#ghanaian authors
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elaineadu-poku · 5 days ago
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Zainab Takes New York: A Ghanaian Diaspora Tale – Book Review
Happy New Year and all that jazz. I’m pleased to report that I’ve completed my first book of 2025. It had been on my to be read pile on my Kindle for nearly 4 years to met embarrassment – and yes you’ve guessed it, this is my reading equivalent of going back to the gym – NOT ONLY WILL I READ MORE BUT I WILL ALSO DOCUMENT THIS READING. I guess this means I have at least one new year’s…
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novellyyours · 7 months ago
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5 Novels: Understanding Ghana Through Literature
Ghana, a lively country on the western coast of Africa, has a long history, many different cultures, and a strong spirit. If you want to really understand Ghana, there’s more to see than what you find in tourist pamphlets. Luckily, books written by Ghanaian authors are a great way to learn about the true essence of the country. Here are five stories that will take you on a journey to the heart of Ghana.
These books are just the beginning! Each story opens a way to learn more about Ghanaian culture, history, and the challenges they face. By reading books written by Ghanaians, you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for this amazing country. You’ll find stories of people overcoming challenges, facing struggles, and finding joy.
These stories will leave you with a lasting connection to the rich and varied life in Ghana.
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gennsoup · 3 months ago
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Our brains are our hearts that feel and our minds that think and our souls that are.
Yaa Gyasi, Transcendent Kingdom
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allthegeopolitics · 9 months ago
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The United Kingdom has returned 32 gold and silver treasures stolen from the Asante Kingdom more than 150 years ago in what is today’s Ghana on a six-year loan, Ghanaian negotiators have said. The artefacts, comprising 15 items from the British Museum and 17 from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), were looted from the court of the Asante king during the turbulent 19th-century clashes between the British and the Asante people. Ghanaian authorities have for years tried to reclaim gold treasures looted by British soldiers from the Asante kingdom, which is also known as Ashanti.
Continue Reading.
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violetsandshrikes · 10 months ago
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Notable Women In Zoology: Dr. Letitia Eva Takyibea Obeng
Dr. Obeng (1925-2023) was the first Ghanaian woman to obtain a degree in zoology, and the first to be awarded a doctorate. She is described as "the grandmother of female scientists in Ghana".
Her other notable accomplishments include:
A Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Botany (1952), a Master of Science in Parasitology (1962) and a PhD in Tropical Medicine (1964) where she studied the black fly and its relevance to river blindness
Post university, she lectured at the University College of Science and Technology (now known as Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST) from 1952 to 1959
In 1952, Dr. Obeng became the first female scientist at KNUST
After her husband's death in 19659, she moved to the the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
IN 1964, she established the Institute of Aquatic Biology within CSIR to research the huge manmade Volta Lake in Ghana and its inland water system
Dr. Obeng was the first scientist to be employed by the National Research Council of Ghana
In 1965, Dr Obeng became a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2006, she became the first female president of the Academy
In 1972, Dr. Obeng delivered the Caroline Haslett Memorial Lecture to the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, titled “Nation Building and the African Woman”
In 1972, she was an invited participant in the United Nations Human Environment Conference in Stockholm
In 1974, she began work as the Officer in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and in 1989, she became the Director of the UNEP Regional Office for Africa, and the UNEP's Representative to Africa
From 1992 to 1993, Obeng was a Distinguished International Visitor fellow at Radcliff College
In 1997, she received the CSIR Award for Distinguished Career and Service to Science and Technology, the first woman to receive such an award
The CSIR Laboratory (known as The Letitia Obeng Block) was named after her in 1997 as well
She received Ghana's highest national award, Order of the Star of Ghana in 2006
In 2017, she received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from KNUST
She was also the author of numerous publications and works. Two meant for the public were Parasites, the Sly and Sneaky Enemies inside You (1997) and -Anthology of a Lifetime (2019)
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diversestardewvalley · 2 years ago
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Diverse Stardew Valley 4.0 is officially here!
DSV 4.0 is a pretty different beast than 3.0+, and it’s bigger & better than ever 😆 The biggest difference is that we’re back on NexusMods and we’ve returned to an all-in-one download: the changes we made for 3.0 was the best move for the DSV team at the time, but things have changed in the last couple of years and we’ve updated accordingly. 
DSV 4.0 also overhauls the interior of the mod with a shiny new C# engine, DSV Core, coded by the amazing KediDili. This should improve performance and make it much easier to configure DSV to your liking!
It’d take too long to list everything that 4.0 adds or changes, but here’s a quick summary:
Added over 250+ lines of variant-based dialogue
Added new additional variants which can be used alongside other variants:
Nonbinary Abigail, Sebastian, and Emily
Aro-Ace Gus
Jewish Mullners and Elliott
Hard-of-Hearing Haley
Added new small cultural map edits for modded variants
Re-added Marigold, Linus's service dog (this option requires Sprites in Detail, Custom NPC Exclusions, & Anti-Social NPCs) with improved higher-resolution sprites
Added new minor config options:
Mermaid Pendants - Rival Hearts & Canon Couples
Flower Queen's Crown Immersion Mode
Vanilla Beach Style
Enable Variant-Based Dialogue and individual dialogue toggles for each character
Abigail Goth Makeup
Elliott Helix Piercing & Ear Piercing
Penny & Pam Dynamic Outfits
Penny Freckles
Shane Punk Accessories
Marnie Dynamic Outfits
Clint Beard
Reworked character art for modded Pam, Black Haley & Emily, and modded Sikh and non-Sikh Harvey so that they have brighter, more accurate skintones
Clarified cultural backgrounds on the DSV website for several characters:
Romani Haley and Emily are of the Lovari vitsa
Black Haley and Emily have Ghanaian heritage
Indian Sandy is Deccani
Native Leah is of the Haida nation
Black Elliott has Jamaican heritage
Updated many outfits
Added compatibility with many mods
We also have a non-seasonal version for anyone who just wants the diversity edits (although it also contains some small tidbits for vanilla players such as improved beach art) and an add-on pack so that Always Raining in the Valley NPCs Sterling, Mia, and Henry can become Flower Queens through DSV’s Flower Queen’s Crown feature.
