TMS sits down for a chat with Ory Okolloh to talk about her transformation from young nerd to one of the most effective activists for citizen empowerment to come out of Africa in the past decade.
More here“A layer of oil on top of the food is a way of honoring you,” says Osseo-Asare, a sociologist who has been studying Ghanaian foods since the early 1970s. “Somebody is trying to show you respect, and Americans are like, ‘Yuck, get that oil out of there!’ ”
Image courtesy of Deb Lindsey/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Busted!
This is Osseo-Asare’s gift: She knows the soft, sensitive underside of the Western palate and how to attack it when someone dares to pass premature judgment on West African food. But more than that, Osseo-Asare knows the baggage that Americans can bring to the table. We’re not only averse to oily preparations and extreme heat, but we’re also not afforded a full view of the many cuisines that define West African cooking.
More here“In this intense twist on the American Dream, director Andrew Dosunmu vividly captures the pulsating dynamic of New York city's pan-African community, a robust aggregation that subsists amid an often hostile foreign environment. “Restless City” is a mesmerizing glimpse into a culture and community that is only superficially seen by indifferent New Yorkers.” – Duane Byrge, The Hollywood Reporter
Still image from Restless City
Andile Ndlovu is one of South Africa's most prominent young ballet dancers, an international performer and award winner both at home and overseas.
But for Ndlovu to be accepted into the rarefied world of classical dance -- which in South Africa is traditionally seen as an elitist and a predominantly white preserve -- the boy from the rough Soweto townships says he had to overcome outdated stereotypes."I used to be picked upon for the way I walk and the way I act or carry myself," he says of his time at school, where he became disparagingly known as "the dude who did ballet."
Can I speak plainly, reader? I am SO SICK of Black people and their twisted dogma concerning the “White Savior” Syndrome. Oh, you haven’t heard of it? It’s the belief in certain circles of the Black Intelligencia that because Black folk can’t do for themselves, White people have to come in and do for them, or more specifically, solve our problems for us. In the case of Joseph Kony in particular, one rather prolific individual on twitter summed up the KONY2012 (and implied White savior Campaign) movement by saying “the world exists simply to satisfy the needs – including, importantly, the sentimental needs – of white people and Oprah”. Prior to that, he says that “the white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evenings.” This message has been retweeted quite a few times on Twitter, and I do see why. At first glance, this all sounds very witty and well thought out until you think about it, at which point you grasp your head and shout:On apathy:
Oh My GOD, Black people!!
Oh Black people. You like to complain and criticize. But where is the action, eh?? Why are we not staging sit- ins at our Ghanaian embassies around the world, demanding that OUR president take a firm stance on Kony until he’s captured. Why are Nigerians, Gambians and Kenyan’s not doing the same? Why are we not speaking out until our voices are impossible to ignore? Here’s a better question: Why did an AFRICAN not start the Kony2012 campaign? It’s because you people care, yes, but you don’t care enoughMore here
Dawn Okoro is an African visual artist who specializes in pop art. Based in Dallas, Dawn is international known for her strong portrayal of black women. She works across several mediums experimenting with various techniques in order to communicate the effect of popular culture in society.
The Art Trade Presents: Dawn Okoro from TheArtTrade on Vimeo.
Nigeria’s followership is loud and ineffective because all that it does is talk. Loud, boisterous, garrulous and banal talk – that is all we do. In Newspaper editorials, internet chat rooms, on twitter, facebook, in beer parlors, market squares and bus stop libraries, our voices loudly bemoan the state of the country. We blame everything under the sun for our problems - from a colonial experience that ended over 50 years ago, to the poverty of leadership & ideas that currently afflicts us and our ethnic & religious differences.More here
We are blessed with a marvelous ability to convince ourselves that we are the victims of circumstances that we conjured into existence. We talk as if these leaders that we denounce at every turn were dropped on us from outer space, forced on us by malevolent beings intent on seeing our national tragedy extended. We conveniently forget that we voted them in ourselves, with our very own hands. We seem to forget also that national growth has roles not just for those who lead, but for those who follow as well.
When Wangari Maathai began her campaign to reforest Kenyan’s landscape, her success was not with the members of her government. It was with her people; local people without much education, but who had a vision bigger than any government official had the mind to conceive. Trickle down policies do not work in Africa, because there is rot at the head. Africa’s only way forward is a grassroots/wildfire movement. With one spark, you can ignite an entire continent. It’s not going to be easy, and change never easy. Sometimes you will have to take a beating – figuratively and literally – to get the change you want to see. Ask any person who has been successful if that success did not come with some measure of pain.More here
More hereFifty years after Independence, Africans have refused to deconstruct and reconstruct the foundations of its colonially bequeathed knowledge. There is no one for Africans to blame, but themselves. The blame goes to African intellectuals who would rather write in ways that would please the West. To African medical doctors who despise indigenous medicine and healing systems, opting completely for Western medical knowledge – the origins of acupuncture, yoga and other acclaimed Eastern medical practices notwithstanding. To African historians bent on analyzing and presenting African history to their students from the Euro-American point of view. To African graduate students unconcerned with applying themselves to objective and critical studies and research on African issues. To African parents who refuse to speak their native languages to their wards, constricting their children’s world, their thoughts and their expressions to the limited vocabulary of the English language. To African religious leaders who have not espoused Africans to love themselves as Africans, before loving their European and American neighbors, just as the Holy book admonishes. Yes, all Africans are to blame for the situation of Africa today. Not one person is exempt, not one.
