How big is the continent of Africa? Check out the map below done by Kai Krause.
Visualization by Kai Krause
Category Archives: migration
2011, International Year of Peoples of African Descent
2010 has seen the World Cup in South Africa and FESMAN happening in Senegal. On December 10, the UN proclaimed the year beginning on 1 January 2011 the International Year for People of African Descent.
The Year aims at strengthening national actions and regional and international cooperation for the benefit of people of African descent in relation to their full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights, their participation and integration in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society, and the promotion of a greater knowledge of and respect for their diverse heritage and culture.
The General Assembly encourages Member States, the specialized agencies of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and existing resources, and civil society to make preparations for and identify possible initiatives that can contribute to the success of the Year.
Resettlement in Australia
Below is the story of a family resettled in Tasmania, an Australian state and island located south of the country.
Related:
B.L.A.C.K.- An Aboriginal Song of Hip-hop
Quickly Settling Into a New Country
Remembering
Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson are the names of the four little girls who lost their lives in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963 when their church was bombed.
Birmingham Civil Rights District
Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to join a The History and Consequences Study Tour organized by the National Black Arts Festival. The one day experience included a bus trip from Atlanta to Birmingham, a visit and presentation at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, lunch at Glory’s Family Dining, and a walk through the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Kelly Ingram Park. During the round trip bus ride, we also viewed videos about the Civil Rights Movement.
Birmingham requires many future visits to fully cover and comprehend its history. But from our day’s visit, one of the major take-aways for me was the need to remember the many unsung heroes who lost their lives in a movement to provide us all equal rights. Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, and Carole Robertson, commonly referred to as the “Four Little Girls“, should be known by their full names, forcing us to introduce ourselves to their lives and learn about them, their family, and the community that sustained such a tragic loss.
About a 2.5 hours drive west from Atlanta, Birmingham is a must see. The Civil Rights District showcases one of the epicenters of the struggle for equality and should not be missed.
Bronx Princess: From New York to Ghana and Back
The following is from the recently aired documentary “The Bronx Princess.” The short doc follows the then high school senior, Rocky, as she navigates her senior year in high school, goes to visit her father in Ghana and then returns for her first year in college.
It is a short documentary, but manages to capture common scenarios of immigrant parents and first generation kids. Rocky’s mother owns a beauty supply/wig shop in the Bronx and works hard to make sure Rocky learns common sense knowledge in addition to the book knowledge gained from school. Rocky’s father uses the time with her in Ghana to expose her to family and traditional customs. All the while, Rocky has to be Rocky, part Ghanaian, part Bronx, and now part college student.
You can follow the producers of the film @www.twitter.com/bxprincessdoc
The Trailer
The King
Sharing College Tips
For Love of Indigo
A short documentary about acclaimed artist Nike Okundaye and her training programs in Nigeria.
Ivan Van Sertima
Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, noted historian, linguist and anthropologist at Rutgers University, passed away on May 25, 2009. He was the author of the 1976 book They Came Before Columbus.
Ivan Van Sertima was born in Guyana, South America. He was educated at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University) and the Rutgers Graduate School and holds degrees in African Studies and Anthropology. From 1957-1959 he served as a Press and Broadcasting Officer in the Guyana Information Services. During the decade of the 1960s he broadcast weekly from Britain to Africa and the Caribbean.
He is a literary critic, a linguist, an anthropologist and has made a name in all three fields.
As a literary critic, he is the author of Caribbean Writers, a collection of critical essays on the Caribbean novel. He is also the author of several major literary reviews published in Denmark, India, Britain and the United States. He was honored for his work in this field by being asked by the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature from 1976-1980. He has also been honored as an historian of world repute by being asked to join UNESCO’s International Commission for Rewriting the Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind. The Journal of African Civilizations
Guzo - The Journey
Guzo, a film by director Aida Ashenafi, will be at the Lisner Auditorium(Washington, D.C.) this weekend on May 9th. “Guzo takes us on a hilarious and heartfelt journey from the fast paced life of the city to the quiet and altogether different life of the countryside.” Below is a reprint of one viewer’s experience.
Last weekend we saw a movie called “Guzo.” This movie is based on the simple idea of taking two young adults (a man and a woman) from Addis and have them live in the countryside with a farmer’s family. These city people not only have to eat what the farmer’s family eats, they also have to work alongside the farmer and his wife 24 hours a day. Although the idea of the movie is simple, it is really solid story telling as well as educational. Each of the twenty days in the movie captured experiences that were very funny, emotional, and pleasant, yet sad at times. In short, it is a movie where all the human emotions are mixed together.
