Lupita Nyong’o scored her fourth Vogue cover for the January 2018 edition. I didn’t realize it at first, but she’s on Vogue to promote Black Panther! Yaaassss. Black Panther comes out in February! Something to look forward to while everything else burns to the ground. As for the shot they chose for the cover… I’m not into it. I love Lupita, I think she’s beautiful and amazing and all of that, but why did Vogue choose this shot? As for the interview… it’s good. She refuses to talk about a lot of personal subjects, but she gives Vogue enough good quotes to make it worth their time. You can read the full Vogue piece here. Some highlights:
She describes Black Panther as “brave for an action film”. Wakanda has never been colonized, and its traditions have matured without interference. “For me, as an African who lives outside Africa and wrestles with that dichotomy of tradition and modernity, this is almost healing.”
Black Panther flips the script on colonialist narratives: Ta-Nehisi Coates, who wrote a vivid Black Panther spin-off comic in 2016, describes it as “the fulfillment of some sort of deep wish that extends throughout the black diaspora to show that we are human, that we are beautiful, that we can be bad-asses, too. We’ve occupied such a servile place in film and TV,” he continues. “It’s nice to see that flipped.” Nyong’o agrees. “The little Kenyan child in me leaped for joy because it’s such an affirmation. What colonialism does is cause an identity crisis about one’s own culture.”
Boot camp with the cast: “Chadwick had a live drummer come in as we worked out, and it was so cool—it changes your sense of internal rhythm. My character fights with anything: guns, spears, ring blades, shoes, glass.”
She wants to retain her childlike sense of wonder: “That’s why I like to try new things, like pole-dancing” or mastering new languages and accents, and learning the ukulele for her next role. “I value not being good at things, because children are not good at things.”She rejects questions about the difficulty of not being pigeonholed as an “actress of color”: “I got such a head start in this industry that it is not in my best interest to look for struggle. That’s such a powerless place for me to think about: what is working against me. I don’t think of what I don’t have; I think of what I do, and use that to get the next thing.” She is adamant about protecting her creativity. “It’s a finite reservoir, so it’s important that I safeguard it with my life.”
Her current mood is exhilarated and defiant. “I am here. I am happy to be here. I know this industry was not made for me. But I’m not going to apologize for being here.”
I love the balance of this statement: “it is not in my best interest to look for struggle.” Think about those words coming from an African actress who is probably still considered “too dark” by most Hollywood producers and casting directors and more. Think about how many white actors love to put on airs about their own “struggles” and how no one understands how difficult it is for them. Yes, Hollywood was not made for Lupita. But she’s not going to apologize for being there. Queen Lupita!
Photos courtesy of Mikael Jansson for Vogue Magazine.
I don’t like the styling or the energy of the cover shot, but Lupita is beautiful. Looking forward to the Black Panther!
I hear the criticisms of the cover but tbh I love it! I always like the combination of high fashion with interesting activities or places. It also goes well with the “Wellenss” theme of the issue.
Wish it was cropped. Her face looks stunning. There was no need to show full figure on the cover.
I hate the cover. It is exhausted looking and flat.
I’m surprised at the first paragraph, only because I LOVE the cover shot. I love it so much. Might be because I’m a yoga teacher, and right now social media has been monopolized by one shady activewear brand who buys out almost all of the top-followed Instagram Yogis and “Yoga inspriation” pages with no transparency, and promotes nothing but tiny, white, ultra-bendy ladies as what yoga is supposed to look like.
So Lupita, powerful and gorgeous woman of color, doing paddle board yoga? In a dress, looking glam as hell? Tree pose aligned as hell? I am SO here for this and I think the world needs more of it. I’m glad they chose this shot for the cover.
Omg! YES!!!! I am a instructor as well and can’t agree enough.
I think this is part of the reason I can’t enjoy Yoga here. Every time I’m in a yoga class, I want to point to everyone in that room and ask them to find India on a map.
Indian here.
