intersectionally speaking

In this series I chat with Black women about their lived experiences of living abroad.

Nthabiseng (@nthabiwabi /Nthabynooe) is a South African who has been living in Denmark for over a year, pursuing further education.  Neo (@sandra_neo) was born in Botswana, and has been living in England with her family for the past 10 years.  In this first part of the Black Women Living Abroad series, Nthabiseng and Neo shared the journey of how they ended up living abroad.

In this second part of this conversation we unpack how being a Black woman has shaped their personal experiences of living abroad by unpacking experiences of crime, racism, xenophobia and cost of living.

Music by Blaklez, PDOT O and Ntate Stunna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIssXeDp3ok

In this episode I reconnect with my childhood best friend Rudo Christine (@christiner810), who was born in Zimbabwe and has been living in America for 13 years.  We chat about racism and xenophobia, but also about the advantages of being a young person from Africa in America.  She may have coined the term "African Privilege" and I love it.

Music:

Changes x Black Sabbath: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKrz8BRvwQM

Going through changes x Eminem : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc9F_mUCp4U 

In this series I chat with Black women about their lived experiences of living abroad.

Nthabiseng (@nthabiwabi /Nthabynooe) is a South African who has been living in Denmark for over a year, pursuing further education.  Neo (@sandra_neo) was born in Botswana, and has been living in England with her family for the past 10 years.  In this first part of the Black Women Living Abroad series, Nthabiseng and Neo share the journey of how they ended up living abroad.

In the second part of this conversation we unpack how being a Black woman has shaped their personal experiences of living abroad by unpacking experiences of crime, racism, xenophobia and cost of living.

Music by Blaklez, PDOT O and Ntate Stunna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIssXeDp3ok

In this episode YouTube couple, The Viks (@wearetheviks) share their experience of Black Love..

Music by Magdy Haddad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noIyZdwh-Jo

[This is a repost from a few weeks ago]  In this episode I share my reflections about how messed up it is to expect people to comfort you about their traumas.  I.e. please don't listen to this and message me about how sorry you are.  That makes me feel uncomfortable and pressured to give you comfort about my trauma.  Also don't go around insisting people are survivors (if that's not how said people identify) because you need their trauma to mean something greater.  I am not here to inspire you.  Also you are complicit in rape culture if you participate in making it so damn hard and uncomfortable for us to be rape victims in peace.  

Sources referred to:

5 Reasons Why I Identify As a Rape Victim, Not a Rape Survivor: https://everydayfeminism.com/2016/07/rape-victim-not-a-rape-survivor/

Inspiration Porn: Why We Need to Stop Tokenizing Survivors: https://everydayfeminism.com/2014/10/survivor-stories/

James is Dead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op14XhETfBw&feature=emb_logo

Born to Kwaito: 

Music by Bongo Maffin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdIz7UNE5Mc

What are your preferred pronouns?  And are pronouns important to you?  In this episode I talk through my thought process regarding my preferred pronouns.

The music is by Thandiswa Mazwai, and the source is Ted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-guHd9Zrbn4

Sohela Surajpal (@sohelasurajpal) and Seadimo  (@seadimotlale) exchange reflections on what transformation in South Africa means.

Resources referred to:

Sohela's twitter thread: https://twitter.com/sohelasurajpal/status/1286200048670433280?s=20

Mpho Ndaba's On (Black) billionaires: https://medium.com/@manofcolor_/on-billionaires-88b83e647531

Are Prisons Obsolete? - Angela Davis

The Communist Manifesto - Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx

The Destruction of Black Civilizations - Chancellor Williams

Mfumo B (@mfumo_B) chats with Nonkululeko Nojoko (@nkulijoki_) and Ntokozo Mbonani (@iamntokozom) about the challenges of mjolo in the time of the rona.

"Venda and Tsonga people (from Limpopo) have South Africans of many tribes meting out myriad violence to us. We are at the bottom of the totem pole, with harmful discourses about how difficult our languages are, hypersexualized and seen as less attractive and more intelligent.  The violence is expressed through lack of representation in government, media, and other spheres.  The stereotypes are that we eat dirty or scary foods, are spoken of in the same xenophobic and afrophobic terms used to alienate other Africans. Tribalism is not a joke. . . The violence does ultimately become physical but most of it is seen in discourse around and about Tsonga and Venda people as being dark, ugly, not belonging and existing in the periphery so the jokes are not funny as they have tangible ramifications on peoples lives . . .I hope this thread can be a conversation starter amongst us a people, to be reflexive and adopt an intersectional revolution, because yes Black Lives Matter, but let’s also get our house in order."

Thread about tribalism in South Africa, by Twitter user @withPaballo.  Check out the full thread here: https://twitter.com/withPaballo/status/1272413369866293249?s=20

In this episode, two South African Tsonga men from different intersections, Mfumo Bamuza (mfumo_B) and Paballo Chauke (@withPaballo) unpack their experience with tribalism with Seadimo (@seadimotlale).

In a world filled with so much pain and exclusion for Black women, what does joy and the relentless pursuit of it look like?

Listen to Buhle Mayatula (@buhlemayatula) and Seadimo (@seadimotlale) share their  journeys.

TW: content about mental illness.