Well articulated cde Gugu, maybe what is needed to address these challenges is to revive the concept of African Renaissance. It's my view that there is no common ground on what constitutes African cultural features, such as belief, lifestyle and so on - against global influences of colouring hair, nails, eyes, lips and so forth. Let's also not be discontent about who's African as majority of people do not understand our history well enough to preserve it because of other external factors such as population displacement, colonialism and its manifestations, thus leading those who lost their identity to succumb to foreign lifestyles and subcultures in order to be seen to be cool. I would argue that the African hair identity is just a tip of the iceberg. We need to revert back to the African Renaissance project and restore our lost pride as a nation. Remain, Morgan Phaahla
"Sometimes, if you wear suits for too long, it changes your ideology." - Joe Slovo --- On Thu, 9/30/10, Gugu Ndima <[email protected]> wrote: From: Gugu Ndima <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [YCLSA Discussion] Hair To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010, 4:36 AM So if pigmentation and texture of hair plays a role in identity, then does it make u less African to have a weave or straight hair? This reminds me of an advert by Metro (commercial radio station) the advert asked "What makes you black?" and then they showed an albino woman....Is she less black by having blonde hair and a light (white) skin completion? There is a generation of young people in our society that also fall into this narrow pit that Hair and beads make them look more African, whilst they accents remain euro-centric and live comfortably in the suburbs of Sandton and Rosebank. The identity of Africans should not be reduced to appearances, notwithstanding that it is an integral part, but being African has more weight and Identity than hair and pigmentation.... Somalians hair is more Indian than the supposed "African" type of hair- what about Egyptians? I honestly think this is a narrow analysis of Black hair, unless the analysis is based on her observation of SA......Africans are diverse on this continent and texture of hair should really not be a concern.Is she dismissing Coloureds as non-African or less African? Hope sounds like Lebo Mashile Regards Gugu On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 8:01 AM, Dominic.Tweedie <[email protected]> wrote: African-hair identity Hope Mankwana Papo, Letters, Business Day, Johannesburg, 30 September 2010 Following a long, protracted struggle for freedom, in the era of the African renaissance and transformation and retracing of our suppressed and lost identity, why are some of the black African people dumping their natural African hair and trying to look like Asian and white women through long artificial hair and wigs? This is contrasted by a very small number, if any, of Asian and white women who want to have their hair look like that of black women. Some black people even sport long blonde hair. What really motivates these hairstyles? What is the difference between these hairstyles and the mentality which motivated the misguided and colonially inspired use of the abominable skin lighteners in the ’70s and ’80s? Some people argue that they have a choice and can afford to do all sorts of things with their African hair. Granted, but I think this choice has to be exercised and informed by available hairstyle options, which retain the essence of who we are as Africans and an understanding of the terrible apartheid history of being called monkeys, baboons, barbarians and not being good at anything. This choice has to be informed by the humiliating and racist practice of the pencil test through the texture of the hair, to see if a person was a black African or a coloured. Did we struggle for some African people to consciously and unconsciously ridicule our rich African identity? Does freedom mean always having to conform to the practices of other people? Should we accept silly arguments that people feel uncomfortable with their African hair? Is mimicking some of the mannerisms of some of the African-Americans, influenced by an inferiority complex, correct? We cannot talk big about being African when we cannot deal with basic things which are within our control, such as our attitude to some of our natural attributes like hair. It is a recorded historical fact that African people contributed immensely to human civilisation. Does changing our hair to look like the natural hair of Asian and white people enhance this history? While issues such as health, education, fighting crime and corruption, rural development, creating decent work and poverty eradication are important to continue addressing, we cannot do that outside the context of understanding who we are and our background as Africans. As we part with the September Heritage month, we should ask whether we are ashamed of our African identity. Being African is an important aspect of building a nonracial SA. Hope Mankwana Papo Johannesburg From: http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=122366 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -- Gugu Ndima +27 76 783 1516 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
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