We’ve got bloglobility – a true story based on global events
Somewhere between the late 1990’s and yesterday, the word ‘blog’ got inducted into the global language of the internet, understood by a majority of planet earths inhabitants. A fad, a necessary evil, a means to fame, a ranter’s delight, all of the aforementioned can be categorized alongside a description of what a blog is or rather hopes to be, because after all; “it’s easy, and it only takes a minute” (www.blogger.com) to create. And in an increasingly cyber based existence where speed need not come in the form of a narcotic to ensure addiction, the faster and easier it is to set yourself up on the internet, the faster you’ll be able to reach that high. A high that involves sharing ourselves with the rest of the world seated behind blinking cursors eagerly awaiting approval of cool-factor, a sentiment/disposition that echoes the incessant human need for acceptance and thirst for knowledge be it academic, voyeuristic or just plain useless.
The accessibility provided by what I regard as one of mankind’s greatest inventions after the automobile – the internet - has given individuals another sphere from which to function, free from the confines of social realities. Having a blog has become an extension of the average urban existence/being. And the constantly increasing numbers of fashion, style, culture and art blogs that run rampant in cyberspace are testament to that. Everyone knows where everyone else is partying, what they’re wearing, the latest art exhibition they’re attending or what global cause they’re supporting. The cult of celebrity is no longer a members only club – Andy Warhol’s prophetic musing: a very real truth. We can ALL have our fifteen minutes of fame and claim it too. It is this accessibility that highlights the fact that the world is getting smaller and we truly are living up to the now pre-millennium clichéd term of being a ‘global village’, so much so, Africa hasn’t been left behind this time around in a cloud of third world dust.
From Lagos to Cape Town, Africans are wired and just as technologically savvy as the average American. And more than just technologically aware, a combination of post colonial detritus and modern day repercussions of capitalism has resulted in the archetype 21st century African urbanite – the AFROPOLITAN or as Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu described it on www.theafrobeat.blogspot.com:
…the newest generation of African emigrants, coming soon or collected already at a law firm/chem lab/jazz lounge near you. You’ll know us by our funny blend of London fashion, New York jargon, African ethics, and academic successes. Some of us are ethnic mixes, e.g. Ghanaian and Canadian, Nigerian and Swiss; others merely cultural mutts: American accent, European affect, African ethos. Most of us are multilingual: in addition to English and a Romantic or two, we understand some indigenous tongue and speak a few urban vernaculars. There is at least one place on The African Continent to which we tie our sense of self: be it a nation-state (Ethiopia), a city (Ibadan), or an auntie’s kitchen. Then there’s the G8 city or two (or three) that we know like the backs of our hands, and the various institutions that know us for our famed focus. We are Afropolitans: not citizens, but Africans of the world.
With the latter in mind, it comes as no surprise that the chosen form of existence in this world is through a globally accessible blog. The culture of the Afropolitan becomes a shared reality and not so much a confusing existence. While the internet becomes the permanent home that doesn’t exist for these individuals in real time. So instead of having existential crises for all to see, they celebrate this ‘rootless-ness’, embracing the global urban culture that they know rather than clinging on to a past/culture/present they don’t know, albeit with an afro-centric twist. As is evident in these three blogs:Somewhere between the late 1990’s and yesterday, the word ‘blog’ got inducted into the global language of the internet, understood by a majority of planet earths inhabitants. A fad, a necessary evil, a means to fame, a ranter’s delight, all of the aforementioned can be categorized alongside a description of what a blog is or rather hopes to be, because after all; “it’s easy, and it only takes a minute” (www.blogger.com) to create. And in an increasingly cyber based existence where speed need not come in the form of a narcotic to ensure addiction, the faster and easier it is to set yourself up on the internet, the faster you’ll be able to reach that high. A high that involves sharing ourselves with the rest of the world seated behind blinking cursors eagerly awaiting approval of cool-factor, a sentiment/disposition that echoes the incessant human need for acceptance and thirst for knowledge be it academic, voyeuristic or just plain useless.
