Monday, March 31, 2008

Negritude


Négritude is a literary and political movement developed in the 1930s by a group that included the future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, and the Guianan Léon Damas. The Négritude writers found solidarity in a common black identity as a rejection of French colonial racism. They believed that the shared black heritage of members of the African diaspora was the best tool in fighting against French political and intellectual hegemony and domination.

History
The movement was influenced by the Harlem Renaissance, and particularly the works of African-American writers Langston Hughes and Richard Wright, whose works address the themes of "blackness" and racism. Further inspiration came from Haiti, where there had similarly been a flourishing of black culture in the early 20th Century, and which historically holds particular pride of place in the African diaspora world due to the slave revolution led by Toussaint L'Ouverture in the 1790's. Césaire speaks, thus, of Haiti as being "where négritude stood up for the first time." On the European side, there was also influence and support from the Surrealism movement. During the 1920s and 1930s, a small group of black students and scholars from France's colonies and territories assembled in Paris where they were introduced to the writers of the Harlem Renaissance by Paulette Nardal and her sister Jane. Paulette Nardal and the Haitian Dr. Leo Sajou founded La revue du Monde Noir (1931-32), a literary journal published in English and French, which attempted to be a mouthpiece for the growing movement of African and Caribbean intellectuals in Paris. This Harlem connection was also shared by the closely parallel development of negrismo in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and it is likely that there were many influences between the movements, which differed in language but were in many ways united in purpose. At the same time, "Murderous Humanitarianism" (1932) was signed by prominent Surrealists including the Martiniquan surrealists Pierre Yoyotte and J.M. Monnerot and the relationship developed especially with Aimé Césaire.
The term négritude (which most closely means "blackness" in English) was first used in 1935 by Aimé Césaire in the 3rd issue of L'Étudiant noir, a magazine which he had started in Paris with fellow students Léopold Senghor and Léon Damas, as well as Gilbert Gratiant, Leonard Sainville, and Paulette Nardal. L'Étudiant noir also contains Césaire's first published work, "Negreries," which is notable not only for its disavowal of assimilation as a valid strategy for resistance but also for its reclamation of the word "nègre" as a positive term. "Nègre" previously had been almost exclusively used in a pejorative sense, much like the English word "nigger."
Neither Césaire--who upon returning to Martinique after his studies in Paris was elected both Mayor of Fort de France, the capital, and a representative of Martinique in France's Parliament--nor Senghor in Senegal envisaged political independence from France. Négritude would, according to Senghor, enable Blacks under French rule to take a "seat at the give and take [French] table as equals." However, France had other ideas, and it would eventually present Senegal and its other African colonies with independence.
In 1948, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote a famous analysis of the négritude movement in an essay called "Orphée Noir" (Black Orpheus) which served as the introduction to a volume of francophone poetry called Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache, compiled by Léopold Senghor. In this essay, Sartre characterizes négritude as the polar opposite of colonial racism in a Hegelian dialectic. In his view, négritude was an "anti-racist racism" (racisme antiraciste) necessary to the final goal of racial unity.
Négritude was criticized by some black writers in the 1960s as insufficiently militant. Keorapetse Kgositsile argued that the term was based too much on celebrating blackness by means of a white aesthetic, and was unable to define a new kind of black perception that would free black people and black art from white conceptualizations altogether.

[edit] Other uses

Osun Osogbo



Osun-OsogboThis site is located in Osun State, South West Nigeria. It is the cradle of Yoruba cultural traditions.It is believed that Oso-igbo, the goddess of Osun River, was the Queen and original founder of Osogbo. She was credited with many important achievements, which helped to establish the State. She lived in a beautiful surrounding and possessed magical powers, which inspired her people and frightened their enemies. Traditions acclaim her the goddess of fertility, protection and blessings. She possessed the ability to give children (through birth) to barren women and power to heal the sick and the afflicted by means of her medicinal water from the river.

