Items by sci-culturist

SCI-CULTURA

• 29 African Artworks To See Before You Die

  Posted: October 26, 2008, 9:57 pm by sci-culturist

  This post is a re-mix of The Guardian’s 1000 artworks to see before you die. I like this article by Jonathan Jones because he alludes to what I consider to be 2 essential issues with regards to African works of art: a) There’s an abundance of African ‘art’ sitting in Euro-American museums (British Museum, I am pointing [...]

• Film::Africa

  Posted: October 22, 2008, 7:26 pm by sci-culturist

  The London Film Festival is underway and I spotted a few African films (8 to be precise) whilst trawling through the programme guide. So what African stories are being told at the pictures this year? Divizionz: Uganda-South Africa (Dir Yes! That’s Us) An authentic portrayal of Kampala’s inner city, in which 4 friends set out to make it [...]

• Film::Diaspora

  Posted: October 19, 2008, 4:53 pm by sci-culturist

  Diaspora Diaries (directed by Ghanaian-British all round artist Robert ‘Beyonder’ Asare) is an engaging docu-film that captures the broad meaning of the term and experiences of the people who refer to themselves as the African Diaspora by exploring the thoughts and opinions of a wide range of people of African ancestry born in East and [...]

• Poverty: You and I are the Solution

  Posted: October 15, 2008, 11:39 pm by sci-culturist

  Warning: This is not about wallowing in the ‘poverty in Africa’ cliché but superficially examining what went wrong and more importantly how you and I can fix it. Starting today. First, let’s be clear, we are talking about economic poverty as Africa is full of other diverse riches which I believe this blog is a witness [...]

• Africa + Funky Trendy Cool Popular Culture = Pop’Africana

  Posted: October 15, 2008, 2:21 am by sci-culturist

  I’m a bit late with this post, but there are so many wonderful on-goings in the Afroculture domain that I can barely keep up! And that’s a good thing. , the Africana global book of style, is a bi-annual fashion.art.style magazine that recently had its online debut (hat tip Afripop!). Pop’Africana is a collaborative effort which aims [...]

• Fe-la-bration Time C’Mon!*

  Posted: October 13, 2008, 3:20 am by sci-culturist

  If there’s a time to be in Naija, it would be during the annual celebration of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s life, due to peak on 18th October. This year he would have been 70. Imagine that. Femi and Seun are guaranteed to be in Lagos celebrating their father’s life alongside a distinguished list of [...]

• Our Stories Told By Us

  Posted: October 10, 2008, 3:53 pm by sci-culturist

  As we evolve and define, reassess, re-evaluate and re-define our identity as a nation, the thing called Kenya (46 years old this December and therefore relatively young), it is crucial that we grapple with our contradictions and influences, both ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ that may be internal and/or external both on a micro and macro level, [...]

• Things that make you go hmmm…

  Posted: October 7, 2008, 12:38 am by sci-culturist

  I was on iTunes when I was struck by the Confrontation album cover. I love Kehinde Wiley’s work, but clearly Bob was wayyy ahead of his time (although this album was released posthumously in 1983, 2 years after his death).       

• Traditional African Spirituality.::.Africa to Latin America and the Caribbean to Going Global to Africa

  Posted: October 6, 2008, 4:34 am by sci-culturist

  
  

  Keeping in with the Afro-Latino theme from my previous post, the London Lucumi Choir will be performing at the Royal Festival Hall on 12th October 2008.

  Having taken part in their workshop during the recent Open Rehearsal Weekend (part of the Cultural Olympiad), I have no doubt it will be an exhilarating experience to be in a room awash with animated songs of praise to Orishas (deities) of the Yoruba tradition, to a rhythmic accompaniment of Afro-Cuban percussion including Batá drums.

  The word ‘Lucumi’ derives from Yoruba and is how the Yoruban people used to salute each other in Cuba in the early days of slavery: it roughly translates as ‘My friend’. These days, the word Lucumi is used to describe the practitioners of the religion Santeriá or Regla de Ocha (the rule of the Orishas), a religion now spread worldwide which has its roots in West Africa.

