BLACK MANIFESTO! Aftermaths - Resource Pack Episode 1 YOUTH – creative repudiation – who else must DEGAGE??? Introduction
A collection of material to compliment episode 1 of Black Manifesto! Aftermaths “YOUTH – creative repudiation – who else must DEGAGE???” to support creative thinking, learning and unlearning. Black Manifesto! Aftermaths recognise not just a moment in time, but a continued need to keep action and activism alive. In this podcast, hosted by Pawlet Brookes and created by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, Black women from around the world respond to nora’s provocations, addressing how we shape a new world in which Black women are seen and heard. Produced with support from Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This podcast series was edited by LikeMind Media with research from Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage.
“Who is coming to save the Black African woman from the world? We have to save ourselves.” – nora chipaumire
Reading and Resources
Auxier, B. (2020)’ Social media continue to be important political outlets for Black Americans’ Pew Research Center [online] Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/12/11/social-media-continue-to-beimportant-political-outlets-for-black-americans/ Benard, A. A. F. (2016) ‘Colonizing Black Female Bodies Within Patriarchal Capitalism: Feminist and Human Rights Perspectives’ Sexualisation, Media & Society, 2/4 [online] Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2374623816680622 General Act of the Berlin Conference on West Africa, 26 February 1885’ [online] Available at: https://loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1885GeneralActBerlinConference.pdf Jackson, R. (2014) ‘By Invitation Only: Preps for Official 1980 Fiesta’ The Herald, [online] Available at: https://www.herald.co.zw/by-invitation-only-preps-for-official-1980-fiesta/ Marechera, D. (1978/2022) The House of Hunger, London: Penguin Melamed, J. (2015) ‘Racial Capitalism’ Critical Ethnic Studies, 1/1, pp.76-85 nherera HUB by nora chipaumire [online] Available at: https://www.nhererahub.org/ Nkrumah, K. (1965) Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons [online] Available at: https://www.marxists.org/ebooks/nkrumah/nkrumahneocolonialism.pdf Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage (2020) ‘Black Manifesto’ [online] Available at: https://www.serendipity-uk.com/black-manifesto-with-nora-chipaumire/ South African History Online (2011) ‘Africa, Portugal’ [online] Available at: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/africa-portugal Spivak, G. C. (1988) ‘Can the Subaltern Speak’ [online] Available at: https://abahlali.org/files/Can_the_subaltern_speak.pdf Thames Television (1980) ‘How Free How Fair?’ TV Eye [television] 07/02/1980 Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2wm2qycrgQ Tismaneanu, V. (2009) ‘The Revolutions of 1989: Causes, Meanings, Consequences’ Contemporary European History, 18/3, pp. 271-288 Vittori, S. (2018) ‘How Zimbabwean Women Achieved Their Struggles for Independence Through Resistance Songs’ ContemporaryAnd
Vittori, S. (2018) ‘How Zimbabwean Women Achieved Their Struggles for Independence Through Resistance Songs’ ContemporaryAnd Williams, E. (1944/2022) Capitalism and Slavery, London: Penguin Wyatt, J. P. and Ampadu, G. G. (2021) ‘Reclaiming Self-care: Self-care as a Social Justice Tool for Black Wellness’ Community Mental Health Journal, 58, pp.213-221 Younge, G. (2023) Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter, London: Faber & Faber
“...the struggle cannot be done alone; these are the lessons that I learn every day. The loneliness of the revolution - one cannot be alone in this, one has to walk with kinfolk and, particularly, women-folk. Black women remain my pillar of support, it’s a lesson I learn every day.” – nora chipaumire
Rhodesia - A woman brandishes Soviet-made assault rifle. Comrade Felix, Assistant Commander to Comrade Mick Jagger stands on her left. The auxiliaries in Manyene are supporters of Bishop Abel Muzorewa, member of the Executive Council of the interim government and head of the United African National Council. Undated photograph. Bettman / Getty Images
Transcript Pawlet Brookes 00:01 Welcome to Black Manifesto, Part Two - Aftermaths. nora chipaumire envisages 10 more commandments of the Black Manifesto that recognises not just a moment in time, but a continued need to keep action and activism alive. In this podcast hosted by myself, Pawlet Brookes, and created by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, Black women from around the world respond to nora's provocations, addressing how we shape a new world in which Black women are seen and heard. The guests on this podcast share their reflections unapologetically, so please be aware of strong language and references to personal struggles and traumas. In this episode, nora chipaumire introduces Black Manifesto Part Two - Aftermaths - and contextualises the first commandment: Youth creative repudiation - who else must degage??? nora chipaumire 01:02 The Black Manifesto Part Two - Aftermaths. And in case you're wondering who I am, my name is nora chipaumire. And this is