Highlights of Recent Research

Poor health linked to subtle racism?
By Rob Stein

WASHINGTON — When Sandi Stokes waits for lunch at the sandwich shop near her office in downtown Washington, she notices the counter worker often assumes the white person next to her was there first.

More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002259114_racism01.html

Detective work pays off

Newly discovered magazines reveal vital information on early black women's issues
By Patricia Allen

Princeton NJ -- Noliwe Rooks has unearthed a trove of forgotten publications that reveal significant historical information on African-American women's issues long before the civil rights and feminist movements.

Rooks, the associate director of Princeton's Program in African-American Studies, has turned her findings of obscure but influential magazines from the late 1800s and early 1900s into a new book, “Ladies' Pages: African-American Women's Magazines and the Culture That Made Them.” It is a follow-up to Rooks' award-winning “Hair Raising: Beauty, Culture and African-American Women.” The 1996 book, regarded as the first academic work on how concepts of beauty among black women were related to racial identity, gender politics and social acceptance, established Rooks as a leading young scholar on African-American culture.

Rooks' latest book, published by Rutgers University Press, sheds light on the intra-racial conversations that took place among black women at the turn of the 20th century. The book also debunks the popularly held belief that the 35-year-old Essence was the first significant magazine for African-American women.

More: http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/05/0321/1b.shtml

Resources on the African Origin of Trinidad Carnival

In support of this project, you can add to my growing resources on the African origin of Trinidad Carnival. To do so, please contact me via e-mail.

The Internet
Wanted: Respect for African Culture
By Ayanna
February 19, 2005

Re: Wanted: Respect for Indian Cultural Persistence - Stephen Kangal

............I have read many letters to the editor, comments in the media and various articles that always seem to surface around Carnival time stating that Carnival was in fact a European festival, that was mimicked and taken over by African slaves and has now become debased and eroticised by a cultureless and loose society. I really wish that people would do some more research before making such silly statements on the origins of carnival. But then again even if ones did their homework and discovered the real African origins of ALL world carnival celebrations they would be quite keen to dismiss them anyway for fear of eroding their racist and distorted ethnocentric views of history. However, I will reserve the telling of that history for another time.
More: http://www.trinisoca.com/articles/2005/1902.html

Carnival is from Africa
Dr. Kwame Nantambu
February 03, 2005

This response seeks to debunk the totally ahistorical, dysfunctional, ethnocentric and zenophobic notion by Sat Maharaj that "Carnival not from Africa" --- as it appeared
in Guardian on 19 January 2005.
More: http://www.trinicenter.com/kwame/2005/0302.htm

Trinidad Carnival
Afri-Caribbean Resistance
February 23, 2003
by Corey Gilkes

Carnival is colour, no doubt about that. Carnival is revelry, gay abandon a period when sexual inhibitions are lowered, all this is true. The "Mas" has also become very much a world festival: a period where the creative genius of people no matter what ethnic background, can be showcased for the entire world to admire, but Carnival as a forum for resistance to oppression?
More: http://www.triniview.com/TnT/carnival.htm

The African, and Spiritual, Origins of Carnival
By Grisso*

It has become the received teaching in all the countries of the New World where Carnival has become an institution -- notably in Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, and Port of Spain -- to ascribe its origins to white planters and costumed balls, rather than to its palpably African roots [1]. I want in this article to ground the Carnival firmly in Mother Africa, where it rightfully belongs.

The first point I would make in this regard is simply to note that everywhere in the New World where there is Carnival, you find the creative presence of an African genius.
More: http://www.theafrican.com/Magazine/carnival.htm

Caribbean carnival arts offer all of us
— just like it did for the African peoples brought to the Caribbean —
a dynamic tool for self-expression and exploration.

This page is adapted from a slide show geared toward a middle-school level,
and can be adapted for use in lower and higher grade levels.

What is carnival?
It is an annual celebration of life found in many countries of the world. And in fact, by learning more about carnival we can learn more about ourselves and a lot about accepting and understanding other cultures.
More: http://www.allahwe.org/History.html

Caribbean Festivals

Caribbean culture is a diverse and complex blend of many original cultures from all corners of the globe. The Caribbean people have struggled and strived to maintain ties with their ancestral links while creating something entirely new and different.
http://www.caribbeanedu.com/kewl/almanac/almanac07.asp

Books
Liverpool, Hollis "Chalkdust" (2001). Rituals of Power & Rebellion: The Carnival Tradition in Trinidad & Tobago, 1763-1962. Chicago, Jamaica, London, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago: Research Associates School Times Publications/Frontine Distribution Int'l.

Journals
Liverpool, Hollis Urban (1998). Origins of rituals and customs in the Trinidad Carnival: African or European? TDR (Cambridge, Mass). Fall, 42(2), 24-38.