The accessibility provided by what I regard as one of mankind’s greatest inventions after the automobile – the internet - has given individuals another sphere from which to function, free from the confines of social realities. Having a blog has become an extension of the average urban existence/being. And the constantly increasing numbers of fashion, style, culture and art blogs that run rampant in cyberspace are testament to that. Everyone knows where everyone else is partying, what they’re wearing, the latest art exhibition they’re attending or what global cause they’re supporting. The cult of celebrity is no longer a members only club – Andy Warhol’s prophetic musing: a very real truth. We can ALL have our fifteen minutes of fame and claim it too. It is this accessibility that highlights the fact that the world is getting smaller and we truly are living up to the now pre-millennium clichéd term of being a ‘global village’, so much so, Africa hasn’t been left behind this time around in a cloud of third world dust.
From Lagos to Cape Town, Africans are wired and just as technologically savvy as the average American. And more than just technologically aware, a combination of post colonial detritus and modern day repercussions of capitalism has resulted in the archetype 21st century African urbanite – the AFROPOLITAN or as Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu described it on www.theafrobeat.blogspot.com:
…the newest generation of African emigrants, coming soon or collected already at a law firm/chem lab/jazz lounge near you. You’ll know us by our funny blend of London fashion, New York jargon, African ethics, and academic successes. Some of us are ethnic mixes, e.g. Ghanaian and Canadian, Nigerian and Swiss; others merely cultural mutts: American accent, European affect, African ethos. Most of us are multilingual: in addition to English and a Romantic or two, we understand some indigenous tongue and speak a few urban vernaculars. There is at least one place on The African Continent to which we tie our sense of self: be it a nation-state (Ethiopia), a city (Ibadan), or an auntie’s kitchen. Then there’s the G8 city or two (or three) that we know like the backs of our hands, and the various institutions that know us for our famed focus. We are Afropolitans: not citizens, but Africans of the world.
- Hot Damn!!!: http://isaidhotdamn.blogspot.com/
-Negrita's Chronicles: http://inturire.blogspot.com/
-Africa. Visual_Media: http://forota.net/wordpress/
All three blogs explore their creators personal world view, while simultaneously outlining the creators ‘place’ in these worlds which span Johannesburg, Kigali and New York City. Visual culture is a common thread between the three blogs, urban art and photography especially. Music, fashion and alternative culture feature heavily too – subject matter that is catered toward the tastes and interests of the average Afropolitan to which they can relate and find out more about, whether they’re tuning in from Port Elizabeth or Singapore.
“Hot Damn!!!” is the project of Zee, a South African photographer who spends her time between Johannesburg and Cape Town. “Hot Damn!!!” is her visual diary shared with the world. From inspirational photographs articulating her visual style of the week to the latest album streaming out of her record player, Zee documents her existence and keeps both her immediate world of friends and the greater world of fellow bloggers posted, or as she puts it on http://isaidhotdamn.blogspot.com; “[she]expresses the direction that modern pop African culture is going”.
Her post, “I know this corner of the earth, it makes me smile” (2009: August 19th) illustrates her own photography, however in her text based comments about these photos she highlights an interesting thing about the cult of blog and how the fact that ‘everybody’s doing it’, also means NOT everybody is doing it ‘correctly’; “These two pics were taken in my grandmother's room. They're two of my favourite pics ever taken. I generally don't like the way photographs are compressed on blogspot, so to see the pics in all their glory check them out properly on www.75.co.za/zee”. The highlighted comment sheds light on the fact that while setting up a blog is easy and fashionably hip (especially in the creative circles), maximizing it to make sure you get the most out of it requires basic HTML knowledge. This questions the authenticity of a blog in regard to quality being transmitted. Having a blog has almost become a desperate attempt to show your bones and share your wares, regardless of what you have to show to begin with. Nonetheless another factor to consider in the above comment by Zee is the alternative internet based solution offered, illustrating the vast expanse of the internet in our lives, i.e. options, options, options - the 21st century disposition. A disposition that can only be a good thing for upcoming artists like Zee, to get there work out there and get noticed beyond their MySpace and Facebook page, despite the aesthetic quality of the actual blog.
