam.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxqs7X0wGp2ulkgoS6jpX5Gx9novwGY_wsbePkwhSMjdXz_w7gYvYqTS4X2Yeq7XbkBVPR3W9XW3BbNM9dOk7yIR-AJ6IToev0lhJS8Oe9OVNpCl90XpyCormakmzLmUqtnClyIeUakc/w640-h267/pic_Thomt%25C3%25A9_Ryam.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomté Ryam</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
The downfall of a talented football player in a French ghetto, is the
theme of the debut novel ‘ <a href="https://amzn.to/31u38Z9" target="_blank">Banlieue noire’ (2005) by Thomté Ryam</a>. Thomté Ryam was born March 19, 1979, he is a young French writer of Chadian origin.</p><p>He
describes the universe of French suburbs through the eyes of a
footballer. It’s alternative vision of the suburbs, away from negative
stereotypes in the media.<br />
<br />
Main character is Sebastien, a young man of a city near Paris. He hopes to be spotted by a professional football team so he can be drafted in the pro leage. His dream comes true. His team will play a crucial match, and at this game scouts of professional team will follow his performance. “Three days to wait and we need to focus”, he says to himself. But in the suburbs, that’s not easy. The day before the match, Sebastian goes to a party with friends. The descent into hell begins. <br />
</p><p><br />
</p><h2 class="post-title entry-title" style="text-align: left;">17. Bessora - Cueillez-Moi Jolis Messieurs... (CH/FR)<br /></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VStW8shUKIXVcipTVlfpdZkC9GHd5g3dVCXfObnsUOd8EihN7TmGWrQuNltKHvHanLv4FtPArFfzRyCH27afHGoLBy1GH2iADSs7mMqOmUamOR68qU93syef53m50gt2eoVT7KL-NyI/s1600/pic_bessora.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VStW8shUKIXVcipTVlfpdZkC9GHd5g3dVCXfObnsUOd8EihN7TmGWrQuNltKHvHanLv4FtPArFfzRyCH27afHGoLBy1GH2iADSs7mMqOmUamOR68qU93syef53m50gt2eoVT7KL-NyI/w640-h302/pic_bessora.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bessora</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
The novel Cueillez-moi jolis messieurs... (Pick Me Pretty Sirs...) by Gabonese-Swiss <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessora" target="_blank">Bessora</a> is a story about the relationship between two women who are both marginalized by circumstances.</p><p>Claire is a HIV infected language teacher, who is divorced after twenty years of marriage and abandoned by her friends. When she wants to commit suicide, she is rescued by Juliette Ebinel, a young widow with two daughters, who has nowhere to go. By expressing her gratitude, Claire hosts Juliet and her daughters in her already cramped apartment. As time moves on Claire regains her thirst for live, while Juliette continues her endless search for housing to get out of her condition as an outcast.<br />
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Bessora leads us into a ruthless and cruel world. The world of "no" , the world of the undocumented and the homeless. Her characters seek a normal live and an uneventful existence, but they have to overcome many obstacles to fulfill their dreams. <br />
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The novel Cueillez-moi jolis messieurs... (Pick Me Pretty Sirs...) of 2007 received the Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire.<br /> <br />Bessora, full name Sandrine Bessora Nan Ngueaia, was born in 1968 in Belgium, but she left there after two months. <br /></p><p>In the clip she talks about herself, the society and her books. <br /></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rHQSvBWUpyE" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p>Her father is from Gabon , her mother from Switzerland. She grew up in Africa, Europe and the USA. Bessora means ‘She who is sharing’.<br />
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18. Andrea Levy on Small Island: "I never thought people would be interested" (UK)<br /></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Cn1dHg2yhAbCA0Up8vfpaAbF62RWAvUMhw2_A5c3PwGmtOiEdS_kDvQQX07Yf6xDdVjIWE1yJaJ1BgHD1GnSrlai_doJZcv2azepYEohuOwUo5IHwQoaTe9vQhRSgeoY54ishynq2nI/s1600/andre_levy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Cn1dHg2yhAbCA0Up8vfpaAbF62RWAvUMhw2_A5c3PwGmtOiEdS_kDvQQX07Yf6xDdVjIWE1yJaJ1BgHD1GnSrlai_doJZcv2azepYEohuOwUo5IHwQoaTe9vQhRSgeoY54ishynq2nI/w640-h356/andre_levy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrea Levy</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
"I've grown up thinking I was worthless and that the story of the Caribbean was worthless and that people who came from that area were worthless. </p><p>And then you write a book and people are interested in it", says <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Levy" target="_blank">Andrea Levy</a> in an interview about her novel, SMALL ISLAND. Small Island is a 2004 prize-winning novel, it was adapted for television in two episodes by the BBC in 2009.</p><p>In 1948 Andrea Levy's father sailed from Jamaica to England on the Empire Windrush ship and her mother joined him soon after. Andrea was born in London in 1956, growing up black in what was still a very white England. This experience has given her an complex perspective on the country of her birth.
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WyUR6gZyYLE" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />
Hortense dreams of England - Small Island - BBC
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u_s1dhQ5Pzo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
</p><p>In 1948 Andrea Levy's father sailed from Jamaica to England on the
Empire Windrush ship and her mother joined him soon after. Andrea was
born in London in 1956, growing up black in what was still a very white
England. This experience has given her an complex perspective on the
country of her birth.
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
19. Olumide Popoola (DE)<br /></h2><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFkvx4molftt5wvbTiNPtNIuXkochVoRxQvalrnCDxTxpZapib7aGE4Jm2YvoY4bN-LRyccnJf0V2pXgiVpk-Q5xjnaZBd4wvGwhP5qj7dvpwYLeIh-31MX4WHcVETWtWxK3GjQCcrVL0/s1600/Olumide_Popoola.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFkvx4molftt5wvbTiNPtNIuXkochVoRxQvalrnCDxTxpZapib7aGE4Jm2YvoY4bN-LRyccnJf0V2pXgiVpk-Q5xjnaZBd4wvGwhP5qj7dvpwYLeIh-31MX4WHcVETWtWxK3GjQCcrVL0/w640-h342/Olumide_Popoola.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olumide Popoola</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
"<a href="https://writingourlegacy.org.uk/olumide-popoola-this-is-not-about-sadness/" target="_blank">This is not about sadness</a>", is the first debut novella (2010) of the London-based Nigerian German author, poet, performer <a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/2011/06/video-afro-german-writer-olumide.html">Olumide Popoola</a>. <br /><br />
In "this is not about sadness", an unlikely friendship between two complex and traumatised London-based women, one an older Jamaican, the other a young South African, is explored through each character's use of specific language to relate to space, memory and silence.<b> </b> <br /><br />
In 2017 Pópóọlá's novel When We Speak of Nothing was published. It tells a story of two young black boys in London whose friendship gets tested over several challenges that include sexual and queer identity, racism, bullying, and an unstable political climate </p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/92hzoleOCgs" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p>British novelist Diana Evans in a review in The Financial Times describes When We Speak of Nothing as a "satisfying and perceptive examination of the emergence of the whole person against the odds posed by a constricting society </p><p> <br />
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">20. Astrid Roemer (NL)<br /></h2><p></p>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9cXjkgNisNZI9Pij6kCUswz7w_cuFq-KCzSZvlPpE2GEsl5t7qAxH6mouv7RUk3viKdUno-D-UurRuO2crC3OXc5MdP3QG2NqNv9lVDQopKoUJr3zbB5OyEFRbLEjcqu20ROKAwUKxU/s1600/Astrid_roemer.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9cXjkgNisNZI9Pij6kCUswz7w_cuFq-KCzSZvlPpE2GEsl5t7qAxH6mouv7RUk3viKdUno-D-UurRuO2crC3OXc5MdP3QG2NqNv9lVDQopKoUJr3zbB5OyEFRbLEjcqu20ROKAwUKxU/w640-h369/Astrid_roemer.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copyright: In de Knipscheer: Astrid Roemer</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
"Why do I write? I hate the way society is structured; it seems there is
no way out for black people, and this is my way to build a world I
would like to live in. So my novels are just like music -- they give
comfort to blacks and to others who are not part of the status quo,"
replied <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrid_Roemer" target="_blank">Astrid Roemer</a> in an interview. </p><p>Roemer was born in Paramaribo, Surinam, in 1947 and emigrated to the
Netherlands in 1966, where she made her debut as a poet in 1970. In 2021 Roemer won the <a href="https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/astrid-h-roemer-dutch-will-slowly-but-surely-disappear-from-suriname" target="_blank">Dutch Literature Prize</a>.<br /></p><p>If you’re not Dutch you may not have heard of Surinamese-Dutch writer <a href="http://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/author/205/astrid-h-roemer" target="_blank">Astrid Roemer</a>.
But she is considered one of the best Surinamese-Dutch writers. Her
main obessions are the mystery of being of woman and Suriname. Just
recently she endend a fifteen year self-imposed retreat from publicity,
but as the classic goes, 'don't call it comeback, she is been here for
years'.
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<br />
The German translation of Lijken op liefde (1997), the second novel in a trilogy, was awarded the LiBeratur Prize<br />
<br />
And to finish, the story <a href="http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/arnold-.-.-.-" target="_blank">“Arnold . . . !”</a> <br /></p><div style="background-color: white; border: medium; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
Read more: <a href="http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/arnold-.-.-.-#ixzz3fQ8YkEKH" style="color: #003399;" target="_blank">http://wordswithoutborders.org</a></div> <p>
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">21. Aminata Aidara - French Immigrant Writing Competition 'Exister à bout de plume' (FR/IT)<br /></h2><p></p>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIiYj5IFCR49mCjGgb8pwS57mxxF-jDuRsarCSttyDr48PnXttZAxSMMt7obp__FwYNBVkpvucC-lggRlV0qA2gTrCwlTbqYdfc2c8MM2Fpyq7jdrglanynISpkRx7DEAQREVoWvnoo7g/s1600/pic_Aminata_Aidara.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIiYj5IFCR49mCjGgb8pwS57mxxF-jDuRsarCSttyDr48PnXttZAxSMMt7obp__FwYNBVkpvucC-lggRlV0qA2gTrCwlTbqYdfc2c8MM2Fpyq7jdrglanynISpkRx7DEAQREVoWvnoo7g/w640-h304/pic_Aminata_Aidara.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aminata Aidara. Copyright GB</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
"<a href="http://existeraboutdeplume.fr/le-livre" target="_blank">Exister à bout de plume</a>," was French literary competition which ended in 2012. The competition was initiated by Italian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aminata_Aidara" target="_blank">Aminata Aidara</a> (Senegalese
father and Italian mother) who studied in France to obtain her doctorate
at the Sorbonne.</p><p>The project was aimed to give young people (aged
16 to 32) with an immigrant background a voice. It invited them to take
up a pen and paper and write down their thoughts in stories, rap songs,
poems, and plays. </p><p> In 2018, Éditions Gallimard published
Aidara's first novel, Je suis quelqu'un, the narrative of a family
scattered between France and Senegal and a reflection on family origins.
