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by Stephanie Iyala
Contributors
Host, Editor and Producer: Stephanie Iyala
Recording starts
Stephanie 0:00
Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of diaspora diaries. I'm Stephanie, and today I'm alone, like literally alone, not as in lonely, but alone. I have no guests, and the library is empty. So this is going to be a very interesting episode, a very different one.
Stephanie 0:44
I feel like it's just kind of weird. I don't know how to speak to myself, but considering that, it's a diary, right? Like you write to yourself, or like people do video diaries, where they speak to themselves, I'm just like, how do I speak to myself? Like, who am I speaking to? So I'm just going to act like this is a voice note to my friend. Yeah, I don't need to explain myself. I don't need to explain myself. I'm alone today, and I'm testing something new.
Stephanie 1:14
Anyways, let's get on. Ow, sorry, I just banged my knee.
Stephanie 1:18
Okay, so today I'm going to be speaking about the social capital, or like, the clout received for being a part of the diaspora. So whether that be African, Caribbean, South American, there's been a cultural shift where being a member of the Diaspora or, quote, unquote, having some sense or knowledge or pride in your cultural heritage is used as a social currency, and now that has become valorized, which is both a very good thing, but then also, I'm just scared that it's going to be commodified by businesses, which it has!
Stephanie 2:00
So I feel like I'm going to be using valorisation throughout this episode. So I thought I explain it a bit how I'm using the word and why I'm using the word. So what I mean by valorisation is the idea that something, well, in this case, subscribing to the African identity through cultural means, carries some social value and significance, and this significance has been made more apparent, especially online, by kids of the diaspora, especially those born in the Metropole, expressing their cultural heritage.
Stephanie 2:29
Okay, you may hear my voice change in this podcast. It's because this is my voice of me editing and being like, Ah, I need to add more things. I need to explain because, like, I'm just saying points, do you know I mean. But here, when I'm seeing the Metropole, I don't know why I'm using the Metropole, okay, and I can't cut it out, because if I cut it out, I have to cut out the whole sentence. I mean, Europe. I think I'm thinking in a lens that was still under the formations and operations of colonialism, and I guess that we're not but I just use Metropole metropole just has something to it! Think of Cesaire! Do you know what I'm saying? Like, it just has something okay. This is, yeah. So if you hear me say, metropole again, I'm just ignore. I mean Europe, I mean the UK, like, I mean the UK like I was talking about the UK in the UK context. I won't explain that later, but yeah, okay, enjoy the rest of the episode. Yeah.
Stephanie 3:33
And examples of this could be, well, specifically, what with specific? In specific to the African diaspora, which I'm going to be speaking about a lot today, is through embracing natural hair and braiding styles like Boho braids, pick and drop curls, single braids, or wearing tradition, well, in quote, unquote, traditional garments. And I don't know if you guys seen, but there's these three boys, I think one's from Somalia, I believe. And he is doing like this little project where each person in the friendship group, they all go to their home country as like a holiday destination. So he tried to pitch this to the BBC like he was doing, like a whole series about it on like Instagram and Tiktok. I forgot his name, but I think you guys might know who I'm talking about, and so that is, like, a prime example of embracing and expressing your cultural heritage. So I'm gonna get into that today.
Stephanie 4:32
And the reason why I'm bringing this up is, okay, I have three reasons why I'm bringing this up, so I'm gonna do like three different, like, little story times. But the first one is. One, this has not always been the case where being part of the diaspora has been respected. Disclaimer, I'm speaking about the UK. I can't speak of the whole of Europe. I can't speak of the whole Britain. I can't speak for everyone. This isn't this is just my take. This is just my critique! This is what I've noticed And I'm gonna speak about it. Okay, so, but so, yeah, it's not always been respected as much or valorized.
Stephanie 5:09
See how I use that term again!
Stephanie 5:10
To have some grounding and pride in your cultural heritage. So I definitely think there's been a big, big, big culture shift, especially post 2020, where being African has become something that is popular, something that is valued. Second, I'm currently reading a book called The Lonely Londoners, written by Sam Selvon. Is it Selvon? Yeah, Selvon. First, I thought it was Sevlon, but it's Selvan. I'm reading the book. The Lonely Londoners, written by Sam Selvon and one of the characters...
Stephanie 5:45
Okay, so One, very good book so far. I'm halfway through, so I'm not going to put any spoilers in, because, one, I don't have a spoiler to share, okay, and it speaks on migration in...the migration of like Caribbean, African oh and South Asian people to the UK around the 1950s the emergence of migrants, which was encouraged by the UK. So that book is situated in that time period. One of the characters who is Moses' friend. Moses is the protagonist, by the way, he is also from Trinidad, but he operates differently to Moses because he denies being from Trinidad and claims to be Latin American. And he somewhat gets away with this because one, he's lighter skinned, and two, that kind of gives him the like, the ethnic ambiguity, like so. But the bigger thing is he, his name's called Bart, and he does not want to be aligned with Trinidad and he, like, widely denounces his blackness.
