USA Africa Dialogue Series - African Diaspora Fellowship

As of today, online submissions for project requests and diaspora scholar expressions of interest are live. Host institutions and diaspora scholars can now submit their applications online. Please forward the good news to your networks.

The program website is http://www.iie.org/africandiaspora. To visit the application page directly, go tohttp://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Carnegie-African-Diaspora-Fellows-Program/How-to-Apply.

The tabs on this page (one for scholars, one for institutions) also include downloadable guidelines to assist in this process.

The deadline for submissions is March 17, 2014.

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220

USA

512 475 7224

512 475 7222 (fax)

http://www.toyinfalola.com 

http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa  

http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs 

http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue   

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Great news: Brother Obama to invite 47 African heads of state to a summit on August 5th-6th , 2014

CH,

Please inform me whenever you visit the East-Coast so you can see the man behind the pen.

My statements are controversial yet TRUE.

Brigadier John Amadu Bangura is the "Sword of Damocles" that is hanging over our beloved Sierra Leone. This is manifested in the dilemma "your friend" President Ernest Koroma has with some or most of his APC supporters who are railing against the burial of Col (Rtd) Tom Nyuma in the National War Graves. It is very ironic that Nyuma has taunted the APC in life and in death. His saga is a metaphor for what ails Sierra Leone. 

WB

You have to instruct me how you accomplished this feat:

with The Dove-Edwin Report

On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 6:23 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:

WB,

It would be unjust to let you just say whatever you like about Sierra Leone whilst I'm still here, and let you get away with it.

 I notice that at the end you quote Mark Antony.  My Brother, this is your best epistle to the Romans yet.  It’s more informative and explanatory than your other epistles – for instance that which I did not know: but I take your word for it (the word of an Honourable Temne man) that, “One of the major factors why Taqi passionately opposed Albert Margai’s, and then Stevens’ proposal of a one party state was that most of us Themnes from Tonkolili REVERE the Chieftaincy but not the Chief, and also believe in transparent governance”

 Your sarcasm here is delightful:  You ask me, “How can you be a staunch supporter of the APC, but had opposed the burial of nuclear waste in Sierra Leone, and the detention of GFG and Hilton Fyle? My brother CH do you have any political convictions?”

Of course not to the extent that the party or any of its members can do no wrong

 You also ask me “Why did you cry when you heard of the news of the execution of Brigadier John Amadu Bangura...?” I was in Freetown on the day that Brigadier Amadu Bangura was executed - I cried a few days earlier in Ghana when I got the news that he had been arrested (you know that major Sandy Jumu (ex National Reformation Council) was my friend in Ghana where he had been granted political asylum – he used to visit me occasionally on weekends and we used to play scrabble – he would also occasionally lend me his car) I cried because I know the role that Brigadier John Bangura (in Guinea etc) had played (in mounting the pressure that resulted in Mr. Stevens eventually sitting on his presidential throne after Brigadier David Lansana had deposed him...

 You have a point here though about Alhaji Kabbah. “Rather than being magnanimous and commute the sentences of those officers who were convicted of treason for ousting him in May 1997, he had to be macho and executed them.”

“Them” included a pregnant woman - he turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the people of Sierra Leone, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, others in the international community - we’re told that the Nigerian force commanders in Sierra Leone had told him that if he didn’t execute them then they would leave him to fight the RUF rebels on his own....

You hope that I am not “enamoured of Dr. James Jonah”. Even if I was gay (God forbid) why should I, knowing all that I know, be enamoured of him? 

Otherwise, you have made so many strong, controversial statements that it’s difficult for me to feel that I can fully respond to you without taking each and every such statement blow by blow. I’ll return to the task a little later, please give me time.

I bought and read this book today:

Ken Blanchard: The Heart of a Leader

It’s full of sound, practical advice and I recommend it strongly to all our African leaders of today and tomorrow. I particularly liked this piece of advice that he dished out: “Share the cash, then share the congratulations” (Thinking about Our Ernest who said that he would like to run Sierra Leone” as a business concern “

I also bought Montagu Slater’s “The Trial of Jomo Kenyatta” which is now next on my reading list

This link didn’t show correctly:

C.B. Rogers-Wright (my uncle Cyril and I vividly remember him – and his mother Gertrude – my grand aunt, her other children and grandchildren)

(If we can chat on the phone, someday, I may tell you about my listening in on him and some of his pals going on about”The Settlers descendants Union”) You know that it’s not every piece of information that is intended for everyone’s ears or for popular consumption. In the meantime and before I respond let me think a little about these controversial declarations of yours:

” Sir Albert Margai, the SLPP then and now and majority of Mendes, Siaka Stevens and his APC then, Ernest Koroma, the current APC, almost all Limbas and most Creoles do HATE Themnes from Tonkolili.”

(Well, I don’t blame some of the Creoles if they still nurse some ancient animosities going back to the early days when the warlike Temnes on several occasions massacred them (the Creoles)

“Isn’t it a fact that those who acquiesced with their colonial masters, such as the Creoles and Mendes were beneficiaries?”

“I am a Yoni and a Pan-Africanist from Tonkolili who perceives tact is Eurocentric” So you don’t mind throwing discretion to the wind, when it would/ should be expedient to be tactful or diplomatic?  

 One last thing : As my trainer told me, it’s not what he (the suspect) says that’s so important, it’s all the kinds of things that he doesn’t say that you should be on the lookout about”

The world of Creoledom is such a small world.  You are of course familiar with The Dove-Edwin Report ? Speak no evil about him – my daughters’ grandmother is a D-E....a

 I’ll get back to you as soon assp.

 Yawn , yawn,

 Sincerely,

 Hon. Yoruba man,

We Sweden

On Thursday, 30 January 2014 00:59:22 UTC+1, william bangura wrote:

As I had written in an earlier blog Botswana was my ONLY successful—governance, transparency, accountability etc--sub-Saharan African country but after it was reported in the BBC that the government had been “fracking” without notify their people I gave up the proverbial ghost.

Given President Obama’s “thorough” comprehension of colonialism, the history of the African governments that succeeded colonialism and to date, the tyranny and subjugation of his father and his Luo kinfolks from the days of Jomo Kenyatta and his Kenya African National Union to present day Kenya, he should not have any favorite African president.