<br /><br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WrsstHlBdVY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>It's
story about a secret that haunts the members of a family who are split
between France and Senegal. It's a quest for truth where different
voices unfold <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
22. Fatou Diome (FR)<br /></h2><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTEarnWfci_9IXb9juA5LZFqlZPyFXK1aOwj26z8TaSKzp-xgYJLxJRYLMTZXGq7qEbu-jLJ27f24t6xpnWaq_0FJo0468RJn-9_9KEMsI1jF5nxEwWQ5L6TPkGvTcs8ilbZVirvmGfuQ/s1600/Pic_Fatou_Diome.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTEarnWfci_9IXb9juA5LZFqlZPyFXK1aOwj26z8TaSKzp-xgYJLxJRYLMTZXGq7qEbu-jLJ27f24t6xpnWaq_0FJo0468RJn-9_9KEMsI1jF5nxEwWQ5L6TPkGvTcs8ilbZVirvmGfuQ/w640-h325/Pic_Fatou_Diome.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">©Michel Nicolas : Fatou Diome</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
The current Mediterranean migrant crisis was far away when Sengelase <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatou_Diome" target="_blank">Fatou Diome</a> wrote her debut novel <a href="https://wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews/fatou-diomes-the-belly-of-the-atlantic/" target="_blank">The Belly of the Atlantic</a> (French: <span lang="fr">Le Ventre de l'Atlantique</span>) in 2001, a story about migration, succes and failure. Her novel became a bestseller in France.</p><p>Fatou Diome (born 1968 in Niodior) is a Senegalese writer, her work explores immigrant life in France, and the relationship between France and Africa. Fatou Diome currently lives in Strasbourg, France. <br /> <br />
Her first novel was partly autobiographical and is about Salie, a
Senegalese immigrant living in Strasbourg, and her younger brother
Madicke, who stayed behind in Senegal. After years of struggle Salie has
finally arrived and settled in France. </p><p>Her younger brother dreams of
following her to France and to become a successful football player. <i>The Belly of the Atlantic</i> was translated into English, German and Spanish. <br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l6RHx8ifO38" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p>Her second novel, <i>Kétala</i>,
was published in 2006 in France. In her work Fatou Diome explores
France and Senegal, and the relationship between the two countries.
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">23. Buchi Emecheta - 'Second-Class Citizen' (UK)<br /></h2><p><br align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" table="" />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPZoGbVGC1hrgyqXE9LlMSd9bB3EzJkQ9eMLCAqJG03ThXB1vFulByAJbTsn4ru1dqXKF2zTVTOq7qcIYxEp1XAECzWCWXTV4mQXakhlpoRkLGkFbw5jU1F6MvGv3iMih1gPAXjv75Kw/s1600/Buchi_Emecheta.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPZoGbVGC1hrgyqXE9LlMSd9bB3EzJkQ9eMLCAqJG03ThXB1vFulByAJbTsn4ru1dqXKF2zTVTOq7qcIYxEp1XAECzWCWXTV4mQXakhlpoRkLGkFbw5jU1F6MvGv3iMih1gPAXjv75Kw/w640-h339/Buchi_Emecheta.jpg" width="640" /></a> <br /></p><p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchi_Emecheta" target="_blank">Buchi Emecheta</a> (1944,- 2017) wrote novels, some of which should be on the list of every European Black History Month. Emecheta is an Igbo writer whose novels deal largely with the difficult and unequal role of women in both immigrant and African societies.<br /></p><p>Emecheta was married at age 16 and immigrated with her husband to London in 1962. The problems ( sexual politics and racial prejudice) she encountered in London during the early 1960s provided background for the books that are called her immigrant novels.</p><p>In the clip she is interviewed about her book Second-Class Citizen
(1974). The interviewer asks: "The book is about a Black woman from Nigeria, who came over to what she thought was the promised land, England to live. Do people really think that England is the promised land when they come over from the black countries?"</p><p></p><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KJPIJ8JpOFk" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p><br />
Her first two books, In the Ditch (1972) and Second-Class Citizen
(1974)—both later included in the single volume Adah’s Story
(1983)—introduce Emecheta’s three major themes: the quests for equal
treatment, self-confidence, and dignity as a woman Somewhat different in style, Emecheta’s later novel Gwendolen (1989; also published as The Family) also addresses the issues of immigrant life in Great Britain, writes the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Buchi-Emecheta" target="_blank">Encyclopædia Britannica</a> .<br />
<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">24. John Agard Poem 'Half-cast' On Being Mixed Race (UK)<br />
</h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fmJdOHcmjPYTuY3KLOGWv9KCC0ylgebvAgQklS0ijf9xlAGC_XHVWfnmYo31Wz5cTwWuM1aqTuUqMq72-X5N_3NdMzl3yot0Y6O02OqCsM_SJJ9yUJ808V1vywt2-B5xL6w1ISiqQbc/s1600/pic_john_agard.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fmJdOHcmjPYTuY3KLOGWv9KCC0ylgebvAgQklS0ijf9xlAGC_XHVWfnmYo31Wz5cTwWuM1aqTuUqMq72-X5N_3NdMzl3yot0Y6O02OqCsM_SJJ9yUJ808V1vywt2-B5xL6w1ISiqQbc/w640-h368/pic_john_agard.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copyright: Jay Blessed - John Agard </td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
One of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Agard" target="_blank">Agard</a>’s most popular poems, Half-Caste, featured on the GCSE syllabus for many years. It is a wry analysis of racial prejudices and misconceptions.<br /> </p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zDQf2Wv2L3E" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p>Agard moved to Britain in the late seventies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, cultural differences, class divisions and subverted racial stereotypes abound in his often questing, questioning work, from poems that adopt the Caribbean tradition of limbo dancing as a symbol of freedom and otherness, to darkly comic, bitingly sardonic pieces such as 'Half-caste', one of Agard's best-loved poems, which brilliantly turns that phrase's offensive absurdity inside-out. - See more at: <a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/john-agard" target="_blank">http://www.poetryarchive.org/</a><br />
<br />
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
25. Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo (ES)<br /></h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1r86F7qzmUIgVNGlkE9yr7dp9amXbRNrGL_bMmq1Unkl89j300QICDon83A0VJjYqKsV6KNgKu_XY50ITQLsc48NEBJb1suuY4z6ToxqfDuz1IboonxaKOPVjPJIIxiyMh4NE-qFPRvI/s1600/Guinea_Espanyola.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="401" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1r86F7qzmUIgVNGlkE9yr7dp9amXbRNrGL_bMmq1Unkl89j300QICDon83A0VJjYqKsV6KNgKu_XY50ITQLsc48NEBJb1suuY4z6ToxqfDuz1IboonxaKOPVjPJIIxiyMh4NE-qFPRvI/w640-h401/Guinea_Espanyola.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spanish Guinea</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
Cultural conflicts between Africa and Spain, ancestral worship competing
with Catholicism, and tradition giving way to modernity. That is what your going find in the novel Shadows of Your Black Memory by Spain-based <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donato_Ndongo-Bidyogo" target="_blank">Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo </a>from Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea is a country in Central Africa, which was colonialised by Spain, from 1778 to 1968, under the name <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Guinea" target="_blank">Spanish Guinea</a>. <br /></p><p>Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo (born 1950 in Neifang, Spanish Guinea) is a writer/journalist and part of a movement of young Afro-descended authors who have contributed their African experience and traditions to Hispanic culture. He wrote the novel (orginal title) 'Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra' in 1987.<br />
<br />
The novel is set during the last years of Spanish rule in Equatorial Guinea, Shadows of Your Black Memory presents the voice of a young African man reflecting on his childhood. Through the idealistic eyes of the nameless protagonist, Donato Ndongo portrays the cultural conflicts between Africa and Spain, ancestral worship competing with Catholicism, and tradition giving way to modernity. The backdrop of a nation moving toward a troubled independence parallels the young man’s internal struggle to define his own identity.<br />
<br />
"The boy's struggle to harness the competing visions of cultural and religious superiority that haunt his subconscious is beautifully reflected in Father Ortiz's determination to convert Tio Abeso to Catholicism. A fascinating intellectual joust ensues, in which provocative and contemporary social tensions clash head on," writes <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/shadows-of-your-black-memory-by-donato-ndongotrs-michael-ugarte-789155.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>.</p><p>A conversation with Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo.<br /></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/btUq3BXySXM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<a href="http://wordswithoutborders.org/dispatches/article/dispatches-shadows-of-your-black-memory#ixzz3gvyWpicx" target="_blank">Words without borders</a> writes:" Though the unnamed boy, whose story is narrated by his adult self, feels a vocation to the Catholic priesthood, he is also alive to the power of traditional ceremonies. His circumcision, at about six years old, is dramatically told, as is a later ceremony (at age thirteen) in which his head is anointed with the blood of a toucan.</p><p> This book is definitly a classic. </p><p>See a translate short story: <a href="Donato NDONGO-BIDYOGO, The Dream" target="_blank">Donato NDONGO-BIDYOGO, The Dream</a>.<br />
<br />
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">26. Johannes Anyuru (SE)<br /></h2><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw8u8zY24HgQst-rx63ycWvdI-CSpe8IPEYMcluGVNKjnHop_BOI1n3PvpbXA1oTWGdihBMGCpdzd68GENCytcw5LIRuzBehZw578unuBedbwC7z7eY1MWto96RJa7fkrpcaqQJB7GVSM/s1600/Johannes_anyuru.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw8u8zY24HgQst-rx63ycWvdI-CSpe8IPEYMcluGVNKjnHop_BOI1n3PvpbXA1oTWGdihBMGCpdzd68GENCytcw5LIRuzBehZw578unuBedbwC7z7eY1MWto96RJa7fkrpcaqQJB7GVSM/w640-h361/Johannes_anyuru.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copyright: Mercies May: foto Johannes Anyuru</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<br />
Afro-Swedish <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Anyuru" target="_blank">Johannes Anyuru</a> wrote the Scandinavian hit novel A Storm Blew in from Paradise. Johannes Anyuru (Sweden, 1979), son of a Ugandan father and a Swedish mother, is a novelist and poet.</p><p>It's both the story of Anyuru’s Ugandan father P, and Anyuru himself. P makes a promising start as a fighter-pilot, but no matter what he does or where he goes, he is unable to escape his fate. He finds himself a refugee, on the run like a hunted animal―while his only dream is to fly.<br /><br />
"Searingly poetic style rescues the mbleakness of living in exile", wrote <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/a-storm-blew-in-from-paradise-by-johannes-anyuru--book-review-searingly-poetic-style-rescues-the-mbleakness-of-living-in-exile-10261772.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>.</p><p>In a interview (clip) Anyuru talks about how he became a writer <br /></p><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FQA2tyR5-gs" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p> A Storm Blew in from Paradise sold over 44,000 copies in Sweden and has been translated to Norwegian, Danish, German and French. The book won the Svenska Dagbladet’s Literature Prize and the Aftonbladet Literature Prize 2012.<br /> <br />
Read 10 page of the book at <a href="http://www.worldeditions.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/9789462380035.pdf" target="_blank">World Editions (pdf)</a><br />
<br /><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
27. George Lamming - 'In the Castle of My Skin' (UK)<br /></h2>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2V0FCG7CYZxIbf6j4d9hC5gmeBkLZDxtebpl8jTc6rwhqpInEtP8Ef9IYvcK8lg1FJ2JGSx10Yh6ASPZnDnixsCzzqpSR6-ykTDPRexp26kSL_csS_UzBnhM7x-Il4QMi28Lid0QsaM0/s1600/cover_castle_of_my_skin.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2V0FCG7CYZxIbf6j4d9hC5gmeBkLZDxtebpl8jTc6rwhqpInEtP8Ef9IYvcK8lg1FJ2JGSx10Yh6ASPZnDnixsCzzqpSR6-ykTDPRexp26kSL_csS_UzBnhM7x-Il4QMi28Lid0QsaM0/w640-h338/cover_castle_of_my_skin.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orginal cover</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