Some are authentic though
I have had some of best practitioners in Europe
Although exception might prove the rule
I had an initial knee jerk reaction to the combo of discussing colonialism & cultural identity with a yoga photo shoot, given the context of how there’s definitely some neocolonial bull going down in the “White Lady Yoga” world… but then I took a second and realized this is actually a FANTASTIC illustration for the article.
This image subverts the standard(colonialist) depiction of yoga as the domain of ethereal(white), globe-trotting(rich) waifs, AND a whole bunch of stereotypes about black women, too.
I LOVE that she’s in the water, doing yoga (Who says black folks don’t swim? Who says black folks don’t do yoga?)
I LOVE the soft, refined styling in contrast to the “strong” looks so many magazines default to when shooting black women (not that those images can’t be empowering, I just side-eye when that’s the ONLY way they present black women, especially when they blur into aggressive/hypersexual/primitive tropes)
This is a woman who is unapologetically owning spaces that our culture codes/coopts as white!
Re: “White Lady Yoga” … obviously white women can enjoy and practice yoga without it being cultural appropriation, in the same way a person can respectfully enjoy another culture’s food or art. I’m specifically referring to the broader, commercial white-washing of the practice, which you gotta be blind not to notice. From one white lady to another, if you’re feeling defensive, please pause to think why… it’s not our space, we’re guests.
I thought it was a beautiful cover. I know nothing of Yoga but she looks impressive.
Meghan Markle’s mother is a yoga instructor, and my mother’s best friend introduced her to yoga in the 70s, and she’s black. She was born and raised in San Francisco and was into healthy fresh organic eating before it was a thing. When she made tuna salad, it was from real tuna and only unfiltered juices, and of course, she looks like an anti-aging poster girl. Total feminist and amazing woman. I think that is why I like Meghan; her mother is familiar to me in some ways though her children aren’t biracial.
Anyway, so in California and New York you will find loads of people of color into yoga and healthy living. Her house is like walking into Northern California peace, art and beauty and healing. Her circle of friends has similar values, and it includes a lot of yoga-meditating POC.
I love Lupita. She was on Finding Your Roots, and her story is incredible. Her father is a hero.
I will watch anything she’s in. I just adore her.
She says a lot of things that I struggle with as well. Especially this year which was a perfect storm of general crap from your own country to personal realizations. Lots of introspection of what it means to be black in America.
I’m also unapologetic but it took me a while to get to this point
I’m still apologetic, unfortunately. I work in a very white industry and the only way to get anything done (diversity wise) seems to be to come at it from a place of contrition. It’s very frustrating. I wish I could be like her (and you).
It took a while but for me I just came to the conclusion that nothing is worth the emotional labor to conform to whiteness 24/7. I don’t speak like Cardi B (because I wasn’t raised that way regardless) but I keep my blackness in a way that keeps me whole. If it makes people uncomfortable then oh well.
And this is an ongoing process as well. So still don’t have all the answers
I had a big realization this year that I innately feared heterosexual white men. I was walking through life always apologizing, not looking people in the eye, fleeing situations and this was inside of me my entire life.
After the Al Franken scandal, the one thing that occurred for me was the decision that I was no longer going to be afraid of them. The ones I grew up with fearing are now fat and out of shape, physically I am stronger than I have ever been. I let so many people decide my value for so long and I’m not going to do that anymore. It is a daily struggle but I don’t want to be afraid anymore.
I don’t want to apologize to them again.
*claps wildly*
I noticed such a big difference in how I felt internally when I decided to stop accommodating white people’s stuff at my own expense. Those trainings around safety, niceness, and security really do a number on you as a young WOC. And then the unlearning process does a number on you all over again.
I love her comment about not looking for struggle. You can always find a battle if you’re looking for one. If grace is carrying you along, you better appreciate it!
I like the way she articulates herself.
If she were to discuss her struggles (which are real), people would probably dismiss her. There would be the quiet group who aren’t inclined towards confrontation that agrees with her, and then there would be the vocally loud annoying group who would try to come at her. I can see why she framed her answer the way she did.
