Quote:
Originally Posted by Antillano89
Which one of these two groups do you believe has the strongest influences from Africa? That is culturally, not just in terms of race/admixture.
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This thread is reaching a bit, but nonetheless still interesting so I can't really complain lol. It's great to have this conversation to teach as well as learn, instead of sweeping it under the rug.
I think what we need to consider is what exactly defines what African is? African people and and African culture before their arrival post 1492 to the Western Hemisphere already had significant admixture with Arab and Asian and European cultures through mixing, and cultural exchange, and indentured servitude and slave trading. Also culture is always evolving and adding new elements that over time become solidified as being part of that culture etc.*
So with all of that being said, what is the starting point or ending point to what one can call or consider to be an African cultural vestige?
For example, in the Jewish diaspora every place of the world has 1 or more distinct Jewish groups or Jewish cultural populations. One is not more Jewish than the other.*
With African Americans and Afro Latinos one is not necessarily more or less "African" than the other. Also, one only need to do further analysis and deeper studying of African American material culture and deep traditions and see that much of it is very African. It's just that with migration and time many of the more heavy Africanized traditions may have been abandoned as AAs migrated to more urban cities or they might not have time to celebrate those traditions anymore or they adapt or reconfigure new one's. There are many areas where AAs practice many African influenced traditions that mainstream and/or other groups of ppl (including AAs) dont even know about.
For example there is African contribution that came about through or via North Africa etc.
Also AAs are not homogenous. We have to keep in mind the political semantics and each context and complexities as well as the different regions.
If one would study AA culture and peoples more in depth you'll see that it's African all in it's own way (with of course influences from others like European and Native among others depending on context)
Also, even in Latin American countries, many blacks and Afrodescendants have abandoned or don't always hold onto their African traditions that were practiced and passed down as they often migrate to the cities or they adapt new traditions or become more assimilated or as one doesn't have time to hold onto certain traditions.
Many ppl are not about traditions anymore.*
It almost seems as if people expect one to be African or very African only if they chuck spears and eat Cheetahs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and drink cattle **** *rolls eyes*.*
USA has many African influences more than one is willing to admit or realize or underestimate. The term yams, goober, and even the word OK are said to derive from Africa.
Banjo is derived from African instruments. The first cowboys and aspects of cultivations are said to be derived and heavily influenced by Africans.
Many African Americans maintain and STILL practice African cultures that still exist, many of you probably just haven't heard of it or seen it (yet). If you go to various pockets of African Americans, many still have traditions that are very African and/or have an African cultural spirit at heart.
Also there has always been a long history of the cultural misappropriation of black culture, where traditions derived from blacks become repackaged under a different name, with credit not given to it's actual and rightful progenitors and creators.*
But nonetheless the USA is very culturally mixed. African Americans are just as American as any other American.
And hip hop did not really develop from African Americans but more so from West Indians in the states and some Latinos in Bronx NYC and has African influence from toasting rhythms of West Africa, as well as some Jamaican influences.
African Americans/Black Americans and Afro Latinos have influenced each other along the way however so we can't forget that as well.
I'm not sure if Gullah's should or could be considered AAs but they have a culture that is distinct all on it's own and it retains lots of Africanisms and African cultural and linguistic patterns.
Some might include Louisiana Creoles but they can be of any race and are a cultural and ethnic group. Not all LC's have black in them and NOT all LC's are light skinned are mixed. There are black Creoles, white Creoles, and even Native American Creoles. Traditional languages of LC's are French Creole, French, and Spanish, and there are even some pockets that are said to have maintained Spanish Creoles.
Alabama, and Mississippi, and Texas and Florida have African descent populations that also coincide with a historical Latin cultural synthesis context and colonial base. In fact in Africatown Alabama, and areas in and around and just outside of Mobile, Alabama, one can find communities and descendants of slaves brought on a slave ship that imported slaves (said to be from Ghana) and the ship sailed inland and they let the Africans go free so they ran into this area of Alabama. They were brought there in 1859 or 1860, and their descendants still live there in large numbers scattered out.
Another area is the Mississippi Delta although that coincides with history I wouldn't label as AA, due to it's historical Latin, and Creole context. Hoodoo is popular among some in some areas of the gulf states. This is not exactly the same thing as Voodoo.
The term AA perhaps can denote those from the 13 original colonies and their descendants.
Also AA and black do NOT mean the same thing. AA's are an ETHNIC group. NOT a racial one. AAs can be of any race. Most AAs however are a very racially mixed people.
Some AAs have NO African ancestry at all. There have been AAs that have found that they didn't have any black in them at all.
Another thing to notice or mention is that Afro Latino and black do NOT mean the same thing. Afrodescendant and black does NOT mean the same thing either.
Something I remember reading on another site to consider:
"Here is a controversial topic. Afro-Latinos. Many equate it to Black Latinos. Others see it as Latino Afrodescendientes of all looks. For me, as Latino is an ethnic term, Afro-Latino is such as well. A Latino who has strong African ties in his culture/heritage. Not all Latino Afrodescendientes are Afro-Latino. Many have been completely absorbed by the mainstream. But here is a consideration, many Latinos that are not Afrodescendientes, especially in places like Cuba, adopted African practices, like Santeria, or joining societies like Abakuá and Ékpè. We could argue that many are Afro-Latinos as well. Their culture and identity is definitely Latino with heavy African overtones."
The historical and social experiences of African Americans is really not all that different as some seem to make it out to be however. Slavery was NOT racial anyways. In the USA slavery was maternal and based on partus sequitur venentrum.
The whole aspect of AA ethnic identity does not come about until after the Jim Crow era began to dismantle and end in the 1960s.
With Latin America, we also have to remember that the region is NOT homogenous or a monolith. We have to look at each nation and even internally within each nation as well as it's specific and unique circumstances and contexts.
At the same token, one needs to look at each part of the USA and it's different and unique regional histories. It's much more complex than ppl want to admit. It might even be more complex than "Latin America". But my main point is that let's dig deeper.
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Why do some people feel the need to constantly attack Latin Americans? Probably insecurity about their own culture and inferiority complex about their own culture, thats the only explanation.