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Reviews
Paul Tanner (UK):Following Dr Darling's "attack" on my review I feel I am entitled to a "right of reply"! Perhaps Dr Darling is not able to understand the significance of the emphatic "quotes" around the words "looking" and holiday" in my review - but nowhere did I say as he states "There is nothing to see in Nigeria"! Indeed I would call upon him, as an academic, who presumably is used to quoting his sources accurately, to justify or retract his use of those words. Is this the sort of academic standard which is common in Bournemouth "University" (again note the quotes!!)? Why is it that people can't just make their own points (e.g. that there are many interesting things to see in Nigeria and there are ways of doing this through his organisation which can make a visit easier/more productive) without making unjustified criticisms of the comments of others! In fact Dr Darling supports my own point exactly by suggesting that people should take a fieldwork holiday working with an African colleague. In my review I suggest "To get the most out of Nigeria you need to have or to engineer an entrée to its society" AND "So, if you do “brave” Nigeria, by all means visit the Osun Shrine – but do some prior study and try to get involved with the locals".I repeat to anyone that, just setting out as an individual on a normal "holiday" (with the emphasis on "holiday” as opposed to other sorts of "journeys") to Nigeria to "look at" sites in much the same way as you might "look at" many other of the “touristically” presented UNESCO cultural sites worldwide, is not likely to prove as fruitful experience as people might hope. I may not be as aware of Nigeria as Dr Darling (Though I did travel independently and solo in Nigeria for 5 weeks as far north as Kano and as far east as Benin City. I have also visited 2/3rds of the countries of Africa and 157 worldwide and may indeed have more “comparative” experience than he has in the relative merits/difficulties of various countries for travelling in) - but perhaps he is too close and, since he already has the local contacts and entrées to which I refer, is unable to appreciate the problems of independent travel in that country. But I cannot believe that anyone who is used to going through Lagos airport could be that naïve! I also have friends who travelled independently across the country this year from Benin – experienced travellers, they still found it daunting and difficult and were pleased to reach Cameroon (which is no picnic either!).

Dr Patrick Darling (UK and Nigeria):The Osun Shrine Grove was one of the sites recommended in the Tentative List of Cultural Properties I helped to draw up in 1994. This activity stimulated Suzanne Wegner into action; and I am very pleased to see the eventual success of this nomination - the second UNESCO World Heritage Site in Nigeria, following the success of Sukur in 1999.This is just one of an amazing number of spectacular sites in Nigeria; and the reviewer who says there is nothing to see in Nigeria and that it is not the place for a holiday clearly does not know Nigeria properly. African Legacy has drawn up a list of over 5,000 sites of interest in Nigeria. Apart from the Osun Shrine, these include Africa's largest monument (Sungbo's Eredo around Ijebu), the Ibokun skull wall near Ilesha, the world's longest ancient earthworks (Benin and Ishan), an inhabited rock shelter (Agbon cave via Iba near Ikirun), the western part of the Kano City walls, Old Ningi (watch out for the hyaenas!), Old Birnin Gwari walls and goldmines, Old Agwarra with its baobabs and querns, the vast stone walls of Surame, Lagos' old Brazilian style buildings and much more.African Legacy organizes fieldwork adventure holidays in Nigeria at cost price (no profit), in which everyone works with a Nigerian colleague (so no exploitation) to discover, map and publicise new features of Nigeria's incredible archaeology, cultural landscapes and wildlife. So far, we have helped to create Nigeria's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, inspire action for this second one (Osun shrine), put in Nigeria's first entry into the Guinness Book of Records, make the masterplan for a new National Park, and obtain international publicity for another site. Why not contact us and see if you could make you own discovery and prove that last reviewer wrong?