Stephanie 6:49
What, okay, what I'm trying to say is that this detachment gives him the social capital to engage with people in the West End, like he goes to, like, fancy dinner parties all the time. He has some form of money, I guess, but that comes from him denouncing his blackness. Cool. I'm bringing this up because when I was reading that, I was like this kind of follows the same sentiment that was prominent in the UK for quite a long period, where I felt that growing up, that a lot of African kids would claim to be from the Caribbean. So it wasn't like a detachment from blackness per se, but something that was more palatable in quotation. So for example, I remember having a friend who was Nigerian, and she would claim to be Jamaican, and it was like, No, you're very much Nigerian. Quite surprising, because I felt as though that a lot of Nigerian people that I do know have a lot of pride in being Nigerian, or have a lot of pride from... pride in their tribe, like, for example, if they're like, Yoruba or Igbo, like, there's a lot of pride around that. However, there was a time where it was not cool to be African or cool to be from somewhere else, other than Britain.
Stephanie 8:05
And that was even more apparent, if you guys remember, like, the African skits that were in, like the 2010s where members of the African diaspora, when they make humiliation videos, African dad pranks from like KSI (youtuber) okay, allegedly. It's not even allegedly, because there's the videos out there! I'm gonna find the video! They would make fun of being African by posting humiliation rituals of their parents, or claiming, like, the whole like, oh, "you eat for fufu". And like, "you eat with your hands", and like, all this kind of, like, all these self deprecating jokes. But it's always tied to, like, your cultural heritage, like, oh, like, "do you live in a hut at home?" Like it was just like, stupid jokes like that, and that was quite popular in the 2010s.
Stephanie 8:51
So I'm really interested in the way culture operates and cultural production. I'm currently doing my dissertation on it. I'm probably in another episode, going to speak about my dissertation and stuff. But I look at culture through cultural artifacts. And one thing that I've seen a growing popularity in terms of culture, is music. Now I believe that there has been a rise, even though this can be contested. And you can, we can argue about it. We can debate about not argue. We can debate. But there has been an influx, like a growing popularity of music coming straight from the African continent, straight from the South American continent, straight from the Caribbean. It's like, it's more it's become more globalized! That's the word. It's become more globalized. So we also have the growing popularity of Afrobeats and Ampiano from the continent. Now, I'm not going to get into too much of this, because I think that's it's already been said elsewhere, but I feel like music coming from the continent, and not just like members of the diaspora creating music which kind of pays homage to... like the country they're from, but music from the continent. So for example, we have artists like Tyla. We have Fally Ipupa ( because I'm Congolese I have to mention Fally Ipupa). We have Tems, Ayra Star, this recognition of the continent, and like the African continent, specifically the African continent, by members of the African diaspora, kind of promoting, promoting these artists.
Stephanie 10:34
I think there is a beauty of knowing those who came before you, as well as a power in having pride in your cultural heritage. As I've said, the displaying of diasporic pride is not a new phenomenon. It's a phenomenon which continuously challenges westernized canon, which attempts to create a monolithic facade of the African continent as something which is both primitive and ugly, tainted by poverty
S I 11:01
From the most obvious examples of capitalistic beauty standards, which, though has improved in terms of representation, as they say the displaying of black and brown models and models that come in different shapes and sizes that just, not only that just doesn't subject their branding through thinness. However, these capitalistic beauty standards continue to sell beauty products to improve, elevate and also even complement Western beauty ideals of whiteness, which is unachievable for racialized bodies.
Stephanie 11:35
At the same time, these examples are communicated through the promotion of Western universal ideas of beauty in literature, advertising, media and film, and I don't think I need to express or share the many examples of these racialized forms of communication which continue to promote these western beauty ideals, because it's ingrained within Western culture.
Stephanie 11:59
And but because of this diasporic pride can operate as a way of not only resisting these oppressive tools, but also celebrating cultural heritage.
Stephanie 12:12
Okay, like I've mentioned before, I'm very, very interested in the study of culture and the way it operates in a post colonial context, as I believe that culture is not a static entity. It is something that changes, evolves and is influenced by many different people and things. And this can come from the increasing globalization and interconnectedness of our world today, which has the power to transform and reinterpret what culture means. And Stuart Hall speaks on the fluidity of culture. And also Paul Gilroy does this too, but he he approaches this in through looking at the black Atlantic and also the tensions between racism and nationalism in the UK specifically, and how black culture confronts this tension.
Stephanie 12:56
The reason why I bring up this notion that culture is fluid is to express how this performance of emphasizing significance to cultural heritage within the African diaspora can be an example of how culture is changing, especially in the Metropole. One thing that I have picked up and especially through, okay, I'm going to mention Tiktok, and I'm going to mention Instagram. Sue me!Sue me! Sue me! But one thing that I've picked up on online, on social media, is the growing promotion of the Union Jack flag symbol in fashion, using the flags on beanies on T shirts as fashion staple pieces, especially racialized people using the Union Jack flag.