'In the Castle of My Skin' is one of those forgotten must-read postcolonial novels. The novel is the first and much acclaimed novel by Barbadian writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lamming" target="_blank">George Lamming</a> (1937). The novel won a Somerset Maugham Award and was championed by eminent figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Richard Wright.<br /> </p><p>In the Castle of my skin is an autobiographical account of George Lamming’s childhood growing up in Barbados. It's about social hierarchy, power relationships and identity. leaving the island is the only escape from the post-slavery social structure he grew up in. The only way to decolonise the mind, so speak. Although the scene is Caribbean, the novel was written two years after Lammings arrival in London.<br />
<br />
In a story in the Guardian Lammy writes: "Migration was not a word I would have used to describe what I was doing when I sailed with other West Indians to England in 1950. We simply thought we were going to an England that had been painted in our childhood consciousness as a heritage and a place of welcome. It is the measure of our innocence that neither the claim of heritage nor the expectation of welcome would have been seriously doubted. (..) Read more <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/24/artsfeatures.poetry" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.<br />
<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">28. Jay Barnard's Urban Poetry (UK)<br /></h2><p>
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</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi44CSKX1CYYFnhlX7v-qgxp61trwjh7k14hAo1BXCjLh2eEJY3Xeb1IYOVccUq6OnvWeCshCANVbAOx9jfYiU8-TZLXGe-a-9mcjxwhPQqAQCV52xPHbglD0AJqebt4TIq2kUbI9bZACg/s1600/Jay_+barnard.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi44CSKX1CYYFnhlX7v-qgxp61trwjh7k14hAo1BXCjLh2eEJY3Xeb1IYOVccUq6OnvWeCshCANVbAOx9jfYiU8-TZLXGe-a-9mcjxwhPQqAQCV52xPHbglD0AJqebt4TIq2kUbI9bZACg/w640-h300/Jay_+barnard.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jay Barnard</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bernard_(writer)" target="_blank">Jay Barnard's</a> poems are often set against an urban backdrop, and in ‘Migration’ she imagines London’s tube system as a human body – “The tunnels were arterial,/ the intermittent lamps like a spinal constellation/ and each station was a throbbing heart” – and its buildings linked to human history, as in “the blank menace of so many windows,/ imagine the fear of the first people huddled, haunted/ one hundred, thousand years ago.” <br /> <br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6IX14phLZT8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<br /></p><p>Bernard's poetry collection, Surge, won the 2020 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">29. Poet Kat Francois - Tube Rage and Ordinary [Absent Father] (UK)<br /></h2><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLb-L98SBnifoK7VWE7BlMcNeajHP0McYgvZjDaXS-4vAOKoypP-6Niq0vqlq043jJkYJfe7p-rLNZHL2vvlskguyNQEx2qp1QqZNEbFt-9ljEXkQzCWMOE8YmgSpyYIewQXHTaOCfC2Ul9JZmBSM5g0v733_w5M_v6bUFKvBKTf-NnBZb7SXLPxEQ/s1000/Kat_Fran%C3%A7ois.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="1000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLb-L98SBnifoK7VWE7BlMcNeajHP0McYgvZjDaXS-4vAOKoypP-6Niq0vqlq043jJkYJfe7p-rLNZHL2vvlskguyNQEx2qp1QqZNEbFt-9ljEXkQzCWMOE8YmgSpyYIewQXHTaOCfC2Ul9JZmBSM5g0v733_w5M_v6bUFKvBKTf-NnBZb7SXLPxEQ/w640-h426/Kat_Fran%C3%A7ois.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copyright: Kat Francois</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>On her website <a href="https://www.katfrancois.com/" target="_blank">Kat Francois</a> writes: "Kat is a performance poet with many accolades, including being the first person to win a UK televised poetry slam, held on BBC3 in 2004. <br />
</p><p>
Following this success, Kat was invited to take part in the World Slam Championships in Rotterdam, competing over 2 rounds against national champions from Canada, USA, Sweden, Australia, Germany, South Africa. Kat won the competition and was crowned World Slam Champion 2005.
Kat has been published in a number of anthologies. Her first collection, Rhyme and Reason, was published in 2008."
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0l1dhcVyt8E" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<b> </b></p><p><b>Poem</b><br />
<br />
ORDINARY<br />
<br />
I was 12 when we first met<br />
You spotted mum and me in the street.<br />
Jumped in the back of your blue Ford<br />
She told me you were my father.<br />
I shyly said hello,<br />
There were some similarities<br />
You had teeny mouse ears just like mine<br />
Our skin colourings matched, dark chocolate.<br />
But I dreamt you would be taller<br />
With a handsome movie star face<br />
Dazzling pearly teeth<br />
And manicured nails.<br />
I dreamt you’d have a deep man voice,<br />
A warm enveloping laugh.<br />
I dreamt that when we met you would hug me<br />
And shower me with love and long lost apologies.<br />
But that did not happen<br />
You were ordinary<br />
You could have been anyone’s father<br />
I made a mental note to ask mum if she was sure.<br />
I took sneaky looks at you<br />
Through the rear view mirror<br />
You smiled<br />
I did not smile back.<br />
<br />
copyright Kat Francois<br /></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">30. Black - Afro-European Literature from the Low Countries</h2><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC1627vzK1TV32VN2Uc4pdO16Wk4nJIObummKS88CgzqXjmm8Y26n3cYHyo_G3tIVns6W3EyE6Y2g9TUGA4m-tQc1qctZ1OZNAbFQhcP9PabBf5WWDl2-ktJEJF_2jpZxz0xD_ObGvfnY/s1600/zwart_cover.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="544" height="515" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC1627vzK1TV32VN2Uc4pdO16Wk4nJIObummKS88CgzqXjmm8Y26n3cYHyo_G3tIVns6W3EyE6Y2g9TUGA4m-tQc1qctZ1OZNAbFQhcP9PabBf5WWDl2-ktJEJF_2jpZxz0xD_ObGvfnY/s640/zwart_cover.png" width="544" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover </td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
The anthology <i>Zwart. Afro-Europese Literatuur uit de Lage Landen</i> (in English: <i>Black. Afro-European Literature from the Low Countries</i>) was launched on 1 February in TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, the Netherlands.<br /> </p><p>It’s a collection of stories - fiction and non-fiction (in Dutch) - by writers
with African roots from the Netherlands and Belgium. The authors’
backgrounds differ in terms of their homeland, culture, and language,
but they share a hybrid identity. The book is edited by Vamba Sherif and Ebissé Rouw.<br />
<br />
From the book read the <a href="http://www.knack.be/nieuws/boeken/zwart-bundelt-afro-europese-schrijvers-uit-de-lage-landen-een-verrijking-van-de-nederlandstalige-literatuur/article-longread-954805.html" target="_blank">intro </a><br />
<br />
The included authors in alphabetical
order (homeland-origin/country) from left to right:<br />
<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6n5rs3A7DIB3TIaJYrJLcoS8fNsAdt7TatWwbTg7OV2KhyfUz9179myWP5hhZltRanLwSuQMAet2NY7nVOZmOBbfTlwuqIL6ftgovV0w49qW2u9NPr1Tmv8AEq3u0MprjFM9Y8I3xyo/s1600/schrijvers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="788" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6n5rs3A7DIB3TIaJYrJLcoS8fNsAdt7TatWwbTg7OV2KhyfUz9179myWP5hhZltRanLwSuQMAet2NY7nVOZmOBbfTlwuqIL6ftgovV0w49qW2u9NPr1Tmv8AEq3u0MprjFM9Y8I3xyo/s640/schrijvers.jpg" width="394" /></a></div>
<br />
<ul><li><a href="https://www.letterenfonds.nl/nl/schrijver/735/simone-atangana-bekono" target="_blank">Simone Atangana Bekono</a> (Cameroon/Netherlands) - writer, poet | <a href="https://www.zammagazine.com/chronicle/chronicle-34/606-begrafenis" target="_blank">Begrafenis</a></li><li>Neske Beks (Gambia/Belgium/Netherlands) - actrice, writer</li><li>Heleen Debeuckelaere (Rwanda/Belgium) - historian</li><li>Nozizwe
Dube (Zimbabwe/Belgium), student</li><li>Clarice Gargard (Liberia/Netherlands) - journalist</li><li>Dalilla Hermans (Rwanda/Belgium) - opnion maker, writer </li><li>Sabrine Ingabire (Rwanda/Belgium) - student, writer</li><li>Kiza
Magendane (Congo/Netherlands) - student,writer </li><li><a href="https://www.writersunlimited.nl/en/participant/ahmad-al-malik" target="_blank">Ahmad Al Malik</a> (Sudan/Netherlands) - writer</li><li>Alphonse Muambi (<span class="st">Congo/</span>Netherland<span class="st">)</span> - writer</li><li>Hélène Christelle
Munganyende (<span class="st">Rwanda/</span>Netherlands<span class="st"></span>), </li><li>Olave Nduwanje (<span class="st">Burundi/</span>Netherlands<span class="st">)</span> - lawyer, activist</li><li>Melat G. Nigussie (Ethiopia/Belgium) - publicist </li><li>Seada Nourhussen (Ethiopia/Netherlands) - journalist</li><li>Anousha Nzume (Cameroon/Netherlands) - actrice, writer, opinion maker</li><li>Olivia U. Rutazibwa (Rwanda/Belgium) - academic</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamba_Sherif" target="_blank">Vamba Sherif </a>(Liberia/Netherlands) - writer</li><li>Babah Tarawally (Sierra Leone/Netherlands) - journalist</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chika_Unigwe" target="_blank">Chika Unigwe</a> (Nigeria/Belgium) - writer</li></ul><p>
Articles (in Dutch)<br />
<a href="https://www.trouw.nl/cultuur/zwarte-schrijvers-zijn-klaar-om-af-te-rekenen-met-de-witte-canon-~ae8f8f95/" target="_blank">Black writers are ready to get even with White cannon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.oneworld.nl/movement/hier-zijn-de-afropeanen/" target="_blank">Hier zijn de Afropeanen</a><br />
<a href="https://www.rektoverso.be/artikel/jagen-op-konijnen-met-een-machinegeweer" target="_blank">Jagen op konijnen met een machinegeweer</a><br />
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<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">More</h2><p>Also see the list: <a href="https://afroeurope.blogspot.com/p/afro-european-writers-list.html" target="_blank">Afro-European writers and books</a></p><p><br /></p><p></p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-60665197451001943052013-06-30T12:40:00.002+02:002023-01-02T14:08:16.920+01:00Video: StereoTypes Paris - French African vs. African American? <p> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hrRzyh7HRJ4" title="YouTube video player" width="465"></iframe> </p><p> What's it like to be a black person in France? What's the immigrant experience for people of African descent? StereoTypes host Ryan Hall hits the streets of Paris to find out.</p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-3370410020440039902013-06-30T11:07:00.004+02:002023-04-05T23:08:00.341+02:00Video: Black British conductor appointed at leading German orchestra<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitaoeP7dubhwADP15PTewoEQiI4aqsH-IE42STM6arLZx8nCE9nnqivdtFdnhH_gbyZqIzXuogXg79ZNPE8SCyDp7QHlmKlqKdavEDpilj0ca-hjwVoMySToV0xMFCJpBV8ny4uF8UPbY/s535/Wayne_Marshall.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitaoeP7dubhwADP15PTewoEQiI4aqsH-IE42STM6arLZx8nCE9nnqivdtFdnhH_gbyZqIzXuogXg79ZNPE8SCyDp7QHlmKlqKdavEDpilj0ca-hjwVoMySToV0xMFCJpBV8ny4uF8UPbY/w640-h434/Wayne_Marshall.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p> British conductor Wayne Marshall was thrilled to accept the new position: “I am honoured and delighted to be the next Chief Conductor of the WDR Rundfunkorchester. It’s a fantastic opportunity to work so closely with this wonderfully versatile group of musicians and I look forward enormously to building the partnership. I relish working on the eclectic range of repertoire for which WDR Rundfunkorchester is so well known and to sharing the music-making with the widest possible audience.”<br /> </p><p>WDR Radio Director Wolfgang Schmitz commented: “Wayne Marshall has earned himself an outstanding reputation worldwide, in both the classical music and the popular classical music fields. Few musicians before him managed to achieve that. With his international experience, his virtuosity and his charismatic personality, he is the ideal man for the job”. Read the full story at <a href="http://waynemarshall.com/blog/wayne-marshall-appointed-chief-conductor-of-wdr-rundfunkorchester-from-201415/" target="_blank">http://waynemarshall.com</a>
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Wayne Marshall was born in the UK and, after musical studies there and in Vienna, swiftly established an international career as organist and pianist.