Igbo Ukwu pot courtesy of Chika for Africa
Kate Meagher, in her 2010 book Identity Economics chronicles the recent history of the informal garment and shoe manufacturing clusters in Nigeria's Igboland. It's a fairly pessimistic look at the possibilities for these merchants.
She writes, "If the travails of Igbo informal producers have revealed anything, it is that even the most dynamic and well established informal enterprise networks lack the ability to assert their productive interests against the distruptive agendas of local officials, let alone to defy national or global economic and political interests." Meagher calls for strengthening the capacity of informal operators while leaning on the government to find ways to work with informal merchants -- thus allowing them an opening to turn the identity economics of tribal social networks into something that can develop across regions and transcend traditional divisions...[continue reading]
Narcocorrido Trailer 1 min from Narcocorrido on Vimeo.
In the film, Nicki Michaeux plays "Naija Dillion a Yuma county Sheriff’s deputy, an outsider and minority in her community. Gravely ill, Naija robs a notorious cartel shipment in a last-ditch scramble for survival. When the robbery spirals out of control, Naija finds herself caught up in a Narcocorrido made real."
More hereThe South African Informal City is an initiative of the Architects’ Collective and forms parts of the technical site visits offered by the Local Government Programme for COP17...Looking at South Africa’s most relevant and innovative design and research projects in terms of urban migration issues, the 20 works featured in the exhibition aim to promote dialogue around informality and urban development.
Informal city. Photo: Tanya Zack.
Inner city informality, in-situ upgrading, catalytic projects, un-built projects and backyard interventions are the five categories in which the projects are presented.
Cooperation, information sharing and positive action between policy makers, practitioners, academics and civil society is what the exhibition aims to promotion, together with taking a critical look at informality and urban development. “The exhibition will provide opportunities for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, and for existing research and realised projects to become part of a greater public debate,” says Karen Eicker, Architects’ Collective director.
Gene Sharp believes that non-violent struggle has a greater chance of success than violent resistance, because violence is typically the most powerful weapon used tyrannical regimes and they will always have the upper hand. His booklet From Dictatorship to Democracy (which you can download as a PDF) provide a list of 198 "non-violent weapons", including mock awards, alternative communication system, wearing of symbols, pray-in, boycott of elections, withdrawal of bank deposits, consumers' boycott, renouncing honours, etc.More here
The book was first published in 1993 to support the opposition movement in Burma and was circulated among dissidents. Anyone seen carrying the book around was sentenced to seven-year prison terms by the regime. This kind of manual for toppling dictators has since inspired opponents of oppression in places as far apart as Thailand, Ukraine, Serbia, Estonia, Iran, China, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, and more recently in Syria, Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East.
3bute [pronounced: tribute] is an online anthology devoted to the question of African modernity. Along that theme, we look on the web for what writers--especially African bloggers--have written and we recycle/ adapt selected writing into 3 pages of narrative art. The pages are then delivered through the Comicpress engine combined with ThingLink's unobtrusive rich media tagging tool, resulting in what we like to call a "mashable surface".
Tiata Fahodzi commissions and develops new writing as well as reinterpreting African and European classics. We pioneer new modes of engagement between artists and audiences, rooted in the various traditional African theatre and music forms. Our remit is to serve an all-inclusive British audience. We usually stage one major production each year as well as showcasing new, emerging talent through initiatives such Tiata Delights, our festivals of new writing.
Image courtesy of Tiata Fahodzi
These networks of kinship and language make it easier to do business across borders (see article). They speed the flow of information: a Chinese trader in Indonesia who spots a gap in the market for cheap umbrellas will alert his cousin in Shenzhen who knows someone who runs an umbrella factory. Kinship ties foster trust, so they can seal the deal and get the umbrellas to Jakarta before the rainy season ends. Trust matters, especially in emerging markets where the rule of law is weak. So does a knowledge of the local culture. That is why so much foreign direct investment in China still passes through the Chinese diaspora. And modern communications make these networks an even more powerful tool of business.More here
Diasporas also help spread ideas. Many of the emerging world’s brightest minds are educated at Western universities. An increasing number go home, taking with them both knowledge and contacts. Indian computer scientists in Bangalore bounce ideas constantly off their Indian friends in Silicon Valley. China’s technology industry is dominated by “sea turtles” (Chinese who have lived abroad and returned).
Razia Said's CD, Zebu Nation was created to raise awareness and benefit the preservation of the rainforest in her native Madagascar, specifically the region to the northeast known as MaMaBay (area comprised of the Masaola and Makira forests, and the Antogil Bay)...Her first recorded songs were in an R&B/Jazz/Pop style, in English. During a family visit to her family in Madagascar, in the MaMaBay region, she met with members of Njava, a locally renowned band, and embarked on the path of using her native rhythms and instruments, and singing in her native language.More here
The Agro Mindset organisation was founded with a clear mission to advocate the youth in the diaspora to pursue agriculture and related sciences, its entrepreneurial excellence and rural development. One component of this work is to train new interdisciplinary generation of agriculturist who think innovatively about the challenges that lie ahead in this field…
The future of agriculture relies on the younger generation coming through to provide succession, add enthusiasm, bring fresh ideas and drive innovation. To us, as long as agricultural growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remains below 3% annually, Food Security is wishful thinking.
The vision of the Agro Mindset Organisation is to build the green revolution where the youth having attained academic skill and knowledge relating to agribusiness can develop the knowledge and skill towards career requirements and industry expectation, apply and transfer the knowledge, skill and technology in a variety of settings.