the second episode of an ongoing conversation around manifestations of Black life. The questions we are determined to ask and not afraid, all apologetic to ask. Black Manifesto Part Two - Aftermaths. One, YOUTH — creative repudiation - Come on, who else must Degage? Two, Elders, my beloved elders Wisdom which you hold is nothing unless you share. What is the Black creative elder group doing to nurture emerging knowledge industries? Three, Black theory is action. When was the last time you did, made, lived. Four, on care - self care or pure rampant narcissism? Five, on load-shedding, climate, nonhumans, activists. Another empty frontier, I challenge you - Africans populate the Mediterranean as we speak! Wake up! Six. You say art, I say heart exists in the margins, fellow thinkers, outside of the frame - the freedom of the non-canon is also possible. Seven, their time zones, their geographies their other monuments. Defy them. Why can't we? Let's defy them. Eight, the more things change, the more they stay the same - touché. Nine, the future is the present, friends. Don't sleep on Africa, fucking touché. Ten, raging Black knowledge - does anyone give a - Fill in the blank - in the age of TikTok, X, Instagram and what not? Does anybody give a --? Pawlet Brookes 04:27 Wonderful, thank you. So I'm gonna kick straight off and go straight into some questions, Nora. And looking back at the first reiteration of Black Manifesto, what reflections and lessons have you learned either about yourself your work or the conversation throughout the previous session? nora chipaumire 04:51 I continue to learn and I've learned from the last iteration, on the first iteration, that I need you, my friend, I need you, my friends. Pawlet plus others, there are many Pawlet's out there - I need you. I need to be walking in step with you, to be breathing with you, to be constantly in touch. Because in the years since we did the first, Manifesto life has gotten more violent, the urgency to live more insistent, but one understands as one gets older as
as I am getting older, that the struggle cannot be done alone. These are the lessons that I learn every day, the loneliness of the revolution, and one cannot be alone in this. One has to walk with kinfolk, and particularly women folk. I think black women remain my pillar of support. It's a lesson I learn everyday. Pawlet Brookes 06:08 So 'aftermath' implies the immediate consequences of life changing, particularly negative events. We're living in a time of many aftermaths how do we define the word in terms of the Black Manifesto and the current state of Black art? nora chipaumire 06:28 Wow, I would say we've been living in many aftermaths whether it's the 1442 aftermath, the 1884 aftermath, the 1980 aftermath for Zimbabweans, the 1989 aftermath for the world, the 2011 - you know - Aftermath, the current return to warring states aftermath our lives are in constant danger. So the aesthetics of instability is the aftermath that I want to hold and lean into that is so much instability, whilst at the same time we are allowed to maybe enjoy a snatch moment of lucidity, of togetherness, of brilliance, maybe even of genius. Yeah, but there are so many aftermaths I think the aftermath for Black life which is to say African life is a constant state of instability, a constant state of instability and our ability to find balance in instability is one of those aftermaths. There is a darkness to it, but there is also a quest, as I say, to snatch joy from the jaws of the dark side. Pawlet Brookes 08:10 Okay, so, just following on from that, when we last spoke as well, you also discussed the importance of creating safe spaces for Black women to feel loved and protected. Now since creating nhereraHUB, can you tell us more about the cultural spaces and the visions for this program? nora chipaumire 08:31 Yes, and thank you for conjuring up nhereraHUB, which is almost a two year old, going into third year old, idea manifestation in Harare. It is a very small space in which we welcome two artists, two resident artists per year. By that I mean, people who can stay in the house, share the house with me and investigate, research, delve into 'why make art' and also at the same time enjoy the produce that we grow in the garden and engage in cuisines and body work that is connected to the land. So it's not a grand idea of 'Oh, save the land', it's really we grow our own food and we go from the garden to the table. So those are the artists we dare to invite to the Hub because living there means also working taking, a home, a garden too, and working and also going out into rural areas, researching, thinking very deeply, using the open garden yard, the yard, as the studio. There is no interior studio space - there is this open space - but we also have a sound studio in which we - because the body is sound, sound is body - and which after we work hard in the garden and play hard in the yard, we can go into the studio and find a sonic frequency that supports that. So that's what the nhereraHUB is doing in Harare. But I didn't arrive at this, just on my own at this space on my own. I've also been watching you, Pawlet, and the work you do with Leicester Dance Frontiers, which is a hub also for women created by Black women, which resonates a great deal with of course, women
