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The Worlds of Ntozake ShangeAND DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Brianna Sturkey

Black Capitalism

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In “The Digital Afterlives of This Bridge Called My Back,” the author subtly addresses the complex relationship between academic labor of women of color and unpaid online labor. Arguably this book has been more popular in online communities than in retail, thus introducing the intricacies of economics in regards to women of color. Recognizing that “‘traditional’ classrooms have not always been a welcoming or socially dynamic place for women of color”, the formation of digital classrooms provide “an ‘idealized’ unversity, one the obscures the labor and identity inequalities that have long existed” (259). Although these social networks provide a space for women of color to connect and form their own educational norms, the scholarly labor of the authors goes unpaid. This introduces another form of inequality because of the expectation that this labor by women of color does not deserve monetary compensation, but instead should settle for recognition only. Recognition and compensation are only mutually exclusive categories in the world of people of color and this is terrible choice to have to make. The intention of this book was to be “used as a required text in most women’s studies courses” and the authors did not only “mean just ‘special’ courses on Third World Women or Racism” (260). By reducing this popularity of this book to only online communities serves as a larger disservice for the feminist movement and goes directly against the wishes of the authors of this book. Furthermore, the authors deserve a monetary reward for their scholarly labor and anything otherwise functions as a form of racial exploitation.

This conversation about the how recognition serves as payment for the labor of people of color, reminds me how “Black twitter” is the cornerstone of every major marketing or PR ad. The formation of “Black Twitter” is an informal digital community that formed naturally as a Black people found each other on this social media app and due to their shared life experiences created comedic gold out of their everyday sufferings and traumas. Black twitter is responsible for the major dance, fashion, and slang trends that dominate the modern social scenes. One modern example of the exploitation of this community comes from the video game Fortnite which became highly popular due the characters preforming major dance trends created by Black artists, which then were popularized by Black twitter. However, this video game renames the dances, thus stripping the credibility of the Black artists who created the dances and how they became popular in the first place. This relates to This Bridge Called My Back and how although the book was distributed through online networks such as Tumblr and the authors were unpaid, media corporations such as Yahoo who owns and sells advertising space on Tumblr were indirectly benefiting (256). The truth of the matter is that Black people are innovators and at the forefront of every major trend and discovery, but the lack of compensation renders them invisible in a world that values capitalism over everything. Either America needs to revoke capitalism as the dominate economic system in order to equalize labor regardless of race, or they must begin paying Black and Brown people their worth.

 

the Dichotomy of Shange

by Brianna Sturkey 1 Comment
the Dichotomy of Shange

Shange’s work is forever representing a subtle and nuanced duality that ultimately makes her work brilliant. The themes of transnationalism versus internationalism can be discovered in her poem “Bocas: A Daughter’s Geography.” This poem serves as a  geography lesson that Shange teaches her imagined daughter of the New World by taking her from place to place and showing off her siblings, which are physical locations. This physicality of kinship across geographical distances is a crucial aspect of her work and functions as the line between transnationalism and internationalism. Transnationalism can “[signify] process, flows, linkages, relationships and crcuits” meanwhile, internationalism can be defined as a system that “privileges the actions of the states and rectifies borders” (Enszer, Beins, 24). These definitions can found when closely examining “Bocas: A Daughter’s Geography.” In the first stanza, when Shange introduces her daughter mozambique, her son angola, and her twins el salvador and johannesburg she states that although they all “cannot speak the same language” they all “fight the same old men/ in the new world.” This particular line is continuously repeated throughout the poem, thus the identity of common enemy renders the linguistic disconnection unimportant compared to the ability to fight together. This transnational identity clashes in the fifth stanza when Shange reveals the ignorance of the “old men” and their beliefs that the world is flat. This flatness of the earth can be interpreted as the falsehood of internationalism and its conception of borders. Flatness implies that there is an edge and that edge signifies a boundary that can not be crosses. Shange demolishes this idea in her poem by asserting that “there is no edge” and “no end to the new world.” These powerful statements declare the power of transnational identities by affirming that “debates about power and opression [are] not bound by national borders” (Enszer, Beins, 22). Thus, connections between all the locations mentioned in the poem and the roundness of the earth symbolize the significance of global familial relationships that exists beyond the political formation of borders.

The integration of post colonial thought and transnationalism reminds me heavily of Claudia Jones and her militant advocacy of Black liberation in the 1960s in connection with the communist party. Jones was deported in 1955 due to her outspoken ideals of communism and necessity of labor unions to address the plight of working class Black women in America. She is considered one of the first proclaimed Black feminists. Jones believed in the destruction of capitalism as one of the keys to dismantling systemic racism and oppression. Likewise, in the Triple Jeopardy and Conditions text, transnationalism is characterized as “a useful tool to analyze the complex effects of globalization shaped by neoliberalism capitalism” (24). The similarities between Jones’s beliefs and this article that we read for class over the span of 60+ years symbolizes the importance of the concept of intersectionality and how it is used to comprehensively understand complex global systems of power. Transnationalism, as defined by Enser and Beins, being used as a tool to dissect the impact of capitalism maintains Jones’s position in the 1950s that capitalism is the root of all evil. Ultimately, the connection between Jones and this article reveal how transnationalism and intersectionality intertwine with each other throughout history.