On Mugabe I will not dignify him with any comment.

CH you are my brother, but this is where the bond ends with your support for the APC. And this is why I HATE the APC and the SLPP because of these statements:

 

“…because of my staunch support for the APC the last two elections some members of the CKC side of my family told me that I am no longer related to them, that I am a Tonkolili man.”

 

Now you are beginning to unlock the raison d'être why Sir Albert Margai, the SLPP then and now and majority of Mendes, Siaka Stevens and his APC then, Ernest Koroma, the current APC, almost all Limbas and most Creoles do HATE Themnes from Tonkolili.

Themnes from Tonkolili are not monolithic, because as history has illustrated there are Judases and sycophants (your noun) in every ethnic group.

As you are aware Ibrahim Taqi and Dr Forna are from Ruling Houses. Taqi was the brother of Paramount Chief Bai Kafari Kanasaki III, and Forna’s father was a Pa Roke (Section Chief) of Kholifa Mamunta.

One of the major factors why Taqi passionately opposed Albert Margai’s, and then Stevens’ proposal of a one party state was that most of us Themnes from Tonkolili REVERE the Chieftaincy but not the Chief, and also believe in transparent governance.

The generations preceding Forna and Taqi’s and those of their cohorts were very comfortable with “kontri” (inhabitants of the protectorate who were considered to be crass in British Eurocentrism) because they were very malleable. But because of their regalities, patriotism and political consciousness they defied the perception of “kontri man”, and consequently had to be eliminated, thus the bogus coup of July 1974 and their execution of July 29, 1975.

Why did you cry when you heard of the news of the execution of Brigadier John Amadu Bangura, who was executed with Major Fara Jawara, Major S.E. Momoh and Lieutenant Kolugbondah? The issue of John Amadu Bangura is for another debate.

 

Your information about the dumping of the nuclear waste, and the arrest of GFG and Hilton Fyle represents your contradictions. How can you be a staunch supporter of the APC, but had opposed the burial of nuclear waste in Sierra Leone, and the detention of GFG and Hilton Fyle? My brother CH do you have any political convictions?

My sources are very credible and what Kabbah had said is general information to those who had pursued those tragic days in Sierra Leone.

Your friend “Pa Kabbah” is not ‘… a god-fearing man’ but very farcical.

One of Siaka Stevens’ favorite quote was “Den see soak Lehpet den tink say nah Pus” (Don’t misconstrue a wet Leopard for a Cat {house cat}).

The belief among Kabbah, his contemporaries and some of the younger generation of the SLPP was that had Albert Margai been as tyrannical as Stevens’, he and his party would have never lost the 1967 General Elections. This was a fallacy.

Rather than being magnanimous and commute the sentences of those officers who were convicted of treason for ousting him in May 1997, he had to be macho and executed them. Fortunately, for him and those who supported his decision they could flee and the “poor Freetonians” were left at the mercy of the rebels.

Kabbah attempted to implement Stevens’ autocracy, but his strategy had been impeded by five previous events, the “No College, No School” students demonstration of 1977 which almost toppled the latter’s government, the ‘Ndorgborwusu’ (fratricide between the Minah’s and the Kai-Kai’s) in Pujehun and the Sanda massacre—between Thaimu Bangura and Alhaji Timbo-- in 1982, the invasion of Sierra Leone by the Revolutionary United Front in 1991 and the brutal overthrow of Momoh’s APC by the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC).

Sierra Leone had lost her innocence with the execution and murder of Stevens’ political opponents. And the aforementioned events enforced the contemplations of death and massacres as certainties in our psyche. It was just a matter of time.

The Americans who are salient were suspicious of the sincerity and tenacity of “your” Dr. John Karefa –Smart. This was exemplified when after he had negotiated his release from Pademba Road Prisons with Stevens, to be replaced by Brigadier Bangura, Majors Fara Jawara and S.E. Momoh, Lt. Kolugbondah, Corporal Foday Sankoh and others, and his he refusal to pursue litigation against the results of the 1996 General Elections.

Karefa was too narcissistic and this was an observation during his engagement with senior members of his UNPP.

It seems as if you are in love with useless “leaders”.

I hope you are not enamored of Dr. James Jonah? I do not want to dignify him but I will give you my two cents because you are my brother. Jonah stole the elections for Kabbah because they were colleagues at the United Nations. If Jonah was a empathetic patriot he would not have accepted the post of Finance Minister in the first Kabbah administration after he had conducted a “contested” election.

Jonah had lied to the “international community” that the AFRC/RUF junta had procured nerve gas to commit genocide.

 

“Jonah accused the junta of having a "very gruesome plan" for genocide, saying there is now "very concrete information of the unfolding of this plan." He said the junta had imported a large quantity of land mines into Sierra Leone, and that one of the ships docked in Freetown was loaded with poison gas. He said that under the genocide plan, civilians were being used as human shields to create the impression that ECOMOG troops were killing civilians. Jonah said that the military junta was killing civilians and telling the world they had been killed by ECOMOG.”

http://www.sierra-leone.org/Archives/slnews0997.html

Isn’t it a fact that those who acquiesced with their colonial masters, such as the Creoles and Mendes were beneficiaries? The British Prime Minister Harold Wilson was perturbed by the victory of the APC in the 1967 General Elections because the Temnes and Themnes had voted overwhelmingly for the APC. The SLPP did not win a seat in “Temne country” while C.P. Foray an APC candidate won in Bo, the capital of the South and a pro SLPP bastion.

I am a student of history and venerate facts; consequently, I do not exaggerate my brother.

 

“I am exercising some self-discipline and doing some precautionary damage control and that’s why I’m reluctant to say anything about Sir Albert Margai, Brigadier David Lansana and the first coup d’état in Sierra Leone.”

I am a Yoni and a Pan-Africanist from Tonkolili who perceives tact is Eurocentric. I call it as I see it as did my hero Ibrahim Taqi when he was the editor of the We Yone newspaper.

I will not reveal my plans on where I will start to improve the socio-economic and political standards of my people which will enhance your APC and SLPP. But thank you very much for asking my brother CH.

On Maada Bio had he read, comprehended and analyzed the play “Julius Cesar” by William Shakespeare he would have never conspired with Val Strasser then Chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council to oust my hero Captain Solomon Anthony James (SAJ) Musa.

