Comments for Africa is a Country

Comment on You can’t make this stuff up #101 by samboerou

samboerou — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:13:22 +0000

Yes Afrika with a K,long before they came over the C!,Africa is not a county,but a ragged colonial quilt!

Comment on You can’t make this stuff up #101 by reader

reader — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:21:30 +0000

@ Sean, no prob!
@ Frederic - I don’t know what it is, but something about your argument makes me uncomfortable - maybe it’s because, like the American Apparel line, you make way too many generalizations (arguably the basis of stereotyping and subsequent racism/exoticism). I am “African” AND happened to know about this AND was offended by it. What is offensive about this line (and your response to some extent) is that it assumes some conflated African identity (the countless cultures are neatly packaged into one marketable commodity), miscommunicates it to its audience and completely excludes “Africans” from the dialogue (if we are to consider fashion a form of dialogue through which cultural ideas are exchanged).

I could be wrong - you probably had the best of intentions and I am missing out on some part of it. Please feel free to correct me if this is the case.

Also, as for the idea of “African designers” - I know as a sometimes writer, I get incredibly upset when people relegate my writing to African writing. I know that my ethnicity influences my perspective sometimes, but I don’t think it is a characteristic that is any more prominent than any one of my other influences. By making a spectacle of “Africanness,” we are essentially setting it apart from a normative identity, othering it. I bet there are African designers out there, making “undeniably hot designs,” but I also believe that they are drawing from influences from all aspects of their experiences, and refuse to be marked solely by their ethnicity.

Maybe I am thinking way too much about this, it’s a slow week at work

Comment on You can’t make this stuff up #101 by Frederic Tape

Frederic Tape — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:55:27 +0000

Will be interesting to see how they perform, sale wise. If this is the Africa that is prevalent in the psyche of their targeted customers,then it has the chances of becoming a Hit.
“backpacker lodges in Southern Africa, whether in Maputo or the top end of Cape Town’s Long Street It’s the kind of fabric tourists grab on Greenmarket Square” that is exactly the point Why go to Africa when you can get it at American Apparel.
Moreover Zebra=Safari=Kenya=Obama=Democratic party=Election

These tourists probably see the nice contemporary fashion on sale in Johannesburg or Maputo, they do not want that, they want the ” real Africa” you do not see them check for Burkas when going to Dubai. When are we going to accept the facts about western society view of Africa and move on.

it is certainly not the African American population that it is going to be offended;
Most Afrocentric African American are stuck up on that Koumbaya ish, that Afrika bambataa Ish, That 70’s Black Power Ishh, that I listen to African drum Music or Afrobeat[ Fela and the likes] Ish. Things that are not as relevant in 2008 Africa at least if you live in the thriving parts of the continent and is under 35 years of age which is about 70 % of the continent population.

It is certainly not the African population that it is going to be offended, They do not even know that American apparel exists, if the African designers are that mad, get your hustle on, come up with indeniably hot design, get yourself some marketers or business lawyers and get a deal with American Apparel,as to offer that market some descent African inspired designs.

Comment on Is this the real (final) beginning of the end for Robert Mugabe? by Bookmarks about Country

Bookmarks about Country — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:00:09 +0000

[...] - bookmarked by 3 members originally found by tentenxsan on 2008-07-24 Mugabe and Tsvangirai in the same room. This is historic [...]

Comment on ‘The Michael Phelps of South Africa’ by reader

reader — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:36:55 +0000

somewhat unrelated - have you seen the new American Apparel line? typical of hipster exoticism.
http://store.americanapparel.net/rsa8349p.html

Comment on Al Jazeera does South Africa by Sean

Sean — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:42:30 +0000

“They’re still the exotic, racist Other.” You mean to other white people (I mean foreign correspondents, writers, essayists, documentary filmmakers, etc) in the West? I wonder if that partly fuels the neo-right Afrikaner politics in SA?

Comment on Al Jazeera does South Africa by Herman

Herman — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:32:32 +0000

Stereotyping Afrikaners is such old hat. They’re still the exotic, racist Other. It’s lazy reporting and affords Afrikaners a much more central place in contemporary South Africa than would be the case in a careful analysis of the class and racial politics of which they’re a part.

Comment on Al Jazeera does South Africa by Lara Pawson

Lara Pawson — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:34:54 +0000

Something interesting: Al Jazeera Africa (in English) is packed with people from the BBC, some of whom had been frankly appalling reporters on this continent. If Al Jazeera starts to slowly slide into cliched takes on the continent, it won’t come as a surprise. I fear, in the end, the Al Jazeera will slowly become like the other big channels, despite its good intentions and the hope it gave us (all) at the start.

Comment on The only art critic in Africa by Sean

Sean — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:04:24 +0000

Just pointing out the obvious.

Comment on ‘To oppose the World Cup would be to oppose the new South Africa’ by pumpkinscone

pumpkinscone — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:08:51 +0000

totally agree but I am sure many South Africans would rather have the money spent on education, hospitals and infrastructure…I am positive that most people visiting South Africa in 2010 wont see places like Alexandra and many other townships that are poverty ridden in Gauteng, but hey they will have a brand new train system (Gautrain)…