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Wayne Marshall is a successful Black Briton, check out more interesting Black people at UK's <a href="http://www.ninetyninemag.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ninetynine Magazine</a>.
Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-51687465322664098492013-06-23T15:24:00.018+02:002023-10-21T18:36:10.255+02:00Short films: struggling Afro-German sisters in "Our Rhineland" and Black British disillusion in Notting Hill <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDNdPZAeuwbp389iYuiKvCWAsU-dJR0ujYLcGfjqy3sMt7TsVRfNj0eW65ckmZoY4GJvhuFBjKtNM26cWYnWwcto2Q8X8umH7RjKsiYLOxEk9cXvlDCixrCh1mvgiDM_spVasAs5kETI/s1600/RhineBrixtion.jpg"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDNdPZAeuwbp389iYuiKvCWAsU-dJR0ujYLcGfjqy3sMt7TsVRfNj0eW65ckmZoY4GJvhuFBjKtNM26cWYnWwcto2Q8X8umH7RjKsiYLOxEk9cXvlDCixrCh1mvgiDM_spVasAs5kETI/w640-h226/RhineBrixtion.jpg" width="640" /></a> </p><p>How does it feel being Black/mixed race in Germany during the Third Reich period in 1937 when you have to fight against forced sterilisation by the Nazis? </p><p>How does feel being Black in London's Notting Hill in 1958 when you feel British, but have to cope with racial tension, violence and isolation. </p><p>These are the topics of the award wining American short film "Our Rhineland" and the British short film "Sorry We don't help Darkies”. Two great short films about the Black experience in Europe
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</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Our Rhineland</b></h2><p>
In 1937, under the Third Reich, Germans of mixed race are being rounded up and rendered sterile. The looming threat is dangerously close, yet two sisters struggle over how to react - Sofia yearns to fight, while Marta says cope. </p><p>Their bond must be stronger than their differences if they are to overcome the horror of the Reich.</p><p> <br />
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</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Sorry We Don't Help Darkies</b></h2><p>
A Caribbean family living in London's Notting Hill during the tension and violence that led to the Notting Hill riots in 1958, comes to a brutal realisation that life in post war Britain is far from the 'Mother Country' that would welcome them with open arms as they had been told...<br /><br />
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<b>Read more about Black Germany and Black Britain: </b><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>
<a href="http://www.dw.de/the-fate-of-blacks-in-nazi-germany/a-5065360-1" target="_blank">The fate of blacks in Nazi Germany </a></li><li><a href="https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2022/05/12/exploring-the-notting-hill-race-riots-of-1958/" target="_blank">Exploring The Notting Hill Race Riots of 1958 </a><br /></li></ul><p><br /></p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-28016263628914279982013-06-22T00:33:00.004+02:002023-04-30T22:28:48.379+02:00Video: Spanish Concha Buika's new album, World tour and Cómo era <p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_on-WAwEGLg" width="456"></iframe> </p><p>Afro-Spanish singer and Grammy Award winner Concha Buika released her new album La Noche Más Larga (The Longest Night) on the 4th of June. The singer is now on a <a href="http://www.conchabuikamusic.com/shows/" target="_blank">World tour</a> to promote her new album and will be visiting several European countries from July till November. In the video the single Cómo era (As it was).
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOkVmyBIl6YoBuOAhaNeEkxBQNXarAZ50Hr-qa4gLthKBXVutRvyaPNpA9PLpQpPhpTpHByr3U3gynF2JEQqL7w38hxENkHK3sYh-qzKZExq9O36zhHlhyphenhyphen8-KQ3nt1FeyxhLUpsXu5-0/s1600/Concha+Buika.jpg"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaOkVmyBIl6YoBuOAhaNeEkxBQNXarAZ50Hr-qa4gLthKBXVutRvyaPNpA9PLpQpPhpTpHByr3U3gynF2JEQqL7w38hxENkHK3sYh-qzKZExq9O36zhHlhyphenhyphen8-KQ3nt1FeyxhLUpsXu5-0/w640-h434/Concha+Buika.jpg" width="640" /></a> </p><p>The arrival of Buika’s ninth album in 2013 is taking her to a new stage of her career. An era defined by her different creative processes which include; her second book of poems, “To those who loved hardcore women and left them” and producing her first movie based on a tale from her book, “From solitude to hell”.
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If you want to hear her Flamengo side see "Jodida pero contenta" from her 2005 debut album, her singing is accompanied by Spanish guitarist Niño Josele. </p><p><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/E58_5-FC3k4" width="465"></iframe>
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Check out the interview: <a href="http://www.theroot.com/views/root-interview-singer-buika-growing-black-spain" target="_blank">The Root Interview: Singer Buika on Growing Up Black in Spain</a>
</p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-31270079469494811412013-06-04T23:54:00.016+02:002023-01-19T22:07:47.815+01:00Whose Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité? Black in France Today <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXoDaA838HN0kJ5UoFKSnzoep2ctDX0DchsmKHehc3Ssg2fnoeOtNoA03Bp67ZPB68TiSGzskoan44DfTaTlrIpNmhbNeZzPC802aFLawRTn5S4u3Bp8qv2pSw3n-SRSAHFkFPnA2Cs4/s1600/Alexis_Peskine_liberte.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXoDaA838HN0kJ5UoFKSnzoep2ctDX0DchsmKHehc3Ssg2fnoeOtNoA03Bp67ZPB68TiSGzskoan44DfTaTlrIpNmhbNeZzPC802aFLawRTn5S4u3Bp8qv2pSw3n-SRSAHFkFPnA2Cs4/w640-h314/Alexis_Peskine_liberte.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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In 2007 French artist <a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2013/06/exposition-french-visual-artist-alexis.html">Alexis Peskine</a> voiced his anger in his exhibition "The French Evolution: Race, Politics & the 2005 Riots” at the <a href="http://mocada.org/2010/07/08/the-french-evolution-race-politics-and-the-2005-riots/" target="_blank">Museum of contempory African Diasporan Arts</a> in the US. But has anything changed after the riots?<br />
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Because Peskine's exhibition symbolizes the reality, this is what the New York Times wrote. "The glass door to the gallery is decorated with the icons used to designate men’s and women’s restrooms and with France’s motto, “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.” <div><br /></div><div>Just inside is another door made of wood with broken windows that says “Hors Service” (or “Out of Service”). The doors simultaneously evoke Jim Crow-era segregation in the United States and suggest that France is unable to offer liberty, equality and fraternity to all of its citizens, especially those whose parents or grandparents immigrated from former French colonies.<br />
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Next is “The French Evolution (Mariam’),” a portrait in profile of a young Senegalese model wearing the red Phrygian cap, an ancient symbol of liberty. The title is a play on Marianne, the official symbol of the French republic depicted in Delacroix’s 1830 “Liberty Leading the People,” and Mariama, a popular Senegalese name. "<br />
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Check the full story at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/arts/13pesk.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1370381409-gt2ZEWwsGjjQuIP7OTBi3w" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/ </a><br />
</div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">After the riots</h2>
The Museum of contempory African Diasporan Arts wrote, "The French Evolution is a solo exhibition by emerging artist Alexis Peskine in which Peskine reflects on the diverse identities that make up France, yet neglected in public perceptions of French culture. </div><div><br /></div><div>Emerging artist Alexis Peskine has created several large-scale images to showcase the intense politics that has been overtaking his native country of France for the past decade. </div><div><br /></div><div>Emigration from Africa and other continents has transformed France into a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society, through portions of the population have not yet dealt with this changing reality. </div><div><br /></div><div>Peskine’s works reveal an opposing view of La Douce France, a view demonstrating the marginalization of people of color within this country. </div><div><br /></div><div>Through The French Evolution, we hope to expose viewer to another world co-existing within France, but unknown to outsiders." Check the great images of the exhibition at <a href="http://mocada.org/2010/07/08/the-french-evolution-race-politics-and-the-2005-riots/" target="_blank">Museum of contempory African Diasporan Arts</a><br />
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Video: Years later, roots of French riots remain</div><div> <br />
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Video: French suburbs 30 years of tensions</div><div> </div><div> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="263" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o_jL7C-QJ1c" width="465"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>The word 'race' removed</b></h2></div><div>In 2018 the French Parliament removed the word ‘race’ from the <a href="https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/French-news/france-assembly-votes-to-remove-race-French-constitution" target="_blank">French constitution</a>. The new version reads: “France is an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It ensures equality before the law for all citizens, without distinction of sex, origin, or religion.”</div><div><br /></div><div>But the word 'Noir' which means 'Black' in French is still a taboo word in France. </div><p><br />
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<br />Race still matters in France. In June 2020, while the U.S. took to the streets demanding justice for George Floyd, Parisians reignited their calls for justice for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adama_Traor%C3%A9" target="_blank">Adama Traoré</a>. A Black man who died exactly 4 years ago in 2016 while being detained by the French national guard.<br /><br />
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<br /><br /></p><p>Updated Dec 22th, 2022<br /><br /></p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-46655736618009567042013-06-04T23:07:00.060+02:002023-04-22T15:50:58.640+02:00The migration of Black people from the Caribbean to Europe <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJoMvKK88Czc1amzk_BQ6vCpWpfd5wLBUG2ib4kUnjmpZ3mtmTsXAA7PvyqZ83GUAKf_8VOTAl2mhyphenhyphenjdEug0p6TUSMteUmjLdm2F2Erjr2OlNmWDXIusZFwdfhfa5-ZLKE9zgmaVFNS0/s1600/windrush_generation.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJoMvKK88Czc1amzk_BQ6vCpWpfd5wLBUG2ib4kUnjmpZ3mtmTsXAA7PvyqZ83GUAKf_8VOTAl2mhyphenhyphenjdEug0p6TUSMteUmjLdm2F2Erjr2OlNmWDXIusZFwdfhfa5-ZLKE9zgmaVFNS0/w640-h409/windrush_generation.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Windrush generation in Britain </td></tr>
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Between the 1950ties and 70ties many black people from the former Caribbean colonies of Britain and the Netherlands and from the overseas territories of France moved to Europe. They thought they were part of the 'motherland', but they soon found out the reality in Europe was different. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;"> <b>United Kingdom</b></h2><div>"Windrush: The generation that arrived in the 1950s and 1960s from the
Caribbean resolutely gave their all for Britain but were in many ways
failed by the nation," wrote the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2184335/Jamaica-At-50-So-Bob-Marley-Usain-Bolt-.html">Daily Mail</a>. <br /></div>
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The mass immigration of Black people from the Caribbean to the Britain started with Windrush in 1948. Right after the war many Caribbeans who had fought in WO II grabbed the chance to come back to 'motherland' since Caribbean countries suffered high unemployment, while in Britain there was a shortage of labour.<br />
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The BBC made a documentary about the Windrush. It is a 4-part series of one hour television documentaries originally broadcast on BBC2 in 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival in Britain of the Empire Windrush, the ship which brought the first wave of post-war West Indian immigrants. <div><br /></div><div>The series was also accompanied by the book Windrush: The Irresistible Rise Of Multi-Racial Britain. Check out the some very good documentaries below. But the documentary also shows the problems which came afterwards.<br />
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Video: Part 1: Arrival (30/05/98)<br />
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Part 2: Intolerance<div><br />
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Part 3: A New Generation <br /><br />
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Part 4: A Very British Story</div><div><br />
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In 1918 the problem surfaced that hundreds of Caribbean immigrants who belonged to the Windrush generation were suddenly regarded as illegal immigrants. </div><div><br /></div><div> They were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and in some case wrongly deported from the UK by the British government. This failure is called <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/windrush-day-2022-scandal-history-b2090931.html" target="_blank">Windrush scandal</a>.
