From a series of tweets I did on the New York Times story “Rebranding Africa” which you can read here.
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Coming up: Elliot livetweets a read-through of @NYTimes latest infuriant, “Rebranding Africa” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/fashion/15iht-fafrica15.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1337010111-kaoVJMBzdBP2Ilyfay7RvQ h/t @siddhmi0
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“The continent is entering the fashion arena”. What? It wasn’t in it already? Is this like when it hadn’t “entered history”?0
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Oh, I see, this is a remix of Sarkozy’s Hegelian mash-up in Dakar, but for fashion. Great idea @NYTimes!0
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Apparently Africa is entering fashion because of “the quality of its handwork”. Nope, me neither.0
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I wonder what else Africa might be about to “enter”? Planet Earth? The Solar System? Suggestions to @NYTimes0
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On the plus side, Suzy Menkes is right to identify early on that Africa is, in fact, a continent.0
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Key is the “Rebranding” of Africa. Yawn! For fuller critique of this kind of guff see http://africasacountry.com/2012/04/26/positive-news-from-africa/0
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Rebranding constitutes no kind of “change in attitude/perception” because it offers Africa for consumption/ exploitation as of old0
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This month’s Vogue Italia is dedicated to Africa. Well that’s nice. Why is @NYTimes reporting on it? Seems like a very long plug?0
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And the cover star of that Africa edition of Vogue Italia. It’s the obvious choice: Ban Ki-Moon. African style icon, for sure.0
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@Okwonga @AfricasaCountry It read like an unabashed press release for Vogue Italia, didn’t it! Just absurd.0
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Oh God isn’t Africa so confusing? What with the poverty AND the creativity in THE SAME PLACE? You’d never find that in, say, New York City0
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Ban ki-Moon is a Goodwill Ambassador for Fashion4Development “to support the UN’s wider issues in helping Africa”. Nonsense on stilts.0
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Uh-oh> ” For Ms. Sozzani, “positivity” is the key word in taking an uplifting attitude to a nation where “the image is so low.” “0
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Did the @NYTimes just refer to the nation of Africa? I think it did you know!0
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Attn @NYTimes fact-checkers. A minute ago Africa was a “continent”. Now it’s a “nation”. We’re as confused as ever.0
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@siddhmi I know, eh! Copy editor should be hanging his/her head in shame. @AfricasaCountry0
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Sozzani: “All the pictures are made in a glamorous way — there is nothing sad, trashy or poor”. Well that’s a relief!0
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Very important to ensure that the poor are never photographed in Vogue Italia. Sorry poor people, you’re just not cool enough.0
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Sozzani:”if we can give an uplifting image it is helping people who wouldnt have considered Africa at all” Yes vital that those ppl get help0
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[Also helping with rebranding]: “the lush beauty of the country & its allure as a tourist destination”0
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All so confusing Africa fluctuating wildly b/w status as country and continent. Surely crucial to establish prior to confident “rebranding”0
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“The emergence of Africa as a source of fashion creativity is about more than elegant images.” What, you mean they have clothes?0
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There was I with the idea that Western fashion houses had been appropriating African style/design for ages. Welcome to fashion, Africa!0
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@AfricasaCountry I’m so glad we’ve been let in now. All we need is an African For Us By Us. Yes, I know, FUBU made ugly clothes.0
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@BBCAfricaHYS @AfricasaCountry Menkes repeat rebrander: ’09, Africa’s “sculpted geometric shapes & rich, spicy colors” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/fashion/31iht-fafrica.html0
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Is “rebranding” really the best way to think about, for example, no longer believing in loads of racist, supremacist myths?0
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@AfricasaCountry World Economic Forum taught us last week that Africa is “a clean sheet of paper” http://bit.ly/JdWW7Q0
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This Twitter exchange is the best thing that came out of such poor writing, and such impoverished knowledge networks.
This was my favourite:
“Is “rebranding” really the best way to think about, for example, no longer believing in loads of racist, supremacist myths?”
Spot on.
This piece proves that rebranding is a key strategy to successfully build popular opinion. I think its great that people will get to see the different aspects of Africa, rather than just the horrible things you see and read everyday. http://www.addisonwhitney.com
Why is ban ki moon on the cover of vogue with that title…i mean what is it implicity saying? the UN is part of this rebranding?? are UN peacekeepers now supposed to market the continent as a place for investments…are aid agencies now marketing/advertising firms? Will this be a new chapter for the UN? I dont get it.
I read Franca Sozzani’s story about her meeting with the Nigerian president. I guess she means well, but I can’t imagine Anna Wintour giving advice to Obama on how to improve the image of the US.
Reblogged this on Soul Canvas and commented:
Yet another fashion “rebranding” of Africa. They rediscover us every few years, it seems we will always be fashions infants.
HI we continue to be because we do not think beyond this sort of thing. “we” allow ourselves to be patted on the head like a “good child”. They bring bright wax cloth or “Vilsco” and we get happy and think is a reference to us. No Africa the continent is more than this. We contribute to the success of these things by buying into it, and yet feel no sense of respect for people trying to make it.
We say oh “my seamstress can make the same thing and charges me less.” If she could then why did it take me, for you to see the possibility. Give credit and support people who take time to be trained to do things.
Respect yourself and others will too. Don’t contribute to this and then cry when you let it happen, be proactive. DO something about it – you will find that its a level playing field and that for Italian Vogue to do story African were involved and the past we have always being involved.
It is the new face of white supremacy: brainwashing African to make them believe whites love, respect and admire them. Specially that Africans are becoming richer.
I am ‘Touched’….”The continent…. offers to a jaded fashion world objects that have been touched by human hands — the greatest of luxuries in a 21st-century world.”
Reblogged this on TABASAMU AFRICA MONOLOGUES and commented:
…. no words!
Rebrand Africa? Sounds like a blatant attempt to re-shape it in someone else’s image …
Did it talk about the life of Malian refugees in Mauritania, enduring 120 degrees F heat everyday? The rainy season? http://passblue.com/2012/06/11/a-tenuous-life-for-malian-refugees-in-the-desert/