Africa
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I’m currently taking Black Pulp Fiction. The class deals a lot with, naturally, Pulp novels that are written by African American writers. For our essay due this Thursday we will be exploring how Africa is portrayed in the three novels we’ve read so far, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Black Empire, and Of One Blood. These three really pulpy novels are interesting in a sense that, although these books are meant for a quick and entertaining past time, they pose questions such as gentrification in urban landscapes, portrayals of African Americans and whites, and black on black violence.
I just have to figure out which aspects of the novels I’m going to focus on.
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Paper Prompts 
I think that black fiction is really great if you are into the study of how the African Americans have struggled even in Africa. I envy you for taking this course!
Comment by african american writers July 30, 2010 @ 5:30 pmIt was definitely a treat having had the privilege of immersing myself in such a space. It was not only educational but an emotional experience. I consider myself a transnational individual and being able to connect to stories so much like my own is important to me.
The evolution of what is now Black Britain was, is — like any other country whose foundation is built upon slavery — one made of sweat, blood, and tears from people that reside in that space as an outcome of immigration and the country’s push away from homogeneity. Though it may not be word for word similar to that of the history of United States, there are similar aspects that resonates within each country’s emergence as a super power or at least one of the global leaders of our time. Although I’m going to be hypocritical in saying it, I’m going to say it anyway. African American experiences are , in my opinion, still unique. Point blank, based on the amount of literature I’ve read so far (which, mind you is not many compared to the vast richness of our culture), African American experiences are the foundation to all minority experiences in the United States. I’ve read a ton but not nearly enough to have supporting evidences, but maybe it’s only true for me maybe it isn’t. Maybe I’m just patriotic. Or maybe I’m just a hopeless dreamer hoping one day borders become a permanent permeable line that only separates what is.
As a .5 generation Filipino-American I had/still have troubles grounding myself to a “culture” in a sense. I found that my own culture here in the US foreign, a different form/shape from what I know and felt as a child in the Philippines and it was hard for me to connect to my own people. But because of the media (unfortunately because of the media) I thought I found a culture that speaks true to my own experiences, my own struggles. I chose largely in part through the circumstances that I was in, African-American culture as my foundation, an in incomplete one, but still something. It really was only in college when I’ve fully acknowledged all that is within me, Filipino side and my American side. But that’s why I know/think African American culture IS American culture. I don’t consider myself Filipino-African-American. I consider myself Filipino-American, therefore a transnational being, but African-American as a culture is so deeply embedded into the now, into me, that I think it superior or at least much more applicable to acknowledging my American side.
Comment by Marni December 31, 2010 @ 1:16 pm