A similar blog to “Hot Damn!!!” is “Negrita’s Chronicles…the random thoughts and scattered ramblings of a nomadic Afropolitan...”, only Negrita broadens the range of her African urban existence while keeping it grounded in Kigali a city most automatically associate with post apocalyptic warzone imagery. However, courtesy of blogs like Negrita’s the world can be re introduced to a country that is slowly healing from its wounds and asserting itself on the world map as metropolis no different from any other African city. Art happens, music flows, fashion works and life goes on. Ironically, Negrita’s musings and posts highlight a contradictory reality: if it wasn’t for Rwanda’s genocide that forced people like Negrita to flee their homeland and essentially banish them to a life of nomadic tendency, the Afropolitan would not exist and the rich culture that has come of this migrancy would be considerably less layered. The latter would consequently mean the current subject matter on blogs like “Negrita’s Chronicles” would be non-existent too. It’s interesting to note how the internet brings people together to help deal with atrocities like genocide and through blogs its survivors can channel positivity and celebrate the after effects that occurred in lifestyle and broadened their worlds.
“Negrita’s Chronicles”, not only re-presents Rwanda to the global audience, but also Africa as a whole. Her post, “inspired: celebrating Africa” (2009: March 6th) reiterates this well; “having had enough of 'images of starving children, stories of corrupt politicians, famines, etc,' they decided to embark on a road trip around Africa in an attempt to 'celebrate all that is beautiful on the continent from her peoples to her cultures, languages and religions... their mission is to: 'contribute to changing the negative image of Africa and encourage Africans and the world to begin to see the beauty in the continent [and to] promote a sense of identity and unity for Africa’s people.'”. The African art of storytelling lives on in a digital age, stories shared between the blogger and her subject matter and stories re-told by the blogger to her cyber audience.
Story telling is central in this blog whose descriptive sub header “Keeping track of African and Africa-related culture in the media (film, photography, television, and print)” sums up the bloggers claim to Afropolitan rank and file. “AFRICA. VISUAL_MEDIA” is the blog of Kamau Mucoki, whose biography resonates in his postings; “Kenyan, born in the bay area, currently living in New York City. IT project management pays the bills, but music from the African Diaspora and photography feed the soul”.
“AFRICA. VISUAL_MEDIA” lends itself to blog roll recognition with its comfortable aesthetic and generally original content and could very well be THE archetype Afropolitan blog. Kamau shares, re interprets and informs just like Zee and Negrita, but focuses more on the Afropolitan goings on in and around New York City while simultaneously celebrating the African culture that has influenced the photographers, artists, musicians and film makers featured on his blog. In an email interview with him this is what he had to say about the blog:
A little about my blog:
I started it roughly 4 years ago. For the first couple of years, it was offline only I had access to it. I used it to work out my reactions to links that I found about african photography. It was also a place for all the links that I came across on the web that I could go back to sometime. Why did I start it? As a photographer, I am exploring what is important to me as a way to figure out WHAT I would like to shoot (my point of view) ... to figure out what inspires me, what my obsessions are etc. Along the way, I starting uncovering so much about African culture (from the continent and the diaspora) that manifests itself in visual media (film, videos, photography, magazines) that I think should be shared with other people. That is the big reason I decided to make it public, so few of us are aware of the power of our culture and how its influences are so pervasive in Western culture. There are a number of other sites that are doing the same thing; the one that comes most immediately to mind is sci-cultura (http://sci-cultura.com/). That's site's author also blogs because it feeds the process of self-discovery about Africa's culture. Of late, I have been getting to meet other Africans/African-Americans who like me inhabit a cultural/mental space somewhere between Africa, its diaspora and America/Europe and who try to embrace all those places (there are various terms for people like us, Afropolitans, global citizens, third culture kids, etc., etc.)My process:
... is very organic. I have tried (unsuccessfully) to post regular updates to drive up the traffic to the site. But since this is such a personal site, I tend to post stuff only when the inspiration hits me, or I find something that fits the subject matter/themes that are consistent with the site's viewpoint. My sources of information are mostly from the web more from the art/culture sites vs politics), magazines and occasionally from events that I attend here in NYC. I try to focus on film, photography, videos, print media, with some music stuff thrown in. I try to keep the voice personal as much as possible and try to provide a little context/background when I can, although most of the time all I have time for is to post links.
His answer was a wonderful conclusion to my insight into the workings of the Afropolitan state of existence and global position. Kamau’s words illustrate the workings of the internet as a global tool of connection across cultures and borders. And through blogs, people can pick and choose what they prefer their reality to be. There are no limitations, being from Africa is no longer a fateful sentence to being disconnected from the “first world”. The world’s getting smaller but the internet just goes to prove how the world is also simultaneously getting a whole lot larger!
We’ll blame it on the cult of blog for now.
-end-