I agree with here. Colonialisms effects on the past, present and future will be felt for generations and generations. I’m also glad she is in Hollywood and cannot wait for Black Panther!
I absolutely love Lupita N’yongo. She is a very beautiful woman and a very smart one at best. She will be fine… Yes Hollywood is not made for black people period, however we are breaking rules and we are breaking grounds in our wold’s society and no one is not going push us down. We are Black people ad we are not going anywhere.
Lupita N’yongo… Keep being you and keep being strong and once again… You are a very beautiful woman.
I can’t wait for Black Panther. Her body looks great on that cover.
I disagree with her specific statement that colonialism causes identity crisis about culture.
Certain aspects of colonialism are still felt and will continue to be felt for generations, but East African culture has remained strong because it was never other-ed or made inferior by the British. On that point she’s talking bollocks.
School curriculum and govt process is British per the system installed by the British, but along side that you are raised with very strong cultural traditions and language with aspects of British, Indian and Arab cultures absorbed over centuries. I’ve never ever met an East African with an identity crisis about their culture.
Every time Lupita speaks about her culture and traditions i find myself eyerolling because most of what she says is bollocks, but i guess it sells to western audiences.
Oh but you are so wrong. The identity crisis is huge especially in Kenya. East Africa is not one unit, Uganda and Tanzania are very very different from Kenya, so on this point she is 100% correct. The British rule was brutal and it was designed to take everything that was traditional and a way of life and turn it upside down and demonize it.
I didn’t want to get into specifics which is why i generalised in my entire comment. Not just countries, but also cultures.
I know what the British did to Kenya. One of my grandparents was in the Mau Mau so i know.
…but individual tribal culture remains very strong despite colonial period. People remain very strongly tribal, speak the language, engage in customs.
Now if you are talking about national identity, good luck with that because there are too many tribes across Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania to inform one national identity. That’s always been the way even before the colonialists got there. There are afew big tribes and they dominate national discourse, they fight for power etc, but you can’t say that the country is any one big tribe.
In terms of govt and schooling, the system remains British (or communist with regards Tanzania), but in terms of culture, that remains very strong.
Gosh, but the very act of appropriating a place and a people for years and then dividing up the continent as they saw fit and meshing different tribes together to form new countries. Surely this tore up the social fabric of the different tribes, who had their own boundaries and their own ways of relating to each other.
You say you know what the British did to Kenya but in the same breath you say the culture is intact. It isn’t.
You say that “That’s always been the way even before the colonialists got there.” There was no such thing as Kenya before the colonialists got here.
Even today Kenya is reeling from these actions. Our way of life (yes,I’m Kenyan), our original traditions were torn apart and some of those traditions are lost forever, so I don’t know which particular culture you think is still standing strong.
Our historical and cultural roots as Kenyans are weak because we are a European creation. There are so many Kenyans who know nothing about where we came from, who we were, how we did things, what is the meaning and symbolism of our way of doing things. And guess what, the education system contributes to that 100%.
On this particular aspect, there is no bollocks in what Lupita said. I’m not even sure how what she said would appeal to Western audiences.
I make it very clear in my original comment that there are aspects of colonialism that still affect and will continue to affect for generations.
You mention some of them and we see the effects every day, tribes that were natural enemies were thrown together whilst others were split apart. It’s pretty obvious that countries as created by the colonialists didn’t exist therefore i didn’t need to spell that out. However, the tribal squabbles did. Saying that doesn’t absolve the colonialists from what they did nor from it’s continuing effects.
….but to say that people’s cultural identity is at crisis point is not true. Sure some people don’t know the root of where they came, but that is the same for most people around the world.
However, people are taught about their culture and language at home. They eat their tribal foods, learn their tribal dances, alongside their colonial British style education. They may not know their tribal history specifically, but they identify with the tribe very strongly in all the ways that bind them to that tribe and you see it in all the quarrels that break out where factions align according to tribe.
The strength of tribal cultural identity is one of the reasons the national identity suffers because it makes a singular national identity difficult.
