RhythmChile’s last login was Wednesday, March 12 2008.
america is difficult to understand i find, especially as so many of its paradoxes and contradictions seem incredibly absurd from the outside. it might just be as you say that it is because everything is politicised.the play you talk about is very symbolic i find. just yesterday i was thinking you simply could never win. it was following this class i give on ethiopian culture. extremely basic stuff. trying to get my japanese students to see that africa isn't one country that is ridden with issues with its people living in prehistoric times. yesterday, i got them to draw the image they had of an ethiopian man before they started the course, as well as that of an ethiopian woman. at the end of the 7 week course, i then show them photos of different peoples and their sense of esthetics. this is a way to compliment what they would have seen in class/and while doing their own research. i might have been biased in my attempt to represent the country more fairly and present as many groups as possible. despite my warnings that in the short time that we had they would mostly see images of some different groups that represented the minority and that they should keep in mind that most people just wore regular western type of clothing, the images i got were just as shocking this time as the other bi-semesters. they couldn't accept that some women transport the water in plastic jerricans and not some huge pot on their heads like ALL african woman do. others disregarded those fully covered (as their prior image was) and concentrated on those that were practically naked and vice versa. for the men, it was just as bad. if their image was that of savage carnivores, they ridiculed the ones that wore bead jewellery, painted their bodies and carried their seats with them, which of course symbolized their laziness. meanwhile those who thought they were these weak starving beings obsessed on the fierce warriors. once again i though, i guess i'll have to rework the list of photos for the next photo session though regardless on how many times i do that, i have a feeling i am indeed fighting a losing battle.
i spent my childhood in the terror of a dictatorial communist systemi had no illusions about communismand though art and music are fundamentali find that it's impossible to neglect the importance of politics and everything related to it as long as it remains impossible to have any kind of faith or trust in politicians :(
yes, but it was very much in line of the marxist thought of the time wasn't it? i felt the same as you when i read a lot of these nationalist/liberation movements or social critiques from ken saro wiwa to nawal el saadawi to malcom x and most writings related to the black panther party. Some of these works and the solutions they offered were also overtly racist or more destructive than constructive and i simply couldn't accept or respect them. i just sifted through the the books and concentrated on the parts that seemed relevant to me, especially as many were outdated by the time i got to them. The writers were after all products of their time.
had on me (oups)
i read fanon so long ago (maybe 15 years ago or so) that i couldn't really say any more. i just remember the impact his writings made on me