 

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Generations of Black Womanhood

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Love is a healing force. When that love has the opportunity to develop and be passed down from generations to generations, the impact serves as a opportunity for individuals to connect with themselves on a deeper level of self-realization. The theme of female relationships is crucial when analyzing Sassafras, Cypress, & Indigo. Mama serves as the matriarch of the family and the anchor for each of the three sisters as they navigate life. Her wisdom and old-fashion conventions often contrast with each of her daughter, but they all depend on her knowledge to gain deeper insights into the world. When analyzing Indigo, the youngest character, it is apparent that this text is a work of magical realism through Indigo’s strong spiritual connection with her dolls and  how she is described as having “too much South in her.” This “south” that Indigo posses symbolizes the dichotomy between the North and the South and its impact on centuries of African-Americans. Indigo is often misunderstood by many of the characters in this novel and this due to how she is able to think outside the box and is unafraid to assert the metaphysical power of Black womanhood. When Indigo gets her period for the first time, she believes that a “trail of stars […] fall from between [her] legs after dark.” This description of her menstrual cycle scares her mother because she knows that historically the sign of menstruation is a sign of danger for Black women to have their sexuality used against them and she states this by saying “White men roam these parts with evil in their blood, and every single thought they have about a colored woman is dangerous.” This statement by Mama reveals her as a vessel of history that contrasts with the younger generations of her daughters; however, she is not only person who attempts to shield the  other female characters in the novel from potential danger. When Sassafrass, wants to escape her abusive relationship with Mitch she flees to San Francisco to live with her younger sister Cypress. The fact that Sassafrass sought out her younger sister for security demonstrates the capacity for younger generations to teach their elders. In the end, all three sisters return to South Carolina and Sassafrass gives birth to a newborn baby. When she gives birth, she is surrounded by her sisters and mother and this ending scene ultimately reveals how generational love is invigorating and restorative.

This novel reminds me of the Red Table talk hosted by Jada Pinket Smith, her mother, and her daughter Willow Smith. This show that debuted in 2018 is a show about three generations of Black women speaking about their truths and wisdoms that they have gained throughout their lives. In this particular episode of the show, the women are discussing loss and how they move forward from losing things and people that they loved. Willow Smith reveals how she began cutting her self at a young age and her mother and grandmother are shocked to find out that for the first time. They begin to empathize with Willow and learn something new about mental health that had never been discussed in their generations. This theme of generational healing and knowledge I believe is critical to the survival of Black women. Without these kinds of conversations and connections with other Black women, I undoubtedly believe that we would all go insane from the everyday traumas we face being Black and being a woman. In the novel, all the women return home to their mothers at tumultuous time periods of their lives in order to gain guidance and resurrect their self identities. The Red Table Talk series is a modern day embodiment of this Sassafrass, Cypress, & Indigo and how Black women must lean on each other for strength and wisdom on their journeys to self-realization and discovery.

Surviving Loss

This week around the Red Table, Jada Pinkett Smith reveals the impact of the tragic death of her longtime best friend, Tupac Shakur. While Willow Smith shares a painful secret for the first time. Follow Red Table Talk for episodes and updates, only on Facebook Watch.

Posted by Red Table Talk on Monday, May 14, 2018

For Colored Girls and #MeToo

by Brianna Sturkey 1 Comment

For Colored Girls is a classic, timeless, and moving master piece (and those are only the words I can fathom, if I am being forced to describe her work). Shange hits the nail on the head on so many topics that are taboo in the Black community such as abortion, rape, isolation, self discovery, and so much more. The part that hit the nail on the head for me was when the Lady in Red talks about rape saying ” women relinquish all personal rights/the presence of a man/who apparently cd be considered a rapist.” Two names come to mind after initially reading this quote. Anita Hill. Christine Blasey Ford. These two women had “relinquished all personal rights” to their lives, stories, and peace of mind the moment they came forward with their stories of sexual assault against powerful men. Both these women, Black and White, were shamed endlessly in the public eye and started social movements that brought the issues of rape and sexual harassment to the forefront of the American consciousness. However, “these men friends of [thiers]/ who smile nice/ stay employed.” This line is the most heartbreaking in Shange’s work, because it the truest. Men who smile nice and have power and influence will always remain employed, regardless of the trauma they cause. This happened with Clarence Thomas and now with Brett Kavanaugh. This cycle, 27 years apart, is a tale as old as time that criss crosses every racial and ethnic boundary. For Colored Girls is the #MeToo movement and the #MeToo movement is For Colored Girls. These two things are not separate and this is a radical and important connection to be made. Shange’s work not only liberates the agony that Black women often suffer in silence, she is also inadvertently pushing freedom for every woman regardless of race.