Stephanie 13:39
Now this can be a reinterpretation of the symbolic meanings attached to the Union Jack, where in some ways, the Union Jack has been seen in a negative light from marginalized communities. The Union Jack was a symbol of threat and violence and death, whereas now there is a reinterpretation of that meaning, and that shows how culture changes, and also it kind of sheds light on the hybridization of culture by where members of the Black diaspora, or the African diaspora utilizes this flag in fashion as a form of pride and a very powerful statement of saying that I am here and I belong.
Stephanie 14:19
Okay, I apologize because I feel like I threw a bunch of jargon at you guys, and I've not made it as explainable or easy to understand, and I'm not assuming that you guys don't understand what I'm saying, by the way, like that is not not the assumption at all!
Stephanie 14:39
But I just want to unpick a few things real quick before I continue. So when I say hybridization, I'm talking about the blending of two cultures to make something a new so for example, when you think of think of music like Afrobeat, and it's like a blend of, like West African with, like some jazz with some hip hop with some, you know, that is hybridization, more than one things together to make something new. Yeah. Okay, we can get back to the episode!
Stephanie 15:19
But But like I said earlier, brands pick up on this, brands are picking up on the fact that culture fact checking break. [singing break] Oh, okay, so this goes back to the whole there's a rise in not just nostalgia, a growing sentiment of wanting to be authentic, true to the self. And brands are picking up on this, whether that is by using 35 millimeter film cameras to like kind of have that raw like this, this raw exposure, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. According to a study that I read somewhere, authenticity is now, is one of the most important values today, and brands being transparent now.
Stephanie 16:07
Oh my gosh, I'm a genius!
Stephanie 16:10
Say. I just thought something. But yeah, with brands being more transparent and, quote, unquote, "authentic" by using these different mediums, for example, like I said, using 35 millimeter or even where brands would go to, they'll go to symbolic locations such as council housing estates. Yeah, I'm looking at you. Streetwear brand! This creates, like this illusion of being authentic.
Stephanie 16:34
Now, why does this link back to what I was saying? Okay? Because now the fact that people being more prideful in their cultural heritage. Brands are picking up on this because being grounded has this imaginary of being authentic and true to the self, this idea that you know who you are because you know your history, what we spoke about before, and brands use this they utilize this idea to sell product and to be more relatable with their audiences. And I'm not going to get too much into the neoliberal markets and the way neoliberalism works.
Stephanie 17:17
However, when brands utilize this idea of authenticity, but in relation to what I'm speaking about, members of the diaspora are being authentic bynot only flaunting their cultural heritage, but embracing their cultural heritage. And when brands use this like, use notions of like, or imagined ideas of what cultural heritage is like. For example, let's say a brand was doing a shoot on like the family, and they will advertise the family through looking at like, for example, an imagined version of like the African family household, where where women are in the kitchen and wearing traditional garments. Like these ideas, these are just all ideas. This reflects neoliberal attitudes. How do we individualize the selling of products? It's more personalized! That's the word personalized to sell product. The game is to get more people to spend their money by relating the brand to individuals. And this relation can be through cultural heritage emphasising imaginaries of what culture is and how that is relatable to people. Got it that that's what....
Stephanie 18:30
I think the problem with brands capitalizing on cultural heritage and cultural expressions is the risk of cultural not only cultural appropriation, but reducing culture to a single entity without.... because I feel like you can't fully express the nuances, the messiness of culture. So by displaying a part of a culture risks not only ignoring the people who live within these cultural expressions, but reduces it to something that is so simple.
Stephanie 19:18
Oof, glad I got that off my chest! I hope this podcast was entertaining enough for you guys, because I found it very difficult to articulate my points and have myself thinking one thing, and then whilst the episode goes or whilst I'm recording, I have another thought. So if you made it this far. Thank you. Thank you very much for listening. I just want to premise another thing, being African is cool. I think it's beautiful that people are really taking hold and embracing and expressing their cultural heritage. I think it's magnifique! I love it, and I hope you guys love it to!. And whether you're going through a journey of wanting to understand your cultural heritage or other people's cultural heritage.
Stephanie 20:12
Pause, I got cornrows, guys. Your girl got cornrows. It's a very exciting time for me, because, one, I haven't worn cornrows out since... for a very long time, because I'm like, "ew, my head shape, people can see what my head looks like" Okay, let them see what my head looks like. I got a nice head, and I got some beads. So I'm really feeling the summer vibe. Guys, guys, summer is here. Yeah, okay.
Stephanie 20:39
Speak about valorizing culture, the girl got braids. But thank you for listening to today's episode culture, and the valorization of being African and how African is in vogue now. There's so many, there's so many things I could have spoken about. I could have gone through a gendered lens. I could have got more into it, the post colonial context, but I think that would have taken hours, and I wanted to give myself around 20 minutes to speak, and I think I did. I think I did that!
Stephanie 21:09
So thank you for listening. If you have any comments, put them down below. Feel free to reach out. If you have any comments that you wantto share, anything you want to debate on, anything you found interesting, anything that you hated. I'll speak to you guys soon and enjoy the weather. Summer's here. Get your braids done. Yeah, bye and thanks for listening.
Recording ends 21:57 minutes