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<h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>France </b></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYz1or1O_YjHw711l0VFykny-FWTHgsfoXhDbcwOD9RFsbyRIFTMlfiKafC4MD_0CP-_OZ4qbKPVva1tmusDTyjs5d-aNt-24ZfEznaq3e_SvFb-eDGrY3cnx2N9ge0QQQp4KA0Sm7cxg/s1600/budimon.jpg"><img border="0" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYz1or1O_YjHw711l0VFykny-FWTHgsfoXhDbcwOD9RFsbyRIFTMlfiKafC4MD_0CP-_OZ4qbKPVva1tmusDTyjs5d-aNt-24ZfEznaq3e_SvFb-eDGrY3cnx2N9ge0QQQp4KA0Sm7cxg/w640-h403/budimon.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>
For France the immigration started in 1962 with <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-french-windrush-when-french-caribbeans-were-treated-as-second-class-citizens-97144" target="_blank">BUMIDOM,</a> a controversial institution which was created by the French government in 1962 to supply the French industry with cheap labour from French Overseas Departments. </div><div><br /></div><div>The migration was controversial because people were offered a good future, but instead, regardless of the level of their education, they were put to work in menial jobs.<br />
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Another part was these black people from the Caribbean were confronted with racism and were treated as second class citizens, which often lead to a psychological confinement. Late <span id="result_box" lang="en">French Poet <span class="hps">Aimé Césaire </span><span class="hps">compared this migration to a</span> <span class="hps">deportation. </span></span><br />
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In the early 1960s, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion are in crisis: unemployment plunges a large part of the population in poverty, rapid population growth threatens the islands, the independence movements flourish. </div><div><br /></div><div>Youth is boiling and revolt is simmering. To lower the pressure, the French government finds a solution: Bumidom. The program is supposed to empty colonies and use the young people to address the shortage of labor in mainland France state-owned companies. </div><div><br /></div><div>It offers a one-way ticket for housing and employment opportunities for young Caribbeans and Réunionnais in exchange for their departure. Believing in the promise of a better life, more than 160,000 men and women between 18 and 25 years will pass through its structures. But many of them have have the feeling of being displaced, exploited and cheated.
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By entering today's intimate world of these uprooted families, the film tells the iconic and unique experiences of the men and women of Bumidom ". See video below.</div><div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="262" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ew8H1z2ldok" title="YouTube video player" width="465"></iframe>
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About the BUMIDOM French Misha M wrote a <a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2012/02/video-noir-de-france-blacks-of-france.html">comment</a> on Afro-Europe, she wrote: <i>"My mum is one of those Caribbeans that came at the end of the sixties through what was called the BUMIDOM. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Basically France paid thousands of cheap passages through 6 months of a bad boat trip, so people could arrive and be exploited as third category citizens and cheap labour. The way there were treated on arrival and the fact that the situation didn´t change for many years after, it changed this generation for ever. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>They did lost their identity and pride or part of their dignity and weren´t given the opportunity to have a real and positive assimilation. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>I´m like many other, the daughter of that generation, and what we learned from the difficulty of our parents is not to make much noise, always know our place in society and of course don´t dream too high and too loud. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Because even if we were given access to a good education we knew that after all, we would be confronted to a institutional racism (under the table, not spoken or in your face but real ) that would not let us pass from the service job sector."</i><br /><br />
The documentary Black France (in English) about the immigration of French Afro-Caribbeans and Africans to France, part 1,2 and 3
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Black France Conflicting identities, Episode # 1</div><div> <br />
<iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="262" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/168270987?h=d04ff08e89" width="465"></iframe><br /><br />
Black France The battle for social justice Episode # 2
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<iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="262" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/168279954?h=2a4d13af9d" width="465"></iframe><br />
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Black France Episode 3 - The Immigration Problem</div><div><br /></div><div> <iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="262" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/168280078?h=6a243bd3e8" width="465"></iframe></div><div><p><br /></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>The Netherlands</b></h2>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiGT7c3ZFcWnvawr7FluZhII2AU9Qb18fLvpIy_YWpSKeOyWH_jsXnhvhj8Kr0Db1qfvzZc8pk-LoPSUq8Et74YWrdTM0droLdB9DiCRmax2D_7gQW8UUedlGttl7C9AYqdVHPUJTKpNE/s1600/surinamese_crowd1975.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="421" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiGT7c3ZFcWnvawr7FluZhII2AU9Qb18fLvpIy_YWpSKeOyWH_jsXnhvhj8Kr0Db1qfvzZc8pk-LoPSUq8Et74YWrdTM0droLdB9DiCRmax2D_7gQW8UUedlGttl7C9AYqdVHPUJTKpNE/w640-h421/surinamese_crowd1975.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surinamese people in the Netherlands in 1975</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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For the Netherlands the mass immigration started in 1975 when Suriname became independent . Many people didn't had much faith in the economic future of the country. </div><div><br /></div><div>From the former Dutch Antilles the ‘mass’ immigration started in 1985 when the big oil refineries on Curacao and Aruba closed down their operations . The former Netherlands Antilles are still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.<br />
<br /><b>Suriname</b></div><div><b><br /></b>
An interesting chapter about the <a href="http://mcnl.berkeley.edu/netherlands/the-surinamese/" target="_blank">Surinamese migration to the Netherlands</a> states," At the time of independence, in 1975, Dutch subjects living in the colony of Suriname were given the choice of Dutch or Surinamese citizenship. </div><div><br /></div><div>Amazingly, 200,000 out of a population of 450,000 left Suriname for the Netherlands – a level of migration that is staggering in size and scope. </div><div><br /></div><div>Today, the population of Suriname has rebounded to roughly 450,000, while 300,000 people in the Netherlands trace their ancestry to Suriname. While only 2% of the population of the Netherlands is Surinamese, 40% of the Surinamese population lives in the Netherlands." Roughly 50% of the Surinamese population is Afro-Caribbean. <br />
<br />
If you want to find out how the Surinamese population has integrated in Dutch society read the article '<a href="http://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/372-race-in-the-netherlands-the-place-of-the-surinamese-in-contemporary-dutch-society" target="_blank">Race in the Netherlands: The Place of the Surinamese in Contemporary Dutch Society</a>'</div><div><br /></div><div>In two documentaries the story of immigration is told.</div><div><br />
Papieren Nederlandertjes, in English Paper Dutchmen, (1974) is a moving documentary of Surinamese children who emigrate to the Netherlands just before independence. The film was made by Surinamese-Dutch Director Frank Zichem.</div><div> <br />They tell him about their image of the Netherlands. Once in the Netherlands, reality often turns out to be disappointing. On paper they may be Dutch, but how does that work out in practice? They come into contact with discrimination at a young age. One of the children portrayed is Shirley Allison.
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The film was made by Surinamese-Dutch Director Frank Zichem.
