African Obsession

Mango Tree Dreams

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:47:30 -0400

Mango Tree Dreams:

mangotreedreams:

A space where I write about my love of music. The blog mainly talks about Gh music but I do…

Like the facebook page.

bornonfriday: “Little Princess”Labadi Beach | Accra, Ghana

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:11:58 -0400

bornonfriday:

“Little Princess”
Labadi Beach | Accra, Ghana

37thstate: yannickbrouwer: This little company from Kenya makes...

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:53:30 -0400

37thstate:

yannickbrouwer:

This little company from Kenya makes toys from slippers that wash up on the beach. Pictures by Ben Curtis

The company’s name is Ocean Sole: http://www.ocean-sole.com/

This is an amazing idea. Great things are always happening on the continent.

"Black women are, it seems, damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Our collective singleness,..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:52:05 -0400

“

Black women are, it seems, damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Our collective singleness, independence, and unsanctioned mothering are an affront to mainstream womanhood. But a high-profile married black woman who uses her husband’s name (if only for purposes of showbiz) or admits the influence her male partner has had on her life is an affront to feminism.

Wilson says that in the context of pathologized black womanhood and black relationships, Beyoncé and the Knowles-Carter clan “counter a narrative about our families that has been defined by the media for too long about what our families must look like and how they’re comprised.” Black women’s sexuality and our roles as mothers and partners have been treated as public issues as far back as slavery, even as family life for most citizens has been viewed as a private matter. Our nation’s “peculiar institution” treated human beings—black human beings—as property. And so, black women’s partnering—when and whom we partnered with and the offspring of those unions—were at the very foundation of the American economy. According to Jackson, “People would talk about black women’s sexuality in polite company like they would talk about race horses foaling calves.”

Like critiques of her sexed-up performances, response to Beyoncé’s recent pregnancy illustrates that black female bodies remain fodder for public gossip. Even with the devotion of mainstream media (especially the entertainment and gossip genres) to monitoring female celebrities’ sexuality, “baby bumps,” and engagement rocks, the speculation about Beyoncé’s womb stands apart as truly bizarre. Almost as soon as the singer revealed her pregnancy at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, there was conjecture—amplified by a televised interview in which the singer’s dress folded “suspiciously” around her middle—that it was all a ruse to cover for the use of a surrogate.

The HBO documentary, which chronicled her pregnancy, failed to quiet the deliberation. Gawker writer Rich Juzwiak proclaimed, “Beyoncé has never been less convincing about the veracity of her pregnancy than she was in her own movie…. We never see a full, clear shot of Beyoncé’s pregnant, swanlike body. Instead it’s presented in pieces, owing to the limitations of her Mac webcam. When her body is shown in full, it’s in grainy, black-and-white footage in which her face is shadowed.” There is, in this assessment, a disturbing assumption of ownership over Beyoncé’s body. Why won’t this woman display her naked body on television to prove to the world that she carried a baby in her uterus?

The conversation surrounding Beyoncé feels like assessing a prize thoroughbred rather than observing a human woman, and it is dismaying when so-called feminist discourse contributes to that. Feminism is about challenging structural inequalities in society, but the criticism of Beyoncé as a feminist figure smacks of hating the player and ignoring the game, to twist an old phrase.

”

- Tami Winfrey Harris, “All Hail The Queen?” Bitch Magazine 5/20/13 (via racialicious)

S&N Engagement-Possible IMAGE This is the traditional...

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:36:14 -0400

S&N Engagement-Possible IMAGE

This is the traditional wedding of Steven and Nana

I love traditional weddings (I don’t like that we call them engagements when the truth is they are officially married after doing this). They show the beauty of our cultures.

This traditional wedding was just beautiful to watch.

"Some of these music blogs could actually benefit from hiring people who REALLY understand the..."

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:25:18 -0400

“Some of these music blogs could actually benefit from hiring people who REALLY understand the culture of R&B to write about R&B. Some of these music blogs could actually benefit from hiring people who REALLY understand the culture of hip hop to write about hip hop. Like you really should know about deep Brandy album cuts before you are giving a “grade” or a “score” to any R&B artist. And ivy league credentials don’t give you any insight on “grading” a rapper’s body of work…when you’ve had no access to the REAL culture. There are SO many gifted writers who truly understand. Who didn’t get hip to R&B & Hip-Hop via the crossover artist of their childhood. Just hire them please, so you can stop insulting peeps’ knowledge. So you can stop acting like it just popped off last year for R&B. Like it just got interesting and experimental. So you can stop praising every rapper who raps over a trap beat, but can’t form literate sentences and then you market it as some hip shit. And that wasn’t a rant. It was an observation and a request.”

- Solange Knowles

Please school these children Solange. (This was taken from tweets that she shared this morning.) I cannot think of anything more irritating and reprehensible than having cultural writers write about something they know little of, and having some abstractly-related degrees as “proof” of their qualifications. And to be clear, no shade on formal education. I have 3 college degrees. The point is, having them does not make me an expert on something as intricate as Black music MORE than the experience of listening, studying and embracing (and for some people, creating) said music LONG before said music reaches the final stage of the cycle of cultural appropriation when (primarily White) people deem it “acceptable” and “mainstream.”

(via gradientlair)

I feel this so fucking much. Sometimes I read reviews of an R&B or Hip Hop album and there is just so much eye-rolling that I just can’t finish the damn thing.

(via chasingdunamis)

"Africa is rich. Our people walk on gold, diamonds, oil. Yet our people are poor, and our mineral..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:34:51 -0400

“Africa is rich. Our people walk on gold, diamonds, oil. Yet our people are poor, and our mineral wealth has become a curse in itself. Our natural resources, now estimated at a third of the world’s reserves, power the global economy. But we undervalue our assets. We undervalue ourselves.”

