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Overview
Betty Wamalwa
Muragori (Sitawa Namwalie) is a poet and writer
interested in exploring how Africans define themselves
in today’s world. She worked in the development industry
for many years after graduating from the University of
Nairobi with a Bachelor of Science in Botany and
Zoology, and later obtaining a Master of Arts degree in
Environment, Society and Technology from Clark
University in Massachusetts, USA. She lives and works as
a development consultant in Nairobi. In writing, Sitawa
finds her creative expression. But Sitawa has achieved
excellence in many areas of life including representing
Kenya in tennis and hockey in her youth. A mother of
three gorgeous children, Sitawa is married to a man of
infectious humour and rare generosity. Her collection of
poetry
Cut of My Tongue is published by Storymoja.—Storymojahayfestiva
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Table
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In Nairobi we
still had the old airport that had been built in
homage to a village where everyone knew one
another. It was built to honour relationships and
public displays of love. The actual buildings
looked more like a series of barns that housed
cattle. Departure and arrival scenes were multihued
affairs. They featured a range of villages from
different parts of the country, all assembled at the
same time, in this one place, to see off their
relatives and friends and to welcome returning ones.
I recall a riot of colourful dress, a range of
facial features, different ages from new born babes
to old grandparents, many languages all spoken in
high excitement. . . .
I arrived at
Heathrow airport and stood on the queue in a state
of simmering panic. Half an hour before we were due
to land, I had realized I did not have my passport.
My turn on the queue came. The immigration officer
looked at me and asked for my passport, and I burst
out crying. I told him I didn’t have it and regaled
him with the story of my French adventures and how I
had left my passport at an airport in France, either
Charles de Gaulle or Orly. It turned out that he
was formerly from Kenya and was fatherly and sweet.
He let me into Britain on some temporary papers.
An African Out in the World Or When I was a Tennis
Player
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Her
people must have come from people who
neighbored the Pokot. And in that
quintessential old African way, they
intermingled with little distinction.
Over the years ethnic groups that
neighbored would swap dress, traditions,
practices and relations with ease. My
self image was shaken. Here I was
looking at people whom I thought of as
unknown strangers. I had in fact come
on a great adventure to discover them,
to separate myth from fact. Were they
really warlike people? Or cattle
rustlers who could spear you for your
cows. Now I realized that all the time
there was a relationship with me,
through my beloved Sitawa.
Blue Eyed Dolls in Africa
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Twenty years later as I watched the
elections that
brought another dumb, dumb unfathomable US president
into power, George Bush Jr., I realized that my
vantage point with its emphasis on linear
“development” or maedeleo had warped my
thinking. Until that instant, I had thought
development also brings highly enlightened people
who would not lie about the presence of weapons of
mass destruction to bring pain and destruction to
innocent women and children many miles away in
another country. For what, for oil, (I can’t
believe that), to get revenge for daddy, (that’s too
weird) to get their way (what way, the American way
in Baghdad?) To be right about a perspective?
(Probably the only right answer outrageous as it may
seem.)
How I became a Marxist
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted
21 April 2010
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