Paul Tanner (UK):The addition of the Osun Shrine to the WHS list in 2005 brought back memories of my visit to it during travels around Nigeria in 1975. Nigeria wasn’t and, from what I read, still isn’t really a country to travel around “looking” at places. One could hardly recommend anyone to take a “holiday” there! Dealings with individuals can range from the rapacious, through hostile and unhelpful to extremely kind and friendly. The mere logistics of travel can be very wearing. To get the most out of Nigeria you need to have or to engineer an entrée to its society. By lucky happenstance through a chance travelling companion (I hope the last 30 years have treated you well Judith Barratt of Vancouver!) I had somehow got involved with the artistic and music scene around Oshogbo (a centre for such activities). This included meeting and staying with Twins Seven Seven – now apparently a grand old man of the African artistic scene, highly feted in USA and “owner” of some 6000 Web "hits" on Google (I note that he has even recently been designated himself by UNESCO - as an “Artist for Peace”! How many “lists” does UNESCO have?). Also with another, albeit less renowned, artist Sam Babarinsa (though I note he still has some Web hits). It was Sam who took me the short journey from his house in Oshogbo down to a forest grove by a river. This was the Osun Shrine – a place I noted as being “full of mystery”. We walked through a series of clearings with structures, sometimes thatched and sometimes with corrugated iron roofs. There are many statues and the largest are enormous creations of shaped mud cement often in the form of “gates” through which one enters a shrine. These were created by Susanne Wenger, an Austrian woman who had arrived in the 1950s and set about reconstructing and refurbishing the shrine collaboratively with locals. In an effort to preserve the shrine she re-erected the wall which marked the sacred precinct. So complete was her commitment that she married a local, became a priestess (or “Olorisha”) and a senior member of the “Ogboni” society. The photo is of a shrine which is one of her works and represents the meeting of Obatala and Shango, 2 Yoruba deities (Oshun herself is the river goddess of fertility). One of the shrines is designated to the Ogboni secret society, an “eminance grise” in modern Nigerian politics with a reputation whose nearest Western equivalent might be the Masons but whose political and judicial writ may well go rather further! Looking back, despite Sam’s efforts to introduce and explain, I see the visit as a wasted opportunity – there is so much now I would like to know whereas in those days I didn’t even know I didn’t know! It is still something of a surprise to me that this shrine “rescued” by a European and decorated in a style which is only partially “African” has become such an important place in Nigeria’s contemporary culture – such that Nigeria has chosen to have it inscribed as a WHS! In fact, after even a little study about this place (there is quite a lot on the Web) one begins to realise how much it can tell one about Africa past, present and possibly future and also how much of Africa is unknown and possibly even unknowable to a European (Though Ms Wenger seems to have made a good try! Coincidentally she celebrated her 90th birthday on Jul 4 2005 just 11 days before the Osun Shrine was inscribed. ). So, if you do “brave” Nigeria, by all means visit the Osun Shrine – but do some prior study and try to get involved with the locals.

Have you been to Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove? Share your experiences!

Sango Styles

Life Performance and Workshop





The feel of the past mysticism is self evident in Africa as the lineage of deities in Africa expound more on the ancestral functionalism of all values. Sango Incarnate : Lukman Wahab flaunts the Spirit of Oba Koso in Style and Spirit.The purpose of the performance and workshop is to stimulating the consciousness and affirmation of the Beautiful Black Continent

Symbols of Shango






This oshe , with the double-bladed adze on the worshipper’s head symbolizing Shango combines two archetypal figurative motifs: a woman breast-feeding a baby and a woman carrying a baby securely on her back. The former symbolizes desire for Shango’s generosity to the devotee and humanity (much like the generosity of a mother to a child), while the latter represents a wish for Shango’s protection. The oshe held in her right hand represents her own commitment to the god or orisha. These potent maternal symbols of creation contrast starkly with Shango’s reputation as a tempestuous, destructive god; like the god himself, the oshe represents both conception and fertility (the mother) and destruction (the ax).

Demystifying The Source

The god of thunder and the ancestor of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He is the son of Yemaja the mother goddess and protector of birth. Shango (Xango) has three wives: Oya, who stole Shango's secrets of magic; Oschun, the river goddess who is Shango's favorite because of her culinary abilities; and Oba, who tried to win his love by offering her ear for him to eat. He sent her away in anger and she became the river Oba, which is very turbulent where it meets the river Oschun.
Shango is portrayed with a double axe on his head (the symbol of thunder), with six eyes and sometimes with three heads. His symbolic animal is the ram, and his favorite colors are red and white, which are regarded as being holy. In Brazil, Shango is worshipped as a thunder and weather god by the Umbandists. In Santeria, Shango (Chango) is the equivalent of the Catholic saint St. Barbara.



In Yorùbá mythology, Ṣàngó (Sango, Xango, Shango, Changó in Latin America, also known as Jakuta[1]) is perhaps the most popular Orisha; he is a Sky Father, god of thunder and lightning. Sango was a royal ancestor of the Yoruba as he was the third king of the Oyo Kingdom. In the Lukumí (O lukumi = "my friend") religion of the Caribbean, Shango is considered the center point of the religion as he represents the Oyo people of West Africa. The Oyo Kingdom was sacked and pillaged as part of a jihad by the Islamic Fulani Empire. All the major initiation ceremonies (as performed in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela for the last few hundred years) are based on the traditional Shango ceremony of Ancient Oyo. This ceremony survived the Middle Passage and is considered to be the most complete to have arrived on Western shores. This variation of the Yoruba initiation ceremony became the basis of all Orisha initiations in the West.
The energy given from this Deity of Thunder is also a major symbol of African resistance against an enslaving European culture. He rules the color red and white; his sacred number is 6; his symbol is the oshe (double-headed axe), which represents swift and balanced justice. He is owner of the Bata (3 double-headed drums) and of music in general, as well as the Art of Dance and Entertainment.