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<iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/155091363?h=d846077a10" width="465"></iframe>
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Twenty-eight years later Shirley Allison is interviewed again. Now she is 37 and she looks back at the interview when she was nine , see the short documentary <a href="https://anderetijden.nl/aflevering/631/Shirley" target="_blank">here</a> </div></div></div></div>
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Surinamese people arriving in the Netherlands around 1975<div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kETKl6VQUtQ" width="465"></iframe><br />
<br />Since there are no captions I've translated what is being said in the video, you can read the transcript below. <br />
<br /><i>
"Airplanes from Paramaribo [the captital of Suriname] bring many weeks per month overseas citizens from warm Suriname to a gradually colder Netherlands. They leave a country where 25% of labor force is unemployed and where life, also due the inflation, is becoming increasingly difficult . Their Dutch passport garentees them acces to our country. <br />
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When they where not picked up by family or friends, the Surinamese are transported by bus to one of the shelters for overseas citizens.<br />
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The adults tired from the flight are paying little attention to the passing scenery . That that they are driving through the Bijlmer most of them don't seem notice. [The Bijlmer used to be the Surinamese district in Amsterdam.] <br />
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But the kids experience the first meeting with the new country as an adventure journey of discovery. We follow this mixed group of Javanese, Chinese and Creoles and Hindustani to the central shelter in Soest. <br />
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Immediately after arrival a procedure of registration and information starts about the rights the families enjoy in our country, then clothing and footwear is handed out, which should provide protection against the changing climate in the Netherlands. This usually means an encounter with mostly unknown garments. But these clothes are only provided to people who do not have the means to purchase them themselves. And they are far in the majority.<br />
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In the shelter, people can only stay briefly, because it must stay open for the almost daily stream of newcomers, which slowly begins to look like refugee stream . The final housing also provides problems.<br />
<br />
Dutchman (3:24) speaks to new the arrivals. "I am going to ask you where you want in live in the Netherlands in the future. You have to think about that. but on thing. You can not life in Amsterdam, You can not life in The Hague, not in Rotterdam and you can't life in Utrecht. These places are chock-full."</i><br />
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(2:30) And meanwhile Suriname empties out. Now that the date of independence is coming closer the uncertainty about the political situation drives many people out of the country. From the money obtained by the sale of their possessions many pay the passage to the Netherlands for themselves and their families. In the last few months mostly members of the Hindustani (East Asian), Javanese and Chinese populations are migrating to the Netherlands. But also among the Creoles there is still interest in the Netherlands, which at least gives them a piece of social security. The interest manifests itself most clearly at the passport office in Paramaribo, where hundreds daily apply for the important identity document.<br />
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And once the passport is there and the magic fly ticket is somehow obtained they go on their way to the Netherlands. More than one-third of the Surinamese population will have to manage themselves later on in the cool Netherlands."</i><br />
<br /><b>Netherlands Antilles</b><br />
<br /><div>People from Netherlands Antilles also move to the Netherlands. But since The Antilles are still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands the migration is not a mass migration. </div><div><br /></div><div>The first wave consisted primarily of students who moved the Netherlands for study. Some stayed others returned back to the islands. Students today still move to the Netherlands for study, but they also relocate to the US.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>In October 1965 a group of Dutch Caribbeans in the Netherland were interviewed in the media city of Hilversum. The interview are in Dutch, Papiamento and English. </div><div><div><div><br /></div><div>In the first part, they visit Philips Telecommunica-tion in Hilversum, where the Antilleans work. </div></div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b2O36ZzkL_k" title="YouTube video player" width="465"></iframe><br /><br />In the 1990s, many people of the Antilles who migrated to the Netherlands were underprivileged residents from Curaçao, who came to the Netherlands because of the poor economic conditions on the island. </div><div><br />
In 1989 a film was made about Antilleans in Amsterdam. Some struggled, but others tried to find their way into society.</div><div> <br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyro-scope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rj1946Tem2M" title="YouTube video player" width="465"></iframe>
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<b>Read more about Black people in Europe</b>: </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2013/06/short-films-struggeling-sisters-in-our.html">Short films: struggling sisters in "Our Rhineland" and Black disillusion in Notting Hill</a></li></ul></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Updated Dec 22th, 2022</span></span><br />Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-68594795391005835402013-06-04T22:18:00.000+02:002013-06-04T22:18:20.442+02:00Magazine: TRANSITION 111 - "New Narratives of Haiti"<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpPY4bkNjU9IZe32e89EBPw9PFo-egwdQRmtesvEWH_CThByUmu9BT-3-lx37J7zNoBQ1tiZsDkKy9XZEodcVH8-ZA_2BmuRmZUKRHbyrfDzJ1Ls8OYGhMJNmXXV9AfC73196j-kXU4LY/s1600/transition111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpPY4bkNjU9IZe32e89EBPw9PFo-egwdQRmtesvEWH_CThByUmu9BT-3-lx37J7zNoBQ1tiZsDkKy9XZEodcVH8-ZA_2BmuRmZUKRHbyrfDzJ1Ls8OYGhMJNmXXV9AfC73196j-kXU4LY/s320/transition111.jpg" /></a> The day when Haitians as a people and Haiti as a symbol are no longer representatives of or synonymous with poverty, backwardness, and evil is still yet to come. <br />
<br />
-Gina Athena Ulysse, "Why Haiti Needs New Narratives Now <br />
More than Ever"<br />
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Issue 111, "New Narratives of Haiti," is a step toward answering Ulysse's call. To this end, Guest Editors Laurent Dubois and Kaiama L. Glover have invited contributors to think about the world in ways that place Haiti at its center. Thought pieces by Madison Smartt Bell, Jonathan Katz, Gina Athena Ulysse and others, as well as translations of Frankétienne, Lyonel Trouillot, and Michel-Rolph Trouillot, dispel trenchant clichés that have long plagued representations of Haiti in literature and scholarship.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a> The issue also includes Jamaica Kincaid's poignant memories of a brother lost to AIDS, and a scholar's chance discovery of cultural (and genealogical?) links between Cuba and Sierra Leone. Exceptional poetry, fiction, and review essays also take us beyond Haiti to San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, and Renaissance Europe. Grab a copy for your beach bag.<br />
<br />
For more information about this issue check <a href="http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/transition-magazine" target="_blank">http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/transition-magazine</a>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-3398632139791264782013-06-04T21:54:00.058+02:002024-01-21T20:45:06.555+01:00Dutch black people: My celebration of 150th anniversary abolition of slavery <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSp2bL2i5A-vJm_Ydoz8uh2qIVw9MgXY1N3u7VF1U2-OCxROkCrWHLegZ5Vbsoh9L3S1Y97otxf8ae-l3SqR2URFPYwzCLzOWSotoIvgQ8lS7rXqYyaeNcgERcJtPasNvzLEI1RyDSTBA/s1600/door_of_no_return.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSp2bL2i5A-vJm_Ydoz8uh2qIVw9MgXY1N3u7VF1U2-OCxROkCrWHLegZ5Vbsoh9L3S1Y97otxf8ae-l3SqR2URFPYwzCLzOWSotoIvgQ8lS7rXqYyaeNcgERcJtPasNvzLEI1RyDSTBA/w640-h427/door_of_no_return.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">@Johan Gerrits. In the middle the door of no Return - Cape Coast castle</td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>The door of no return is a classic image of the Atlantic slave trade. Somewhere between the 16th and 18th century my ancestors walked on a path like this and never returned back to Africa. </p><p>On<a href="https://bijlmerexpress.blogspot.com/2023/04/films-nederlands-slavernijverleden_30.html" target="_blank"> the 1st of July </a>The Netherlands will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colony of Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean in 1863. But somehow it seems like yesterday. <br />
</p>My only tangible personal item of something that is linked to slavery is this photo below. Her name is Celina Grunberg and she was born in Paramaribo in Suriname in 1878, 15 years after the abolition of slavery. She became 93 years old. The rest is a mystery. Her photo reminds me of the door of no return, slavery and freedom. <br /><p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsiVVB5o1ddLCwwG-zLmy3xJ0Wbz4p8jGIJEAZWLPm6FHdfVrb_WrovNsdqrq4gfhOZhSteLfFn-l_U6ehQc-ssX-ANo03tMrpLyh1ClVHpSk1Y7NoAo7fHv6VhryG7nxN1VP35NU7xTI/s1600/grunberg.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsiVVB5o1ddLCwwG-zLmy3xJ0Wbz4p8jGIJEAZWLPm6FHdfVrb_WrovNsdqrq4gfhOZhSteLfFn-l_U6ehQc-ssX-ANo03tMrpLyh1ClVHpSk1Y7NoAo7fHv6VhryG7nxN1VP35NU7xTI/s1600/grunberg.jpg" /></a><br />
<br /></p><p>To celebrate the forthcoming 150th anniversary of the abolition I've put together a small personal celebration of my own. <br /><br />
To start, the main celebration of abolition of slavery is the Netherland and Suriname is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keti_Koti" target="_blank">Keti Koti.</a>It's Surinamese for 'the chains are cut'. The festival is held every year in Amsterdam on 1 July, more information at <a href="http://www.ketikotiamsterdam.nl/" target="_blank">www.ketikotiamsterdam.nl</a>. <br /></p><p>People from Curaçao celebrate the abolition of slavery with the commemoration of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tula_%28Cura%C3%A7ao%29" target="_blank">Tula</a> revolt on 17th August. Tula was the leader of a 1795 slave revolt that convulsed the island for more than a month. </p><p>From a Curaçaoan perspective the Surinamese celebrate a date wich is given by the oppressors versus a date of resistance by Tula against the oppressors. <br />
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The new Dutch film Tula the Revolt, which has sparked a lot of debate. </p><p><br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="265" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ieNofGD6sH8" title="YouTube video player" width="465"></iframe>
<b> </b></p><p>There is great website about the history of Curacao at <a href="https://www.curacaohistory.com/1657-first-slave-ship-in-curacao" target="_blank">www.curacaohistory.com </a></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Reading about slavery and colonialism <br /></b></h2><p>
The Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam (1796) of British–Dutch soldier <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gabriel_Stedman" target="_blank">John Gabriel Stedman</a> (1744 – 1797) . </p><p>The book, written in 18th century Dutch, gives a detailed description of how enslaved black people lived in a slavery society. </p><p>I remember how Stedman wrote, how he saw a group of white soldiers hit a enslaved black man with a stick on his head on how he saw his head started to bleed. </p><p>He wrote everything so detailed you can almost feel the whole slavery atmosphere. But for the most part
he wrote about his encounter with enslaved women, mosquitoes, and about his diving in the Suriname river.</p><p> I read the Dutch version of this book in secondary school to write a paper about slavery. <br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-tqQibdN6-o" width="465"></iframe></p><p><br />
Another favorite book is 'Black skin, White mask<i>s</i>' of Franz Fanon. As James Baldwin would have said it, he takes you to the dungeons of your mind. It's a very direct book, it's a psycho analysis of the colonized black mind. That is perhaps the reason why some a people hate, it can be very confrontational. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LXmsW1yr4pI" title="YouTube video player" width="465"></iframe> </p><p>You can see full video <a href="http://youtu.be/0QkNWbh-nUQ" target="_blank">here</a>
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Book: Wij slaven van Suriname/We slaves of Suriname<br /></h2><p>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_de_Kom" target="_blank">"Wij slaven van Suriname ("We slaves of Suriname) by Anton de Kom</a> ( 1898 – 1945). The book gives a detailed description of slavery in Suriname. It was published in 1934 and it's an authentic black Surinamese perspective on slavery and colonialism. De Kom was a Surinamese resistance fighter and anti-colonialist author, he died in a German concentration camp. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="265" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h7CDCSyGfKo" title="YouTube video player" width="465"></iframe>
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<br />
When I started reading creole literature and poems I didn't understand some of the spiritual references. So I read books about the Afro-Surinamese religion Winti, which is a religion that combines aspects of Christianity and West-African religions. </p><p>Most books about Surinamese literature are written in Dutch, but <a href="https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/voor007creo01_01/index.php" target="_blank">Creole drum - An Anthology of Creole Literature in Surinam </a>is written in English. <br /></p><p>The film and video (below) 'Looking for Apuku' reminds of my spiritual knowledge gap. The film is inspired by the bush-spirit Apoekoe; a lively, smart figure taking various shapes and with many special features. He can make you loose your way in the jungle, or take possession of your wife. </p><p>But he can also help you hunting, and make you invisible to your enemies. He is like a bewildering cascade of words. According to the maker, 'It's a mysterious and enchanting trip to the pristine rainforest of Suriname.'<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Rrr8vvONb6Y" width="456"></iframe>
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<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
Slave owners in <b>Amsterdam</b></h2><p>
Amsterdam is a historical city, but some of it's wealth was generated by former colonies and slavery. If you want to know where all slave owners in Amsterdam lived, check out this map below. But if you look up the word 'slavery' on the Wikipedia page of the<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Amsterdam" target="_blank"> history of Amsterdam</a>, you won't find it. <br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.nl/maps/ms?msid=200753703523385355304.0004c09f33f8358801212&msa=0&hl=nl&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=52.372874,4.894152&spn=0.043441,0.077162&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small><a href="https://maps.google.nl/maps/ms?msid=200753703523385355304.0004c09f33f8358801212&msa=0&hl=nl&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=52.372874,4.894152&spn=0.043441,0.077162&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">Slaveneigenaren in Amsterdam 1863</a> weergeven op een grotere kaart</small>