ANTONY

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interrèd with their bones.

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Caesar answered it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest—

For Brutus is an honorable man;

So are they all, all honorable men—

Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me.

But Brutus says he was ambitious,

And Brutus is an honorable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill

 

Maada, Strasser and some members of the NPRC’s Supreme Council had questioned the radicalism of SAJ. Is it radical for government workers to be punctual; for those Sierra Leoneans to pay their taxes, and those with their arrears to recompense; to keep the country shipshape? O! my bad, this is Sierra Leone.

And for Strasser, Maada et al SAJ was an ambitious man. But they were all presumed to be honorable men. Strasser and Maada are haunted by their betrayal of SAJ. But I am not astonished by their conducts because most Sierra Leoneans are captivated by tyrants, thieves and criminals who do not enhance their living standards.  

My future plans for Sierra Leone is a very significant question. There are numerous Sierra Leoneans who are smarter than I, and can devise socio-economic and political policies to transform the country from an agrarian to an industrial economy. But history has also depicted that none have emerged since independence inApril 1961 to date.

But if it is written by the Lord Our God, I will be greater than all the “rulers” combined that have led Sierra Leone.

On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 7:20 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

WB,

And because of all that you have so painstakingly explained, Barack Obama should not invite any of his favourite African presidents to the Summit?

Cheer up!  It’s possible that  there are a few who will not accept the invitation because Mugabe is not invited...

 Take heart. I am not an “intellectual”.  If you look for me and try to find me I’ll be missing there on your radar, and I promise, that you won’t find me walking right behind you.  You are of course free to write a history book for the general public, motivated by "History is a light that illuminates the past, and a key that unlocks the door to the future."

 But we have one thing in common, not too long ago, because of my staunch support for the APC the last two elections some members of the CKC side of my family told me that I am no longer related to them, that I am a Tonkolili man.  Sure, and I’m not only a Tonkolili man, what about the honky-tonky man, am I not that too?  And so I say to them all: lempeh mu. They can  all go and burn in hell.

 I just checked my passport:  I departed from Kotoka Airport to Freetown on the 27^th of March 1970 and returned to Accra on the 8^th of April, 1970. That was the very last time I was in Sierra Leone: from the  27^th of March to  the  8^th of April, 1970.

 John Amadu Bangura was hanged on 29^th March 197.  In Ghana, when I got the news of what had happened - prior to his execution, I cried. I wish that I could have stopped his execution.  I couldn’t.

 I left Ghana for Sweden on 2^nd of June 1970 and returned to Ghana on 2^nd October 1970...

 I think that we were more successful in getting Pa Shaki to abandon the idea of using Sierra Leone as a burial place for some orporto’s nuclear waste – I acted independently I actually wrote a letter to him warning him of the terrible consequences if he should go ahead with the burial and that was my second to last major effort in trying to directly influence what was happening in Sierra Leone. My very last effort was  when I heard that our drummer ( of our once upon a time band)  Gipu Felix-George  and  former BBC newsman  Hilton Fyle had been arrested -  in fact that their “ tongues had been cut out”  - I was in London at the time and  I phoned Mr. H.M. Lynch-Shyllon  who was then in hospital  and talked to him in his hospital bed ( he was very upset of course) – but as you know, God moves in His mysterious ways and  these two guys are alive even as I write this....

 OK so you don’t like Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, but don’t you think that it’s a little too ingenious of  you to go to all the trouble of paraphrasing him – according to your personal prejudices, when you would serve justice better  and be more credible if you were to quote him verbatim instead of wanting me, a sceptic for one , to believe that Pa Kabbah  would have meant what you attribute to him here : “I am paraphrasing here, that he wanted the ECOMOG (Nigerian troops) to bomb Sierra Leone to the Stone Ages and he would not be disconcerted if he had to be president of dogs?”

I know that Pa Kabbah is a god-fearing man and would never have said such a thing! That was only some evil at work in the tenses of your malicious paraphrase. Beware! You ought not to bear false witness against your neighbour!

However, there are unverified reports from diverse sources that Dr. John Karefa- Smart won the 1996 elections.  The results of most African elections are usually hotly, sometimes even violently disputed, so, where do we go from there?  I’m often surprised  by how warmly  other international actors  have spoken about  Dr. Karefa –Smart  - as soon as  I said I was born in Freetown  a Swedish diplomat  - Sweden’s former ambassador to Tanzania  took me by the hand and did some  very surprising praise-singing of our man and many other such people  that I have met occasionally, from other nations, have always spoken very highly of Dr. John Karefa –Smart.

There are those who have some reservations about the conduct of that election, that there was not a complete sovereignty exercised over the whole of Sierra Leone, especially the East was still under rebel control and still the election went ahead and votes were counted from that region.  I notice that you have not uttered a word about Dr. James Jonah , but I guess that he will appear in your longer version of the history of Sierra Leone. (By the way is that the husband of Mrs Jonah the former principal of Mathura?)

 Thou shalt not exaggerate! In the future, please take care how you weigh your words. Saying that I “revere both Kabbah and Ernest Koroma” is an exaggeration. So is “The hatred of the British towards the Temnes” ... an exaggeration but then again the Mendes are more of missionary boys than the good people of the calibre of the great Bai Bureh!

I am exercising some self-discipline and doing some precautionary damage control and that’s why I’m reluctant to say anything about Sir Albert Margai, Brigadier David Lansana and the first coup d’état in Sierra Leone.

Questions (Ignoramus likes asking them): What do you think of Maada Bio?

What are your future plans for your fatherland?

Please tell us, where do we begin?

 Sincerely

We Sweden

 

On Monday, 27 January 2014 04:20:04 UTC+1, william bangura wrote:

My analyses were to provide an accurate historical background of “your friends and heroes” Abdulai Conteh, Tejan Kabbah and Ernest Koroma. As an “intellectual” you should appreciate the history (the record of past events) of any discourse.

I am a proud Yoni Themne from Yonibana Chiefdom, Tonkolili District, and our generation compliment and rejoice with those who neither want to murder our parents in cold blood nor want to destroy Sierra Leone socio-economically and politically.

