Over centuries, white supremacy always put domination on those who were fair-skinned than those who were black. There was white privilege that put the white ones ahead in freedom, opportunities and rights to the point that the black ones were left behind to be treated more as slaves, mainly because they lacked the higher value of having white skin color. This was the dehumanization of African peoples even in the United States, in which they were reduced to the status of a chattel just for the sake of enslavement, as well as, economic exploitation. There was white supremacy for hundreds of years, with the enslavement of the Africans that brought about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, brought about in the 16the century when Europeans first laid their eyes on the Africans. It was said that they were “struck by the colour of the African’s skin,” and so the Europeans always mentioned their color when referring to the Africans. However, it acquired negative connotations, as the word black also denoted negative things like dirty, evil, devilish, deadly, and ugly; while white denoted the opposite like clean, good, godly, beautiful, and lively. With the enslavement that took place in the 16the century, there was the diasporic condition that was set in motion, in which mass slavery changed the lives of about 10 million colored people being brought to America. This subject of diaspora captured the heart of 60-year-old artist sculptor Alison Saar, to create masterpieces of sculpture artwork that defined cultural diaspora among African Americans.
One of the masterpieces of Alison Saar is an art sculpture, entitled “Weight”, done in 2012, and which is made up of wood, rope, cotton scale, and other miscellaneous objects used typically by slaves for grazing land and doing farm work back in the 16the century. The genre is on African cultural diaspora, and the object was taken at the Museum of African Diaspora somewhere at Third Mission Street, San Francisco, California. It was currently created in 2012, and it highlighted a girl who is shown sitting on a swing that hangs from a tree branch attached at one end of a scale used in weighing cotton. The young girl is carved in wood, her hair pigtailed, and covered in a skin made of coal. On the other end of the scale, a bunch of iron tools used in field labor and domestic labor hangs, including shears, skillet, chains, and scythe. It is as if these utensils will determine the girl’s functional worth, and will define what type of life she will live as a servant girl. Saar’s work is one that is historical and close to the hearts of the citizens, especially the African Americans. This art work takes their mind back to their homelands where their ancestors once lived. They retain a collective memory of their place—their ancestral home—and they have this desire to restore it and continue living, while being able to relate to their past.
Figure 1: "Weight" by Alison Saar, 2012 (wood, rope, cotton scale, and miscellaneous objects)
There is diaspora taking place whenever an expatriate minority community share several features: (1) they, or their ancestors, were dispersed from original place or location; (2) they retain a collective memory, a myth, or a vision about their original homeland; (3) they believe it is impossible for them to become fully accepted in their host society, thus, remain separate; (4) their ancestral home is idealized and so, they should return home; and (5) they continue relating to their homeland. It was in the mid-1990s when the diaspora craze boomed and almost everybody talked about how the diaspora was becoming inevitable, and people wanted to be connected to where they belong. This was mentioned in one of the books of Dufoix, entitled “Diasporas”, which opens to a blog with a Nigerian saying:
I have been away from Nigeria for 30 In all these 30 years I have been convinced that I was living abroad and, at a push, overseas. It now turns out, however, that I have actually been living in the diaspora. This sounds like a very lovely place, with flora and fauna, nubile virgins, blue skies and a certain je ne sais quoi All this time I have been abroad studying and working my ass off, sitting in dull offices, with dull people, doing dull things to pay off dull bills, when I could have been in the diaspora with nubile virgins with understanding ways. I am so mad. (Cohen 15-16)
In these lines, it is evident that what the Nigerian meant with the word diaspora was not about displacement, alienation, nor exile but one that persists an inclination to absolute joyfulness that leads to a homing desire. Diaspora has led to various meanings, as an effect of historical events accompanying the experience of people relating to diaspora.
Meanwhile, there is notion of diaspora usually after immigration, especially in connection to the African Americans who, because of their skin color, were depicted to be synonymous to sin. As early as 3rd century, the early Christian priests already depicted black as one that signified evil, and so when they were brought to the Americas, they were already devastated and destabilized, especially since they had experienced Arab enslavement. Europeans in the Americas even claimed that the Africans were already selling themselves before they arrived. By the 18th century, the colored people of America—specifically the Negros, mulattos, and Indian slaves—were classed as property, in the same way that the livestock, household furniture, wagons and other goods were being classified as properties. They earned their rights by the 20th century, although there was still discrimination taking place among the blacks, as Marcus Gravey, who was the apostle of pure blackness, soon was called by Dubois as “fat, black and ugly”. It was then that colored and black children had greater tendencies of having negative racial experiences, mainly as a result of their skin color. Much like their ancestors, they tend to grow up developing psychological problems that lower their self-esteem, as they were more likely to feel hopeless, and helpless, and unlovable, which they tend to pass on to their children and perpetuate a discouraging cycle. Still, there were those who remain headstrong—those who arrived in the Americas “with a strong sense of their African roots, as well as adequate knowledge of their indigenous languages.” They were called the Americans Africans, since they cherishec their ties with their homeland and experience diaspora, having the desire of going back to their old home.
It was cultural diaspora that obliged Saar to create a sculpture depicting the experiences of a black girl during the time of enslavement. She was depicted as no more than a property—one that can be bought and sold, as a result of nothing but the color of her skin. It is the legacy of history encrypted in the sculpture, bearing a body that is typically pure African, yet with utensils used in communities that were European. The way the society conceptualized the girl’s identity is laid out in the work of Saar, reflecting the cultural endurance of the African Americans, and their resilience to maintain their dignity. With the hint of slavery and racial discrimination, they end up in diaspora with a desire to be back to where they come from. Now, they wanted to be where they come from and experience diaspora. They believe it is the perfect place for them to be, as it remains their homeland. After being away for hundreds of years, they wanted to be back to where they came from.
Bibliography:
Cohen, Robin. Global Diasporas: An Introduction, 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2008.
Echeruo, Michael. “An African Diaspora: The Ontological Project.” In: The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities. Ed. Isidore Okpewho, Carole Boyce Davies, and Ali Al’Amin Mazrui. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999.
Gabriel, Deborah. Layers of Blackness: Colourism in the African Diaspora. London, UK: Imani Media Ltd., 2007.