//They eat their tribal foods, learn their tribal dances, alongside their colonial British style education. //
What tribal dances are these you speak of? Lol, there is no such thing being taught to anyone at home. Who in particular is doing the teaching of these things? That there is now a true example of bollocks.
//They may not know their tribal history specifically, but they identify with the tribe very strongly in all the ways that bind them to that tribe and you see it in all the quarrels that break out where factions align according to tribe.//
What are these ways that bind people to their tribe? I’m very interested to know.
How does one identify with something they know almost nothing about? That makes no sense. Don’t confuse the use of tribe as a political tool, which again is another relic from the colonial system. Perhaps that is what you mean by strong cultural identity but it doesn’t exist.
Clapping so hard right now as I am from Tanzania and I could not agree more,
East Africa isn’t a monolith.
“East Africa isn’t a monolith.”
*claps wildly*
CN: ok now you just want to hairsplit when you know exactly what i mean.
…but since you went there, i assume your family isn’t teaching you your customs and traditions? Why else would the term ‘your tribal dances’ or ‘tribal foods” or ‘tribal customs’ confuse you? Kenya is not a monolith.
@LAK, please be clear on this. I am not hair-splitting as concerns anything. I disagree with you on both the major and minor points that we are taught our tribal dances and eat our tribal foods at home as we happily receive our British education in school and come away from that with a strong cultural identity. This is not at all my Kenyan experience.
No one uses the terms “tribal foods”. There is no such thing as the teaching of “tribal dances”. This simply does not exist.
You are the one talking about Kenya as if it is a monolith. If you truly believed that that experiences in Kenya are varied, then you wouldn’t have been so quick to rubbish Lupita’s statement.
I identify with Lupita on this issue. Mind you we would have had very different experiences growing up, as she is much more privileged than I am.
Well we have our first ‘splainer of the day
The irony of someone who grew up in Africa, in the 3 East African countries, is told they are ‘splaining by a westerner because said westerner knows better.
You and Matt Damon must be besties.
Love how you assume my background from this post. You say that you KNOW that cultures are standing strong…I know MANY people (including Kenyans) that would laugh at that statement.
Fact is you just splained away her feelings about her culture. Feelings that many have about colonization.
Sure Jan.
You do realise that knowing people isn’t the same as being. Nevermind that i am. Seriously say hi to Matt Damon.
@LAK – You say that you grew up in 3 East African countries, but are you of African decent? Do you identify as such? Sorry for the intrusion, but the previous comments sound as someone who has grown up within a culture, but is not part of it.
And i said you assumed you knew my cultural background.
My ancestors say hi. I just didn’t want to explain my background as a means of having my comment taken seriously.
You legit just explained away how someone feels about their culture. If anyone should say hi to matt damon…its you
I just don’t see an East African using the phrase “tribal dance” or “tribal food”. I don’t think it matters though if one is from East Africa or not. We are all allowed our opinions. That complete dismissal of Lupita’s statement was quite surprising though especially since Lupita is right.
Hh: i identify as Afropean. I remain as strongly bonded to my African culture as i do my European one.
I am ethnically a mixture of several tribes from Uganda and Kenya with some Arab thrown in. I identify strongly with all of them. I speak all the languages of my ethnicity because i was raised to speak them. Ditto the culture and traditions. Historically, i am very versed because i am interested in history in general terms, but i also have relations who only care about language and traditions in the shallowest way possible. Neither side feels confused.
For various reasons, my family moved about between those countries before settling in Britain. My education reflects that. I still have family in all three countries and i maintained most of my friendships in those countries after we moved away. Those friends are just as strongly bonded to their ethnic identity which differs from mine as the education they received. We visit every year for various reasons.
It’s hard to have these conversations without being detached because specifics aren’t easily translatable and i am trying to explain it as neutrally and as generally as possible. Don’t always succeed.
CN that’s what blows my mind. LAK is trying to explain away lupita’s statement then amazingly compares those who push back to Matt Damon. When in reality by dismissing her statement outright she did the same thing to Lupita that Damon did to Effie Brown.
