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Activism, African cinema, African languages, African literature and culture, music and anything that creates positive foundations for the future of my people.
Currently I teach African Cultural Formations and Identities, but I have also been teaching Introduction to African Literature & Literature, Film and Society in Africa.
My research interests are West and South African literature (including oral traditions and cinema) and the role of culture in the liberation struggle in South Africa. I want to do some things on the Senegalese hip hop scene at some point - I am so inspired by our youth! Check them out in DEMOCRACY IN DAKAR http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid376530393?bc
lid=489236425
I am focusing my dissertation research on Mzwakhe Mbuli's contributions to the struggle in South Africa, as well as the general role of the poet/culture as a weapon of struggle - I'll be headed back to Jozi/Joburg for a quick 5 weeks in July (after 9 WONDERFUL days in Senegal) to finish up some interviews.
Here is Mzwakhe Mbuli, a South African revolutionary activist/poet/imbongi/freedom fighter www.mzwakhe.org www.mzwakhembuli.com AMANDLA! MAYIBUYE iAFRIKA!
People who enhance my life...and also
(okay I met Mzwakhe, but I still love the picture!)
Reggae (makes my heart beat - no reggae, no heartbeat!); LOVERS ROCK lives in my soul -I still love all the covers and can't wait for Babyface, Luther, Brian McKnight and all the others to be re-MADE into better Lovers Rock jams! (Gotta hear SANCHEZ!!!!, Wayne Wonder!!!, Sing to me Beres! Miss u Dennis!); ROOTS (too many to name!); Dancehall; SOCA (gotta sweat!); Dub (MUTABARUKA I LOVE YOU!!); SOUKOUS & Ndombolo - the dance music of all of Africa (Koffiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!, AWILO MAKE ME DANCE!!!!, Papa Wemba!!); Mbalax -won't be sitting unless I am sick (Viviane, Pape Ndiaye Thiopet, Youssou, Aby, Titi, Mbaye Dieye Faye); Makossa; High Life; Rumba, Straight Drums (Sabar, Djembe, anything) and I am in love with the politicized African hip hop - GalSen rapresent! I'd be lying if I said that I didn't love some down home blues and old Prince too
Fary L'Anesse; Ndeysaan; Love Jones; Pieces d'Identites; La Vie est Belle; Keita: Heritage of a Griot; The Harder They Come; John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk; Camp de Thiaroye; Finzan; Rabbit Proof Fence; Tableau Ferraille; Un Amour d'Enfant; Amandla!; Sankofa; Mangamizi; The Language You Cry In and almost any documentary
Don't do much TV, but I love the show Cheaters (love to see cheaters get busted!) and Girlfriends.
Click here to learn what's happening in Darfur, Sudan
Okot p'Bitek-The Artist the Ruler: Essays on Art, Culture and Values; Ayi Kwei Armah-Two Thousand Seasons (for me, these are the TWO BEST BOOKS EVER PUBLISHED); Mzwakhe Mbuli-Before Dawn; DT Niane- Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali; Amy Jacques Garvey-The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey; Steve Biko-I Write What I Like: Selected Readings; Amilcar Cabral-Unity and Struggle; Chinweizu- Decolonising the African Mind; Frantz Fanon-Wretched of the Earth; Cheikh Anta Diop-The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: The Domains of Patriarchy and Matriarchy in Classical Antiquity; Cheikh Anta Diop-Towards and African Renaissance: Essays in African Culture and Development, 1946-1960 (and anything by Diop, correctly written Joop in Wolof!); CT Keto-Vision and Time: Historical Perspective of an Africa-centered Paradigm; Okot p'Bitek-Africa's Cultural Revolution; Alec Pongweni-Songs That Won the Liberation War; Maina wa Kinyatti-Thunder from the Mountains: Mau Mau Patriotic Songs; Mazisi Kunene-Ancestors and the Sacred Mountain; AC Jordan-Towards an African Literature: The Emergence of Literary Form in Xhosa; Marimba Ani-Yurugu: An African-centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior; Frances Cress Welsing-The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors; Charles Finch-Star of Deep Beginnings: The Genesis of African Science and Technology; Ivan Van Sertima-They Came Before Columbus; John Henrik Clarke-Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust (anything Clarke!!); Yosef Ben-Jochannan-Black Man of the Nile and His Family; Runoko Rashidi-African Presence in Early Asia (edited with Van Sertima); Asa Hilliard-The Maroon Within Us: Selected Essays on African American Community Socialization....there are just too many to name here, so I just listed a few of the greats.
The Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, John Henrik Clarke, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Ivan Van Sertima, Runoko Rashidi, Frances Cress-Welsing, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Cheikh Anta Diop, Theopile Obenga, Malcolm X, Munashe Furusa, Queen Nzinga, Yaa Asantewa, Queen Makeda, Harriet Tubman, Okot p'Bitek, Mzwakhe Mbuli, Chief Bambatha, Chief Makhana, King Shaka, Patrice Lumumba, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ayi Kwei Armah, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Sundjata Keita, Askia Muhammad Ture, Mbuya Nehanda, Serin Touba, my mother, and all of those Africans that survived so that we could be. May their strength envigorate us all.
TSIETSI MASHININI STEPHEN BANTU BIKO
PATRICE EMERY LUMUMBA
ROBERT MANGALISO SOBUKWE
THOMAS ISADORE NOËL SANKARA
AMILCAR LOPES CABRAL
AHMED SÉKOU TOURÉ and KWAME NWIA KOFIE NKRUMAH
CHEIKH ANTA DIOP/JOOP
SËRIÑ TOUBA
MAAM CHEIKH IBRA FALL
MALCOLM X AKA EL HADJ MALIK EL SHABAZZ
CHAIRMAN
FRED HAMPTON
"I am a revolutionary!"
KWAME TURÉ
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
YAA ASANTEWAA, QUEEN MOTHER OF IJISU
QUEEN NZINGA MBANDE of NDONGO & MATAMBA
QUEEN MAKEDA of SHEBA
QUEEN AMINA OF HAUSALAND
UNCLE ZEPHANIA MOTHOPENG "Freedom without land and political power is not freedom."