SUNY Orange (Middletown, NY)

Florida oranges are great, but this time I was in New York...thanks to an invitation from Dr. Vincent Okock and SUNY Orange Global Initiative. Vincent Odock, Professor of Business and Economics, is from Nkim village in Cross River State, Nigeria--the same place where I've been doing research for over 20 years. I enjoyed sharing both ends of my research "Africa" and "Florida" with this audience and was extremely impressed with all the questions from the SUNY Orange crowd (must be all that good Vitamin C). For those who aren't familiar with the Cross River region in West Africa, take a look a Chapter 3 ("Cross the Water" including an interview with the poet Adrian Castro) and Chapter 16 ("Abakua Communities in Florida: Members of the Cuban Brotherhood in Exile" by Ivor L. Miller).

Leopard society masquerades in Nigeria (Ebonko), Cuba (Ireme), and Florida (Ireme). Leopard Societies in Nigeria and Cameroon had traveled to Cuba due to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. While these male ritual organizations have many different types of masquerades in Africa, the masquerade associated with the mother of the Leopard spirit is the only masquerade character that is performed in Cuban Abakua tradition. This performance element was then carried to Florida as Cubans migrated to the Sunshine State over many decades. Photos by Jordan Fenton (left), by Amanda Carlson (center), and by Angel Guerrero (right).

Conversations from Tampa, Part II (Theme Parks)

SEMINARS CAN BE FUN. I recently met with art history graduate students at University of South Florida (USF) to discuss the last chapter of Africa in Florida, "African Attractions: Florida Tourism Gone Wild." In our seminar session, we talked about the "outer banks of art history"...my research on theme parks.

TEACHING AND RESEARCH. When I first arrived in Tampa in 1999 to teach African art history at USF for three years, I was amused by the fact that Busch Gardens, Africa was a mile from my office. I first noticed the tops of looping roller coasters on the horizon while looking out of a window on the fourth floor of the library. Then I decided to hold class in the park. I led my students from the seminar "Exhibiting African Art and Culture" on a walking tour of Busch Gardens while pointing out how colonialism was depicted through architecture, artifacts, and other display techniques.

Busch Gardens, Tampa, 2001. We stopped to interview the African artisans in the marketplace before setting the class loose to perform their own "fieldwork." 













After that, I continued to develop my own research methods and spread out across the state to explore African-themed tourist attractions of all sorts and sizes, which resulted in Chapter 23 of Africa in Florida.

In 2003, Amanda Carlson in Disney's Animal Kingdom interviewing Tabo (a cultural representative from Botswana) when Tarzan's wife Jane breaks in to be part of our interview--notice my serious fieldwork equipment (tape recorder and backpack). Research was funding by a University of Florida African Studies Research Fellowship. 

 

More from the realm of popular culture.....

AFRODISNEYAC. The popular TV show Jeoprody recently featured a category called Afrodisneyac, which consisted of facts about stories about Africa produced by Disney (show #6747 January 7, 2014). The term, AfroDisneyac, is derived the term  title of Fela Kuti's 1973 album "Afrodisiac," later popularized by a 2005 song by the same name by performer Brandy. The Fela album begins with the song Alu Jon Jonki Jon, a song based in Yoruba mythology. If the experts at Jeoprody actually drew the connection between the animal/human relationships in Yoruba folktales that Fela sings about and Disney stories that are based in Africa....THAT'S GREAT RESEARCH!

Conversations from Tampa, Part I (Diaspora)

Africa in Relation was an evening about contemporary art and culture from Africa and the diaspora in honor of the late Roberta Golding, who had established an endowed chair at University of South Florida (Tampa) in the name of her dearly departed husband, Stuart S. Golding. Roberta was a friend with whom I shared numerous conversations that resonated with the evening's theme, Africa in Relation. Thus, I spoke about my experiences as the Stuart S. Golding Chair in African Art (1999-2002), which inspired the book Africa in Florida, as part of a dialog with friends and colleagues (Allison Moore, Chika Okeke-Angulu, and Magdalena Campos-Pons) regarding what the Martinican writer Édouard Glissant referred to as "the poetics of relation."   Our groups' reflections were inherently a blend of the personal and the professional.

April 17, 2014 in Tampa, FL. From left to right, Allison Moore (Art Historian, University of South Florida), Chika Okeke-Agulu (Art Historian, Princeton University), Magdalena Campos-Pons (Artist, School for the Museum of Fine Arts), and Amanda Carlson (Art Historian, University of Hartford).  Photo credit: Bryce Womeldurf. 

While teaching at USF, I became interested in the numerous elements of the African diaspora in Tampa and taught a seminar called Exhibiting African Art & Culture, which resulted in the exhibition "Behind the Mask: Africa in Tampa." This dynamic student project provided the inspiration for Africa in Florida.

Behind the Mask: Africa in Tampa, exhibition poster (2001), screen print. Artist: Brandon Dunlap.

  

Magda's discussion about her work reinforced my belief that conversations about art and diaspora need to be made with artists--not simply writing about them. This is a central premise in Africa in Florida, which begins with the voices of scholars, poets, and artists in conversation.  Photo credit: Bryce Womeldurf.

Chika spoke about the road from University of Nsukka (Nigeria) to University of South Florida (USA), where he received a master's degree in art history before continuing on to complete a Ph.D. His narrative was moving and personal, but it also spoke volumes about how scholars in the diaspora have impacted the study of art and culture. Photo credit: Bryce Womeldurf.

Amanda Carlson presenting a copy of Africa in Florida to Celina Okpaleke (Chairwoman, Igbo Women Cultural Group, Tampa)  in honor of our friendship and her assistance with Chapter 22 "Igbo Masquerades in the Sunshine State." Photo credit: Bryce Womeldurf. 

Africa in Relation. University of South Florida April 17, 2014.

"Africa in Florida" was inspired by a student exhibition ("Africa in Tampa") that Amanda Carlson produced with students at the University of South Florida (USF) when she served as the Stuart Golding Chair of African Art (1999-2002). Amanda will discuss Africa in Florida at USF as a participant in the program Africa in Relation (March 17, 2014 at USF Tampa Campus, Theater 1, 7pm), which honors the memory of Roberta Golding. Hope to see some of you there.

Africa in Florida goes to Africa!

With an advance copy of Africa in Florida in hand, Amanda Carlson traveled to Africa with students in December 2013. Amanda deposited this first available copy in the library at the Old Residency Museum in Calabar, Cross River State (Nigeria). Calabar plays a significant role in the story of Africa in Florida and is featured in Chapter 3 (which includes the poem "Cross the Water" by Adrian Castro) and Chapter 16 ("Abakuá Communities in Florida: Members of the Cuban Brotherhood in Exile" by Ivor L. Miller). Robin and Amanda also wrote a personal dedication in this copy to the late Professor Ekpo Eyo, who came from Calabar and who influenced both or our careers in African Studies.

 

The museum staff and Amanda performed a spontaneous and unplanned reading of Castro's poem, which added to the potency of bringing this book back to Africa.