CN: ‘tribal dance’ or ‘tribal food’ is shorthand to explain a point rather than go into detailed discussion of the different dances, foods, customs and traditions of any given tribe. Ditto food.
Nicole: i’m pushing back at you.
@CN – RE: “I don’t think it matters though if one is from East Africa or not. We are all allowed our opinions.” — In this case, it absolutely matters. Lupita is talking about her experience and those of her cultural and ethnic group. While her experiences should not be dismissed or argued, if one is going to do so, it does require being of that culture or ethnic group–at least in this case.
For example, Eminem is heavily embedded in hip hop culture and Black culture. Yet, he is not Black and therefore does not have full knowledge of the Black experience in the U.S. So, if Jay-Z made a statement on his life as a Black man, and Eminem came out and said “Nah, that doesn’t sound right to me,” it would be ludicrous. While Eminem is a cultural insider in some ways, he is an outsider in others. It’s important to know which is which and when to speak on it.
Judging by the number of contrary statements to your dismissive post…you are the most Matt Damon person in the comments section. There are people saying that they know people that would not agree with what you said and would have the same feelings as lupita but somehow your one experience is the same as everyone else
You literally dismissed Lupita’s own statements about her culture. How are you any different from Damon at all?
@LAK – I appreciate you taking the time to explain your background and where you’re coming from. Like CN, I was taken aback at the outright dismissal of what Lupita said. I assume that her statement is true for many and also untrue for many. As African Sun pointed out below, I think we’re getting caught up in absolutism.
Nicole: CN is engaging me in a nuanced conversation that i can engage in. She’s also asking questions that tell me that she knows who and what she’s talking about and i can explain myself to her in ways i hope she understands.
You just want to shut me down to score points and be insulting to boot.
I’m shutting down your need to explain Lupita’s experience TO HER. You sound no different than white people that magically tell black people that their experiences are wrong.
Again there is no difference in what you’ve done here and what Damon did to Brown. No difference. You explained your experience and its different from hers. But somehow her experience is “bollocks”
Im not trying to engage in nuance because in your first reply to me you assumed I would have NO IDEA about African culture except for the fact that half my family comes from (and still lives) in an African country. That shut down any need to actually try and engage because somehow your opinion about Lupita’s experience is more RIGHT then her own feelings.
Like do you even see the issue there? Nevermind its like speaking to a wall
She sounds to me like a higher profile freida Pinto
Freida tried to bank on the stereotyped image of India and sometimes I feel Lupita does the same
Insert massive eye roll.
Yeah no, she is not talking bollocks.
I just want to put that out there as well. I’m Tanzanian by birth, nationality and culture even though I went to school in the UK, and I have lived in Kenya many years so I know what she is talking about when she says colonialism caused an identity crisis.
Just because you have not met an East African with an identity crisis does not mean they don’t exist because trust me they do.
Look at the power of language in Kenya and Tanzania to see what colonialism did to identity. English is still the most important language you need to know if you want to get ahead. That does create questions about identity.
I have my own gripes about Lupita especially when she let people think she identified as Mexican until she got dragged on her home turf about it, but this time, she is correct in how she explained herself.
Africa is not a country, Tanzanians, Kenyans, Ugandans, Rwandans don’t see themselves as ‘East Africans’ the way someone from France would maybe say they are Europeans.
Let’s also give Lupes a break from trying to explain Africa to the world – sometimes she gets it wrong, sometimes she gets it right, in this interview, she’s bang on.
Love everything you say here. Also, I had to look up the Lupita-Mexico thing… Wow. I don’t know how I missed that, but she tried it…lol
@HH thanks girl :). Yes girl she did and I remember being so annoyed by it like girl you are Kenyan and that’s that like stop trying to be more interesting when you are riding high already. She clarified later though.
@African Sun – It reminded me of why I had to restrict myself to reading Lupita interviews instead of watching. She can home off pretentious or uppity (loaded word), but overall I like what she says and what she stands for.