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</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Dutch King apologizes for the Netherlands’ role in slavery in 2023</b></h2><div style="text-align: left;">This a post update. I wrote this post in 2013 and in 2023 I saw the royal apology on television. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Interesting to note is that the anniversary in 2023 was called the 150th anniversary instead of 160th. This is because although 150 years ago in 1863 slavery was abolished by law, in Suriname people were forced to work another 10 years before they were finally free. <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AX2hBUHYroY?si=-ruifJh2_G9kYxQe" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Later that that day I went to the<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSkpUAyVTs0" target="_blank"> afterparty.</a> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Suriname and the national poem</b> </h2><p>I think part of my cultural toolbox is the poem <a href="http://www.suriname.nu/701vips/belangrijke45.html" target="_blank">'One tree'</a>
of Surinamese poet, radical and militant nationalist Dobru. </p><p>With his
poem he summed up what Suriname is all about. In Suriname they say that nowhere in the
world you will find so many cultures on one <span class="st">square meter</span>
and it's the only place where an Islamic mosque and Jewish synagogue
can stand next to each other. And it's the only place where Jews and Islamic people
attend each other parties as good neighbors.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">But beneath that celebrated multiculturalism there is also racial prejudice and friction. <br />
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<b>ONE TREE (1973)</b><br />
one tree / so many leaves /one tree<br />
one river/ so many creeks /all are going to one sea<br />
one head /so many thoughts /thoughts among, which one good one must be<br />
one God /so many ways of worshipping /but one Father<br />
one Surinam/ so many hair types / so many skin colours / so many tongues/ one people<br />
</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br />
</p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Music: </b>Na Wi Dey (Today is our day)</h2><p>
I am going to end with the Surinamese song "Na Wi Dey" ("Today is our day") of <a href="http://www.musicbynorman.com/" target="_blank">Norman van Geerke</a> from his debut album Eygi Sani (Eigen Ding). </p><p>It' s typical Surinamese creole music. Although it's not written for Emancipation day, it does have the vibe for this special day. <br />
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Na Wi Dey - Today is our day<br />
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The production team Van Geerke Music was so kind of enough to translate the song text in English. </p><p>The language is Surinamese, a creole language which is spoken by Creoles (or Black people), Asians, Marroons, the Indigenous people of Suriname and all other ethnic groups. <br />
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Na Wi Dey<i><br /></i>Na wi dey, na wi dey <br />
Na wi dey tide. Backing (na wi dey 4x) <i> <br />Today is our day, it’s our day</i>Tide w’ala e sing’ iniHer’ grontapu<br />
Wan fasi w’e bar’ na wi dey<br />
Tide w’ala e sing’ iniHer’ grontapu<br />
W’e bar’ na wi dey<i><br />Today all over the world we are singing,<br />And all shout that it’s our day<br />today all over the world we are singing<br />and shout that it’s our day</i><br />
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Mi hat’ e firiF’<br />
ala sma e prisiri<br />
Un n’e go af’afu<br />
W’ala dya f’ lafu<br />
W’e tan dansi, w’e singi<br />
Yu breyt’ na ini<br />
Libi sma ala sey<br />
na wi dey<i><br /><br />I feel it in in my heart,<br />Everyone is having a good time<br />We’re going all the way<br />And are all here to share the laughter<br />We’ll keep dancing and singing<br />And are joyful within<br />All people, all over<br />It’s our day<br />Today all over the world we are singing,<br />and as one voice we call out that it’s our day</i><br />
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Na verjari dey<br />
Trow-oso a liba sey<br />
Yu p’kin ‘e dopu<br />
wan breyti boskopu<br />
Tek wan koyri na foto<br />
Tide y’ bay wan oto<br />
Fu prisiri w’e bar’<br />
Na wi dey<i><br /><br />Whether it’s a birthday,<br />A wedding ceremony down by the river<br />Your child being baptised<br />Or just receiving some good news<br />Taking a stroll trhough the city<br />Or buying a car today<br />With great joy we will shout<br />It’s our day<br />Today all over the world we are singing,<br />and as one voice we call out that it’s our day</i><br />
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Na wi dey na wi dey na wi dey tide<br />
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Ai, tide na wan f’den swit’ s pesrutu dey,<br />
Te den sisa e prodo,<br />
Te den mek’ den modo<br />
Na fa w’e bar’ en tide<i><br /><br />Yes today is one of those special days<br />Where the sisters all dress up<br />And want to look their best<br />We’ll shout it out today</i><br />
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Ala nowtu ala sari<br />
Now mi frigiti<br />
Winsi sa’ e kon Tamara<br />
Tide na wi dey fu hori dya<br />
Mi n’e spang<br />
M’e prisiri<br />
Atibron m’ n’e firi<br />
M’e bar’ na wi dey<i><br /><br />All my troubles and sorrow<br />Are all forgotten<br />Whatever comes tomorrow<br />I’ll hold on to what today will bring<br />I am not worried<br />I am joyous<br />And free of angry feelings<br />I shout it’s our day</i><br />
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Tide w’e way anu fu prisiri<br />
W’e dansi w’e singi<br />
W’e sor’ na grontapu<br />
Fa un breyti na ini<i><br /><br />Today we joyfully wave our hands<br />We dance and we sing<br />And show the whole world<br />How happy we are within</i>
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<br /> <b>Read more about Black people in The Netherlands:</b><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>
<a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2010/11/black-community-in-netherlands-meet.html">Black people in The Netherlands – Meet the Surinamese</a></li></ul>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-57949229316662958452013-06-01T13:06:00.003+02:002023-04-06T13:12:48.812+02:00Exposition: French visual artist Alexis Peskine “Rising above France” in Paris<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHv7bXH_gWeWPNWjG-UmofR3DKY1F7i9jhfPIQAk-E9A_WHmUiJA6FW6YtXRTAFiEviOulyVvz7DFsSs2-0XEfUpjCflIsw1zTa2GlK93ADgb5jS_AdXAm699aVjk3Tgn_C6wvYVYnB_w/s1600/Alexispeskine.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="443" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHv7bXH_gWeWPNWjG-UmofR3DKY1F7i9jhfPIQAk-E9A_WHmUiJA6FW6YtXRTAFiEviOulyVvz7DFsSs2-0XEfUpjCflIsw1zTa2GlK93ADgb5jS_AdXAm699aVjk3Tgn_C6wvYVYnB_w/w640-h443/Alexispeskine.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>If you are in Paris check out the work of <span class="st">Franco-Brazilian <i></i></span>visual artist Alexis Peskine from May 21st to June 21st 2013, at GALERIE BE-ESPACE, 57, rue Amelot. 75011 Paris. His main themes in his work are race and identity issues.
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<b>Gallery introduction</b><br />
At last, <a href="http://www.alexispeskine.com/" target="_blank">Alexis Peskine</a> is back in Paris. This time he’s storming the Bastille, exhibiting at the BE-ESPACE Gallery, 57 rue Amelot, from 21 May to 21 June 2013. It’s a proud moment for the gallery’s US-born founder and director, Brian Elliott Rowe, who is thrilled to present a dozen works by this multi-facetted, world-renowned artist. <br />
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« Rising above France » ? In fact, Alexis Peskine could hardly be more in tune with the reality of France, in all its diversity and singularity. His father was Franco-Russian, his mother Afro-Brazilian. His grandfather was a Jew who survived the German death camps. This baggage could be hard to carry, but instead it provides him with wings, both as an artist and as a man.<br />
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Read the details at <a href="http://www.galerie-be-espace.com/en/pages/alexis-peskine" target="_blank">GALERIE BE-ESPACE</a><br />
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Video: Nails and art
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Video: Peskine in Brazil
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Read more about Peskin at The New York Times: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/arts/13pesk.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">Whose Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité? Colors of France Today </a>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-21147778194235267932013-06-01T11:00:00.001+02:002023-01-02T14:38:36.571+01:00Video: Ty - "Let's Start"<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ht-7YmwQhu0" width="465"></iframe> </p><p>UK emcee/producer Ty released his high energy new video “Let’s Start”. Video directed by Alex Winn. This single will appear on Kick Snare And An Idea Pt. 2, which drops June 10th via Tru Thoughts. The dancer is Teneisha Bonner.</p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-26646280956390260382013-06-01T01:22:00.001+02:002023-01-02T14:39:43.742+01:00Video: Black Portraiture[s]: The Black Body in the West (France)<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-E3t8_rDdZI3W_G0MBLzJXxY0SfE8QQFBZWcMHGbb5hQqioywCpptsZtWbwY2idwWzcRJjIHjnNDjtYgkjwD15-UvQ9wezXkMODzZy0r5WHRjuDf68YFfEU4FSbWafrwQA0C7g7ZWF0/s1600/Merchant_of_Venice.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB-E3t8_rDdZI3W_G0MBLzJXxY0SfE8QQFBZWcMHGbb5hQqioywCpptsZtWbwY2idwWzcRJjIHjnNDjtYgkjwD15-UvQ9wezXkMODzZy0r5WHRjuDf68YFfEU4FSbWafrwQA0C7g7ZWF0/s640/Merchant_of_Venice.jpg" width="465" /></a></div>A French video report of the conference Black Portraiture[s]: The Black Body in the West which was held January 17-20, 2013 in Paris France.<br />
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How the black body has been imagined in the West has always been a rich site for global examination and contestation. The representation and depiction of black peoples often has been governed by prevailing attitudes about race and sexuality.<br />
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From the ubiquitous Renaissance paintings of blacks as the “other” positioned as the sublime backdrop or purposely attracting the lustful gaze of the other, to the recent French Elle magazine article on First Lady Michelle Obama’s sense of style finally filtering down to the fashion-strapped black masses, to the Italian Vogue special issue on African fashion, there is evidence that discussion of the black body remains relevant.<br />
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How the black body is displayed and viewed changes with each generation constantly allowing young diasporic generations from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, the U.K., Middle East, and the Caribbean to add their own dimensions to explore ideas about reinvention and self-representation. The universality of black culture and its global presence has played a leading role in mainstream sports, music, fashion and the performing and visual arts with implications worthy of much critique.<br />
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See Afro-Europe <a href="http://afroeurope.blogspot.nl/2012/12/black-portraitures-black-body-in-west.html">Black Portraiture[s]: The Black Body in the West</a>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/66281924?portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="465"></iframe> Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-83837050388484570562013-05-31T22:40:00.013+02:002023-04-22T15:56:58.342+02:00Jennifer Tosch shows Black colonial heritage in Amsterdam<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDy4P3Na0zRIyKHz6jEmItrBm6RtmLFDv6cvuwLqIk2g2R6UPWvkJzob6y4nLB713iVnO-F9IP-qTbOCq5SKFkPvmGXMkLnpF7iGVvc0JgPipS_bknB5y_A-QdPtm5fMfLvkaJFOS5fgk/s1600/Jennifer_tosch_tours.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDy4P3Na0zRIyKHz6jEmItrBm6RtmLFDv6cvuwLqIk2g2R6UPWvkJzob6y4nLB713iVnO-F9IP-qTbOCq5SKFkPvmGXMkLnpF7iGVvc0JgPipS_bknB5y_A-QdPtm5fMfLvkaJFOS5fgk/w640-h427/Jennifer_tosch_tours.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">@Het Parool - Jennifer Tosh </td></tr>
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Jennifer Tosch is a Surinamese-American who founded the successful <a href="http://www.blackheritagetours.com/" target="_blank">Black Heritage Amsterdam Tour </a>in The Netherlands, a tour trough the city which the contributions of the African Diaspora to Dutch society from the 16th century to the present. <br /></p><p>See a video of the tour </p><p><br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HBaMgkPpnT4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Related</h2><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://travelnoire.com/explore-the-history-and-culture-of-black-paris-with-these-tours" target="_blank">Black Paris tours</a> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></li></ul><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Updated Dec 22th, 2022</span></span> <br />Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-44029606587818978102013-05-31T19:39:00.001+02:002023-01-02T14:40:14.009+01:00Is jumping the broom a black American tradition?<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8WHtU-i8ccq08XRB8Sn_MrPJfOt9hVWqF80iutry24EfqNC7IId0NTTFr0T3abI8zisRV8tF8nJRvjqg7i9Gs_NbihtK1Y3vg7Flmk8rR1dEGDci0ffqQ39QKkZ8y7rfnF8cjbboywDw/s1600/jumping_the_broom.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8WHtU-i8ccq08XRB8Sn_MrPJfOt9hVWqF80iutry24EfqNC7IId0NTTFr0T3abI8zisRV8tF8nJRvjqg7i9Gs_NbihtK1Y3vg7Flmk8rR1dEGDci0ffqQ39QKkZ8y7rfnF8cjbboywDw/s640/jumping_the_broom.jpg" width="465" /></a></div>African-Americans jump over a broom if they get married, at least that is my Afro-European perception. But is jumping the broom a black appropriation of a white custom? Blogger Azizi Powell of the blog <a href="http://pancocojams.blogspot.nl/" target="_blank">Pancocojams</a> explains the tradition. <br />
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Since its inclusion in the bestselling novel and mega hit 1977 American television miniseries Roots, “jumping the broom” has become a part of many African American wedding ceremonies and wedding receptions. When jumping the broom is part of an African American wedding ceremony, it usually occurs at the minister's direction immediately after the groom kisses his bride. When it is part of the wedding reception, jumping the broom usually occurs before the newlyweds take their first dance.<br />
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Read the full story on <a href="http://pancocojams.blogspot.nl/2011/08/is-jumping-broom-black-appropriation-of.html" target="_blank">Pancocojams</a>
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Azizi replied, "I should clarify that the tradition of jumping the broom was known to African Americans before the television mega hit Roots. Also, I didn't mean to imply that all African Americans incorporate "jumping the broom" in their wedding reception or their actual wedding ceremony.* That would be incorrect. But more African Americans have incorporated this custom since 1977 than ever before, and many African Americans think that "jumping the broom" is an African tradition."