African Canadian Women's Bodies as Sites of Knowing and No-ing

MARILYN PATRICIA YEARWOOD
BEVERLY JEAN DANIEL
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University o bf Toronto
Way of Knowing In and Through the Body: Diverse Perspectives on Embodiment
Edited by: Sharon M. Abbey
Publisher:SOLEIL Publishing Inc. © 2002

Abstract
The bodies of African Canadian women have been used as sites of knowledge and information that has served to relegate us to specific spaces and places within Canadian society. This paper seeks to redefine the ways in which African Canadian women's bodies are read, to identify the body as a site of No-ing or resistance. Most specifically, we will ground the discussion within an African Canadian theoretical framework. Our bodies have been located within the margins of contemporary and historical discourses, however, our subjectivities become manifest in the process of our choosing to center ourselves.

Full copy of article

In The Valley of the Mooks: The Dhoti and The Dashiki

Linda E. Edwards
July 09, 2004

It must be getting close to Emancipation Day in Trinidad and Tobago, the great Day of Denial for Afro-Trinidadians who examine themselves to discover who they are, and continue to proclaim that they "not African", as in "me ent no African nuh." And once again, I dust off computer time to comment on these idiocies, uttered by Ministers of Government and other so called leaders of the people. Once again, I futilely invite them to look around, and look at themselves; but as my niece Elke is fond of pointing out "denial is more than a river in Africa."

It seems almost ancient history to be quoting the former Nigerian Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, who was serving here in 1986. He was speaking at a programme at Valsyn Teachers College that year, another Year of Denial, at a programme sponsored by the Anti-Apartheid Organization of TnT. What he said then has stayed in my memory. Permit me to paraphrase: I constantly meet people in my work here, who look African, but who are quick to tell you that "I am part Chinese", or "part Indian," or "mixed with whites." What I see when I look at them, is African. The African is distinctive by his skin colour and hair type. Now, wherever you go in the world, when people see you, they will react to you first as an African, then when you speak, they will probably assign a category: West Indian, North American or African, but first they will judge you and react to you as an African."

Now what about this the Ken Valleys and Reggie Dumases, educated men supposedly, do not understand? It is that absence of leadership among Trinis of African ancestry that still has me puzzled. What level of education does it take to make a child of the African Diaspora stop the foolish utterances that seem to give aid and comfort to those who stole our ancestors, raped our women and attempted genocide in various forms on our people, and are still doing this today? What is there about the British system of doing things that causes a brainwashing unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate themselves? Why are our male leaders continuing the denigration of our people?

"I once met some Negroes on a very dark night. Their faces were so black, I could hardly see them, but their two rows of snow-white teeth were quite plain". Capt. Cutteridge, West Indian Reader Book 3 (I think it is Book Three, but I no longer have the copy, but I memorized that text a long time ago.) Trinidadian children of all races were made to read this, and when an inspector of schools came to visit Cumuto R.C. which is where I went to school, and we read these passages to him in fluent English, he, having had his eyes opened, and being Negro like us, asked if anyone had ever seen a Negro.

"Noooo" we chorused. None of us would admit to meeting anything so black at night that we could see nothing but teeth. (In my child's mind I thought of a lagahoo or some other evil being.)

The inspector gave a bitter smile, and turned to the teacher and criticized him for making us read that derogatory passage. I assign this inspectorship to Mr. A.A. Mark, who having been to England, had had his eyes opened.

Continue: http://www.africaspeaks.com/articles/2004/0907.html

Bleaching Their Way To Beauty
By Merrick A Andrews
Trinidad Internet Express, Woman, July 20th 2002

Pretty Tamara Richards believes that white people have all the advantages in the world. She believes that white people get jobs easier, earns the highest salaries and attract handsome and wealthy men.

But there’s one little problem: Tamara is just about four shades darker than the typical white woman and just barely graces the “browning” category among her black people.

Her perception is that the fairer you are, the more likely one is to become successful socially, economically and romantically.

The 18-year-old Jamaican has always wished she had a lighter colour. So to solve her “problem”, Tamara is using skin-lightening creams.

“White people get the better things in life, yes,” she says. “You have a lot of advantages when you are white.”

In this Caribbean island of 2.6 million people, health authorities say hundreds are skin bleaching and the problem is that many people misuse by overuse skin lightening creams, which are prescribed at low doses to correct uneven pigmentation.

However, the products, many of them manufactured in North America and Europe, are sold over the counter throughout the island, the Caribbean and the world.

Dr Neil Persadsingh, a leading Jamaican dermatologist and author of the book Acne in Black Women says some of these creams work by killing melanin, the substance that lends skin its pigmentation and protects the skin from the cancer-causing ultraviolet rays of the sun. All people have melanin in their skin; the more melanin present, the darker the skin.

In addition, he says, the preparations contain large amounts of hydroquinone–a white crystalline de-pigmenting agent that is fatal in large concentrations. Victims will suffer from nausea, shortness of breath, convulsions and delirium. Damage to the skin–wrinkles, severe acne marks–may be irreversible after prolonged use.

Sheena-Kay Morris, 16, who also lives in McIntyre Villa, a ‘ghetto’ or garrison community in the volatile capital Kingston, hasn’t used the creams for almost a year now.

However, her complexion has gone unusually pitch black with bumps on her face and shoulders.