  The fascinating thing, I find, is the literally and metaphorically arduous journey that frequently ill-understood Traditional African Spirituality that was exported from West and Central Africa through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, took to Latin America, was absorbed and integrated by virtue of the strength of the bearers and descendants of this tradition, and inevitably evolved and manifested into distinct but related forms – Candomblé in Brazil, Santeriá in Cuba, Haitian Voodoo, amongst others - through the organic syncreticism of a ‘pure’ African practice with the then current local culture and tradition, which constituted the indigenous populations (aka ‘Indians’) and the Roman Catholic faith imported by the Spanish Conquistadores.

  These newly formed, unique religions in their own right (aka New World religions), have since been exported by significant numbers of the Latino and Caribbean diaspora, e.g. to the USA, thus inevitably spreading their practice to non-Caribbean / non-Latino converts. Interestingly, on the African continent, Benin is the only country that recognises Voodoo as its official religion.

  If it hasn’t yet been assessed, it would be a fascinating ethnographic enquiry to explore the exportation of these Afro-Latino / Afro-Caribbean religions to Africa or their practice by Africans in the diaspora. Afterall, the merging of Christianity with Traditional African Spirituality is not a novel concept in post-colonial Africa. (Any ideas Native Anthropologist?)

  Quoting Anani Dzidzienyo whose sentiments accurately resonate with mine,

  That these institutions moved from the clandestine to the marginal to their present day status as national institutions [in Latin America] is indeed remarkable.

  For me, the survival and proliferation of these syncreticised religions with African roots is even more jaw-droppingly remarkable as I reflect on my personal circumstance as an East African who went to a Catholic primary school in Nairobi and had a short stint in not-overtly-Catholic-’modern’ Spain, participating in a West African-via-Cuba spiritual tradition that emanated from a region that was historically colonial French West Africa (i.e. Dahomey), conducted in an archaic West African patois that has since evolved, in the former HQ of the British Empire. In addition, the London Lucumi Choir is itself a cosmopolitan mestizo of various nationalities. If this is not a powerful attestation to globalisation, then I don’t know what is.

        

• Latin America and the African connection

  Posted: October 5, 2008, 11:20 pm by sci-culturist

  Cinema of Brazil: Afro-Brazilian Perspectives is a film festival at the Barbican that seeks to celebrate ‘the nation’s foremost Afro-Brazilian actors, directors, intellectuals and musicians’. This is one of the features of the Brazil season in London, courtesy of the Brazilian embassy that is ‘adding a splash of [welcomed, needed, appreciated and valued] colour to [...]

• AfriPhotography::The 2 Andrews

  Posted: September 30, 2008, 2:23 am by sci-culturist

  Esiebo Dosunmu I remember reading an article in the late 90’s that suggested there was a boom in the naming of baby boys Michael, as inspired by the legends Mr Jordan, Mr Jackson, Mr Johnson and Mr Tyson (in no particular order). I am tempted to suggest the same should be so for Andrew, although the [...]

• DRC::Fighting the Silence

  Posted: September 23, 2008, 7:51 pm by sci-culturist

  More than 80,000 women and girls were raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the war that raged there in the late 1990’s. A taboo subject in the Congo, as in many countries, victims were often shunned by their families and communities. As a result, rape has now become not just a weapon of [...]

• Nigeria::Osun-Osogbo Festival Sponsorship

  Posted: September 19, 2008, 11:04 pm by sci-culturist

  The annual Osun-Osogbo festival in Nigeria has been and gone, but it is inevitable that next year will bring the recurring topic of corporate sponsorship and its increasingly larger role in this 600 year old ritual that pays homage to the Yoruba Orisha (Goddess) of the Osun River. One of the sponsors, the phone company MTN [...]

• Western Medicine::Traditional African Medicine

  Posted: September 19, 2008, 9:01 pm by sci-culturist

  I’m not usually a fan of reality TV, especially when depicting indigenous people, and I have ranted about it before. Channel 4’s Medicine Men Go Wild - I can’t tell you enough how the title irked me and what I think the insinuations are in this context, but that’s worthy of a separate post – included an [...]