- Jay Naidoo, Founding General Secretary, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and former minister in the Mandela cabinet (via b-sama)

Yet he says it’s just Cetaphil and washing his face with...

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:26:35 -0400

Yet he says it’s just Cetaphil and washing his face with cold water. Pssh lies! He knows where the fountain of youth is.

xebablah: LMAO

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:15:34 -0400

xebablah:

LMAO

yaoibutts: i love how potato in french is pomme de terre, which pretty much means “earth...

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:01:58 -0400

yaoibutts:

i love how potato in french is pomme de terre, which pretty much means “earth apple.”

like what stupid frenchman saw this:

and said “zis petite légume looks like a, how you say, APPLE! hmmm… but it grows in ze earth… HON HON HON! MAIS OUI! C’EST UNE POMME DE TERRE!”

maybe they saw a red potatoe

how to not be a White Savior when in Africa

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:07:49 -0400

queerhairyvag:

Don’t assume those you intend to help even wanted your help.

You are not there to ‘help’ anyone. Help assumes you are in authority and they depend on you.

You are there to work with people.

Those people are not charity cases: they are human beings with feelings history and personal identities. Like you. Treat them as such.

That means stop thinking its so goddamn ’beautiful’ to hold a black child’s hand or ‘inspiring’ when you wear their clothes and practice their customs or ‘amazing’ when you see a person wear western clothes.

You’re exotifying people based on racist and ignorant ideas you had of them. Go back to no. 4

The people you work with don’t exist to make you/your life look better.

Don’t assume you know what’s best for them. Ask. Listen.

Listen to them more than those you view as your ‘equals’ (fellow volunteers/white ppl)

Don’t expect those you work with to be thankful to you. They didn’t ask you to work with them in the first place.

You are not there to ‘save the day’.

Treat them the way you treat your friends; be there for them when they want/need you, offer advice but don’t act butthurt if they don’t take it.

You do not have all the answers. Nobody does. So don’t act like you do. It shows.

Don’t describe those you work with as ‘underprivileged’ or other demeaning eurocentric words. What you are doing is comparing your own life to theirs and assuming everyone wants the type of life you have. Go back to no. 6 & 7

(this also goes for working with kids, women’s groups, people with disabilities etc. whether in your own country or abroad. Feel free to add more points that hasn’t been covered and reblog. End the White Saviour Complex)

xebablah: yupyaki4life: gqfashion: The Jesus sandal is...

Mon, 13 May 2013 19:59:44 -0400

xebablah:

yupyaki4life:

gqfashion:

The Jesus sandal is risen. I t is risen, indeed.

Newsflash: Black and Brown men in the Caribbean( including my grandfathers, my father, my uncles etc. )have been wearing these sandals for literally the past 75 years.

*and Africa

This is nothing new where we are from.

adventuresonpaper: I’ll come back for you i whisper as i caress the books i can’t afford

Sun, 12 May 2013 18:15:36 -0400

adventuresonpaper:

I’ll come back for you i whisper as i caress the books i can’t afford

thatnigeriankid: This is why I hate sexual/seductive scenes...

Sun, 12 May 2013 00:03:58 -0400

thatnigeriankid:

This is why I hate sexual/seductive scenes in Nollywood movies. It just looks so thirsty, forced, and awkward. How is licking your finger and sliding down a wall suppose to be sexy? Girl look like she was digging out a cavity. Abeg

The Game! One weird all over the place movie. Just what I love about Ghanaian movies. It’s a Gh Movie. And Yvonne Nelson always does something like this. My mother got tired of her because she never has her clothes on for long. lol.

becausechocolatethatswhy:

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:58:02 -0400

becausechocolatethatswhy:

"Don’t fool yourself. English isn’t inherently superior, or easier to learn, or more sonically..."

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:53:22 -0400

“Don’t fool yourself. English isn’t inherently superior, or easier to learn, or more sonically pleasing. Its international usage comes from forceful assimilation and legacy of colonialistic injection. It isn’t a deed that one should take pride in.”

- my uncle left this comment on his friend’s Facebook status, a white British man who was bragging about how easy it is to be a native English speaker when trekking to different nations. (via maarnayeri)

**English is a difficult language. Some sayings and things dont make sense. When you have to teach the language to someone else and explain why certain words are used you even get confused as to why we use those words.

sexhaver: baby boomers out here talking shit like they didn’t elect reagan

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:51:05 -0400

sexhaver:

baby boomers out here talking shit like they didn’t elect reagan

cynique: my most said sentence was “i’m so bored” throughout...

Fri, 10 May 2013 19:11:42 -0400

cynique:

my most said sentence was “i’m so bored” throughout high school.

I get bored easily as well and ppl look at me like im weird or crazy.

mangotreedreams: Sarkodie feat Lil Shaker-Lies Oooo it’s my...

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:19:21 -0400

mangotreedreams:

Sarkodie feat Lil Shaker-Lies

Oooo it’s my hubby Lil Shaker!! Oh yeah and Sarkodie.
This is by far his best video.

a thing of beauty: To the white boy who asked me why I was being a "hateful bitch" for not smiling back at him

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:06:35 -0400

a thing of beauty: To the white boy who asked me why I was being a "hateful bitch" for not smiling back at him:

neharaysays:

Six sombreros and twelve packs of
beer, you said you are celebrating Cinco de Mayo tonight.

I asked you what it meant and, you said “Mexican independence day or some shit.”

Smile?

I looked away and you said I look ugly anyways.

“Dont be so rude” said my friend who…