Mythology
Sango (or Jakuta)[2] was the fourth king of Oyo in Yorubaland, and deified after his death; mythologically, he (along with 14 others) burst forth from the goddess Yemaja's body after her son, Orungan, attempted to rape her for the second time. of course there are several myths regarding the birth and parentage of Sango. He is a major character in the divination literature of the Lukumi religion. Stories about Sango's life exemplify some major themes regarding the nature of character and destiny. In one set of stories Sango is the son of Aganju and Obatala. As the story goes, Obatala, the king of the white cloth was travelling and had to cross a river. Aganju, the ferryman and god of fire, refused him passage. Obatala retreated and turned himself into a beautiful woman. He returned to the river and traded his/her body for passage. Sango was the result of this uneasy union. This tension between reason represented by Obatala and fire represented by Aganju would form the foundation of Shango's particular character and nature. In further patakis Sango goes in search of Aganju, his father, and the two of them play out a drama of conflict and resolution that culminates with Shango throwing himself into the fire to prove his lineage. All of the stories regarding Shango revolve around dramatic events such as this one. He has three wives; his favorite (because of her excellent cooking) is Oshun, a river goddess. His other wife, Oba, another river goddess, offered Sango her ear to eat. He scorned her and she became the Oba River, which merges with the Oshun River to form dangerous rapids. Lastly, Oya was Shango's third wife, and stole the secrets of his powerful magic. [3]
The story of Sango and Oba carries the familiar refrain, "all that glitters is not gold". As has been stated Sango had three wives, Oba, his first and legitimate wife, Oya, his second wife, and Oshun his concubine. At that time and in that place they would live in a compound. In that compound, Sango had his own house and each wife had her own house surrounding his. He would then visit his wives in their houses to eat and to sleep with them. Oba noticed that when Sango went to the house of Oshun he would eat all of the food that she prepared for him but when he came to her home he would just pick. Oba, wanting a closer relationship with her husband, decided to ask Oshun how she kept Sango so happy. Oshun, being asked this, was filled with resentment. As children of the first wife, Oba's children would inherit Sango's kingdom. Her children would not have nearly the same status, being born from his concubine. She decided to play a trick on Oba, out of jealousy. She told Oba that many years ago she had cut a small piece of her ear off and dried it. From this she made a powder she would sprinkle on Sango's food. As he ate it, she told Oba, Sango would desire the food and Oshun all the more. Oba, excited by this information, ran home to prepare Sango's amala, his favorite meal. Once it was done she decided that if a little piece of Oshun's ear produced such an effect her whole ear would drive Sango mad with desire for her and he would forget Oshun forever. She sliced off her ear and stirred it into Sango's food. When Sango came to eat he sat down and began eating without looking at his dish. When he finally glanced down he saw an ear floating in the stew. Shango, thinking Oba was trying to poison him, drove her from his house. Oba ran from the compound, crying, and fell to earth to become a river, where she is still worshipped today. As an Orisha she is the patron of matrimony and is said to destroy marriages that abuse either partner.