The DSV website has also been updated with visual guides to all of the new options, so please check it out! For any translators or mod authors interested in adding compatibility, there's also a new page with detailed instructions to help you out.
Thank you all for supporting DSV! 💖
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clunelover · 1 year ago
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Okay book rec - I’m obsessed with this series, Rivers of London, about a young London police officer who meets a ghost and then ends up being inducted into the magic arm of the police. Then the books are sort of combination crime and sci fi/fantasy? I’m always hesitant to tell people about them cause they’re not Literary Fiction (🙄) but - they’re funny and interesting and exciting and unique…I can’t speak to what it’s like to just read them, because I do them as audiobooks, which I really really recommend - they’re read by a Ghanaian-British man with the most amaaaazing voice that IMO is essential to the books as I’ve experienced them. Anyway, without giving too much away, some of the things that make them unique:
- the protagonist is biracial, his dad is a white British guy and his mom is from Sierra Leone. The author is himself a white guy married to an African woman, and they have a biracial son, so I think he draws from that, in a way that feels…idk, like, smart about race, but in a casual way that sometimes comes close to skirting the lines of what is PC, but always stays on the right side of that, and seems true to the character, and nobody is a stereotype? Very deftly done.
- the protagonist has an interest in architecture so there’s random sprinklings about architectural styles and history of London that again feels true to the character and not forced, but also very unique and interesting
- the supernatural elements are very well realized and not hokey
- Like the pitch perfect way race and class are handled, there’s a similarly deft touch to addiction, sexuality, gender identity, etc. (but again not in that heavy handed “there are Diverse Characters in this book!” way). Like…okay I am going to spoil one little moment from like the 8th book in the series because I keep coming back to it as a great example:
The detective is meeting a group of people and identifies one as “a white woman with short brown hair” and then when the introductions are made (paraphrasing this to the best of my memory):
“She said, ‘my name’s Victor,’ with a particular emphasis on the name, as if to say ‘here’s a clue, let’s see if you get one.’ I shook his hand and said I was pleased to meet him.” Like - it just felt so real, he thought it was a woman, he found out he was wrong, he switched pronouns in his mind.
- And then the intrigue and suspense and all that across the books is great too
So, I’ve listened to all 9 of these books (and am DYING for the next one) multiple times, just like any time I’m doing something and need something to listen to, I re-listen to one of them because repetition is so soothing to me. I strongly recommend them AS AUDIOBOOKS
Oh also I think they’re being developed into a tv show, so get on it now so you can say you liked the books better!!
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thru-the-grapevine · 11 months ago
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The Dock of the Bay (m)
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Pairing: Han Seungwoo x fem!reader
Summary: The night is beautiful, the water is fine, and you aren’t afraid of anything. Except maybe getting caught.
Word Count: ~3k
Tags/Warnings: mature content (minors dni), skinny-dipping, pwp, established relationship, they’re both brats your honor
Author’s Note: @chanis-banani eat my ass <3
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You’d never admit it, especially not to him, but Han Seungwoo deserves full marks for this date.
He sent you a link this afternoon to a restaurant for a type of food you’d never tried before, stating a time later that night and “be there”. You responded with the middle finger emoji for the bossiness, to which he replied “they’ve got your favorite whiskey and I just got paid, so it’s on me”. You immediately replied with the halo emoji, then “yes sir” and a wink. He said “thought so, little brat” and indulged your ensuing indignance.
Ghanaian food, it turns out, is absolutely delicious. You’re not sure why they have your whiskey there, since it isn’t Ghanaian, but maybe it’s just that the restaurant is local. One of the guys from Seungwoo’s pickup footie team comes out from the kitchen to say hey and offers you both another round on him, so you’re pleasantly buzzed by the time the two of you exit into the warm evening.
You love the way urban places are at night, and you think Seungwoo must know it. You love the way the temperature mellows, the way all the street lamps and storefront signs create a comforting glow in the dark. People are still out, but with less of a hurry or end goal, enjoying the same thing you are.
Seungwoo ends up guiding you both to the waterfront to meander along the boardwalk. Things are alive out here, hopping with snack vendors and entertainers and game booths. Seungwoo offers to try and win you a prize at a game, something he knows you’ll roll your eyes at him for (when has he ever been known for gentlemanly chivalry?) and he laughs when you do just that.
You do indulge in a fortune teller together, just for kicks and giggles, and the woman reads your palms. You’re pretty sure she’s besotted with Seungwoo, because she says something generic about you and then says, “careful with this one. He’s trouble. The good kind” about Seungwoo, with a wink.
You cross your eyes at him when he waggles his eyebrows at you.
He catches you staring out at the water a few times before taking your hand and suggesting you both go down to the shoreline. You both step over a low-hanging chain holding a “Closed: No Visitors Allowed” sign on it and ditch your socks and shoes nearby, wandering barefoot in the sand.
