a matched pair of mabindas (Sukuma articulated dance figures) on a performance cord “ For revolutionary consciousness is subjective consciousness, just as natural consciousness is, that is, it is a determination or re-presentation of substance, ethical life, actuality, in the form of an abstract consciousness. An abstract consciousness is one which knows that it is not united with ethical life. It…
cool engraver guy on a 47 Workshop letterhead Let there be the clack of the shuttle flying forward and back, forward and back, warp, wearp, varp: “cast of a net, a laying of eggs” from *warp- “to throw” the threads twisted for strength that can be a warp of the will. “O weaver, weaver, work no more,” Gascoyne is quoted: “thy warp hath done me wrong.” — from At the Loom, Passages 2, Robert Duncan…
Between the Two my Heart is Balanced , Lubaina Himid "Time is a difficult topic for historians. I remember an occasion when I was in the history department and I commented that—alluding to Koselleck—modern history not only is in time but also operates through it. This generated a rather snide comment from a colleague, a disgust with 'theory,' which is the only explanation for something that…
Bodys Isek Kingelez's 'extrêmes maquettes' of a weird-future Kinshasa (Kin la belle!) were a major influence on the Goma of VCS "The story of ‘conflict minerals’ serves both as a cautionary tale and a powerful call to decolonise transnational governance and peacebuilding practice. It highlights the lack of ‘situated knowledge’ and critically interrogates the white saviourism that emanates from an…
literally impossible to improve upon this I didn't see the Goodman Games DCC RPG MLK DAY official tshirt until after MLK Day, but it's still before the Dallas MLK parade so I'm still on time in Texas, which is all that matters. Aside: Dallas is the largest city in America run by a Republican mayor, a Black man who switched parties while in office. It's now ok to call Eric Johnson a c**ned-out race…
inclusion in a wojackpost might be the worst thing to happen to Du Bois since the feds stole his passport. i will do it four more times. "Matthew, Day has dawned. Of course a little Virginia farm cannot bound your world. Our feet are set in the path of moving millions... The Great Central Committee of Yellow, Brown, and Black is finally to meet. You are a member. The High Command is to be chosen.…
an ọpọ́n Ifá/divination tray brought to Europe from the Allada Kingdom in the 1650s, possibly the oldest African wood sculpture in a Western collection. Ọsa Otura says, “What is Truth?” I say, “What is Truth?” Ọrunmila says, “Truth is the character of Olodumare. Truth is the word that cannot fall. Ifá is Truth. Truth is the word that cannot spoil. Might surpassing all. Blessing everlasting.” —…
SOB, SOB by Kerry James Marshall “For this too is what W. E. B. Du Bois might have us think of as the gift of black culture, the gift of blackness: the great chain of being come undone, life itself unfettered and moving in all directions, a window into the worlds that thrive at the underside of modernity." — Joshua Bennett , Being Property Once Myself: Blackness and the End of Man [brief note] i…
Little says more about the soul of America than the fact that one of its greatest painters was briefly an anarcho-McCarthyist Sometime towards the beginning of the year, I came across an interesting counterpoint to some of the reconsiderations of lore and its functions that bloggers had been posting about in an anonymous blog comment. It was a little more elaborate (and a lot more insulting) but…
The Triumph of Fame “We learn bodily. The social order inscribes itself in bodies through this permanent confrontation, which may be more or less dramatic but is always largely marked by affectivity and, more precisely, by affective transactions with the environment…The most serious social injunctions are addressed not to the intellect but to the body, treated as a ‘memory pad.’ The essential part…
Illustration for the EAPH combined reprint of Song of Lawino/Song of Ocol by Frank Horley "The royal councillors were stunned at this answer, and stood in amazed silence, convinced she had known this by some supernatural power. For them, it was a miracle, and something to be taken seriously. Father Bernardo appeared less impressed and continued his questioning. 'Who are you?" he asked her. She…
Supporters of the Malagasy Uprising are forced to annul their pledges to the rebel cause in a cattle sacrifice staged by the French military, 1948 "Any fool can get into an ocean/But - - it takes a Goddess/To get out of one." Hello, I hope everyone's doing ok. Mostly alright myself, though these past few days have been pretty rough at times. Kinda feel like it might help to write about my feelings…
