On 7/19/08, Nithya Sambasivan wrote: > > I wonder how the term "Black" is still in existence. I agree that "African" > has evolved to not encapsulate the race and the diaspora, but has come to > signify belonging to the continent (South African is different, though?), > unlike terms like "Indian" and "Persian" which signify culture as well as > race. If we can have terms like Indian-American, Persian-American and other > variations and hyphenations of the race/country/continent of origin and > country of citizenship/birth, then why not just eliminate the term "Black"? > Why is it black music, black cuisine, it's-a-black-thing-to-do?
Because 'black' has taken on a dimension as a unifying identity. There is a dualism in Africa of both an African identity and a Black identity... so you find the same person rooting for Barack Obama and at the same time identifying with a nigerian football star... The best explanation is perhaps in a book called 'black skin, white masks' by frantz fannon... Though among africans 'black music' is typically american hip-hop (because african music is something quite different and varied) and there is no such thing as black cuisine (just regional cuisines...)