Your whiskey buzz from before has worn off, but the warmth of it has lingered in your blood, kept everything around you lovely. Even Seungwoo. You find yourself staring at him as he scours the shoreline for skipping rocks. The reflection of the moon on the water lighting his face, the breeze off the water ruffling his hair, gives him an unfairly ethereal aura. Unfair because his demeanor is never, ever ethereal; why should he get to look the part?
He tries to teach you how to skip rocks, finding more underneath a large, empty fishing pier farther down the shoreline. You learn to copy his stance and the flick of his wrist perfectly, but nothing ever skips. You don’t like him besting you in things, so to distract him you grab the hem of your shirt and peel it up and over your head.
Seungwoo’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline.
“Is it my birthday?” He teases, gaze trailing over your newly exposed skin.
You roll your eyes and try to ignore the way his gaze makes your skin feel hot. You feign nonchalance as you half-fold your shirt and set it aside to reach behind you and unclasp your bra. “I want to go skinny-dipping.”
“What, here? Now?” He glances up and down the shoreline, then above your heads at the silent fishing pier above you.
You smile and turn your back to him teasingly, nudging your bra straps off your shoulders and removing it. “Why not? Too scared to join me?”
“Could get caught.”
You grin at him over your shoulder. “Isn’t that part of the fun?”
“Your definition of fun is interesting,” he says, but he’s grinning, too.
You turn back to your task and laugh when you hear the rustle of his own clothing.
He’s done faster than you, not bothering to be neat and leaving his clothes haphazard on the sand. You turn and watch him wade into the water as you finish folding your jeans, silently admiring his back muscles and what little ass he has to speak of while he can’t see you doing it.
He turns back in waist-deep water when you start wading in after him. He watches you with lazy heat, gaze trickling down your body from head to toe with unashamed lust.
You keep wading and fold your arms across your chest, fully aware it makes your tits look good and pretending you have no idea. “Staring is rude.”
“Uh huh,” he says absently, staring anyway. You can feel his gaze like a hand on your skin, especially when he lingers below your navel.
You kick at the water and splash him. He coughs in surprise, hands lifting and wiping the water from his face up into his hair.
“Perv,” you say lightly, smile tugging at the corner of your mouth.
His grin is wolfish when you come to a stop in front of him.
“It was your idea to swim naked in public and I’m the perv?”
He makes a compelling argument, but you’ll never admit it, so you splash him again.
He laughs and reaches out lightning-fast to catch your wrist before you can splash him a third time, grinning when your attempts to pull it free go in vain.
“Easy, little firecracker,” he murmurs, wading backwards into deeper water, pulling you with him.
You splash him with your free hand, and he grins and ducks fully underwater, letting go of you entirely. A moment later, you shriek as a hand on your ankle yanks you under, too.
You emerge, spluttering, a few seconds later to a grinning Seungwoo, rivulets of water flowing from his hair.
“Not fair,” you protest.
“Cry about it,” he suggests, biting his lip and splashing you full in the face before diving away.
You give chase, the two of you splashing and giggling and swimming farther out underneath the pier. You end up piggybacking him when the water becomes too deep for you to stand upright, and his hands settle under your knees, thumbs rubbing little circles into your skin.
You hook your ankles together around his front, and they brush faintly against a little thatch of hair low on his belly, and a smooth hardness.
You grin and hide your face in the crook of his neck. “Isn’t the fear of getting caught being publicly indecent supposed to kill libido?”
He sighs as you begin sucking a mark into his skin.
“Tell that to the body part of yours radiating a thousand degrees against my tailbone right now,” he says.
He makes another compelling argument, but you once again don’t want to admit it, so you suck a little harder at the spot on his neck.
He manhandles you around before you can protest until you’re piggybacking him from the front. Even in the dark beneath the pier, you can make out the smile on his face, one that feels especially fond. You love it, and it also makes some feeling in your chest squirm a little, so you lean in and kiss him before you have to think much about it, before he can say something dumb and ruin it.
He sighs and runs his hands up your thighs and hips, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you firmly against him. It’s different to kiss him like this, your mouths slick from swimming, naked bodies weightless and brushing into each other with the gentle swell of the water. You could easily get addicted to it. He’s an infuriatingly good kisser, as always, no other way to describe it but as somehow kissing you with his whole body. Every inch of him is into you, invested in the teasing, openmouthed kisses he’s engulfing you in, and maybe you were thinking of getting him to do exactly this, and that’s why you’re hot and bothered.
You get so lost in the building heat of kissing him that you make a noise of surprise when your back bumps up against something. Seungwoo only kisses you harder, one hand leaving your back to brace against whatever you’re leaning against—one of the posts holding up the pier, you realize—and the other guiding you closer to him. He grinds his hips into the scorching warmth of yours, unhurried, the water making the glide smooth. You both groan into one another’s mouths at the feeling. Your fingernails instinctively dig into his shoulders, both for purchase and in appreciation for the slow, hard way he’s grinding just right along your clit.
His mouth leaves yours and begins sucking a path of leisurely, biting kisses along your jawline. One of his hands weaves into your hair, angling your head so he can continue trailing the wet kisses down your neck. You can hear the swell of your racing pulse in your ears, the way each breath you take comes a little quicker, a little shallower. Lust shimmers under your skin, lighting up under his other hand, now coasting stealthily down the front of your body.
You moan and thump your head back against the post when he cups you firmly between your legs. Fuck, you need this. He lifts his head and covers your mouth with his again, kissing the breath out of you until your head is spinning and your body is aching for more of him. His pace is still deliberate and measured, fingertips massaging slowly up and down the swollen, parted opening of your body. You wriggle your hips, working to get him to touch the places that yearn to be petted most.
His hand tightens in your hair, securing you in place. You feel him smile into your mouth before he nips at your lower lip.