Our moaning and mourning led to the establishment of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Sankoh was from Khoilifa Mabang and he was the nephew of the Great Paramount Chief Bai Yorso Kholifa of Kholifa Chiefdom. Dr. Forna was born in Kholifa Mamunta. I hope you get the “drift”.

Please illuminate on those who are “ … even more concerned about Sierra Leone's future.”

Who do you have contempt for? Who are the gangsters, the prayer leaders or the priests?

Please apprise me of those who characterize “the general consensus that Kabbah was a decent man”?

 

CH, you are contradicting yourself my brother.

 “I do not crave or require your or anyone else’s affidavit for a testimony to these fact– nor was I using Tony Blair as  “the character references for any leader ”

And then you quote Tony Blair (TB) ““ President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah who was a kindly and decent man, had just come to see me to beg for help.”

How can Kabbah be both a THIEF and a decent man?

Poor Sierra Leone: “Kabbah’s youthful indiscretions”? Kabbah was a THIEF as a Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and was also a BANDIT as president.

Is this the same Kabbah who after he had been ousted by the AFRC junta in 1997 had said I am paraphrasing here, that he wanted the ECOMOG (Nigerian troops) to bomb Sierra Leone to the Stone Ages and he would not be disconcerted if he had to be president of dogs?

“But Kabbah was an honorable man.” PLEASE

Brother CH the sentiments you share about Kabbah is personal and very, very insignificant to his true character.

You prefer to bamboozle others in this forum but I am not going to let you get away with it. Kabbah was as mischievous as his mentor the late Sir Albert Margai. There is an adage, “Show me your friends and I will tell you your character.”

Kabbah did not win the 1996 General Elections, but that hopeless Karefa-Smart (KS) United National People’s Party and his (UNPP) did. When KS wanted to contest the validity of those elections in the courts, your colonial masters, the British High Commissioner to the country, Peter Penfold, buttressed by the Nigerian High Commissioner, and the U.S. Ambassador John Hirsch “convinced” the former against his action.

No sooner did KS acquiesce Kabbah co-opted his United National People’s Party by financing Joe Conteh to establish another faction of the UNPP. Kabbah also emulated Siaka Stevens and his All People’s Congress (APC) by marginalizing the Army with mass dismissals, and employing the Kamajosia—a predominantly Mende militia—as his para-military force.

He was also as tribal as Margai. Before the presidential run-off in 1996 Kabbah consented to an accord with Thaimu Bangura (not a relative) leader of the People’s Democratic Party that he would be rewarded if the latter endorsed his Sierra Leone’s People’s Party.  And if their coalition was victorious Bangura will be appointed the Minister of Finance with given some additional ministerial positions.

After the international community had stolen the election for Kabba and his SLPP, Bangura was appointed as Finance Minister, but was demoted only after three months to the Energy ministry.

Had Kabbah sought a sincere political solution with the Revolutionary United Front when he was president in 1996 he would saved the country from all the socio-economic carnage. But he would not because he was haunted by the shadow of Albert Margai and his SLPP, and the General Elections of March 1967.

It is very lucid why you revere both Kabbah and Ernest Koroma.

As for the communications between the late Chief Hinga Norman and London, that too is another matter that you will probably not read about  in any newspaper or political science history thesis  for another fifty years or so, and that too is another matter.)

Harold Wilson then the British Prime Minister during Sierra Leone’s 1967 General Elections was troubled when Stevens and his All People’s Congress (APC) won,

Due to the historical and colonial friendship between the Mendes and their SLPP, and the mutual antagonism between them and the Temnes, Harold Wilson then the British Prime Minister and his Labor Party were discontented with the results of Sierra Leone’s 1967 General Elections.  Stevens and his All People’s Congress (APC) had won because the Temnes had overwhelming voted for him and his party.

The hatred of the British towards the Temnes dates back to the Hut Tax War of 1898, when our OrBai Bureh and his krugbas (warriors) fought tenaciously against your British colonial masters for demanding that my people pay taxes on their homes, though they were not represented in your House of Commons.

Because of time of space “your” Chief Norman orchestrated the first coup d’etat in Sierra Leone under the auspices of the then Force Commander Brigadier David Lansana who was Albert Margai’s in-law. Kabbah appointed Norman as his deputy Defense Minister to perpetuate the Mende hegemony which had been derailed by the 1967 elections. Norman also had regional, ethnical, ideological and political differences with one Corporal Foday Sankoh of the Revolutionary United Front.

Kabbah, Norman and the conservative ilk of the SLPP thought they will militarily demolish the RUF. The rest they say is history.

Your APC and SLPP patron Tony Blair had “encouraged” the Sandline Affair—which violated a UN agreement that forbade the arming of any factions in the rebel war in Sierra Leone—which equipped the Kamajosia. He also financed Kabbah’s government in exile which was located in neighboring Conakry, Guinea to the tunes of millions of British Pound Sterling.

Stevens and his APC wanted to eliminate Brigadier David Lansana because he had obstructed his dream of being Prime Minister of Sierra Leone with the March 23, 1967 coup.

Your dear friend Conteh had bank accounts because he was taking those boxes of money to be deposited overseas. Are you justifying thievery by your friend? I hope not.

Marcus Garvey, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin or culture is like a tree without roots.” I am not involved in hearsay because my depictions are factual.

If we cannot solve the problems of the past Sierra Leone WILL NEVER PROGRESS. History has taught us that all the succeeding governments since Sir Milton Margai’s in 1961 to the current Ernest Koroma’s had neither, nor will they provide a vertical socio-economical and political living standard for my people.

On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 8:08 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

WB,

May I kindly refer you to pages 246- 247 of Tony Blair’s”A Journey”

 I have some of what you call “the ability to reason and understand” and that’s why I declare to you most categorically that President Ernest Bai Koroma is not worthless.  Having said that, I should like to add – in the context of this discussion,  that he could be doing more to attract some of the “qualified manpower of the African Diaspora is located in the United States” back home...

 As to  “when Siaka Stevens' cabinet was populated with Ph.D's”  including my most respected and dear friend Dr. Abdulai Conteh  - we won national scholarships at the same time (I was in touch with him when I was in Nigeria – at a time when he was Foreign Minister)  - well here’s what Tony Blair about Sierra Leone  ( on page 246) :

“In Sierra Leone in early 2000, a further challenge presented itself. It is one of the least discussed episodes of my ten years as prime minister, but it’s one of the things of which I am most proud. However the important thing is the lesson it can and should teach us.