Worship of Shango
The religious ritual of Sango was possibly designed in order to help the devotees of Sango gain self-control. Historically, Sango brought prosperity to the Oyo Empire during his reign. After deification, the initiation ceremony dictates that this same proseperity be bestowed upon followers, on a personal level. According to Yoruba and Vodou belief systems, Sango hurls bolts of lightning at the people chosen to be his followers, leaving behind imprints of stone axe blade on the Earth's crust. These blades can be seen easily after heavy rains. Worship of Sango enables- according to Yoruba belief- a great deal of power and self-control. Sango altars often contain a carved figure of a woman holding a gift to the god with a double-bladed axe sticking up from her head. The axe symbolizes that this devotee is possessed by Shango. The woman’s expression is calm and cool, for she is expressing the qualities she has gained through her faith. The orisha, or gods, are Yoruba ancestors or incarnate natural forces. Some of them are ancient, created in the beginning of time by the Great God, Ollorun. Orisha may be considered natural forces such as rivers, mountains, stones, thunder, or lightning. There are two categories of Orisa, which are grouped according to personalities and modes of action. This group of gods mostly consists of males, but there are a few females. Sango’s wife, Oya is also included as a “hot Orisa”. She is the queen of the whirlwind. This Orisa tends to be harsh, demanding, hostile and quick to anger. Other “hot Orisa” include Ogun, god of iron and Obaluaye, lord of pestilence. The second category of Orisa are the Orisa funfun—“the cool, temperate, symbolically white divinities”. These are the gentle, calm, and mellow Orisa. They include: Obatula/Orisonla, the divine sculptor; Osooli/Eyinle, lord of hunting and water; Osanyin, lord of leaves and medicine; Oduduwa, first king of Ile Ife.
Orisa are divine but also deified ancestors of Yorubaland. Sango fits both of these descriptions, for his is not only the embodiment of thunder, but also a hero of the Oyo Empire.
The ibori is the symbol of a person’s inner spiritual essence or individuality known as iponri. The ibori is cone shaped and repeats throughout Yoruba culture. The top of an ibori is called the oke iponri. This tip is made from the person’s placenta and symbols of deities or ancestors. The deity, Sango, is represented by wind.

[edit] Worship in different cultures
Shango is worshipped in Haitian Vodou, as a god of thunder and weather; in Brazilian Candomblé Ketu (under the name Xangô); in Umbanda, as the very powerful loa Nago Shango; in Trinidad as Shango God Of Thunder, drumming and dance ; and in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela - the Santeria equivalent of St. Barbara[4], a traditional colonial disguise for the Deity known as Changó.
In art, Sango is depicted with a double-axe on his three heads. He is associated with the holy animal, the ram, and the holy colors of red and white.
In popular culture
Shango is a character in the Graphic Novel series The Hand of the Morningstar from Zondervan.
King Shango is an alternate name for reggae entertainer Capleton.
Shango is the title of a Juno Reactor album.
Shango (rock group) was the name of a rock group in the late 1960s.
In 2006, distributors WyattZier, LLC launched a rum brand named "Shango".[5]
Shango, a song on Angélique Kidjo's Fifa album, celebtates this orisha.
Shango, a 1982 album by Santana.
Shango Electric is the title of a song on David Rudder's 'International Chantuelle' album.
Canto de Xangô is the title of a song by Vinicius de Moraes and Baden Powell.
King Changó is the name of a Latin ska band based in New York.
Changó is the name of a song by Devo on their Hardcore Devo: Volume Two album.
Shango makes a cameo in the 2005 movie Checking Out, when the main character goes to see an urban Shaman (apparent devote of Shango) to communicate with Shango on an important matter central to the plot of the movie.
Xangoman is the name of a Venezuelan singjay/producer based in Berlin and Tübingen, Germany.
Shango makes an appearance in the role-playing game Scion by White Wolf.
Pro-wrestler Charles Wright wrestled as the Vodou-themed ring identity 'Papa Shango', who was named after Shango.
Salsa composer, Willy Chirino, has a song named "Mister Don't Touch the Banana" recounting the tale of an American tourist at a festival commemorating Changó.
"Papá Changó", an ecuadorian latin.reggae music group.

[edit] See also
Santería - Cuba-originating belief system that combines Catholicism with Yoruba mythology
Saint Barbara - Catholic saint used as representation Shango in Santería.
Shango Baptist - Trinidad and Tobago originating belief system that combines Orisha Worship with Christianity

[edit] References
^ Bascom, William Russell (1980). Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New World. Indiana University Press, 44. ISBN 0253208475.
^ Lum, Kenneth Anthony (2000). Praising His Name in the Dance. Routledge, 231. ISBN 9057026104.
^ Shango at Pantheon.org
^ Shango syncretism - religion-cults.com
^ Shango Rum
Drewa, Henry John & Pemberton, John III. Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought. The Center for African Arts in association with Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1989. p. 13.
Visona, Monica B., Robin Poynor, Herbert M. Cole, Michael D. Harris, Suzanne P. Blier, and Rowland Abiodun. A History of Art in Africa. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc. and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001. p. 253.
Unknown Yoruba Artist. Figure for a Shango Cult. Nigeria. Late 19th century.


Robert Dahl an ingenius political thinker once affirmed that : 'the inheritance of the past bears heavily on the present and significantly affects future.' The worship of Shango is of a primal spiritual value and relevance , it is total observance of cosmic reactions. ...