“Be good and hold still,” he murmurs, lips trailing along the water-slick curve of your jaw and brushing over your ear, “or I’ll make you wait longer to get what you need.”
Ugh. You huff out an exasperated breath. He always does this, always ruins a perfectly nice thing by challenging you to “be good” in some annoyingly pliant way. Be good, hah. What if he just gave you what you wanted when you wanted it, for a change? Would it injure his ego that much?
You grin and squirm in his hold, trying to snap your legs shut, but he’s right between them and won’t budge. Determined now, you keep fidgeting against him, trying to get away, fighting not to give him the satisfaction of teasing you. He lets go of your hair and grabs at your hip, trying to keep you in place, but the slippery nature of being submerged in water works against him and you slip free. You dive aside with a laugh, Seungwoo hot on your tail.
The two of you wrestle with one another, the water thrashing into choppy, bubbly little waves around you. Your mistake is letting him corral you into deeper water, where you don’t have the leverage of the ground. After another brief struggle, Seungwoo succeeds in pinning your arms immobile behind you, your back to his front. You strain your legs for the ground, pointing your toes and slicing them through the water below for purchase, but you can’t find it. In the end, you have to settle your feet against his shins just to keep your chin above the water.
Seungwoo is panting hard but grinning in triumph against your temple. He tsks at you.
“All that just for wanting to give you a nicer orgasm,” he says. “Amazing we didn’t attract any attention.”
Your body betrays you, thrilling back to life when his hand not securing you in place slides down your front again.
You gasp wildly, nearly choking on the water around you, when his fingers part you with ease and two of them sink inside you all the way to the knuckle.
Seungwoo’s smirk drifts from your temple to the shell of your ear. “Better keep quiet or someone might hear.”
You open your mouth to tell him just what you’d make them hear, just as his fingers crook inside of you roughly, right into a spot so sensitive you can’t think straight. You make a choked, gurgling noise, panting and fighting to keep your wits about you as he keeps massaging his fingertips right into that spot.
He chuckles, sucking a kiss to your earlobe, before snapping his wrist and fucking his fingers into you sharply. You moan out, conflicted between the desire to ruin his plans and the desire for him, for this. You try experimentally to wriggle away from him, failing.
“Mmmm,” he coos, building a steady but harsh pace. “Can’t move. Can’t struggle. So good and obedient for me.”
Horny rage floods your mind at “obedient”. How dare he? You lift a foot away from his leg to kick him, but you only lose your balance and slip sideways. His hand stays exactly where it is, meaning you fall hard into the thrust of his fingers. A desperate moan punches out of your chest against your will.
He makes it worse and grinds his palm hard into your clit, sparks of pleasure threatening to weaken your muscles.
“If you wanted it harder you could’ve asked,” Seungwoo purrs, and you can hear his grin.
“Oh f-fuck you—ah!”
You scramble to re-balance your feet against his shins as he picks up a harder pace. God. Fuck. Every rough thrust of his fingers is delicious, maddening. You can hear yourself laboring for breath over the gentle lap of the water, and then, worse—the distant murmur of voices.
Seungwoo finally releases your arms and covers your mouth, tilting your chin up an inch. You grasp up at his shoulders to keep yourself upright in the water as he takes another step deeper.
He presses your body firmly back against his, mouth at your ear again.
“Keep quiet unless you want them to hear how I make you come.”
And then he starts fingerfucking you harder than before. Your eyes roll back into your head; holy shit, that’s perfect, that’s so infuriatingly perfect. Fuck, it’s not fair. Footsteps continue closer from the shore end of the pier, and you bite down hard on your tongue to stifle all the pitiful noises you want to make. God, you want to be mad at him for this, but the threat of being discovered is only sending a spike of heat down your spine.
Seungwoo, for the brutal pace he’s setting, is keeping surprisingly quiet. Being further submerged in the water has kept any movement of his arm from making splashes. This hardly seems fair. Too easy for him. You let go of one of his shoulders and fumble behind you, down low on his torso, towards the solid protrusion pressed against your back.
You hear Seungwoo’s breath stutter as you wrap your hand around him and pump, attempting to keep pace with how his fingers are drilling into you. He thrusts sharply into that little sensitive patch inside of you in warning. You work desperately to keep pumping even as the pleasure fogs your mind. He startles you and bites down hard on your neck beneath your ear, muffling the quietest of moans into your skin.
The footsteps, as well as muffled voices, linger in place from down the pier. Your mind feels hazy, too many things to focus on at once—keeping yourself above water, keeping yourself quiet, despite your neck slowly bruising under Seungwoo’s mouth, your hand faltering over his cock, your intimate muscles gradually clamping into a vise around his unrelenting fingers. It’s so good, everything feels so good, he’s hitting the perfect spot over and over again just as rough as you like it, and fire is beginning to creep up the backs of your legs and into your stomach, euphoric heat stoking into a full flame, it’s perfect, just like that, right there—
You don’t realize he’s yanked his hand out from between your legs until it’s too late. You gape, entire body wracked with orgasmic shudders as you clamp down and down and down on nothing, nothing at all. Holy shit. Fuck. You gasp as quietly as you can for air, desire aching inside of you in unfulfilled disappointment. As the haze of lust slowly begins to dissipate, a whole different kind of fire begins to burn in your gut. Dipping your face down into the water, you scream in utter rage.
You feel Seungwoo smile against your neck.
The voices and the footsteps have retreated back down the pier and into the night. For a long moment, the two of you float there together, catching your breath.
Seungwoo speaks up first, letting go of you.