Probably some way to embed this, but the best I can do rn is a link Was recently reminded of a painful conversation where the other party misinterpreted my use of the word "fetish" - channeling the emotions positively. The other entries in this sporadically updated series are NOT lectures and I get that watching a dude talk for two hours (it's mostly conversation, the lecture portion is maybe 30…
is Négritude too on the nose? - Papa Ibra Tall's La semeuse d’étoiles "Added to this is the question of whether Africa serves merely as a mirror that refracts the image of the United States, thereby enabling the ‘returnee’ to explore issues of home and identity with a measure of contemplative distance." - Saidiya Hartman, The Time of Slavery In the grand tradition of reading games as texts +…
It really is an incredible piece, all jokes aside. There is something weird + cool about seeing Chibind Yirung as a venerable elder, since he tends to fade from Ruund versions of the Lunda foundational epic after the "Lueji has a new boyfriend" part and the "no woman ruler >:( " part. Hey guys, hope y'all have been doin ok. Summer approaches! Been pleased with this past semester of grad school and…
ayoh kré Duchâtelet, Ornaments and Crimes Wanted to do a last post before the twin scourges of term papers and grading take me out of commission - a couple folks have expressed interest in my NooFutra campaign set in the Eastern DR Congo, so I thought it would be cool to write up a quick survey of some stuff I read (still reading in some cases) to prepare for this game. Housekeeping A new friend,…
Gorgeous example of bwami bwa kifebwe art - male elder mask with a powerful sorcerer's crest and pre-carnivalization coloring. Studied by Hersek "in the field" near Kikomo, now owned by a private collecting fuck from Venice Beach You don't have to be very familiar with the Northern Italian roots of microhistory (in the work of Ginzburg, Levi, Poni, Grendi, et al.) as a methodological approach to…
The introduction of Soumaoro Kanté at 6:45 is one of the best things on YT, bro even has the human bone balafon. "Mouminatou Camara, once a star dancer in Guinea’s national company Les Ballets Africains, walked to the front of a packed dance studio in Union Square, Manhattan, to begin her class. Before starting the warm-up, she turned to the drummers, stood up straight, and exclaimed with a wry…
Abdoulaye Konaté - Vert Pour Sidy How are y'all? At least OK, I hope - OK is about where I'm at myself. Kinda a weird vibe today; had to spend a couple hours in a disciplinary committee to try and keep a kid from getting suspended for throwing ink on people (makes no more sense in context), then keep myself from strangling a Ph.D student in my modern historiography seminar who seems hellbent on…
Eastern Pende kishikishi rooftop finial, produced by an unknown master-carver* "The artisan-poet is not concerned to make a work for eternity. The work of art is perishable. The style and the spirit are preserved, but the old work is quickly replaced and realized anew as soon as it becomes antiquated or is destroyed" - Léopold Sédar Senghor, The General Nature of African Art Every poster gets…
I love Makela Leki so much. But One Way, baby. "That said, when I started writing Redguard I really thought about how unique the black people of Tamriel were: they came in and kicked ass and slaughtered the indigenes while doing so. They invaded. It was the first time I had encountered the idea of "black imperialism"...and it struck me big time, as something 1) new, 2) potentially dangerous if…
Apologies for the janky phone photos - it will happen again CW: Sexual violence. Nothing lurid, but the topic is unavoidable if you're talking about sexuality in the '30s Belgian Congo. I talked a big game about micro-blogging, but this barely counts. At least it's focused? Zoe Strother's Humor and Violence: Seeing Europeans in Central African Art is an incredible book, maybe even a perfect book;…
Sotho mokorotlo. They're postcolonial, but semiurge of Archons March On fame pointed out that big hats are a must and these are pretty baller. "Their journeys are like strings of different kinds of beads. The opaque blue-black glass beads come from the lands of the sunrise. The pale grey disks made from the giant land snail come from home. The shiny white disks ground from ostrich eggshell belong…
The next generation of Vezo sailors involved in serious play. Andavadoaka, Western Madagascar "In brief, if Western historicity (at least in the twentieth century) can be summed up by the much invoked figure of Benjamin’s allegorical angel of history, that is hardly the Sakalava vision. Instead of turning back toward the mounting ruins of the past onto which the angel mournfully gazes, Sakalava…
Vessels of the spirits: pots and people in North Cameroon Been a long time since I did one of these, huh? Maybe I should make 'em more regular - do y'all like documentaries? There are a decent number of ones focused on African topics on YT*, but they tend to suck, so I think it might be worthwhile to keep collecting the good vids with a bit of added context. This is part of a three-film series on…