The tale of Sierra Leone - and I hope its future chapters are brighter - is a metaphor for what happened to Africa. Fourah Bay College in Freetown has a link with Durham University, where my father taught .It used to be one of the top universities in Africa and as good as many European ones. In the 1960s may dad would go out to teach in Freetown. At that time, Sierra Leone was a country freed from colonial rule, with a strong governing infrastructure and a GDP per head around that of Portugal.

 Between then and the late 1990s , the country went on a downward spiral that was as tragic as it was  entirely avoidable  By the time we came to power, the democratically elected government looked  as if it would be toppled  by a collection of  gangsters, madmen  and sadists known as the Revolutionary United Front ( RUF) , and the country’s abundant natural resources – particularly its diamonds  - were being systematically plundered.. The people were caught in the middle”

When the government tried to insist that the future should be decided by an election, its supporters were subjected to a campaign of medieval brutality....” (If you haven’t read it, please get the book - I did – it’s worth reading - but I guess you know the rest of the story)

 I am not talking about intellectual in the Jean-Paul Sartre sense (“ the ability to think without restrictions” etc.), I mean intellectual in a slightly broader sense,  apart from people like Kwame Anthony Appiah and Cornel West I'm talking professional manpower, doctors, engineers, like the 15,000 Nigerian doctors you have in the US  and the few thousand Ethiopian doctors you have in Philadelphia and Chicago  and other great  American cities  - people who could satisfy some of Africa’s manpower requirement needs – not the empty meaningless PhDs  who can only recycle other people's thoughts, not the guy my Yoruba professor was laughing about when he phoned me this morning and talked about “ The Professor of Electricity  who can only produce darkness” and I asked him which professor is that ( I was thinking about another "Professor" - Professor Chicken teeth")  and he told me  it was the Nigerian minister under whose jurisdiction NEPA is still performing so badly.

WB, Ii’s two O’clock in the morning, so I must hit the sack now.

And a good night to you over there in Washington.

Sincerely,

We Sweden

 

On Thursday, 23 January 2014 21:03:28 UTC+1, william bangura wrote:

CH,

You cannot debunk my premise, because you never identified a leader who is not useless.

" It’s a very important relationship and there’s no gainsaying that much of the intellectual leader-ship and qualified manpower of the African Diaspora is located in the United States."

Intellectual is an adjective I hate to utilize because the definition refers to the ability to reason and understand. In the history of my paternal country, Sierra Leone, "intellectuals" supported the idea of a one party system of government, and after it was practiced for almost two decades that model was more than disastrous.

History has demonstrated that being educated or being "an intellectual" does not equate to good or great political leadership. Though Kofi Busia was more formally educated than Kwame Nkrumah, the later  accomplished more in three years for Ghana than the former did in a comparable phase.

Equating higher education and political leadership is one of the salient problems that has affected sub-Saharan Africa. Sierra Leone rapidly descended to the dump from 1977 when Siaka Stevens' cabinet was populated with Ph.D's.

I leave you with a quote from William Shakespeare which must be applicable to all the people of African descent, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them."

Almost all of the past and present "leaders" of sub-Saharan Africa had 'greatness thrust upon them'.

William Bangura (WB)
 

On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 10:24 AM, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

First of all, William Bangura’s  ”I totally disagree with this idea of inviting 47 feckless African "Heads of States" to a summit in Washington” would imply that all 47 invitees – without exception – are what he would describe as “feckless” . I’m sure that even Mo Ibrahim would not agree to that sort of characterisation of Africa’s best –  even assuming that Africa does not  get the democratically elected leaders that Africa deserves.

Should none of these 47 Africans Union be invited to the summit? You would prefer that there was no such summit at all?

It’s possible that if “a Caucasian Republican president” had organized such a meeting there would have been a hue and cry from some quarters, but right now that is beside the point.

 It’s a very important relationship and there’s no gainsaying that much of the intellectual leader-ship and qualified manpower of the African Diaspora is located in the United States

In this competitive world of international relations, establishing contact and dialoguing with such leaders is one way of approach. Would William Bangura suggest the more paternalistic stick and carrot approach for the US doing business with Africa? How would you like to “redeem” the situation? Any suggestions?

 The main critique of China’s approach to Africa has been that China tends to ignore African leaders’ Human Rights records and does not make such records a condition for doing business...

We Sweden

On Thursday, 23 January 2014 02:49:10 UTC+1, william bangura wrote:

President Obama never ceases to amaze me. I totally disagree with this idea of inviting 47 feckless African "Heads of States" to a summit in Washington.

This invitation is a testament that he supports their socio-economic and political policies. If a Caucasian Republican president had organized this meeting there will be hues and cries from the "Liberal left" and the African-American 'mercenaries' (those who PRETEND that they empathize with the subjugated sub-Saharan Africans only to host and applaud "democrats" such as Macias Obieng of Equatorial Guinea, Museveni of Uganda and Kagame of Rwanda to name a few) against such a rendezvous given the current situation of wars, corruption, maladministration and repressions.

Though I am to the left of the liberals in my Democratic party, I question President Obama's foreign policy in sub-Saharan Africa.

William Bangura (WB)

On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 7:13 PM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:

 

“Brother Obama , soon to be less tied up in Afghanistan  is making his move  and will be paying

a lot more attention  to Africa: Obama to invite 47 African heads of state.”

--

Well they can  learn from him  a thing or two about extra-judicial assassinations

and domestic surveillance.

 

GE

 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Cornelius Hamelberg

Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2014 8:24 AM

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Great news: Brother Obama to invite 47 African heads of state to a summit on August 5th-6th , 2014

 

Thus far there’s been so much moaning and mooning about  China’s progress in Africa and some groaning about  Uncle Sam’s  increasing military presence on the  African continent via Africom ; and now  after Iraq, Brother Obama , soon to be less tied up in Afghanistan  is making his move  and will be paying a lot more attention  to Africa: Obama to invite 47 African heads of state

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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: My Journey in the Orisa Tradition, Ifa and Female Centred Spirituality : A List of Inspirational Sources and Personalities

Thanks for sharing, Cornelius, and for the enquiries. 

I will check out those links.