“Should’ve listened and let me give you the nice orgasm, huh?”
You turn to him, incredulous, and see the bastard grinning.
“I,” you say, with surprisingly even calmness, “am going to fucking kill you for that.”
The water is throwing little sparkles into his eyes, gleaming in amusement.
“Well…to kill me, you’d have to catch me first.”
And then his hands come down on your shoulders, dunking you beneath the surface.
In the tranquil quiet under the water, you take a moment to plot his demise. When your head breaks the surface again, he’s already swimming for shore. You give chase, and despite your righteous indignation at the ruined orgasm, you feel yourself grin.
As much as you hate to admit it…Han Seungwoo is knocking it out of the park with this date. And you’re going to make him pay for it.
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Admin Ellie’s Masterlist
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workingclasshistory · 2 years ago
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On this day, 31 May 1989, CLR James, Trinidadian Marxist and author of The Black Jacobins, the definitive history of the Haitian Revolution, as well as other texts on class, colonialism and cricket, died aged 88 in Brixton, London. As a young man he joined the movement against British colonialism, and later moved to England and became cricket correspondent for the Manchester Guardian, forerunner to the Guardian newspaper. He lived in the US for a time, where alongside Raya Dunayevskaya and Grace Lee Boggs (pictured L-R), he formed the influential Johnson-Forest Tendency. Returning to Britain, he continued to write fiction and non-fiction, including a history of the Ghanaian revolution, until his death at home. We have some of his works available here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/c-l-r-james https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=635615218611697&set=a.602588028581083&type=3
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stele3 · 1 month ago
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https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-shells-north-gaza-hospital-disrupting-service-doctors-say-2024-12-08/
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saintmeghanmarkle · 1 year ago
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You just can't win with this one! She didn't want help from old white women but was insulted when she was offered guidance from a black equerry. by u/Mistressbrindello
You just can't win with this one! She didn't want help from old, white women but was insulted when she was offered guidance from a black equerry. ​After being unhappy with the offers of help from Sophie or from Susan Hussey, the Palace offered the Ghanian born equerry to the Queen. According to Scobie:"Palace aides told reporters, including myself, they ‘bent over backwards’ to make Meghan feel comfortable at Buckingham Palace, this included a follow-up suggestion that perhaps the Queen’s Ghanaian-born household cavalry officer Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah should be the one to help Meghan."Archive: https://ift.tt/AxDuVj9, Meghan was insulted: "Though a charming and intelligent man, it stood out like a sore thumb to Meghan and her friends . . . ” Honestly, what would have pleased this woman??EDITED to add the rest of the quote for clarity: “..it stood out like a sore thumb to Meghan and her friends that, due to a lack of Black or other non-white staff, let alone women, in relevant senior roles, the Palace had to turn to someone who was the Queen’s attendant. “I doubt Kate was offered an equerry [for guidance],” a pal said to Meghan.”So, she was insulted that they did not have high ranking POC in senior roles, that they had chosen a black equerry in the misguided belief that she would appreciate this and she was insulted that she was offered guidance in the first place. post link: https://ift.tt/qHTbYlJ author: Mistressbrindello submitted: December 10, 2023 at 03:25PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit
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artisofthandy · 3 months ago
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Yes it’s Black History Month but for the whole of October, and to clear up any confusion: Yes there are more than one BHM one in the United States that’s on February and one in the United Kingdom that’s in October, and for some historical context; Black History Month in the UK started in the 1980s when a Ghanaian history advocate wished to spread history of the of Black population and community in the United Kingdom and it was successful and the rest is history. (Plus October seems to very popular month and time for lots of black individuals and communities I think) so if you want to celebrate, support black businesses, read about black authors, listen to musicians, learn about the history of them in GB, enjoy afro culture and cuisine and etc! Happy Black History Month; UK 2024 everyone!
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beardedmrbean · 21 days ago
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Finland's government published a report on defence policy on Thursday, prompting plentiful coverage across Finnish media.
It was the first such report produced since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Helsingin Sanomat notes it had some stark language on the threats faced by Finland.
The paper notes that the last report, published in 2021, only used the word "war" twice. This time it's there 20+ times, and the authors suggest Finland could face a years-long conflict.
The last report had said that there's no immediate threat of war, and that language is not present in this version.
Instead the report emphasises the unpredictability of the situation, and names war as the biggest single threat facing Finnish society.
The clear message is that things have changed, according to HS.
Land mine poll
In a perhaps related news item, Uutissuomalainen has a poll out on Friday suggesting that 54 percent of Finns would like the country to leave the Ottawa treaty banning anti-personnel mines.
Some 70 percent of men told pollsters they wanted to have the option of using land mines, compared to just 35 percent of women.
The margin of error in the poll was 3.1 percentage points in either direction.
The issue came to the forefront of the Finnish news agenda this autumn when military officials suggested it could be looked at again.
Finland joined the treaty in 2012.
Challenging racists
Ilta-Sanomat follows up on recent reporting about the flood of racist abuse sent towards Daniela Owusu, who was crowned as Finland's Lucia this month.
The annual Lucia tradition is intended to bring light into the darkest months via a young woman wearing a wreath of candles on her head, and is particularly important to Finland's Swedish-speaking community.
This year's proceedings took an unpleasant turn with the online reaction when the new Lucia was named as Owusu, who is of Finnish-Ghanaian descent, and the first black woman to take the prestigious title.
Ilta-Sanomat decided to track down and interview some of those who had posted racist comments online under their own names, to find out just what had triggered their outrage.
Jouni, a middle-aged hunting enthusiast from northern Finland, declined to comment at all on his original reaction.
