I've had a draft of this post sitting around for a while but after I got an invitation from Reconstruction to talk about why I blog I figured I would get off my behind and finish it up.
When I originally started this blog, my basic idea was that I was going to comment on a lot of "Black stuff" "Muslim stuff" and "Latin stuff", preferably two at a time and ideally three at a time. (This ideal is generally what I mean by "Grenada-esque") After blogging for over a year, I am a bit more aware of the patterns which show up and can be more refined in describing them.
When I surf the web, stories where Latino/Hispanic issues overlap with Islam seem to be rather few and far between compared to the other combinations so I'm the least picky about those and will add links to what I find most of the time. On the other hand, the overlap between Black/African issues and Islam is much larger by comparison so I can be a little pickier. But for a while now I've been sending most of the interesting things I find or think about in this area to the Third Resurrection.
When it comes to Afro-Latino issues I generally don't talk about music because I feel many people only recognize the musical contributions of Black Latinos and have almost no concept of anything else. I would prefer to talk about Afro-Latinos in politics, literature, science or even sports. Similarly, it is common for Muslims to be viewed through a narrow political lens so I'd rather not talk about Middle Eastern politics, and I'd prefer to talk about Arab/Muslim cultural production (poetry, music, etc.) especially in the West.
The rest of the content of Planet Grenada is more varied. Random pieces on progressive politics, race, racism and culture. An occasional piece on Afrofuturism. Pieces on religious orthodoxy and more ecclectic forms of spirituality. Whatever tickles my fancy. Sometimes I imagine that I'm somehow contributing to the "emerging global anti-hegemonic culture" refered to at the top of my blog. Other times I write just to get things off my chest. So why do you blog?
tuesday i had fruit loops: revisited
hisham aidi
When I originally started this blog, my basic idea was that I was going to comment on a lot of "Black stuff" "Muslim stuff" and "Latin stuff", preferably two at a time and ideally three at a time. (This ideal is generally what I mean by "Grenada-esque") After blogging for over a year, I am a bit more aware of the patterns which show up and can be more refined in describing them.
When I surf the web, stories where Latino/Hispanic issues overlap with Islam seem to be rather few and far between compared to the other combinations so I'm the least picky about those and will add links to what I find most of the time. On the other hand, the overlap between Black/African issues and Islam is much larger by comparison so I can be a little pickier. But for a while now I've been sending most of the interesting things I find or think about in this area to the Third Resurrection.
When it comes to Afro-Latino issues I generally don't talk about music because I feel many people only recognize the musical contributions of Black Latinos and have almost no concept of anything else. I would prefer to talk about Afro-Latinos in politics, literature, science or even sports. Similarly, it is common for Muslims to be viewed through a narrow political lens so I'd rather not talk about Middle Eastern politics, and I'd prefer to talk about Arab/Muslim cultural production (poetry, music, etc.) especially in the West.
The rest of the content of Planet Grenada is more varied. Random pieces on progressive politics, race, racism and culture. An occasional piece on Afrofuturism. Pieces on religious orthodoxy and more ecclectic forms of spirituality. Whatever tickles my fancy. Sometimes I imagine that I'm somehow contributing to the "emerging global anti-hegemonic culture" refered to at the top of my blog. Other times I write just to get things off my chest. So why do you blog?
tuesday i had fruit loops: revisited
hisham aidi
3 comments:
Im a little confused. What do you mean by Grenada-esque. Are you referring to the caribbean island? Is this a person that I am unfamilier with?
Thanks
When I say Grenada-esque I'm typically referring to a post which especially exemplifies the purposes/topics of the blog.
So for example, I have one entry where I link to a clip of an Afro-Latino poet who is performing a piece about Malcolm X's assassination. Other posts deal with Moorish history (so they concern Muslims in Spain of African-descent). Some other posts deal with Muslims in the Caribbean. Those would all be really "Grenada-esque"
The blog doesn't really emphasize the island of Grenada specifically. It might have been slightly less confusing to have named the blog
"Planet Granada" but I definitely liked and intended for both associations.
nice!
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