I'm only just seeing this and only bcs a name I mentioned in ithe essay you are responding to came up on my  Google search for that name for another piece I am writing, suggesting the value of posting on USAAfrica Dialogues Series for sharing one's information online. 

I was not alerted to the response by my Google mail which would normally highlight responses in bold.

You have clearly journeyed across cultures and experienced some inspiring insights. 

I have also been privy to some unusual experiences, in contrast to the character of conventional reality, experiences  inspired by different cognitive contexts, including spontaneous  induction of trance from reading the philosopher Immanuel Kant on the Sublime on the first floor of the Ugbowo library of the University of Benin in the final year of my BA there. 

If one dedicates oneself to them,  spiritual systems often work, and other cognitive systems may also yield unanticipated fruits, like my Kant experience,   if one's primary purpose is the expansion of consciousness, this being  my conclusion from my own experience.

As for other goals, such as affecting physical reality on one's behalf, I know little about that. 

I feel tempted to describe my consciousness expanding experiences with Ifa, Benin nature spirituality, spirituality of art, Hinduism, Eckankar, Western magic, the Grail message, Christianity, The Ancient Mystical Order of the Rosy Cross ( AMORC), meditation and sex, but since I stumbled on your response in the midst of writing another piece inspired by the amazing Facebook photo album of Mercedes Morgana Reyes, I might have to postpone such descriptions to their presentation in essays I will post here on mysticism, witchcraft and art.

On this - 'what is the relationship between the Western phenomenon of witch/ Wicca and what is generally known as witchcraft in West Africa?', one may best respond in terms of the witchcraft  concepts one is aware of. 

I have some exposure, often  through unverified belief, even when discussed in such magnificent works as Babatunde Lawal's Gelede-a potent work, even from the footnotes I have read, on the theory of Yoruba/Orisa feminine spirituality-to  the concept of the Awon Iyami -Our Mothers- which may be compared with  the Yoruba/Orisa equivalent of the feminine principle in Western witchcraft and the awesome concept of the dakini in Tibetan Buddhism. 

I dont think I really understand what you mean by the sociological perspective on this, a question I might have understood better if I have read Hallen and Sodipo's pioneering Knowledge, Belief  and Witchcraft, based significantly on person to person discussions with a group of spiritual practitioners in Yorubaland.

My tentative thinking  from my experience and reading is that the human being is capable of some of the powers attributed to witches in Southern Nigeria, such as conducting meetings in locations different from where their physical bodies are located, and that centres of power in nature, such as tree clusters or particularly potent trees, such as iroko trees, may facilitate  such transfers of consciousness.

I also suspect that the culture of using fellow humans as sacrifices for the acquisition of power among those so inclined among such spiritual adepts, a practice attributed to witches in Southern Nigeria,  may be factual in relation to a point in history, at least. 

I am of this view because I understand myself as having  been exposed to these possibilities. 

Dion Fortune, the English occultist whose works I was fortunate to have as  fundamental  to my primary exposure to the occult when I encountered them in Benin, sums up such possibilities in asserting that a practising occultist will encounter opportunities  for good or  evil in their course of their specialised work, and must therefore make choices between them and bear the consequences in terms of their mark upon one's personality and one's future experiences.

thanks

toyin

On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 2:02 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:

Toyin Ifa,

 By the way our sister visited me today - such a strong presence – eventually I had to rub some olive oil on the dome of my head – (you may call it an anointment) – such love - God bless her!

Yes, there are secrets and there are secrets, even veiled ones – this visitation is different – very different from when I was visited by the queen of the gypsies (smile) many, many years after my kundalini was awakened, on the day when I returned  to the ashram from a visit to the Vajreshwari Temple  ( I noticed  that the air was saturated with perfume – which perfume ?, they asked me  ( the earth chakra had broken loose and that night and  I wanted to return to Saraswati  - but the ashram guards prevented me from leaving, although I had packed my bags and was determined  to go  “There are tigers up there roaming the hills”, they warned me.. .They had to restrain me forcibly.

That’s a tremendous amount of time (and Shakti!) doing research in the quest for the grail. I met a Dr. Bajpai an Indian professor of Mathematics a couple of times in Nigeria. Around that time he was writing on average a book on mathematics every year – anyway, he explained everything about what you call “the female deity” to me – and – I understood. (Previously - until very recently, there are those who had to sin (but not adultery or fornication) to stay alive – otherwise they are so light they go to heaven and do not return to earth, but that’s changed now

I’m most impressed by your “year studying with Nigerian Benin babalawo-adept in the esoteric knowledge of Ifa- Joseph Ohomina”

All the reading, Sir John Woodroffe (all of him recommended), the Hindu and Buddhist scriptures etc. – the Tibetan is more esoteric (but what do I know, since I don’t know the other Buddhist branches) the language cues - all that cerebral activity is alright if it’s understanding you seek and not suspension of disbelief or belief in the unseen; sometimes the cerebral can get in the way too - but let me ask you   - if it’s ok - have you received any live transmissions?  Chaitanya mantras - real living embodiment of “the teaching”?   It’s all well and fine reading thousands of cookery books, but the proof is in the eating of the pudding, isn’t it? Unless of course you only want to profess, to teach and preach but not to eat. To eat, to sleep, what more?

 A must read (not at all tedious or complicated

After all the Indian and Tibetan stuff  I eventually received transmissions from Iran that were a thousand times  - or more than a thousand times  what I had received before.... but that could also mean  - not only that I was more receptive ( I was more innocent before)  and  the vessel  more capable of receiving? I don’t know.  But I do know that distance is no problem

I believe that you will eventually be making your way to Cuba maybe to re-connect with some of the Yoruba Dispora there?

 There’s the good and the evil - in your comparative studies if you should get your hands on Rabbi Yaakov Hillel’s Faith and Folly  you would have much food for thought. (My good friend, a Jewish guy and an enlightened yogi has other ideas...)

 I’m curious: For you, what is the relationship between the Western phenomenon of witch/ Wicca and what is generally known as witchcraft in West Africa? I’m thinking more of the sociological impact and less of the esoteric, about what you have to say....

I wonder what Osho would say on same-sex marriage. What does Toyin say?  

Sorry about all that blah blah blah. - as my enlightened yogi brother often says, " too many words!" and he's right of course, if it's basically a question of, "Be still and know that I am He!"

