Worthy Daughter of Africa: A Call for National Honor. Thank You!

We just ended my panel, “Author Meets Readers: Engaging Fela and Me by Sandra Izsadore (Kraft Books, 2019).” a few hours ago.

I set out to host a panel to honor the Queen Mother of Afrobeat for three reasons, but I will write about two interconnected motivations. First, as a feminist cultural historian seeking to fight the erasure of women and non-binary artists who made significant contributions to culture, specifically popular music in African and African Diaspora, who have become footnotes in cultural history and memory. This, in many ways, informs my ongoing second PhD Dissertation, which is to read the history of popular music against the grain to center women and queer artists in Nigerian cultural history, particularly popular music. Related to this is to contribute my little coin in lessening the siblings’ “rivalry” between Africans and the African American (AA) community.

I have been in America only for three minutes, and I have met the best and the other "best" of AA, and I believe that the AA community can say the same about Africans in America. For the best of us, it was the black brother who gave me direction after seeing me perambulating (what Yoruba people and late Professor Tejumola Olaniyan aptly called “irin Iranu”) for an hour in Madison because the map kept confusing me with “follow this arrow.” Or the graceful black older woman who wanted to give me a free voucher and coupon to spend at a local pantry because she thought I might need it. Getting free things in America does not mean you are cheap; It is culturally imbricated with American capitalism. It was the AA professor who never stopped commending my way with words in their classroom and was constantly sharing opportunities with me. I don’t want to talk about the other “best” of us because everyone has a story on both sides, the African and African American Communities.

The tension between us, to my mind, and to borrow from the erudite Professor Saidiya Hartman, is one of the results of “the afterlife of slavery.”

While there is so much tension, I think we can foster a connection between AA and Africans if only we stop to consider what unites us rather than what divides us. There are so many excellent scholarships about our connections that I will dispense with, so I don’t leave anyone out. But I have re-read Tsitsi Jaji’s Stereo and Alexander Weheliye’s Grooves in Sonic Afro Modernity in the last few months.

One panacea is building on our connection rather than contention, bringing cultural memory and celebration to the fore. What better way to start the celebration than a national honor for Sandra Izsadore, who deserves it in many ways that space suggests should not be aired. Our artists hold concerts and shows worldwide without discrediting their efforts and hard work; it is essential to note that they are reaping from the foundational labors of women like this who make significant contributions to the impact of Black consciousness on Fela Anikulapo’s music.

To my mind, Hon. Dr. Abike Dabiri Erewa and her commission need to think about the Diaspora beyond just Nigerians in the Diaspora and remittances but our black cousin and the connections that go way back.

In my wishful thinking, I imagine a situation where, in collaboration with the Kuti family, the Queen Mother is invited back to the motherland, celebrated with pageantry, and truly honored. In addition, I hope that the National Museum has her picture and does the right thing. She belongs to the Hall of Fame of Cultural Makers in the African and African Diaspora.

To be clear, we cannot eradicate the tension and animosity, but we can alleviate it.

Finally, I thank the erudite scholars who joined the panel despite their busy schedules and competing professional and personal responsibilities. Professor Msia Kibona Clark, Professor Micheal Veale, Professor Jesse Weaver Shipley, Dr. Oluwatoyin Olokodana-James

I also appreciate my mentor and President of the Lagos Studies Association, Professor Saheed Aderinto, who encouraged me when I shared my ideas and intent with him.

If you want to buy the Queen Mother’s book, visit her website through this link. https://www.sandraizsadore.com/

First posted online, including on Facebook on June 29, 2024

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