tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784910837090435684.post5709714251789250519..comments2017-11-20T02:51:47.680-08:00Comments on acacia excerpts: african on thursdayAcaciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03148234753192860981noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784910837090435684.post-9675767941734443982009-07-18T09:09:07.908-07:002009-07-18T09:09:07.908-07:00I think I identify with Yiwonda's take. Being ...I think I identify with Yiwonda's take. Being identified with an emotion, an essence, a cultural definition as subjective as it is is not wrong per se. This subjectivity is part of our humanness. This presence of emotions, of eccentricities that end up defining a culture or race or a people. It is how we seek to find our place in the vast continuum of the cosmos, it is how we attempt to understand the eternal nothing that is everything. it is how we seek to find our 6 degrees of separation that in the end we find that we are related, we are all one.<br><br>From a metaphysical point of view the diversity is by design, it creates the aloneness that is enabled by togetherness and the togetherness that thrives in aloneness. it creates the co-interdependence that ensures that the full spectra of human potential and being is realised.<br><br>In hindsight we may find that how we perceive and treasure the "labels" was wrong but in itself does not invalidate the necessity of our pursuit. We are not an indiscriminate mass of random atomic beings bumping into each other, we are a complex community of nascent creatures both divine and base.<br><br>We are african, we are american, we are european. These are boundaries that enrich, that protect and yes that confuse and hate and kill. <br><br>We are the community of humans, who are different indeed not because of superiority or inferiority but beauty and purpose and mystery and many other things too high for me.Mystic Lunaticnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784910837090435684.post-81309532202525254452009-07-17T04:24:37.470-07:002009-07-17T04:24:37.470-07:00Interesting but difficult debate.I feel the quote ...Interesting but difficult debate.I feel the quote by Obama comes close to the best answer. today you might find that though you were raised in Africa you have more in common with a european, asian etc. even within Africa you find that your passport says yo malawian but you have more in common with a south african. one true but boring phrase which us lawyers like 2 use is the definition of an african is neither here nor there. I think the lines are being blurred by tech and globalization. In the end i think it will not matter where yo from or your skin colour. it will just be about yo common interest. some american said "today is our independence day,we are celebrating being american. but if you go to a restaurant on the 4th of July, yo typical customer will be wearing italian, eating french and driving german and the only thing american will be the accent. is this really celebrating americanism?" we are losing our identities or perhaps redefining them. but this is not necessarily bad.George Nnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784910837090435684.post-30360238254953596932009-07-16T22:50:53.296-07:002009-07-16T22:50:53.296-07:00I like Hamidou's definition of an African writ...I like Hamidou's definition of an African writer. Here you are quoting Coetzee again. Is this an author I should seriously contemplate reading?charisanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7784910837090435684.post-4331016294479802102009-07-16T10:02:35.604-07:002009-07-16T10:02:35.604-07:00So Jess... do you 'feel' african? Yet havi...So Jess... do you 'feel' african? Yet having been given the gift of living in a country thats 'not ones own' do you 'feel' that others judge you at not belonging. Are your protestations / arguments not influenced by the fact that you identify more with global oneness because this fits comfortably with your own experience and conceptual framework?<br><br>And Yiwonda... I think you rather emphasise Jess's point when arguing against it... in that if you can speak of an African 'oneness and unity of spirit' then surely one can also talk of a crossracial / crosscultural / beetroot-liking oneness and unity of spirit?<br><br>In other words you two lovely people... cannot both co exist? (My sit on the fence middle of the road cop-out!!!) lol!<br><br>p.s. thanks for sharing :-)Cerinoreply@blogger.com