Dynamic Africa

Oh my darling, I have tried but since English is widely spoken by most, situations I’ve been haven’t forced or required me to do so, so that’s made me a little lazy about it. I have taken some Xhosa lessons but had to stop because of time clashes. However, I can greet in Xhosa and understand some words here and there, as well as greet in Sotho and Zulu.

Also, I forced myself to learn how to say ‘I don’t speak Afrikaans’ in Afrikaans. Ek praat nie Afrikaans nie.

It’s very hard to answer this kind of question because a) i do not possess access to insider knowledge that would permit me to more than just entertain you with a grossly uninformed opinion, and b) lumping all of Africa in such a manner is both concerning and a display of dangerous ignorance. Each African country has a different geopolitical agenda concerning these issues.

if Africa will be a gutted wasteland (whatever that really means) by the end of the century, the whole world will be in trouble.

glad that you enjoy this blog!

no.

I do often, as you can see here, but they don’t always make the cut.

Thanks for the recommendation though!

If someone who is a descendent of an African country wants to reconnect with Africa, they have the right to do so.

As someone who was not drastically displaced by the trans-atlantic slave trade but has an experience of a different kind that does involve a certain amount of disconnect, I can only imagine what it most be like to be totally and violently displaced in such a manner that no concrete traces between the diaspora and your African ancestry exists in an easily accessible tangible form. For that reason, and also because I believe that Africa should serve as a pivotal geographical connection zone for people of African descent, I’m all for people reconnecting with their roots in whatever way they can. This is a very sensitive process and I think it’s important to get some form of human guidance from the sources you interested in navigating, where possible. Cultural exchanges are very important for this reason.

However, that being said, I do get concerned with people ‘collecting’ and ‘collaging’ bits and pieces of various African identities from places that they are probably not descended from, without sufficient knowledge of these other cultures, because to me, it looks as though people who do this are simply picking and choosing what parts of highly diverse African cultures suit their ‘agenda’, as you pointed out.

If you’re carrying out this sort of selective cultural attachments, it’s important that you do not present your cross-cultural ideologies and practices as something that is a direct part of your ancestry when it isn’t. Perhaps this is what you mean by ‘superiority’ as from experience, I’ve seen people focus historically on Ancient Egypt and do things like use ‘Nubian’ as a synonym for ‘black’, talk about how we are all kings and queens (many of us weren’t royalty), as a way to enhance Afrocentric discourse. Good intentions, but highly misguided, in my opinion.

But yeah, if anyone wants visit Lagos and needs a host, as long as I’m there and capable of doing such, I’d be more than welcome to help anyone* in whatever way I can. Just prepare yourself mentally for life in Lasgidi. E no easy o.

*primarily descendents of West Africans or even other Africans, white people can find their own way. sorry o.

Never heard of dreamhost, will check that out. Hungry elephants? Wha?

Not sure how much space I need yet but I’m looking to host a substantial amount of content that’ll including images, video, text and other multimedia. Don’t know how to calculate that in a more technical manner, though, so I’m looking for a server that would allow me to expand with time.

Thanks for the advice!

Westerners looking from outside? Interesting perspective since I am a Nigerian living in South Africa. Perhaps you can help me out with the content management, as I’m hoping you have some valid critiques or innovative ideas on how I can change the direction of this blog.

Secondly, I don’t post more politics here because I prefer the feedback I get from posting news and op-eds on twitter where there’s more enthusiastic engagement, as opposed to simple ‘likes’ or ‘reblogs’ with no real commentary. Tumblr just doesn’t feel like the right platform for such discussions and I also think much of the demographic I’m aware of on tumblr are based in places that fall outside of the direct experiences of the matters I exchange opinions on with folks on twitter.

Lastly, yes, I have been following the story and yes, I can believe it. All of this is nothing new, I come from Nigeria after all.

I’ll be waiting for your feedback, anon.

I don’t think you want to talk to me about these kinds of things.

Hey, thanks so much! Appreciate it.

How am I finding CT? After a year here, I’ve grown to really enjoy being here and think it’s a great city that offers a lot of what I enjoy about being in a multicultural urban landscape, all with an incredibly natural scenery.

Are you referring to the UCT race & attractiveness survey? Cause I can’t even be bothered to tackle that as a serious issue. I think the person responsible for the survey, as well as the editor in charge of the varsity paper, need to do some inner soul searching and ask themselves why they thought any part of it was necessary in the first place, let alone for publishing.

As for how it relates to UCT and the racist underpinnings of the institution, well, there’s a whole lot that needs to change in that scope. However, being a grad student who isn’t on campus much, my experiences of the racial divide are probably a little different from the average undergrad student. When I am on campus, or talk to my undergrad and honors friends, or high school friends who graduated from here, I get a better idea of what those experiences are like. Will say that last year was a little tough as I was the only black student in several of my classes, something I hope to never experience again (and esp not at an African uni).

But after all my rambling, I will say that just like in any other place I’ve lived in where racism is present in whatever way it manifests itself, there are ways to still keep your sanity whilst being political about what you/others see and experience.

Hi there. Well done on your election! I’d love to help you out, and perhaps people following this blog would as well, but your request seems a little vague. Where are you based? Are there areas of interest that you are more concerned about engaging in?

For events happening in Africa and the Diaspora, I try my best to catalog them using the event and/or events tag.

yeah, these economic zones certainly make things interesting. there’s a lot of overlapping too - especially when you have things like the COMESA that combines two different geographical regions.

what’s interesting is that Tanzania is also a Southern African Development Community (SADC) country.

this is interesting for me because until I was aware of ecowas, I never considered Mauritania to be a West African state (although it’s no longer an ECOWAS member), and always thought of Cameroon as part of West Africa (it’s not, it’s central African).