Shange Visit

by Brianna Sturkey 1 Comment

I found Ntozake Shange’s visit surprisingly light-hearted and funny. I was expecting to engage in a strictly academic conversation intermingled topics with feminism, capitalism, systems of gender and racial oppression, and poetry. To my astonishment, we engaged deeply with all these topics with funny interjections of Shange’s real life experiences that were both profound with amusing undertones. For me, this visit demystified Shange and revealed her soft underbelly of hardships tainted with racism and gender discrimination but she was adamant how these experiences shaped her into the woman she is today and did not hinder her. This courageous attitude was inspiring and really stuck with me. However, Shange shocked me when she said that she could not conceive a world without the degradation and subjugation of Black people and people of color. This attitude caught me off guard and discouraged me slightly. If this self proclaimed and famous Black feminist and activist could not fathom a world of complete freedom, then how naive was I? Although Shange stuck with her statement she re-envisioned artwork and storytelling as moments of material freedom and how these moments, although fleeting, can be worth everything. I agree with Shange that her work is exemplary of imagined freedom and healing for Black woman in particular, but I do not agree that this world is incapable of granting rights to every individual and that people of color can only experience power through the imagination of artists. I know that the world will never be perfect, but I do not think that it is imperfect for us to continue to strive for that ideal. I hope that Shange’s visit at Barnard reminded her of the spirit of activism which aroused her in her youth and how she is a role model to women like me looking to change the world.

Capitalism and Feminism

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A movement/narrowly concerned with pregnancy and birth

which does not ask

questions

and demands

answers about the lives of children, the priorities of the government:

a movement/ in which individual families

rely on consumerism and educational

privilege

to supply their own children with good

nutrition, health care can,

while perceiving itself a progressive or alternative

exist only as a minor contradiction within a society most of whose

children grow up in poverty

and which places its highest priority on the technology of

war.

 

My decision to turn this quote from Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution into a poem was based on the malignancy ingrained in the questions of capitalism and sexism. This excerpt spoke to me heavily because Rich actively acknowledges the power of capitalism when addressing issues of a woman’s body and its relation to society. By integrating conversations of “consumerism” and “government” with topics such as “pregnancy”, Rich is encouraging a holistic approach when addressing 21st century feminism. When constructing this poem I thought heavily about Chimamanda Adichie’s TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story.” Her talk discusses how individuals are composed of complex identities and connections and to reduce someone to a single narrative is to take away their humanity. I believe that capitalism is an all-consuming force and to deny its power would be unjust and ultimately fail to dismantle any systems of oppression. Rich echoes Adichie’s sentiments in her TED talk by refusing to strip away conversations of capitalism when discussing motherhood and feminism.

Furthermore, my stylistic choice in how I turned this quote into a poem was based on words that I deemed the most dynamic. I choose to give words such as “questions,” “privilege,” and “war” their own lines in order to emphasize them. When reading this poem out loud the reader is forced to give intentional breaks and breaths dedicated to these three words. I this because I I believe these breaks force both the reader and the listener to reconcile with these words and think deeper about the meaning behind them.

 

The Lost Generation

by Brianna Sturkey 1 Comment

The poem titled ‘ii. Improvisation” is a cautionary narrative in which Ntozake Shange weaves a generational pattern of sexism, gender, and voice that follows women like shadows throughout their lives. In this poem, she begins with the phrase “there is something caught in my throat” and this imagery of choking is continuously repeated throughout every stanza. The significance of this phrase indicates her lack of voice due to the presence of male domination that consumes her physically and mentally. However, she refuses to allow this male subjection to control her daughter as well. She repeatedly “checks” on her daughter to ensure that she is still “sleeping” and not experiencing the atrocities that she is. This desperate plea by Shange to secure the innocence of her daughter ultimately reveals this poem as a vision of collective womanhood and identity. This “daughter” is a symbol of younger women who have been spared from the degradation of their ancestors due to their strength and sheer will to survive. The ending where Shange refuses materialistic items such as flowers, white wine, or a house and instead states that she wants “this place out of [her] throat.” By ending this poem with the same phrase she begins with unveils the true cost of freedom and how women struggle not only for themselves, but for their survival as a collective identity in the past, present, and future.

I choose the song “ I Remember” by Lauryn Hill preformed live, because I feel as though the tones of ancestry that this song exudes runs parallel with this specific poem. Furthermore in the lyrics, Hill’s voice noticeably cracks during her singing and it reminded me of Shange’s phrase “there is something stuck in my throat”. Ultimately this song demonstrates a similar vulnerability that Shange brilliantly illustrates in “ii. Improvisations” through the flaws and hardships of womanhood, but how hope still somehow remains at the end of both the song and the poem like a lighthouse at the bay.