but with others, like when you save women, you save everyone. Pawlet Brookes 10:50 And so, this saving of women, this saving others this, this growing in the garden, my mum always brought us up, if you grow it, you'll eat it, you know, there's all these philosophies. But how - because you know, you've been cultivating this safe space for others - what safe space have you cultivated for yourself? nora chipaumire 11:12 And this is such an important question, because most of us will find ourselves in positions of leadership, sacrifice ourselves, we sacrifice ourselves and more and more - it's, it's a real struggle for me. How do I save myself from constant daily annihilation? I've become the white person, I've become the white man. Because I have the ability to create the space so therefore the target is on my forehead. So what safe space I am creating for myself? It is to find again, kinfolk, I can only say kinfolk. I was at RAW materials in Dakar last year, and I found kinfolk like you. And Senegal, RAW materials, is a place that was created by Koyo Kouoh, who's now the Director of Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, and the space continues to run even if she's not there - it's run by strong intelligent women. So by safe space for me is what other intelligent being is there that that I can be in a continued conversation with, and to hold those conversations regularly, and not to sleep on the friendships? So this is this is my creation of the safe space. I cannot take it for granted that 'oh, oh, I think when Pawlet is busy, and let me not stay in touch'. Let me once in a while reach out and say 'Hello, are you there?' So that we can keep this frequency, this connection, together? So yeah, my, my, my hope is to always be the one who maintains the friendships, and not necessarily think 'oh, you know, they won't get in touch with me? What, uh, what am I doing?' So this is what I asked, 'What am I doing to keep the friendships alive?' Which is to say, to keep the safe space for myself alive. I need intelligent beings to support me when I feel weak, which is often, when I have doubt, when I am scared, how am I going to raise the money to pay for this and this and that? How am I going to create a new work? Is this going to be intellectually challenging enough? Who do I speak to? Who can tell me the truth? 'Oh, I think you could do better. Oh, we have you if you're ever need a space to just breathe and sit in the sun, come here. 'That's how I'm creating the safe space for myself I think that's extremely powerful and really, really important. And something that we need to understand is: how do we build that? So when you think about following on from the pandemic, and we're seeing a cultural shift, where the youth are beginning to reject institutional power on a regional, national and international level, how can we inspire their emerging voices to use their creativity to keep up the momentum of activism? Because that's what you're talking about. So how do we encourage that? We let them know we're here for them. They have to know we're here for them. They are not alone. Our youth is full of hubris. It's true because we too, were young. We did not think we needed anyone and lo and behold, it's like ‘Oh, you look around and you're the only one there - everybody has run away scatter, scatter’. So I think what what what I, what I do have always done and believing is to let the youth know that I am here I am available, I am accessible for those conversations that my
peer group also gives me for support. Encouragement, do not tire. Yes, you know, it's not easy, but do not tire, do not surrender. And it is true that whatever we're facing is not always visible. But we continue to fight anyway, and work together. That's my desire, and part of why nhereraHUB is there, it's really to say, you know, I am going on 60 I am in my third part of my journey. So what - what - what is there what is the residue we leave behind for the youth to carry on the work. You know, this evidence, proof of life that was lived is part of what we give the youth so they can see the example, the precedents, it was done. So we must write the books, we must create the magazines, we must create the spaces so they can see these spaces, these books, these texts, these thinkings, these ideas are there, this is also another way to walk with them to walk away with the youth. Pawlet Brookes 16:37 So in some ways, you're sort of addressing what I'm gonna ask next, which is looking at the concept of refusal and disengagement. It can be easy for us to be disillusioned, to lose sight of the goals when they lack direction, but how can intergenerational conversations help to guide these new generations? nora chipaumire 16:57 But Pawlet you know, as Black people that intergenerational conversation has been part of our strength always. That has always existed, most of us have grown up in households where we had our grandmother, and the grandkids, nieces and nephews with their parents, and show that intergenerational conversation is not something