He had written "this one isn't Finnish either" in response to Owusu's selection.
Sirpa, also from northern Finland, had complained that "nowadays everyone has to be dark-skinned".
She defended herself to IS by saying she's no racist but the Lucia is a public position and its holder should be able to handle criticism. She did also concede that Owusu is Finnish, as she had been born in Finland, and that she did deserve to be Lucia.
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reasoningdaily · 8 months ago
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A ceremonial cap worn by courtiers at coronations is among the items now on display in Kumasi
African countries have repeatedly called for the return of looted items with some regaining ownership over precious historical artefacts in recent years.
Looted artefacts from the Asante kingdom are finally on display in Ghana, 150 years after British colonisers took them.
Ghanaians flocked to the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the capital of Asante region, to welcome the 32 items home.
"This is a day for Asante. A day for the Black African continent. The spirit we share is back," said Asante King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
At this stage the items have only been loaned to Ghana for three years.
This loan can be extended, but only with the approval of the British culture secretary.
The agreement is between two British museums - the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) and British Museum - and the Asante king, not the Ghanaian government.
The Asante king, or Asantehene, is seen as a symbol of traditional authority, and is believed to be invested with the spirits of his predecessors. But his kingdom is now part of Ghana's modern democracy.
"Our dignity is restored," Henry Amankwaatia, a retired police commissioner and proud Asante, told the BBC, over the hum of jubilant drumming.
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The neck ring or 'kanta' (R) was worn by the king at important funerals
The V&A is lending 17 pieces while 15 are from the British Museum.
The return of the artefacts coincides with the silver jubilee celebration of the Asantehene.
A guide to Africa's 'looted treasures'
UK to loan back Ghana's looted 'crown jewels'
Some of the items, described by some as "Ghana's crown jewels" were looted during the Anglo-Ashanti wars of the 19th Century, including the famous Sargrenti War of 1874.
Other items like the gold harp (Sankuo) were given to a British diplomat in 1817.
"We acknowledge the very painful history surrounding the acquisition of these objects. A history tainted by the scars of imperial conflict and colonialism," said Dr Tristam Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, who has travelled to Kumasi for the ceremony.
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The display is part of the silver jubilee celebrations of Asante King Otumfo Osei Tutu II
Among the returned artefacts are the sword of state, gold peace pipe and gold badges worn by officials charged with cleansing the soul of the king.
"These treasures have borne witness to triumph and trials of the great kingdom and their return to Kumasi is testament to the power of cultural exchange and reconciliation" said Dr Hunt.
One of the returned items, the sword of state, also called the "mpompomsuo sword" holds great significance for the Asante people.
It serves as a sword of office that is used in swearing the oath of office to the kingdom by paramount chiefs and the king himself.
Royal historian Osei-Bonsu Safo-Kantanka told the BBC that when the items were taken from the Asante it took away "a portion of our heart, our feeling, our whole being".
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This gold headpiece known as "krononkye" was used when royalty was grieving
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The midnight knife (L) was used for covert operations. The gold badges (R) were worn by the king's soul washers
The return of the artefacts is as controversial as it is significant.
Under UK law, national museums like the V&A and British Museum are banned from permanently giving back contested items in their collections, and loan deals such as this are seen as a way to allow objects to return to their countries of origin.
Some countries laying claim to disputed artefacts fear that loans may be used to imply they accept the UK's ownership.
Many Ghanaians feel the ornaments should remain permanently. However, this new arrangement is a way to overcome British legal restrictions.
African countries have repeatedly called for the return of looted items with some regaining ownership over precious historical artefacts in recent years.
You may also be interested in:
Top Belgian museum rethinks its Africa relationship
'My great-grandfather sculpted the Benin Bronzes'
France gives back sword of anti-colonial fighter
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phoenix-joy · 8 months ago
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Author & Timestamp: Margaret Talbot October 22, 2018 (almost 6 years old as of May 2, 2024)
Polychromy refers to "decoration in many colours, esp in architecture or sculpture". - Collins Dictionary. Extract of a much longer article (please note: I have shortened some sentences where possible and broken up some paragraphs by added spacing. I did this to try to make it a little easier for other neurodivergent people to read):
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Researchers demonstrate the process of applying color to the Treu Head, from a Roman sculpture of a goddess, made in the second century A.D. Ancient sculptures were often painted with vibrant hair colors and skin tones. - Photograph by Mark Peckmezian for The New Yorker
For Abbe, [...] a professor of ancient art at the University of Georgia, the idea that the ancients disdained bright color “is the most common misconception about Western aesthetics in the history of Western art.” It is, he said, “a lie we all hold dear.”
[...]
[...] Marco Leona, who runs the scientific-research department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art [...] said, of polychromy, “It’s like the best-kept secret that’s not even a secret.”
Jan Stubbe Østergaard, a former curator at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum, in Copenhagen, and the founder of an international research network on polychromy, told me, “Saying you’ve seen these sculptures when you’ve seen only the white marble is comparable to somebody coming from the beach and saying they’ve seen a whale because there was a skeleton on the beach.”
[...]
[...] debate about ancient sculpture has taken on an unexpected moral and political urgency. [In 2017], a University of Iowa classics professor, Sarah Bond, published two essays [...] arguing that it was time we all accepted that ancient sculpture was not pure white—and neither were the people of the ancient world. One false notion, she said, had reinforced the other.
For classical scholars, it is a given that the Roman Empire—which, at its height, stretched from North Africa to Scotland—was ethnically diverse. In the Forbes essay, Bond notes, “Although Romans generally differentiated people on their cultural and ethnic background rather than the color of their skin, ancient sources do occasionally mention skin tone and artists tried to convey the color of their flesh.”
