Vox Africa on Black History Month: What History? Whose Culture?

Yes, yes, yes, that was already published about a month ago … but here you go, better late than never, or?

Anyway, interesting discussion about the importance of roots – a discourse that I (against my white German background) struggle to relate to - admitted, I care about my roots only down to the generation of my grandparents and don’t see what the genius of Goethe or Einstein got to do with my own intelligence, but then nobody ever questioned the latter on the basis of the alleged absence of ‘my’ collective ancestor’s achievements … To me the whole discussion smacks too much of nationalism a concept I view with a lot of suspicion and equally have problems to relate to. – Yes, I am German but what does that tell about me beyond the fact I have family in Berlin (right, not anywhere in Germany but concretely Berlin), that my mother tongue is German …? So, yes, a discourse that’s very much foreign to me and for that only the more important to listen to … Starts at 6:25 or so with an interview/comment by Onyeka Nubia. Prof. James Small briefly discusses the impact of Western-style education on black identity, consciousness of the African ‘roots’ (i.e. history), among Africans, as they say, ‘on the continent itself.’ (ca. 37 min)

[In case of any problems with the embedded video, here the link to the Vox Africa Site]

Oh, they also touch upon the whole issue of repatriation of African arts, which is particularly interesting because one of the discussants, Bonni Greer, is actually a chairman at the British Council and they have callers addressing the issue as well. Starts at 42:50 mins.