new to Black family or to Black life. The thing is to continue to - to harvest that space that we have, we don't need to imagine it because you know, we have it, but most black families have it. And to the extent that applications, say digital applications, such as WhatsApp and all this internet, allow us greater and more varied, nuanced conversations - we are able to communicate slightly stronger, faster, better than perhaps I was, you know, 50 years ago, because these applications, these digital applications were not available to us. So I think, you know, part of the answer rests in the - in these materials that are now available to communicate, to communicate better, faster, stronger. We can send attachments, links of reading materials, that augment, expand a conversation beyond what we can have, right now. It's like, 'well, now this is the bibliography, you can follow through and read'. And we can do that because of the digital platforms that exist. And I think young people are very have such dexterity with these materials. Of course, they can be abused, but that's, you know, anything can be abused. But I just want to underscore that, you know, I am an Auntie, I am in conversation, I provoke conversation with my nieces and nephews. 'Talk to me, what are you thinking about?' I engage with my elders to keep the circulation of, you know, use the elders, in-betweens. My own team, the youngest is 19, the oldest is 65. Yeah. Pawlet Brookes 19:29 So given that age range, given all of the, sort of, the heaviness of some of the issues and the things that we've talked about, in the first Manifesto, we asked you to tell us something that you were excited about. So can you tell me something you're excited about this time around?
nora chipaumire 19:48 All always excited about the potential of human creativity? I really remain - I'm working on Dambudzo right now. Ah, it's it's a work that will be shorter than the other I was working on the last time we talked, it's a shorter piece. It takes place in a shebeen. I'm excited about exploiting these kind of underground cultish kind of spaces, called shebeens, that are very township oriented spaces where you know, all educations of manner, oh, knowledges of all manners, both secular and non secular, both profane and not, were being passed around while beer was being served, etc, a very urban space where I think for me, is the beginning of an urban Academy and urban university. So I'm very, very excited in thinking through this locality, this location, which is a double entendre because all what you know, in the townships the townships are called locations. At this location of a shebeen, located in the township, I'm really thrilled about working through this. I'm also thrilled with the dialogue that this research is unpacking, which is a conversation with Dambudzo Marechera. Very refusenik, a Black - a Zimbabwean Black writer who died very young. You know, revolution was his life. He wrote, what really can be said to be a manifesto, a watershed book, first book, House of Hunger, and then he was dead by 33, with HIV AIDS - he was, he fell in that plague. You know, very excited to be having this conversation with a fellow Zimbabwean and kind of collapse collapsing the time line between his life and my life. I come a little bit later, after him, meaning I'm a little bit younger than he was. I'm also excited by the fact that nhereraHUB is year three. So we've survived the Problem Twos or the Trouble Twos. So we are getting to an age where our speech and our ability to walk, to make gesture, is a little bit more legible. We're no longer just crying and rolling around and nobody can understand what we're trying to do. I'm very, very excited about this movement into year three for the nhereraHUB. I'm really excited that we've all moved out of the pandemic one way or another, even if the disease remains with us, but that we are moving with courage forward and taking better care. There have been so many revelations that have come out of the pandemic, to now, you know, all these questions about care, about how we make reparations, how we use language with each other. I mean, pre the pandemic, pre-Black Lives [Matter], or at least the second return after the murdering of George Floyd. You know, during the pandemic, we weren't really aware of what work all these invisible workforce does, you know, the caregivers, the hospital workers, the janitors we were not aware. I mean, a lot of people were not aware. I mean, I would say thankfully, for most of what Black people who are on the road traveling always you know, the first people we meet are janitors in any theater place, we meet the people who take care of the space, you know. And I am glad to - that we are back to these dialogues and to this camaraderie with the invisible people the solidarity, the wink-wink, the secret that we share that we don't need to explain. So that's what's giving me you know, excitement. I'm excited. I'm excited also, to be approaching year 60 for myself, still in health, still keeping up with the youth. And I give thanks and thanks and praises to those who take care of my physical body, and heart and mind. I'm excited to be alive.
