"For people of African descent, blackness is...a way of being human in the West or in areas under Western domination. It is a compelling performance against the logic of slavery and colonialism by people whose destinies have been inextricably linked to the advancement of the West, and who have therefore to learn the expressive techniques of modernity: writing, music, Christianity, and industrialization in order to become uncolonizable. They have to recuperate the category black from the pathological space reserved for it in the discourse of whiteness, and reinvest it with attributes valorized in modern humanism."
--Manthia Diawara, from "Englishness and Blackness: Cricket as Discourse on Postcolonialism"
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Mr.Diawara is a very very interesting person and mind. We share a history of being from a place where there was no obvious white supremacy- he from Mali and I from Haïti. He speaks of having been influenced by James Brown's " I'm Black and I'm Proud" and its liberating effect on a continent rising from colonialism in the 60s. A writer a filmmaker and important figure within the complex discourse that rages on on race in America.
ReplyDeleteJohn K, thanks for your interesting (conversation) proposal on March11(?) between myself, Adrian Piper and William Pope. I find your choice extremely interesting (and incisive). I will be participating in a ‘BICA’ exhibition "Living for the City" hosted at the Jack Shainman Gallery opening Thur. 30 June (6-8pm) 2005 (513w20thSt) and sending some works from my Berlin studio.
Best regards, Jn.Ulrick D.
(I apologize for the unUpdated website-overhaul will happen soon-stay tuned)
Dear Jean, thanks for dropping me the note. Will you be at the opening? I'll try to catch it, since I should be in town. I definitely look forward to seeing your work.
ReplyDeleteliebe John K, (i hope you see this note)
ReplyDeletesorry for the lapse in time- I hadnt passed by your (wundershön) Blog for a long while(I must find the time- and DSL connection- to look at it in greater detail.
I am, unfortunately, still here in Berlin (wonderfully warm) and so my brother will go in my stead.
Best regards, Jn.Ulrick