Depictions of darker skin can be seen on ancient vases, in small terra-cotta figures, and in the Fayum portraits, a remarkable trove of naturalistic paintings from the imperial Roman province of Egypt, which are among the few paintings on wood that survive from that period. These near-life-size portraits, which were painted on funerary objects, present their subjects with an array of skin tones, from olive green to deep brown, testifying to a complex intermingling of Greek, Roman, and local Egyptian populations. (The Fayum portraits have been widely dispersed among museums.)
Bond [had] been moved to write her essays when a racist group, Identity Evropa, started putting up posters on college campuses, including Iowa’s, that presented classical white marble statues as emblems of white nationalism. After the publication of her essays, she received a stream of hate messages online. She is not the only classicist who has been targeted by the so-called alt-right. Some white supremacists have been drawn to classical studies out of a desire to affirm what they imagine to be an unblemished lineage of white Western culture extending back to ancient Greece. When they are told that their understanding of classical history is flawed, they often get testy.
[In early 2018], the BBC and Netflix broadcast “Troy: Fall of a City,” a miniseries in which the Homeric hero Achilles is played by a British actor of Ghanaian descent. The casting decision elicited a backlash in right-wing publications. Online commenters insisted that the “real” Achilles was blond-haired and blue-eyed, and that someone with skin as dark as the actor’s surely would have been a slave.
It’s true that Homer describes the hair of Achilles as xanthos, a word often used to characterize objects that we would call yellow, but Achilles is [mythological], so imaginative license in casting seems perfectly acceptable. Moreover, several scholars explained online that, though ancient Greeks and Romans certainly noticed skin color, they did not practice systematic racism. They owned slaves, but this population was drawn from a wide range of conquered peoples, including Gauls and Germans.
Nor did the Greeks conceive of race the way we do. [...] Rebecca Futo Kennedy, a classicist at Denison University, who writes on race and ethnicity, told me, “Cold weather made you stupid but also courageous, so that was what people from the Far North were supposed to be like. And the people they called Ethiopians were thought of as very smart but cowardly. It comes out of the medical tradition [of the Hippocratic humours]. In the North, you have plenty of thick blood. Whereas, in the South, you’re being desiccated by the sun, and you have to think about how to conserve your blood.”
Pale skin on a woman was considered a sign of beauty and refinement, because it showed that she was privileged enough not to have to work outdoors. But a man with pale skin was considered unmasculine: bronzed skin was associated with the heroes who fought on battlefields and competed as athletes, naked, in amphitheatres.
[...] Tim Whitmarsh, a professor of Greek culture at the University of Cambridge, writes that the Greeks “would have been staggered” by the suggestion that they were “white.” Not only do our modern notions of race clash with the thinking of the ancient past; so do our terms for colors, as is clear to anyone who has tried to conceive what a “wine-dark sea” actually looked like.
[...]
On the website Pharos, which was founded [...] in part to counter white-supremacist interpretations of the ancient world, a recent essay notes, “Although there is a persistent, racist preference for lighter skin over darker skin in the contemporary world, the ancient Greeks considered darker skin” for men to be “more beautiful and a sign of physical and moral superiority.”
[In 2017], high-school students participating in a summer program at the RISD Museum, in Providence, were so fascinated to learn about polychromy in classical statuary that they made a coloring book allowing gallery visitors to create brightly hued versions of the objects on display.
Christina Alderman, who runs the program, told me, “The moment they found out that the statues were originally painted, I just lost them to that idea. They were, like, ‘Wait, are you serious? I’ve played video games set in ancient times, and all I see are white sculptures. I watch movies and that’s all I see.’ It was a real human response—they kind of felt they’d been lied to.”
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A marble head of a deity wearing a Dionysiac fillet, from the first century A.D. Traces of red pigment remain on the lips, eyes, and fillet. Marco Leona, who runs the scientific-research department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said the fact that ancient statues were once painted is “like the best-kept secret that’s not even a secret.” - Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art
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A bust of a young African boy, sculpted in the first century B.C. Ancient sculptures of African people were often made of basalt and painted with reddish-brown layers to create a lifelike effect. Mahogany-colored paint is still visible on the boy’s face. - Courtesy Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
/endofextract
[I edited this blog post to provide a definition of polychromy and fix a couple of typos. - May 3, 2024]
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warningsine · 1 year ago
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I May Destroy You has been hailed as the undisputed show of the summer and the best TV show of the year. Whether you consider it either, one thing is certain: Michaela Coel’s traumatic, low-key hilarious creation is leaving a lasting impact on its viewers. I May Destroy You centers Black female, queer, and immigrant voices and depicts with nuance the multifaceted aspects of sexual abuse, assault, and exploitation in a manner rarely shown on television. In the course of the series’s 12 episodes, Coel pushes at the boundaries of consent from every direction there is, leaving you reevaluating previous sexual encounters and reconsidering how you might think about consent in the future.
The show is centered on Arabella (Coel), a British-Ghanaian author, social media influencer, and sexual assault survivor. In the first episode, Arabella steps out for a drink to take a break from finishing her second book. Her drink is drugged, she loses consciousness, and, as her memory returns, she realizes she was raped. (The story is loosely based on Coel’s own sexual assault, which took place while she was writing her previous series, Chewing Gum.) The season continues with Arabella using flashbacks and investigative work to figure out what happened, with her two closest friends, Terry (Weruche Opia) and Kwame (Paapa Essiedu), right by her side during the healing journey. But as time passes, we realize Kwame and Terry are processing their own sexual traumas.