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An perhaps that is why French soul singer Ben L'Oncle Soul, in his song "Elle me dit", jumps over the broom. <br /><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T2KRd6eFrGc" width="465"></iframe>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-11806128897349359732013-05-31T17:55:00.006+02:002023-05-01T13:54:07.009+02:00 Video: Emergence of the underground UK Black radio scene<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Wolverhampton Disco, England, 1978. Photo by Chris Steele- Perkins</td></tr>
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The book "<a href="http://everygeneration.co.uk/index.php/shop-home/masters-of-the-airwaves" target="_blank">Masters of the Airwaves: The Rise & Rise of Underground Radio</a>" and the video tells the story of the birth of black music radio in Britain in the seventies. It starts out with a few black music shows on legal radio, leading on to the black music pirate radio boom, and culminating with legal, black music radio stations.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>It tells of a time before the Internet, mobile phones and digital TV/radio, when die-hard black music fans had to work hard and travel far to hear the music they loved.<br />
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With contributions from Robbie Vincent, Greg Edwards, Jazzie B OBE, David Rodigan MBE, Norman Jay MBE, Trevor Nelson MBE, Peter Young, Tony Prince, Omar, Simon Harris, Paul Hardcastle, Maxi Jazz, Mistri, Kwame Kwaten, DJ 279, Joanna Law, Caron Wheeler, Barrie K. Sharpe, Pauline Henry, Simon Law, Lorna Clarke, Rachael B, Devon Daley, Dr Bob Jones, Steve Sutherland, Paul Murphy, Aitch B, Lewis Benn, Mark Devlin, Bigger, Sonia Poulton,Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson, Eddie Gordon, Louie Martin, Ralph Tee, Matt White, Normski,Graeme Park, Judge Jules, Ash Selector, Fitzroy Buzzboy, Mike Shaft, Frenchie, Carl Mcintosh,Owen Washington, Gordon Mac, DJ Elayne (Smith), Angie Greaves, Angie Le Mar and footballer Mark Bright amongst many others, the book contains countless anecdotes from people that were actually there; the pioneers that actually made history.<br />
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<a href="http://mastersoftheairwaves.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">mastersoftheairwaves.tumblr.com</a><br />
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Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-32868629288882883082013-05-30T21:46:00.013+02:002023-05-01T13:54:58.680+02:00Black Irish singer Laura Izibor shows Dublin<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8AgWNDEwVrY4KdRLhcCr0TbxiDbXaUVoPyObLUqwmItn9y6u3Gce-YSuxuE6uXXEjM7iYycFZYmOSuYs4R5yxnnoiaRqErZXg9G58Wyx_bKbyPbHTKP5WqQyfrlVQF-iRFiprpoG6ILc2XBb7cR0Gc0Q-Dna-H_mBMIaYPjZ2x7G6gvm7eMee0w0y/s1280/laura_Izibor_in_Dublin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8AgWNDEwVrY4KdRLhcCr0TbxiDbXaUVoPyObLUqwmItn9y6u3Gce-YSuxuE6uXXEjM7iYycFZYmOSuYs4R5yxnnoiaRqErZXg9G58Wyx_bKbyPbHTKP5WqQyfrlVQF-iRFiprpoG6ILc2XBb7cR0Gc0Q-Dna-H_mBMIaYPjZ2x7G6gvm7eMee0w0y/w640-h360/laura_Izibor_in_Dublin.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Laura Izibor</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Irish singer–songwriter Laura Izibor shows us Dublin. She tells how difficult it was growing up in Ireland feelings as the only Black person,
but Ireland has changed.
</p><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1ERWW22yRlY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p> Izibor became famous with the song "From My Heart To Yours" in 2009 </p><p></p><p>
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She also mentions the only statue of black person in Ireland, the statue of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lynott" target="_blank">Phil Lynott </a>of the famous Rock band Thin Lizzy. Check the song "Whiskey in the jar" below"<br />
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Phil Lynott - Ode to a black man </p><p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-zVPN-ZFgnU" width="560"></iframe></p>Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-38668099761783176012013-05-30T18:26:00.002+02:002023-01-17T22:11:27.035+01:00Video: Conversation with Black British architect David Adjaye<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhROyd2R6DFAuhZmztyEzm7-2q-wx77-rHvdfgETrF6Eq1dCa8pVVRlMJW_D77Jz3mFd5zksAHSP5RW2X2k-Y4Tw4X9lO56KHTHUs6YboG1GneeQFzpYNpNTim8fvQbsd2djnJ8xKa5020/s1600/David+Adjaye+.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhROyd2R6DFAuhZmztyEzm7-2q-wx77-rHvdfgETrF6Eq1dCa8pVVRlMJW_D77Jz3mFd5zksAHSP5RW2X2k-Y4Tw4X9lO56KHTHUs6YboG1GneeQFzpYNpNTim8fvQbsd2djnJ8xKa5020/w640-h374/David+Adjaye+.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Adjaye - courtesy Adjaye Associates</td></tr></tbody></table>
In conversation with David Adjaye. The renowned architect who is in the business of building history. In the interview he talks about the African American Smithsonian museum, role models and stereotypes.
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Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595398753131290281.post-74741715176504856042013-05-30T00:01:00.000+02:002013-05-30T18:26:25.815+02:00Germans in the Caribbean? The history of Germans, slaves and Suriname<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlDY6D4Smj5rBsJZRzN6uj7ltC4g0BUDdqtcc3j63rJzR7BnZBK14FQKSenZPuPeAFqoCwiAwrTkZqO2HLDWjfTgm6vpPRks0MFcKqLBaBrNEOdOKxk4qE5ly1tyEq6y7XSSqDZ6vWPs/s1600/fotuna_germanslave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlDY6D4Smj5rBsJZRzN6uj7ltC4g0BUDdqtcc3j63rJzR7BnZBK14FQKSenZPuPeAFqoCwiAwrTkZqO2HLDWjfTgm6vpPRks0MFcKqLBaBrNEOdOKxk4qE5ly1tyEq6y7XSSqDZ6vWPs/s640/fotuna_germanslave.jpg" width="465" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Franziska Christine von Pfalz-Sulzbach and her Surinamese slave Ignatius Fortuna</td></tr>
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Badenstein, Berlijn and Halle in Saxen sound like the names of German Cities. And names as Duttenhofer, Krieger and Kuhn sound like German family names. But these name were also the names of slave plantations and are also family names of black people in Suriname.<br />
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<a href="http://www.duitslandweb.nl/actueel/uitgelicht/2011/2/de-lezing-over-duitsers-in-suriname.html" target="_blank">Carl Haarnack</a> researched the German influence in Suriname from 1650 en 1900 and found that their influence didn't start with the Moravian Church of the German missionaries in Suriname during the abolitional period, but sooner. <br />
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The Moravian Church is the largest church in Suriname and it’s the church of the Creole community. There are also schools for Creole children in the Netherlands and in Suriname who are part of that church.<br />
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<a href="http://repeatingislands.com/2011/01/03/panel-discussion-on-german-migration-to-suriname/" target="_blank">Introduction</a>: Suriname joined the Treaty of Breda in 1667. Until then, it was the French, the British and the Dutch who alternately called the shots. Besides bringing enough workers (mainly African slaves), a great challenge was to attract sufficient European settlers. At the end of the 18th century, the colony had a population of about 50,000 inhabitants, of which only 3000 were white Europeans. A significant part of this small population was of German origin. It is logical that these Germans left their mark in Suriname throughout the centuries. Among them were missionaries, doctors, merchants, plantation managers, and many soldiers. There are estates in Suriname with names like Berlin, Halle in Saxony, Altona, Brunswick, Hamburg, Hildesheim Burg, and Clemens, to name a few. Many Surinamese surnames are of German origin; Baumgartner, Bender, Heilbronn, Hering, Karg, Kuhn, Krieger, Menke, Neuss, Petzoldt, Stuger, Telting, and Vogt are just random examples. But under what circumstances did the Germans go to Suriname? Who were these people? What motivated them to embark on this voyage?<br />
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You can read the answers in Dutch at <a href="http://bukubooks.wordpress.com/duitsers/" target="_blank">http://bukubooks.wordpress.com/duitsers/</a><br />
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It appears that a Black Surinamese woman named Alzire lived and died in Germany in 18the century. When she died German princes Wilhelmina of Prussia wrote in her obituary, <i>“Sie ist eine heydinn, herkommlich aus der Provinz Surinam, eines entlegenen Welttheiles. Sie ist durch ein besondres Schicksal, das uns grostentheils unbekannt ist; in unsseren Welttheil gekommen, und von unsrer Durchlauchtigsten Landesherrschaft auf- und angenommen werden. Ihr Name ist Alzire – ihr Alter ist, so viel man Nachricht hat, ungefaehr 22 Jahr – sie ist am 22sten May 1751 Abends um 2 Uhr gestorben.”</i><br />
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My English translation<br />
"<i>She's a heathen from the province of Suriname, a remote world. It is through good fortune, which for the most part is unknown to us, she has come in our part of the world and was taken in our serene territorial lordship. Her name is Alzire - her age is, as far as we know, around 22 years - she died in 1751 on the 22nd of May at 2 clock in evening."</i><br />
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<i>These obituaries were only made for the nobility and rich people who could afford it. But nevertheless I wonder how she was brought to Germany and if she died as a free women or if was held in slavery. "</i><br />
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I hope the grave of Alzire will be found one day, so she can be given the same ceremony as the slave Eliëzer who’s grave lies on the Jewish cemetery in the city of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel in the Netherlands. He unfortunately was the slave of a big slave trader. <br />
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<br />Afro-Europehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09824302981015575893noreply@blogger.com2