erifresh: These 9 women represent the 9 official tribes of Eritrea. They each have different languages they speak, music they play, clothes they wear, foods that are seen as special ( yes its true not everyone eats ingera ALL the time), customs they keep sacred like wedding, childbirth, funerals etc, and culture that has been passed down from generation to generation. They are NOT the same. In Eritrea we’re all different in all the above mentioned ways but are united as a nation. So if my small country of Eritrea can have that many differences (plus more because there are unrecognized tribes living in Eritrea) imagine how diverse the continent of Africa is! We live in the 21st century. Its time to stop with the Africa is a country, do you speak African blah blah bs. Africa is a diverse continent and the world needs to know that! I was recently telling and IO9er that they didn’t know my accent-related pain, what with te conflation, and not trying, and just mangling taken as either sincere or hysterical, but then…they said they were from [unrevealed country] in Africa, and I was put in my place. At least we’re a small (tiny, actually) island of about 3 million people. It’s awful when people get it wrong, often offensive, but…it’s nothing near the short-sightedness and casual racism/ethnocentrism/acquired retro-colonial bullshit that you get from countries that didn’t colonise jack. The party line is so strong, that you’re talking about, what, 54 arbitrarily bounded countries, binding together hundreds, nay thousands, of tribes and language and customs in completely inorganic and ignorant ways…they must be reading the internet (and the news, and watching TV, and movies) with their eyes squinted and ready to flinch at all times. Because that is pretty hard to get inured to it, so there’s no need to suggest that “They’re not sticks and stones—words will never heart you.” Them and their meanings, limitations, implications, and flat-out statements absolutely can. Our laws are made of words, are they not? People are rallied to causes with words. Marches for justice or mobs of hate—you can kick those off with “harmless” words at the drop of a hat.

erifresh:

These 9 women represent the 9 official tribes of Eritrea. They each have different languages they speak, music they play, clothes they wear, foods that are seen as special ( yes its true not everyone eats ingera ALL the time), customs they keep sacred like wedding, childbirth, funerals etc, and culture that has been passed down from generation to generation. They are NOT the same. In Eritrea we’re all different in all the above mentioned ways but are united as a nation.

So if my small country of Eritrea can have that many differences (plus more because there are unrecognized tribes living in Eritrea) imagine how diverse the continent of Africa is!

We live in the 21st century. Its time to stop with the Africa is a country, do you speak African blah blah bs. Africa is a diverse continent and the world needs to know that!

I was recently telling and IO9er that they didn’t know my accent-related pain, what with te conflation, and not trying, and just mangling taken as either sincere or hysterical, but then…they said they were from [unrevealed country] in Africa, and I was put in my place. At least we’re a small (tiny, actually) island of about 3 million people. It’s awful when people get it wrong, often offensive, but…it’s nothing near the short-sightedness and casual racism/ethnocentrism/acquired retro-colonial bullshit that you get from countries that didn’t colonise jack. The party line is so strong, that you’re talking about, what, 54 arbitrarily bounded countries, binding together hundreds, nay thousands, of tribes and language and customs in completely inorganic and ignorant ways…they must be reading the internet (and the news, and watching TV, and movies) with their eyes squinted and ready to flinch at all times. Because that is pretty hard to get inured to it, so there’s no need to suggest that “They’re not sticks and stones—words will never heart you.” Them and their meanings, limitations, implications, and flat-out statements absolutely can. Our laws are made of words, are they not? People are rallied to causes with words. Marches for justice or mobs of hate—you can kick those off with “harmless” words at the drop of a hat.

(via snurri)

Tags: ladies of eritrea diversity post-colonial bullshit beauty africa