Favorite sample in a hip-hop song ever: Bernard Hermann’s opening from ‘Psycho’ in Busta Rhymes’ ‘Gimme Some More’.
(via afrofuturistaffair)
A member of Wassasso ballet trains on Room Island, Conakry, Guinea in preparation for a performance scheduled for 9 April 2010 at Palais du Peuple, Conakry.
Credit: Sebastien Lénelle
(via roropcoldchain)
African Filmmaking in the Digital Era: Bringing New Audiences to African Cinema
FESTIVAL PERKS: if you’re interested in the future of African cinema, this is probably a event you want to sign up for! This panel is organized by the African Film Festival and co-sponsored by the Columbia Maison Française, Institute of African Studies and School of the Arts Film Division.
(via afrofuturistaffair)
They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America by Ivan Van Sertima
They Came Before Columbus reveals a compelling, dramatic, and superbly detailed documentation of the presence and legacy of Africans in ancient America. Examining navigation and shipbuilding; cultural analogies between Native Americans and Africans; the transportation of plants, animals, and textiles between the continents; and the diaries, journals, and oral accounts of the explorers themselves, Ivan Van Sertima builds a pyramid of evidence to support his claim of an African presence in the New World centuries before Columbus. Combining impressive scholarship with a novelist’s gift for storytelling, Van Sertima re-creates some of the most powerful scenes of human history: the launching of the great ships of Mali in 1310 (two hundred master boats and two hundred supply boats), the sea expedition of the Mandingo king in 1311, and many others. In They Came Before Columbus, we see clearly the unmistakable face and handprint of black Africans in pre-Columbian America, and their overwhelming impact on the civilizations they encountered.
Wow. I need to read this.
This would explain so much of why so many Natives and Africans can relate culturally…
Back to the AfroFuture: Help Kourtnie Fund Her Summer Internship!
I have received the great opportunity to intern with the AfroFuturist Affair in Philadelphia. I am in need of support in order to actualize this opportunity.Short Summary
My Campaign - I have been granted the amazing opportunity to intern with the AfroFuturist Affair this up-coming summer. This grassroots organization utilizes an AfroFuturist framework of liberation as a mechanism for social justice. They aim to promote creative expression, education, and autonomy in partnership with local, underserved communities of color. As the summer intern my general responsibilities will surround but not be limited to communications and networking. As the first intern of the AfroFuturist Affair my position not only alleviates the work load of the Creative Director and Assistant Coordinator, but I will be offering necessary assistance for operating the organization within its fullest capacity.
I am kick-starting this campaign because I am in need of additional funding in order to sustain myself during this summer. While I am the recipient of Hampshire College’s Community Partnerships for Social Change (CPSC) Social Justice Scholars’ Award, the CPSC grant isn’t enough to cover the costs of living and transportation for a full time unpaid internship. Additionally finding a job in an unfamiliar city during the summer is not a guarantee.
About Me: I am a Nigerian and Narragansett (Native American) queer woman at Hampshire College. My concentration pursues an in-depth critical analysis of speculative fiction and media studies from the lenses of race, gender, class, and sexuality within American popular culture. In addition to my academic pursuits, community engagement activities have played an integral part in advancing my studies and interests. By way of volunteering, and internships have I been able to observe and participate in translating theory into practice.
I believe interning for the AfroFuturist Affair will greatly enrich and inform my senior thesis upon returning to Hampshire for the fall. It would be a shame if I couldn’t access this amazing opportunity due to financial circumstances.
Please consider contributing, and spreading the word. Anything helps!
The Spider King’s Daughter, Chibundu Onuzo (Nigeria)
CHIBUNDO ONUZO was born in Nigeria in 1991 and is the youngest of four children. She is currently studying History at Kings College, London. When not writing, Chibundu can be found playing the piano or singing.
‘The Spider King’s Daughter’ is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet set against the backdrop of a changing Lagos, a city torn between tradition and modernity, corruption and truth, love and family loyalty. Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy father. She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos, protected by armed guards and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. But being her father’s favourite comes with uncomfortable duties, and she is often lonely behind the high walls of her house.
A world away from Abike’s mansion, in the city’s slums, lives a seventeen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His family lost everything after his father’s death and now he runs after cars on the roadside selling ice cream to support his mother and sister.
When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one day, they strike up an unlikely and tentative romance, defying the prejudices of Nigerian society. But as they grow closer, revelations from the past threaten their relationship and both Abike and the hawker must decide where their loyalties lie.
The Spide King’s Daughter is on the shortlist for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.
(via freshmouthgoddess)
How Tough is too Tough? How rocketing school suspensions nationwide may feed the school-to-prison pipeline – and even violate civil rights, a special report by Monitor education reporter Stacy Teicher Khadaroo.
Photos: (top)Mercedes Morgan, a senior at Ralph J. Bunche Academy, an Oakland, Calif., alternative school for students with disciplinary records, listens in as the school’s restorative justice coordinator, Eric Butler (r.), talks by phone with her mother. Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor
(bottom) Indicating he’s done answering a question, Oakland High School student Jesse Baldain III passes a ball to the instructor in his manhood-development class. Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor
Graphics by Rich Clabaugh/The Christian Science Monitor
(via purple0black)