• Feel the Beat

  Posted: September 14, 2008, 3:49 pm by sci-culturist

  
  

  The sabar dance from Senegal which has traditionally been a female dance and an overt expression of female sexuality (notably paradoxically in an Islamic country) to a cacophony of uplifting, energising sabar drum beats has evolved into multiple forms through its organic transformation by men into a dance for them as well, and now features in music videos and contemporary African dance schools. Here’s an informative excerpt from anthropologist Sophie Schouwenaar’s thesis (via Roots & Wings Movement). The actual sabar dancing doesn’t start until 03:53 but it’s well worth the wait and meanwhile gives background on the dance, drums and community.

  It reminded me (in a round about way) of an article I saw on the Boboraba (Djoula for ‘big bottom’) dance craze in Côte d’Ivoire , which as the name suggests is in praise of a large derriere and reportedly created business in the cosmetic industry by targeting gullible women. An elaborate account on the female posterior in popular culture, inspired by the same article is available on T’ings n’ Times. But just so you know what I am referring to, here’s the Boboraba music video by DJ Mix and DJ Eloh. For me, it’s reminiscent of ndombolo from the Democratic Republic of Congo. As you can probably already guess, it’s not safe for work (NSFW).

• Western Sahara Blues::Tiris

  Posted: September 13, 2008, 1:05 am by sci-culturist

  Tiris are certainly doing their bit for putting Western Sahara on the map. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Singing in Hassaniya, their sound is distinctive and carries unmistakably Arab and even Spanish flamenco influences - a reflection of Western Sahara’s colonial history. Listening to this fills me with a formidable sense of awe at what an [...]

• Africanized Simpsons::Why?

  Posted: September 8, 2008, 2:46 am by sci-culturist

  Ok, so The Simpsons are not new to controversy and are possibly in competition with Family Guy as the most unPC and dysfunctional family on tv. But this image of the Africanized Simpsons (hat tip White African) made me feel uncomfortable and I started to reflect on this as an image for Africa. The chicken and [...]

• Chad in Film::Abouna

  Posted: September 7, 2008, 11:46 pm by sci-culturist

  This is one of those films that I can watch over and over again. More so on a grey, chilly Sunday afternoon. It’s not often that you hear of Chad in an artistic context, less so in film. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s film, Abouna (Our Father) is a captivating piece of visual poetry, with an enchanting soundtrack by [...]

• Africhic Modahnik

  Posted: September 6, 2008, 12:54 pm by sci-culturist

    If you are in the Chicago area, do check out this up and coming designer label, by Afropolitan in the true sense of the word, Kahindo Mateene. For the sharp ones, you’ll  already have spotted the anagram from her name and first letter of her surname, which incorporates the rather clever use of the Italian word for [...]

• Fela!

  Posted: September 5, 2008, 10:05 pm by sci-culturist

  
  

  
  It’s all the rage and understandably so - the man is a legend and has been a source of inspiration to many, musically and politically. I am not usually a fan of musicals, but this one, I would have LOVED to see and inevitably dance to. Here’s a gold star review in the NY Times (via Africa is a country) of the translation by award winning choreographer and director, Bill T Jones (noteworthy interview above) and the numerous people who bring the late great Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his afrobeat band to life including actor Sahr Ngaujah and Brooklyn band Antibalas in the Lagos club, The Shrine. Details on dates and location here. Anyone who’s seen it, feel free to share your review and make me go green with envy :)

• Africans in France Sans Papiers

  Posted: September 2, 2008, 6:42 pm by sci-culturist

  
  

  An interesting read in the Guardian today that gives a laudable account of Parisian photographer Fabien Breuvart, who in show of solidarity with hard working, tax-paying but non-social-benefits-claiming illegal African immigrants a.k.a sans papiers (without papers) has taken hundreds of photos (500+ and counting) of these workers alongside documented members of the public. The body of work is entitled Vas-y, montre ta carte! (Go on, show your card!) and carries a clear message: ‘the only difference between these two people is a piece of paper’.

  See the article for more of Breuvart’s photos and details on Sarkozy-son-of-an-immigrant’s tough immigration policies that have allegedly resulted in an 80% increase of deportations of the sans-papiers since last year. The article also contains personal accounts of interviewees that reflect France’s colonial history - Algeria, Ivory Coast and Mali. Apparently the French mantra liberté, equalité et fraternité does not apply to the sans-papiers. Domage.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes