Globglogabgalab
I am the Globglogabgalab, and I love books
This isn’t a serious topic more of a thought I’ve had in the back of my head for a while. I think that most subsaharan Africans don’t think our identities can stand on their own two feet. The reason why I’ve come to this conclusion is that is because of the mainstream use of the African continent
as a symbol of cultural expression amongst all subsaharan Africans.
It doesn’t matter if it’s east, central, south or west. You can find this throughout the continent.
I have never seen any other demographic on earth do this. I’ve never seen any Italian company or event or group use the shape of Europe as a symbol or graphic expression of their identity. I’ve never seen a Chinese company or group use the silhouette of Asia as a graphic representation of their Chinese identity.
Come to think of it Africa seems to be the only continent that is used as a graphic expression of culture. I understand where this comes from: black diaspora Afrocentrism, pan africanism, de colonial struggles, etc. I understand that it’s become a well known symbol because of these movements and it’s simply a recognizable symbol to use.
Even though I understand why it exists, its existence still irks me. It seems lazy to use and furthers the idea of the African monolith. It’s surprising to me that we haven’t replaced it yet with our own individual cultural symbols in order to create more options and opportunities to showcase our visual or graphic identities.
Its not just the silhouette of Africa but certain uses of the term African, the use of the word tribe instead of ethnicity, lazy pan Africanism instead of more nuanced forms, etc
as a symbol of cultural expression amongst all subsaharan Africans.
It doesn’t matter if it’s east, central, south or west. You can find this throughout the continent.
I have never seen any other demographic on earth do this. I’ve never seen any Italian company or event or group use the shape of Europe as a symbol or graphic expression of their identity. I’ve never seen a Chinese company or group use the silhouette of Asia as a graphic representation of their Chinese identity.
Come to think of it Africa seems to be the only continent that is used as a graphic expression of culture. I understand where this comes from: black diaspora Afrocentrism, pan africanism, de colonial struggles, etc. I understand that it’s become a well known symbol because of these movements and it’s simply a recognizable symbol to use.
Even though I understand why it exists, its existence still irks me. It seems lazy to use and furthers the idea of the African monolith. It’s surprising to me that we haven’t replaced it yet with our own individual cultural symbols in order to create more options and opportunities to showcase our visual or graphic identities.
Its not just the silhouette of Africa but certain uses of the term African, the use of the word tribe instead of ethnicity, lazy pan Africanism instead of more nuanced forms, etc