@HH Ugh I know *exactly* what you mean about her TV interviews sometimes. When I heard that she wanted to adapt Americanah by CNA I was like hmmm because I know what you mean about that pretentious vibe, but I think a lot of that is maybe nervousness because she knows that everything she says will be dissected and analysed from an African diaspora perspective, from a Kenyan perspective.
I also think she is careful how she speaks and words things because of her father’s job as a politician in Kenya.
Lupes is hit and miss for me at times, but now that BP promo run will start soon, let’s see what else she will say. Look forward to seeing more of your comments on here, I comment every now and then when I see posts about black women on here.
@African Sun – Glad to have you as a commentor on here. I tread carefully on posts about Black women, because…ugh. Sometimes I can’t tell if it’s 2017 or 1917. People get bold on the internet. Lol
@LAK, please be clear on this. I am not hair-splitting as concerns anything. I disagree with you on both the major and minor points that we are taught our tribal dances and eat our tribal foods at home as we happily receive our British education in school and come away from that with a strong cultural identity. This is not at all my Kenyan experience.
I identify with Lupita on this issue. Mind you we would have had very different experiences growing up, as she is much more privileged than I am.
CN: i understand the crux of our disagreement after the last sentence of your point ie ‘ she is much more privileged than I am.’ Opened my eyes to something i hadn’t considered.
I attended the same types of schools as Lupita and despite the students coming from different tribal backgrounds, it was never a problem.
There was no cultural crisis or made to feel that my tribal identity was inferior compared to the British system we were learning.
Upthread you asked how a person can identify with a tribe without knowing their history, but i have met, lived with lots of people who identify without bothering about the history except in very superficial terms.
They eat the food, speak the language, observe all the customs and traditions, wear the tradition dresses as mandated by occasion or type of event, dances and songs as mandated by occasion and type of event, have the indoctrinated tribal prejudices against others. These things they learn at home. Their parents, grandparents, fellow villagers teach them. They will have clans, totems and somewhere they identify as their village, without digging deep into it.
That is what i meant by cultural identity. You go to school and are taught the British system, and go back home to the traditional norms.
And because there are so many different tribes, you can’t claim a single national identity. You tell me you are Kenyan, and my first question would be what tribe? Not for political reasons, but because of everything i think i know about your tribe’s customs, traditions, dress, food etc.
My experience is that regardless of what is taught in schools, your tribal identity remains intact even if it’s in superficial terms.
Our disagreement is not about privilege or the lack of it, but nice try.
Culture is a way of life, norms and customs. The British came and destroyed our way of life and imposed theirs on us, drew up artificial boundaries and divided societies that had their own way of living side by side. This is what caused a cultural crisis in Kenya. If you care to, you can find lots of research and books written on this issue.
You mentioned that you were never made to feel that your tribal identity was inferior to the British system of education. Well, to this day Westerners are considered superior to Kenyans and since you lived in Kenya, you know very well that is a fact. Why is that? Where does that come from?
My gripe with you was that you dismissed Lupita’s comment as if you know better than her, what her experience has been or what her thoughts on the issue should be. One final time, I agree with her because this too is my lived experience.
These are my final comments to you, since this discussion is not progressing.
Hi, first of all huge fan of celebitchy but first time writing a comment.
Lake I understand what you meant. I was born in Cameroon and raised between Cameroon and France. While, Cameroon was colonized by French, German and British, the people in Cameroon have kept their cultures and traditions throughout. Yes, some of us grew up speaking french and learning their culture but we also grew up knowing everything from our cultures. Cameroon. Alone had 200 different dialects and multiple tribes. I come from two tribes(bassa and Beti),and both have their own cultures, own dances, own traditions. And yes, there is tribal problems but they were there before colonization. The point is, wherever i’ve Gone around the world, i’ve Never met a person from Cameroon who had an identity crisis due to colonization. Even our kids are raised with the culture. My son is American and even though my parents know how to speak English and french, they speak in bassa or Ewondo to him and I am making sure, he understands and respect the African traditions and cultures whether is through books, music or food what was taught. So do many people I know from France to Finland, to England to the US. So although colonization brought its own problems, the African cultures from different countries stayed.