Arabella, as well as the detectives assigned to her case, quickly label her assault rape. You cannot consent if you are unconscious, drugged, or physically forced. But as the show continues, its characters are involved in more complicated sexual interactions, where consent is given, and then circumstances change. Each incident forces you to question what’s wrong and what’s right, but you may end up thinking it’s all in the gray area.
I May Destroy You transformed my group chats, DMs, and weekly phone catch-ups into intense discussions on whether the characters’ consent was violated, and whether the violation was debatable or clear-cut. But what the show illuminated and my friends—who in some way or another, are all survivors— confirmed, is that it’s never uncertain if you’re the victim. (After one assault, Kwame Googles whether nonconsensual humping is rape, but he already knows something is wrong before the internet validates his feelings.) What is uncertain is whether the violation is captured within the law—and what, if any, consequences the perpetrator should face. For many people, when you’re involved in a sexual situation under any kind of false pretense, your consent was stolen. I May Destroy You’s mini consent stories put this notion on full display.
While at a bar in Italy, Terry meets two men who she believes are strangers and agrees to a threesome. After the men leave, she looks out the window and sees them high-five. It’s not clear if Terry realizes the men planned the threesome, but then in the finale, she reveals she might need to attend a support group to process this violation. Consent to a threesome does not mean consent to a preplanned threesome.
Arabella and Zain (Karan Gill) have sex, and after they finish she learns he secretly took the condom off. She’s upset, but thanks to Zain’s gaslighting, she isn’t quite sure how to process it. Subsequent to the violation, Arabella later learns that “stealthing” (removing a condom during sex without the other partner’s consent) is quite common, and is rape under U.K. law. Consent to sex with a condom does not mean consent to sex without a condom.
Kwame and Malik consent to sex with a condom. When Kwame eventually tries to leave, Malik violently shoves him on the bed and assaults him. Consent given once does not mean consent twice. Later, Kwame reveals how he lost his virginity. He was young, and two older men told him to get into the car and proceeded to have sex with him. Consent laws mean minors cannot consent to sex.
The season ends with Arabella tracking down her rapist and playing through three different possible outcomes. The last and most peaceful potential outcome involves them having sex without Arabella revealing that she is the girl he raped. You’re left wondering where this ambiguous incident falls in the consent hierarchy.
These stories reflect what the real world looks like, and have led to a variety of pieces cataloging the kinds of conversations the show should spur. For my friends and me, what would usually come as jokes and passing comments over a weekend with too many drinks came out over a 12-week reflection featuring video calls, text messages, and voice notes. We reinterpreted past experiences and thought deeply about ways to be in more control in the future. We added more consent equations into the formula: What happens if a partner is dishonest about their relationship status? What happens if your partner is dishonest about their sexual history or a past partner? What happens if your partner does not reveal their criminal history? What happens if someone does not reveal they may have an STI? What do you do if you realize, after the fact, that someone violated your consent? Do you owe forgiveness to someone who apologizes after violating your consent? The questions continued, and we realized that whenever consent is procured under false pretenses—that is, if details were withheld—consent is called into question and is likely violated. We settled on “honesty is the best policy.”
Some of us found solace seeing our lived experiences played out on television. Some of us came away empowered to stand up for ourselves when we find ourselves in situations with changing circumstances. Some of us wanted to go back to the person who violated our consent, let them know what happened, and not offer forgiveness. Some of us started therapy.
I May Destroy You has a tremendous impact on its viewers, but its impact goes even further and knocks on the door of a now-quieted uprising: the #MeToo movement. #MeToo caused a long-overdue revolution and exposed the prevalence of sexual assault and rape, but after many months, it spurred backlash when sound minds could not agree on whether some incidents are sexual assault and what the consequences should be. I May Destroy You restarts and reshapes the #MeToo conversation.
With Harvey Weinstein as its mascot, the #MeToo movement elevated hundreds of incredibly different stories and put them under the same umbrella of sexual assault. The beauty of I May Destroy You is that it forces viewers to consider the wide range of sexual abuse, categorize the incidents, and reflect on what consent should look like. The show makes clear that consent procured under any kind of false pretenses is stolen and is most likely a violation, while not labeling everyone who steals consent a monster.
Coel’s storytelling shows that although stolen consent is often flagrant for the victim, it’s not always obvious by societal standards. Where an interaction falls in the societal hierarchy of sexual violence—and, equally importantly, whether a sexual violation is punishable by law—varies by culture and country. As Arabella highlights, stealthing is considered rape under U.K. law, but only “a bit rapey” in Australia. Even so, the right consequence isn’t always clear. When Arabella realizes where Zain’s actions fit under the law, she doesn’t go to the police; instead, she exposes him in front of his family, friends, and colleagues at a book festival.
Not only does I May Destroy You prevent us from lumping Zain into the same category as Arabella’s rapist, the show introduces voices and perspectives initially left out of the #MeToo discussion. In its early days, the movement—which was founded by a Black woman—was heavily criticized for centering white, wealthy females and leaving out voices of color. Queer folks were also largely left out of the conversation, despite the prevalence of sexual abuse in the LGBTQ community. The movement also did not have space to address false accusations—something I May Destroy You addresses head-on. The survivors of I May Destroy You represent Black voices, queer voices, and working-class voices. Their intersectional perspectives are vital to the show, and to the movement as a whole.
I May Destroy You’s focus on the thorny boundaries of consent shows the commonplace side of sexual violence: violations when consent is given but information is withheld or circumstances change, violations where it is uncertain if something illegal even happened. It’s a way of inviting even more people to be able to join the movement, and to be able to say, “Me too.”
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