{"id":1154,"date":"2019-12-11T00:14:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T05:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/?p=1154"},"modified":"2019-12-11T00:14:41","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T05:14:41","slug":"i-am-brown-third-world-women-and-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/mctague\/i-am-brown-third-world-women-and-history\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI am Brown\u201d: Third World Women and History"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Thulani Nkabinde\u2019s \u201cI am Brown,\u201d the speaker, \u201ca child of the third world,\u201d remembers and embodies a centuries-long history of slavery, resistance, and female empowerment (2). She exists both \u201cin this world\u201d as an \u201cillegitimate seed \/ mishap of the honkies goodtimes\u201d and yet she is \u201cstolen \/ runaway property\u201d: she exists both in the present and in the past alongside her enslaved ancestors; she is their modern reproduction (6-7, 54-55). In this poem, printed in Third World Women<\/em>, the speaker explores her heritage, rejecting \u201cthe westerner\u201d while embracing her \u201csister\u201d (24, 41).<\/p>\n

\"\"

The final stanza of Thulani Nkabinde’s “I am Brown.”<\/p><\/div>\n

The sea\u2014powerful, touching many continents\u2014represents the speaker\u2019s origin and identity. From the start of this poem, the speaker remembers \u201cthe sea n my real home\u201d and then embodies that sea, saying that \u201cmany rivers flow into my waters\u201d (9, 14). Her origins are as numerous and diverse as the streams that flow into an ocean. She controls this water as she is \u201crememberin rivers\/ rememberin the spells \/ I cast to make their movement have \/ meaning\u201d (64-67). Her sister is also \u201cmurmurin chantings\u201d as she \u201cgives the rivers their flow\u201d (39-40). Nkabinde likens the power of these women of color to magic\u2014a magic that \u201cthe westerner\u2026 rich n ignorant\u201d cannot understand because \u201che aint hip to magic\u201d (24, 26, 28). The speaker\u2019s origins and mystical power converge in her repeated declaration: \u201cI am Nile \/ Congo \/ the greatest waters of the earth \/ the falls they call \/ Victoria\u201d (49-53). In these lines, she refers to the white colonizers who christened a Zimbabwean waterfall Victoria Falls. Like this body of water, the speaker has been shaped by Africa and re-named by a white society. The speaker personifies the powerful waters of the ocean.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A painting of Mami Wata (“Mami Wata”).<\/p><\/div>\n

In this personification, Nkabinde alludes to Mami Wata, an African water spirit. Usually embodied by a woman, Mami Wata (literally, \u201cMammy Water\u201d) is fabled to live in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, connecting the coasts of Africa and the Americas and luring voyagers with her beauty and power (\u201cMami Wata\u201d). At once dangerous, sexual, and a nurturing mother, Mami Wata is the female embodiment of multiple transcontinental origins. The speaker in \u201cI am Brown\u201d is also a mother, \u201craisin black sons \/ black rebels,\u201d and also a female sorcerer, \u201cworkin voodoo madness\u201d (68-69, 30). She too comes from several places and a history as vast as the sea. Therefore, the speaker acts as a modern Mami Wata who stretches through time and space: through generations, across the continents of the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am Brown\u201d symbolizes the larger aims of Third World Women<\/em>. The editors of this book note that Third World Women<\/em> \u201cis only a beginning\u201d: published in 1972, it marks the official entrance of women of color into the Feminist Poetry Movement. The speaker in \u201cI am Brown\u201d embodies the mythical traditions of Africa as she grapples with her identity in the modern world. Similarly, the writers and artists featured in Third World Women<\/em> nod to their diverse ancestors as they insert themselves into a growing movement of American women.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

\u201cMami Wata.\u201d Smithsonian National Museum of African Art,\u00a0<\/em>https:\/\/africa.si.edu\/exhibits\/mamiwata\/intro.html. Accessed 10 December 2019.<\/p>\n

Nkabinde, Thulani. \u201cI am Brown.\u201d Third World Women.<\/em> Third World Communications, 1972.<\/p>\n

Third World Women.<\/em> Third World Communications, 1972.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Thulani Nkabinde\u2019s \u201cI am Brown,\u201d the speaker, \u201ca child of the third world,\u201d remembers and embodies a centuries-long history of slavery, resistance, and female empowerment (2). She exists both \u201cin this world\u201d as an \u201cillegitimate seed \/ mishap of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2245,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mctague"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1158,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions\/1158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}