Second Burial

African Diaspora, African literature, ancestors, burial ceremonies, descendants of slaves, ethnic studies, Middle Passage, transatlantic slave trade

Among several West African ethnic people, death does not immediately entitle a person the status of ancestor. Traditionally there is a space of time between physical burial, which is quick, and the ceremonial burial that requires an established ritual, after which an individual joins or becomes an ancestor to the community. Among the Igbo, even issues surrounding inheritance and property cannot be settled until the elaborate second burial is completed. Read More

Both Sides

African Diaspora, African literature, ancestors, captured Africans, descendants of slaves, transatlantic slave trade

We are now in the season of departure and arrival (May-September), the season that marked the transatlantic trade in humans. It was a time when people were wrenched from their homes and communities, enslaved, forced to march to the coast, and endured the Middle Passage. They continuously confronted the unknown and the unimaginable. Ghanaian author Ama Ata Aidoo prescribes what descendants of those captured Africans and all others related to Read More

Keorapetse Kgositsile and Brenda Marie Osbey at Brown University, April 2011

African American History, African American literature, African Diaspora, African literature, ethnic studies

This spring two premier poets, one from South Africa and one from the United States, exemplified the connection through word art of the Continent and the Americas. We were fortunate enough to obtain Charles Cobb’s introduction of them to the Brown community. A webcast of this historic event was made and if any blog visitor is interested please contact the Department of Africana Studies, Brown University for access. The temptation Read More