Dr Persadsingh says some of the products contain steroid and hydroquinone, which are mutagenic. This means they can cause changes in the body that can lead to cancer. Many users, he notes, find their skin gradually becoming darker when they quit using the chemicals, and some develop a scaly layer on their skin. Few return to their original skin colour once they have used skin lighteners.

“The prolonged and continued use of these creams will lead to a face looking like greater,” warns Dr Persadsingh.

“When we are faced with this type of damage there is nothing that we can do except to advise the patient to live with their condition,” the dermatologist says.

For Tamara, who also lives in McIntyre Villa, skin bleaching is just as popular as keeping afloat with a popular fashion trend.

Like many youngsters her age, the older women influenced Tamara in her community. She got hooked last year when she bought a steroid cream named Movate at a wholesale store in downtown, Kingston.

The results from bleaching her skin evoked mixed reactions from her male colleagues. “Some of the men say I look pretty and I should continue. Some will make fun at me, say you look like a monkey and call you ‘black-white’,” says Tamara.

“It’s the ‘in’ thing. It makes you look cool and pretty, it takes out the black heads. It makes it smooth,” she says. “But it tones down your skin and makes it light and cool,” adds Tamara, a high school graduate who wants to pursue a career in computer technology.

Tamara lives with her stepmother and father, who don’t seem to care about what she’s doing. “They don’t say anything,” she says.

‘Household’ bleaching
If you happen to take a walk into any inner-city community on an early morning don’t be surprised to find several girls with powdery or painted-looking faces. They are bleaching.

Apart from the traditional skin lightening creams, some Jamaicans use toothpaste, curry powder, milk powder, household bleach and cornmeal.

These products are cheap and effectively cool, users say. “The toothpaste and the bleach lighten your complexion,” explains Tamara. “The curry powder brings out the beauty and the cornmeal and milk powder makes your face cool.”

Dr Persadsingh says: “Jamaicans perceive that when a product burns it can clear the skin. That’s why they use toothpaste, curry and household bleach as a base for lightening the skin.”

Why people bleach
Health care professionals and social commentators in Jamaica view the trend with dismay, for example numerous reggae songs censure the practice, such as the early 1990’s hit “Dem a Bleach” by Nardo Ranks.

Health officials say skin bleaching in Jamaica dates back over decades. Over the last five to ten years the practice has been increasing significantly, says Dr Clive Anderson, dermatologist and an executive member of the Jamaica Dermatologists Association.

“There’s a large segment of our population who are convinced that being lighter in complexion is to their advantage, socially in terms of their relationships and economically in terms of getting ahead,” he said.

Dr Persadsingh shares the same sentiments. He said some women don’t know why they are doing it. “Some girls feel that with a lighter complexion, their prospects in life would improve. Some are bleaching their faces and when they are asked why they have no answer.

“I have been told that men are responsible for the girls bleaching their faces, as all men only want ‘browning’ (light skinned women) and do not like black girls. This is rather nonsense of course. Some people even claim that the girls are bleaching now because of slavery and that the white people are to be blamed. Again, what utter nonsense,” Dr Persadsingh scoffed.

Media advertising worldwide greatly enhance the stereotypes that light skinned people are advantaged socially and romantically.

In Jamaica, advertisements like these are not broadcast, printed of aired often, but the few depict light skinned women saying for example that “Vanishing Cream fades dark spots and freckles, lightens and brightens skin to a smooth radiant glow.”

An article on the web site www.africana.com said: “One Kenyan TV ad features a young woman staring lovingly at her boyfriend in a college cafeteria. Another pretty woman with slightly lighter skin walks by, upon which the man jokingly asks the girlfriend how he can tell the woman that she is the “most beautiful girl I have ever seen.” Devastated, the young woman responds to a voiceover advising her to use “Fair and Lovely,” a skin cream promising “special fairness vitamins” and guaranteed to lighten her complexion in just six weeks. The young woman uses the cream and, sure enough, keeps her man.”

Health authorities
The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Jamaica has released a list of banned beauty products that have been in circulation for many years. A MOH spokesperson says that it’s hard to clamp down on the culprits, because they continue to change the name of the products and distribute to street vendors.

The authorities have so far seized creams such as Movate, Reggae Lemon Gel, Top Gel Plus, Omic Gel Plus, Lemonvate Cream, Tropesone Gel, Tropesone Gel, Gel Plus, Neoprosone and Pro-Beta-Zone. Some of these products cost as much as US$9.

“The Association of Dermatologists has no empirical data on the problem, but it is certainly hundreds and thousands of people who are doing this,” says dermatologist Dr Anderson.

He adds: “This is something we (dermatologists) are seeing daily. I would say a good ten to 15 per cent of the patients we have been seeing have been doing this.”

The MHO has appealed to citizens to stop misusing these drugs as they were putting themselves at serious risk and overburdening the health system as they sought to treat the damage done to their skin by the creams.

However, this psychology for social acceptance, more opportunities, and improved self-image, is already epidemic. From as young as ten to as old as 40, many are still using it.

“Why? It’s your face, it’s your body, and you can do anything with it. I will stop bleaching when I want to stop. I know what I am doing,” says 36-year-old Trisha Smith, a veteran skin bleacher, whose face is distinctively clearer than the rest of her body.