This post is in response to a meme that is making its way through the Afroblogosphere, having been tagged by Afromusing.
Why do I blog about Africa? To be honest, this is one of my most difficult posts because there are a multitude of reasons and layers within layers that I couldn’t possibly convey effectively in a single post and feel understood. It’s also a very emotive and personal subject matter. That said, it is wholly relevant and appropriate. In short, the answer actually lies within the blog itself. I.e. Every post is a piece of the jigsaw and it is also evident when you read in between the lines and blog posts.
I will attempt to shed some light on my cryptic answer, by telling you a bit about myself. I am intrigued by human behaviour, beliefs, values and self expression e.g. through the arts, which is why culture is the obvious subject matter for me. Culture is a nebulous topic which therefore dictates diversity in content and that means the next post is a surprise even for me. I blog about African culture specifically because ever since I lived away from the African country of my birth (Kenya) as I grew into a young adult, I started to ask questions about things I had previously taken for granted. I would listen to myself whenever I spoke of “Africa” and feel like a fraud because I had the awareness that I didn’t actually know what this thing called Africa is and what being African really means. I am therefore chronicling my journey to craft a multi-pronged answer to these questions.
We are young nations that make up Africa and I strongly feel that we need to define Africa for ourselves. Brace yourselves for what will sound so cliché, but I am who I am because of Africa. In getting to know Africa, I get to know more of me through discovering another fragment of my identity. Admittedly, I could do this in my private journal, but I blog in a public space in order to document, much like a historian what inspires me about Africa. And so I do this first, for myself, and in doing so, I hope I to feed some minds and stir some debate and/or curiosity, and even challenge perceptions. I blog about Africa to observe and scrutinise the past in order to understand the present, as well as the dawning future. To explore the Africa of here and now. To explore the links that Africa makes with the rest of the world. To challenge and dispel the untruths of what this mythical singular place called Africa is. To showcase the diversity and depth that Africa has to offer; both on the continent and around the globe, by people who call themselves Africans and those of African ancestry either in recent memory or distant past.
I think that’s as succint as I could be. Salif Keita, help a sister out (you certainly need to crank up the volume for this one – I get goosebumps every single time):
Update 09/12/2008: I asked the Displaced African why he blogs about Africa and this is what he had to say.
9 Comments
8 December, 2008 at 6:40 am
Hey Nyokabi, I really liked your post. Definitely a favourite. It sheds new light on why I strive to perform and understand African music; not only because I love music, but also because music is my access to the African continent. In this musical journey I become more aware of who I am. Wonderful insight!
I have only one question… why Salif Keita? African music has been overgeneralized in the West as exclusively the music of West Africa. This downplays the diversity in the African continent. When speaking about culture in your blog, you express nicely the diversity of African people. I hope that through showcasing more East African music in the West we can expose the diversity of the continent, and in so doing dispel colonial, separatist ideologies associated with the output of African people such as the notion of “traditional”, which is associated with music and belief systems, and has prevailed in African societies.
Thanks again for a wonderfully insightful and moving blog!
8 December, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I can imagine there are a lot of expressible and inexpressible reasons why discovering and sharing on a blog about Africa are important to you.
I whole-heartedly support everyone of them because I personally benefit from reading about it all. So keep it up!
9 December, 2008 at 2:21 am
Africa…Africa…Oyee, Oyee – I could not resist. You are a genuine traveler, by looking back at what you know and creating images of Africa and Africanness can only bring answers. I moved to the US as a young adult, my Africanness is in my rediscovery of what is beautiful, what is unique and what is wonderful about being from such a diverse land, and bringing that to the outside world. I resume my sashaying to the groove of that tune…
9 December, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Mumbua: thanks for sharing. the choice of the song is because of the lyrics, which are positive and vibrant. it just happens to be Salif Keita’s song. i hear you about West African “world” music. i think it’s a self-perpetuating scenario as there is better access to West African music in the West, which is probably why this song jumped out at me. and come to think of it, i first heard it at a British Council event which, despite being anecdotal reinforces your point.
you have certainly opened a can of worms as i have been pontificating on what “traditional” means for a long time. admittedly i do use it sometimes to convey a certain meaning, e.g. traditional medicine or traditional African spirituality. but again, it’s one of those “fraudster moments”! afterall traditions are not static and evolve with time. but not wanting to digress too much from the object of this post, let’s continue this discussion over a steaming cup of chai masala.
LoloBloggs: you’re totally right – i am in constant discovery mode and cant articulate everything here. i’ve just taken a peak at your blog and will check it out more in due course. thanks for stopping by.
SunnyKay: thanks for your insight. i detect a poet there
i’ve snuck a look at your blog and will be coming back to read in detail. thanks for coming by.
21 December, 2008 at 12:39 pm
[...] from Kenya, emphasizes the cultural diversity of Africa : We are young nations that make up Africa and I strongly feel that we need to define [...]
21 December, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Great blog. Loved your piece about Dutch wax. Any discussion of identity, and how one situates oneself in relation to identity-formations, is always going to be complex, and involve contradiction and paradox along the way.
Can someone of African heritage be European? Ie, they buy into European values, history, urban spaces, lifestyles etc.? Undoubtedly, this happens. Can someone of European heritage become African? Undoubtedly, this also happens. Take Suzanne Wenger: 50 years in Osogbo, considered to be the mother of the city, and certainly the guardian of sacred space there. Is she still European, or has she become African? If not, in what sense does she remain European or Austrian?
Might it be that the conceptual schemes that we use to format our own identities and that of others are always too simple, too clunky, too manichean? What if we approach our own identity as always already complex, pluralising?
There is so much more to say in this area, but I will leave it at this: Hermes and Eshu Elegba are one and the same, and also the not same. There where our origins are, we will find difference. There, where there is difference, we may still find our origin…
25 January, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Hey Nyokabi,
You’ve been on holiday too long!
Need some sci-cultural musings please ….
30 January, 2009 at 10:00 am
Why I blog about Africa…
I recently got tagged by a fellow blogger at “Nigerian Curiousity“, prompting me to blog on the topic “Why I blog about Africa”. I am qualified to say I blog about Africa. I was born in Nigeria, and presently live in Ghana. I ta…
5 February, 2009 at 1:52 am
Jeremy: hi, thanks for your comment and compliment. you’ve expressed the complex, multilayered and paradoxical views/arguments and rhetorical questions on identity so eloquently that i couldn’t possibly add any more! please do come back with more gems. you’ve set a high standard
i’ve checked out your blog too – will be in touch.
Mama T: heyyy, it wasn’t purely a holiday!! you knew that already, but thanks for checking in. i’ve got some stuff lined up, so stay tuned!