I hope every African person going to watch Black Panther wears their traditional clothing, make it a colourful royally day you guys ✊🏾
Lupita’s dad apparently is a corrupt guy who ripped off other people, source my kenyan born friend
Somehow i just cannot warm up to her.
It’s not really fair to hold it against her for what someone in her family did. It’s terrible if he did that, but she might not have known or was unable to stop him
@Beth: maybe it is not. But we all apply certain harsh standards for people we don’t like.
Why would you hold her responsible for something her father did?? What does that have to do with HER?? Would you apply the same standard to yourself? Would you judge yourself negatively based on something a family member did? I’m going to take a wild guess and say no you wouldnt.
Why not?
Don’t we hold children of corrupt politicians, accountable when they enjoy the benefit of it
Lupita has expensive education and other privileges. Who knows on whose tears they were built on?
We r gossiping about celebs here, keep it at that. Stop preaching people you know nothing about
@Tan “stop preaching people you know nothing about”
Says the person on a gossip site doing exactly that.
PS – since when do we hold children of corrupt politicans accountable for their parents’ actions unless they themselves were directly involved??
We need more receipts than your Kenyan born friend.
He’s a politician in Kenya, one of the toughest countries politically in the world. I need real receipts, not hearsay.
My African (Ghanian) friends find it weird that Americans created this fictional stereotyped African nation with real life components of actual countries.
I did too. It jumped out at me in the trailer. Actually it jumped out at me in the first Avengers movie that showcased black panther, but after eyerolling for a bit, i decided to take the view that this is fiction. Science fiction at that, so i will put my judgey hat away.
But Game of Thrones created fictional lands of Dorne, the North and many elements clearly inspired by England and no one cared?
Also what about Beasts of No Nation, wasn’t that based in a fictional African country?
Your friend or just you? Fiction exists in every pop cultural form. It’s odd to suggest otherwise.
It’s really not that strange. Authors do it all the time. It’s usually done in order to avoid stepping on specific cultural toes without losing certain thematic elements relevant to a specific culture or time period. In this case, it’s a condemnation of colonialist intervention in Africa, a statement on the damage done to African cultures and peoples by foreign interference with their internal matters. Wakanda is an ideal, albeit a fantastical one, of what some African countries could have become already had their development not been interrupted for purposes of exploitation.
I can see the reason. There is so much to get wrong that it would be easy to offend someone. It is a shame that people go to Africa only to safari when there is so much to see on that massive continent. It is beautiful but very diverse, and the beaches are incredible. Every type of landscape is there, and the food is excellent. My husband and brother became favorites at the markets because he can eat troughs of food and loves to eat. It was like a dare to see if they would eat as much as they did.
You do have to be careful about salads and raw produce. The soil is unfamiliar to a Western digestive system, and our enzymes are different, and the vegetables and fruits are rich and ripe, so anyone with a sensitive stomach might have to take care. It is the same in the Middle East, and I got a stomach ache in Nazareth once from some tomatoes.
It is strange it wasn’t shot in Africa, but again maybe there were conflicts and problems they couldn’t solve.
What a beautiful cover. I think it’s stunning.
“I’m not going to apologize for being here” *claps wildly* yesss sister!!!
I’ve watched paddle board yoga in Honolulu & I’ve got to say, Lupita & those other practitioners are awesome. I find yoga difficult enough as it is, but on a paddle board? That’s a whole ‘nother level. And Lupita looks fabulous in these photos.
I find the cover very beautiful and classy. She looks like one of those African art ebony statues depicting archetypes of femininity.
Lupita is a tough one for me – I recognise she is under incredible pressure in the West to be this kind of paradigm of what elegant African women should be and she is under massive pressure back home in Kenya to ‘represent’ the nation, keep it G and not sell out to foreign audiences.
It’s a massive cross to bear and she is getting better at explaining her views and thoughts about her identity and culture. Because when she first came out banging on Mexico and letting people think she identified with Mexican culture, it did light her on fire here so it is good she clarified.