It is not a reality movie as seen in the West where they take rich people and make them live with poor people to show the class differences. Guzo (The Journey) cleverly showed these four Ethiopians, who live in different circumstances, where they differed and where they were the same. It is a movie which teaches the hard life and values of rural Ethiopia. It also shows Ethiopian natural wit.
Filmaker Aida told us she had more than one hundred hours of shooting edited to around 1 hour and 30 minutes. That had to take very hard work and dedication, and it was manifested in the movie as all the audience was engaged in every minute of the movie. My friend’s son, who is 13-years-old, born in the U.S., enjoyed it very much. He even asked one question of the film maker at the end. What was so hard to explain to the kids about Ethiopia was easily told in “Guzo.” After the movie, his father only had to ask, “You want to go to Ethiopia or not?” “It would be fun,” the boy replied.
After the movie we went out to eat dinner with some female friends. We were saying how nice the movie was. Somehow I knew our Ethiopian argumentative, never ending fight would start but I didn’t know with which part of the movie. One of my friends said, “I feel sorry for the wife of the farmer.” I asked, “Why?”
In the movie there is a scene where the city girl asks the farmer’s wife how she got married. Her reply was “Te-Telife.” I said to myself, “Now the argument is going to start.” My friend continued, “I can’t believe in this day and age there is “Telfa” Poor woman!” I said, “It is fine. Didn’t you hear the woman say she is happy now?” Telfa is kidnaping and rape. My friend burst out saying, “Who are they to choose a husband for her?” She started blaming our culture and our society. However, the movie’s subtitle, “Telafa,” is translated as “arranged marriage.” In our culture, it is believed that arranged marriages with the same family values will work. After all, marriage is something you get used to over time. Soon, the owner of Abol Restaurant, where we were, had to close and we left. We did not talk much in the car except that one of our friends said that slick city boy will never go near a countryside. We all laughed. This was an effect the movie had on all of us.
Guzo has a lot of educational and entertainment value that one must see. The Journey is premiering on Saturday May 9th, 2009 @ 8p.m. in the Lisner Auditorium located on the corner of 21st & H St. NW WDC.
Please take your kids and see the movie. You’ll have less explaining to do about Ethiopia. For us adults who have never seen the rural life of Ethiopia, it is very educational. For all creative young Ethiopians it is a lesson to show Ethiopians’ positive side and tell it like is.
Once there was short discussion on Art-Topia as to why the ticket price is so high for Ethiopian movies. Honestly, with this hard work by Aida, and for the advancement of rising Ethiopian movies, one has to go, see and enjoy “Guzo.”
The author of this article can be reached at CatchAleme@gmail.com.
Mitte - Noro Ejaita and Humility
Thanks to Rkassa for this link.
Noro Ejaita’s short-film ‘Mitte’ is among those currently listed on The Doorpost Film Project. Last day for voting is April 30. Entries to the online film contest fall under the themes of Forgiveness, Freedom, Humility, Joy, and Redemption.
After a series of international performance mishaps, FIRYA BURNES, a world-renowned performance artist finds herself in the Mitte section of Berlin, Germany where she attempts to execute the greatest performance art piece the world has ever seen - a public suicide.
Another film entitled Daraje, by Michael Solidum, is listed under Forgiveness and is about “an Ethiopian woman’s sad and haunting past catching up with her after she immigrates to the United States.”
Related Posts:
Where My People At? Berlin
Images of Displacement
Adjaye, NMAAHC, 2015
Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup
2015 is the scheduled opening for the National Museum of African American History and Culture(NMAAHC). New York Times reported yesterday that the architects chosen for the design of the museum include Tanzanian-born, London-based David Adjaye, along with Freelon Group, Davis Brody Bond and SmithGroup. (Below is a clip of Adjaye speaking about design and his work on the Stephen Lawrence Centre in London.)
The United States Congress enacted a bill in 2003 that created the museum after many years of lobbying for its creation. At present, half of the financing for the museum is obtained from the federal government and half from private donations. Advisory council members include Oprah Winfrey, Richard Dean Parsons, and Robert L. Johnson. The four pillars of the museum, as taken from the website, are:
*to create an opportunity for those that care about or who are interested in African American culture to explore and revel in this history.
*to help all Americans see just how central African American history is for all of us.
*to use African American culture as a means to help all Americans see how their stories, their histories, and their cultures are shaped and informed by international considerations.
*to be a place of collaboration.