We should talk sometime.

Best Wishes

We Sweden

On Tuesday, 28 January 2014 21:39:49 UTC+1, toyinifa wrote:

                                                                                 My Journey in the Orisa Tradition, Ifa and Female Centred Spirituality 

                                                                                             A List of Inspirational Sources and Personalities

                                                                                                                 Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                                                                                                       The Cosmos of World Art and Correlative Cultural Forms

                                                                                                        "Collaborative Knowledge Creation"

                                                                                                               A  Division of Compcros

                                                                                        Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems 

                                                                                 "Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"

A response a question from A-Global Southerner  on Yoruba-101 Facebok group  on my poem/ essay/art titled "Sheela Na Gig : Cunt Wisdom : Womb Wisdom : Opon Ifa"

Integrating Spiritual Traditions in Relation to Ifa and Modern Western Paganism

The "Sheela Na Gig : Cunt Wisdom : Womb Wisdom : Opon Ifa" post integrates insights from Yoruba/Orisa tradition in general, and from Ifa and global female centred spiritualities, particularly  Hindu and Western Pagan. 

       My Foundations in Yoruba/Orisa Spirituality 

My fundamental knowledge of  Orisa tradition comes from  Olodumare :  God in Yoruba Belief by Bolaji Idowu, perhaps the most lucid and yet comprehensive work in the field.

My further understanding  comes from The Return of the Gods : The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger by Ulli Beier,  a superb presentation of the Orisa tradition from a Western mind deeply attuned to the tradition, drawing from Wenger who was immersed in it through a lifetime in Yorubaland, particularly at the  Osun forest at Osogbo.

An amazing summative statement of Orisa spirituality  is Wole Soyinka's seven stanza  poem at the conclusion of A Credo of Being and Nothingness, while the essay itself transcends  religious particularities  in describing a  meditation  on the Nothingness  before cosmic manifestation. 

This meditation  may be correlated with Wole Soyinka's awesome depiction of the ancient voluntary death ritual  in a place in Yorubaland in his Death and the King's horseman and his fantastic meditations on cosmic origination in The Man Died, possibly in chapter 33 and in A Shuttle in the Crypt. 

We have thus entered some of the most profound adaptations of Yoruba/Orisa spirituality, taking us to Soyinka's Myth, Literature and the African World, the three non- historical essays of which, for me, along with the poetry of Credo, communicate the power of a scripture.

The most sophisticated and profound writings known to me covering  the scope of the Orisa tradition  are the works of Susanne Wenger, of which I  have read The Return of the Gods, written by Beier but deeply grounded in a vision  shared with Wenger, Adunni, a magnificent series of interviews with Wenger and The Sacred Groves of Osogbo, all these with wonderful photographs, and the greatest, one of the greatest works in global spirituality, A Life With the Gods in their Yoruba Homeland, with amazing photographs by Gert Chesi, superb images in colour and black and white, magnificently hardback bound.

The best place I know of to get it is a search through bookfinder.com. The Amazon prices are significantly higher, the last I checked.

Other  books by Wenger are  The Timeless Life or Mind of the Sacred, not sure of the specific title, and others I dont remember now or know about, along with other books and essays on her work and that of her artistic collaborators. 

Summations that could be described as bridging the basic and the more sophisticated understanding of Orisa are  my essays  on Orisa and Ori in The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought. ed by Abiola Irele, essays which one might be able to read on the book's Amazon link.

    

                                                                                                                 

            My Foundations in Ifa

The 'Sheela Na Gig/Opon Ifa' post is a presentation of an approach to an aspect of Ifa cosmology and practice in relation to English, Christian and universal female centred spirituality.

My foundations in Ifa are from Wande Abimbola's An Exposition of Ifa Literary Corpus and Ifa Divination Poetry.

He has more books and a rich catalogue of essays.

I consider any work  by Abimbola a necessity.

Reading and rereading him, and meditating on his works I find a priceless education.

A marvellous perspective  on Ifa  in relation to Orisa tradition is provided by Awo Falokun Fatumnbi, that being his Ifa name, his other name being perhaps George Wilson.

His "Obatala : Ifa and the Chief Spirit of the White Cloth", available free on Scribd, is mind blowing and I expect his other books are also potent, as evidenced by other essays of his on Scribd and at his website.

I have been privileged to spend a year studying with Nigerian  Benin babalawo-adept in the esoteric knowledge of Ifa- Joseph Ohomina. 

Qualities of character, of relationship with inscrutable and ever expanding knowledge and nuggets of wisdom I will continue to ingest and unravel over a lifetime were communicated to me through this relationship. 

I must confess that meditation and writing on Ifa ideas has proven priceless in expanding the knowledge gained from reading and direct teaching.

I have collected some of these writings in my Facebook notes, my blogs, of which "Ifa Student and Teacher" is representative on Ifa.

 The  'see my complete profile 'link on that blog  takes one to my complete list of blogs on Blogger, including one on ese ifa, Ifa literature, and perhaps one on opon ifa, the Ifa divination tray and cosmological symbol. 

I also have a summative statement of my understanding of Ifa at my essay on Ifa in The Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Thought.

Very informative groups on Ifa abound on Facebook.

Odu Access Network has a growing collection of ese ifa carefully discussed by members, while Orisa/Ifa/Egun Talks examines in some depth each week a subject in the tradition each week, while both groups also address a range of topics in the tradition. 

Solagbade Popoola, Elebubion, Awo Fagbami Nougbodekon, Obafemi Origunwa, Aina Olomo, Awo Fategbe, among other Orisa and Ifa luminaries,  are people whose Facebook accounts, Facebook groups, comments in various Facebok groups,  and other institutions they have founded  are   priceless for knowledge of Orisa and Ifa.

A very good blog on Ifa, among which must be a good number  of others, is Ifa Yesterday, Ifa Today, Ifa Tomorrow, by Ifalola Sanchez. 

My essay,freely  accessible online,  on Ifa divination, in relation to autobiographical theory in studying the work of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh both presents foundational and more sophisticated understanding of Ifa and presents a style of its possibilities in the study of non-African cultural forms, thereby indicating its universality of application, a path taken by other writers whose names I dont have now, including Olu Longe in  "Ifa Divination and Computer Science"  and Ron Eglash in African Fractals. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

             Opon Ifa Studies 

The 'Sheela Na Gig/Opon Ifa' post also  builds on a division of Ifa, which I describe as Opon Ifa Studies,  the exploration of the opon ifa, the Ifa divination tray and  a central cosmological symbol of Ifa. 