That said, I think she worded her points here well. Black Panther looks like it will be tonnes of fun of exploring a world where blackness is the standard for the actors who are used to be on the sidelines. It should bring out some super interesting performances.
Many intellectuals on the Continent agree that Ethiopia has really managed to keep their culture in tact because they have their own faith, own script, and they were never colonised. That is a magnificent feat to be the only African country that was never colonised. So if you look at her comment in that context, the identity crisis comments make a lot of sense.
Not Lupita’s biggest fan, but I think she’s beautiful and she articulated the colonialism points well here. I don’t think you need to be African to have views on this issue but as an African woman and Tanzanian so I am her neighbour, she articulated what many of us back here think.
As well I think her comments are also coded by nasty comments that she and her siblings have probably experienced by being Kenyans who have grown up in the West or gone to school abroad ”ha ha your Swahili is wack” or ”you are a bounty” etc. Identity is moulded by many things and I think that was her point.
Ramble ended!
Interesting. I learned something from your post. Most of black Jews I know are from Ethiopia, and they made aliyah to Israel though they have faced issues with some right-wing nutjob racists that fortunately were fixed quickly. The stories became exaggerated, so the one about sterilizing Ethiopian Jews became fact when it was really some culturally insensitive idiots giving the women depo shots, but the issue was some women wanted it because of poverty and their husbands became upset and some were talked into it against their will. It was exposed by a women’s right’s group in Israel.
Thankfully it has improved significantly, but still, there is room for it to be a lot better in my view.
Their culture is strong, and they hold tight to their Ethiopian culture.
Lupita Nyong’o is, as per usual, unspeakably gorgeous. As for her interview… I have mixed feelings, honestly.
On the one hand, her points about the far-reaching effects of colonialism, be it under its past form or under its current one (a lor of nowadays’ charity work is fundamentally infected by an air of colonial spirit and mindset), is utterly correct and pretty well formulated. On the other appendage, Lupita Nyong’o’s own experience, which she uses as a template and intepretative prism, is a direct product of the immense privilege she grew up in and which she, at times, appears to forget…
As for Black Panther, I am extremely eager to see this film. As a former reader of the comic books, I wonder whether the film will address one of the main problems I have always had with the story : Wakanda is portrayed as a nation that draws all its successes and progress from a vibranium-rich meteorite but chooses to keep said success and progress secret and exclusive to itself for decades… While all its neighbouring countries are struggling with abject poverty, war and lack of progress… It always made Wakandans look like selfish pricks to me !
Lupita is the new Halle, Hollywood doesn’t know other WOC exist…although that was never their fault to begin with. wish anna would find someone else for vogue including the boring white women she always uses.
geez can’t you just wish for more woc on vogue(really you are saying black) without denigrating the white women as boring?
Since Halle is an American biracial woman with a white parent and lupita is a Kenyan who grew up in Kenya and Mexico….how is she saying only black women? The two couldn’t be more different from each other, different backgrounds and cultures, languages etc…I’m really sick of everyone grouping black women into one big box. Diversity means a whole lot more than skin color btw but even that is world’s apart.
Plus in Africa mixed people are in their own separate category so halle isn’t even black but colored (SA) or mixed. They don’t do the one drop rule there.
@Nn, that is in South Africa specifically not other African nations. Many mixed people identify as black and Halle does too.
That’s why I wrote SA (south africa) after colored and then mixed which would be everywhere else in Africa.
I don’t care how individuals “identify” (which seems to be fluid and depending on context and what’s to gain).
Race, although a construct, is not based on how one identifies.
It’s pretty simple when you think about it. Two black parents? Black child.
Two white parents? White child.
One white parent and one black parent? Biracial black and white child (in the case of halle berry).
I don’t care for the racist and outdated one drop rule. The one drop rule only applies in America and even that is changing.
Everywhere else, UK etc mixed people have their own category as it should be.
She is beautiful, and smart and well/spoken. She is elegant and eloquent. That gown she is wearing is great, love it on her. She’s holding the tree pose on a surfboard in the water while rocking a designer gown. Lol! ❤️