Pawlet Brookes 25:07 It's fabulous when you put it in such a succinct way about making the invisible visible, you know, because they've always been around us. In 2020, we asked you, is there a life lesson that you'd like to share? And you sort of kicked off with saying, you know that you was born in 1965 the year Rhodesia declared independence, and then talked about the regard of the female and that the female is equivalent of a cow. And the value of the female is equivalent to the cow, if your cow is not productive, etc, etc. What life lesson given that, you know, we talk about the Black female and the invisibility of the Black female and the Black female being on the bottom of the pile. Is there a life lesson has anything shifted? Is this the lesson that we got to revisit? nora chipaumire 26:05 It's a lesson we have to revisit. Unfortunately, the emergency - the emergence of queer Black feminists of philosophies, completely as a usurpation, are stealing from what our grandmothers, our mothers, our aunties, ourselves do into the academia, while not giving the space for that Black, productive, creative woman to speak for herself. You know, Gayatri Spivak is infamous perhaps for 'Can the Subaltern Speak?', and she returns again and again to say what she was trying to say, you know, the white man is saving the brown woman from the brown men. I say, who is coming to save the Black African woman from the world? We have to save ourselves. So the lesson, no, has not been learned. I mean, even today, I was grappling with a Caucasian student who - we were doing throwing exercises - felt that he couldn't possibly throw to a Black body, because he just didn't feel good. I was like, 'Yeah, but since 1442, capitalism - white culture - has been annihilating the Black body'. And you have the audacity to say, I feel uncomfortable as a personal preference, in a studio, because we are "multiculty" in the studio, so called Safe Space. But when you step out on the road, what regard do you give that black person? Furthermore, what regard do you give that Black woman, because I swear we are - we remain invisible. We remain invisible. You know, and people see me as the - I mean, when I walk in with my team, I'm the head of the team. But frequently, they would rather talk to the male - physically to the male, because they said, they said, there's kind of a secret, you know, there between the patriarchy and the rest of us. And the desire to not give the power to woman. So yeah, I would say it's a lesson. I have no idea how we move from this condition of the Black woman being the carpet, the earth on which everybody walks on, which means also the thing that holds the world up. Pawlet Brookes 29:26 Well, nora, on that note, one, yes, I need to thank you. Two, it just really confirms and reaffirms why the Black Manifesto is important. It confirms me why we continue to have this dialogue, why we continue to put the Black Manifesto out, because we do need to put these thoughts, these views, these perspectives out there. It's very, very important. So again, I thank you for the - launching the Black Manifesto, the 10 Black Women Speak Out. The Black Manifesto -
nora chipaumire 30:05 The Ten Commandments Pawlet Brookes 30:07 - the Ten Commandments! You know, I think I just say big, big thank you because these Ten Commandments, this Black Manifesto, and the fact that, you know, the life lesson is one that we keep coming back to, is the Black woman holding up everything. The mother of society, I think is really, really important. And that disregard for that mother. So thank you so much. nora chipaumire 30:34 I will say we are Sisyphus. Yeah, we are Sisyphus. Yeah. Okay, but I love you. I thank you. Pawlet Brookes 30:45 Thank you. nora chipaumire 30:45 I wish you continued, continued success. Pawlet Brookes 30:49 Thank you. nora chipaumire 30:49 Continued success and continued health. Pawlet Brookes 30:52 Thank you so much. In the next episode, we'll explore the Commandment - “Elders wisdom is nothing unless you share”. for further information and content to support your own learning, visit www.serendipity-uk.com. Thank you. Thank you for listening. You can read more about the Black Manifesto in BlackInk. Published by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, BlackInk is an annual magazine bringing together artists from across the African, African-Caribbean Diaspora and Indigenous communities to discuss Black arts, heritage and cultural politics.
21 Bowling Green Street Leicester LE1 6AS +44(0)116 482 1394 info@serendipity-uk.com www.serendipity-uk.com @SerendipityInstituteUK @SerendipityInstituteUK @serendipityinfo Serendipity Artists Movement Limited Company number in England and Wales 07248813 Charity number in England and Wales 1160035