Foundational information on opon ifa symblism is in the marvellous Yoruba : Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought and priceless  essays are in The Yoruba Artist : New Theoretical Perspectives in African Arts. 

A pioneer in Opon Ifa Studies is Hans Witte, as in his book  Ifa and Esu : Iconography of Order and Disorder .

All the essays of Babatunde Lawal are irreplaceable in relation to the entire Orisa tradition and he presents vital information on opon ifa in his essay on Twinness in Yoruba Belief.  

The one body I know dedicated to Opon Ifa Studies is the Facebook group  Opon Ifa Studies, with fantastic essays of high sophistication and conceptual range, covering different disciplines, on opon ifa. 

A Google search for opon ifa will bring up a significant number of hits.

Essays  on opon ifa by myself and others are in my blog on opon ifa in Blogger and in my Facebook Notes and photo albums. 

          The Feminine Principle in Ifa 

The 'Sheela Na Gig/Opon Ifa' post is also based on the feminine principle in Ifa known as Odu.

My understanding of this concept comes from my reading of it  in relation to Olodumare  in Bolaji Idowu's Olodumare : God in Yoruba Belief, the analysis of the concept in relation to Olodumare by Shloma Rosenberg  in his wonderful essays on Orisa,  online.

Babatunde Lawal has a magnificent section on the feminine in Yoruba cosmology in his book on Gelede and I expect the writings of the Drewals in their book on Gelede as well as the book on Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency will also prove priceless. 

One of the richest discussions of the feminine and Ifa is by Awo Falokun Fatumnbi in "The Ifa Concept of History", if I remember the title well, free online.

I also find the marvellous essays of Rowland Abiodun on both the feminine principle in Yoruba cosmology and on ase, creative, transformative cosmic force, to be priceless.

These essays might be in the files  section of the Opon Ifa Studies Group and certainly in The Cosmos of World Art and Correlative Cultural Forms Facebook group. 

The work of Susanne Wenger in this field is priceless. 

There are a number of Facebook groups dedicated to the feminine principle in the Orisa tradition, of which I can recall Daughters of Odu Ifa-Egbe ômô obìnrin Ifa.

There are others I belong to but dont recall now.

Searching for these, I came upon the name of Mercedes Morgana Reyes who seems dedicated to the Iyami-Our Mothers-dimension of the female aspect of Orisa spirituality. 

The group Bini and Yoruba Deities, founded by Aminat Ola is also likely to have essays on Iyami. 

My Facebook page, blog and Notes titled "Space of Becoming" provide a summary of my understanding of this field in relation to other African spiritualities.

        Female Centred Spiritualities : Global

The 'Sheela Na Gig/Opon Ifa' post is also inspired by an exposure to the great developments globally  in female centred spiritualities particularly in Hinduism, Buddhism and modern Western Paganism.

            Hinduism 

Central to my inspiration here are the concept of Sakti in Hinduism, as represented by such foundational texts as the Soundayalahari, commentary on the poem and other literature on Goddess veneration in Sri Vidya, of which the works of Douglas Renfrew Brooks and the PhD thesis of Geoffrey Lidke are central, along with  marvellous  Yogini Hridaya and works on the poem.

Also vital is the organisation created by  and the books of Maddhu Khana, such as Yantra : The Symbol of Cosmic Unity, along with her renowned PhD thesis, the book on which is awaited.

Summative of Hindu Goddess concepts and much of global Goddess conceptions are the Mahavidya,  The Great Feminine Wisdoms, on which the works of David Kinsley are particularly good, and the few other books that seem to exist on them are very good, including Aghor Pir's blog, now available as fee online PDF files.

Anything written by, quoting or discussing the matchless Abhinavagupta is precious, his insights on the feminine/masculine dynamic being peerless in lyricism, profundity and conceptual magic. 

The great scholar of Hinduism Mark Dyczkowski is currently engaged in presenting a translation of Abhinavagupta's  magnum opus the Tantraloka. 

A Google search will unearth  treasures of information on these figures, and Facebok has a good number of impressive groups and pages dedicated to the subject. 

Out of these, the site Siva Sakti Mandalam by Mike Magee, the site of the Sakti Saddhana group and their translation of the devotional text the Sri Devi Khadgamala Stotram, are in a class of their own.

Hindu Goddess literature is huge in primary and secondary expressions. 

        Buddhism

The concept of the dakini in Buddhism is an awesome correlation of the feminine principle and a conception of the transcendent character of ultimate reality.

I have moved closer to appreciating the dakini concept through my exposure to Judith Simmer-Brown's Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism and June Campbel's Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism

       Modern Western Paganism

My exposure to modern Western Paganism has been more limited and less structured, though rich, and has emerged largely through visiting such sacred sites as Avebury and Glastonbury in England, learning from the modern  Western witch Yvonne Owens, what I presented in the post from Theodora Wildcroft and memories of reading Starhawk's Spiral Dance and the unforgettable Elements of the Goddess by Caitlin Mathews and the novels of Marion Zimmer Bradley, particularly The Mists of Avalon and others in her Darkover Series. 

My essay, available free on Scribd,  comparing the Osun forest artistic and conceptual cosmography created  by Susanne Wenger and her school and the Glastonbury  work of Katherine Maltwood presents one approach to correlating the Yoruba/Orisa and English nature and Zodiacal spirituality. 

      Unification

Unifying these various strands of knowledge in relation to female centred spirituality for me is the work of Ayele Kumari, as represented by her books, blog posts and Facebook comments.

The Facebook group Exploring Ayele Kumari presents this inspiration and my method of pursuing the synthesis it inspires.

Christopher Okigbo's poetic cycle Labyrinths blends such intercultural streams  into a unity focused on a central inspirational source, his work being a smaller example of the different but related achievement of Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy, one of the greatest creations  of humanity. 

                                                                                                          Also posted in

Facebook Notes

Opon Ifa Studies Facebook group 

The Cosmos of World Art and Correlative Cultural Forms (COWACArt)  Facebook group

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