Kuumba week of culture

House, ABUSUA sponser '360 Degrees' of talent

Kuumba Week Committee Co-Chair Melody R. Waller '98 likes to think of this fall's Kuumba Week in geometric terms. "The theme of this week has been '360 Degrees of Blackness.' We'd like to show that the African American Community is not just one part, but many parts....We're trying to encompass the whole African American community at Oberlin."

"360 Degrees of Blackness" is just the latest reincarnation of Kuumba Week, a semi-annual festival put on by Afrikan Heritage House and ABUSUA. "Kuumba" is the Swahili word for creativity, and, as Waller attests, creativity is the common element for all Kuumba Weeks. "We have the same goals this week that we have for every [Kuumba] week," said Waller. "We want to celebrate creativity through lectures, discussions, music."

This week's activities were kicked off Sunday with Black Conservatory Night, an opportunity for students to hear African American Conservatory students perform. Other activities have included a Positivity Forum for Afrikan Heritage House members, an African American Studies Department Forum composed of Oberlin College faculty, a performance by Shule (a group of local children who study at Afrikan Heritage House on Saturdays), a performance by Shule (a group of local children who study at Afrikan Heritage House on Saturdays), a Soul Session (essentially a "talent showcase," in Waller's words) an Ethiopian Dinner and a movie night.

Activities continue this weekend, starting tonight with a performance by Dance Diaspora, an African American student dance company. Saturday will feature another performance by Dance Diaspora, as well as the Kuumba formal. The week will conclude with a Soul Breakfast Sunday morning, featuring performances by the groups Young Inspiration and Voices for Christ.

Waller says that so far, this Fall's Kuumba Week has been a success. "People are responding very well. The positivity forum got rave reviews." The postivity forum, said Waller, served an important function in Oberlin's African American community. "There's always a lot of negative energy portrayed in the African American community. The forum portrayed some of the positive energy."

Waller also sites Dance Diaspora as an extremely important component of this Kuumba Week. It's so important, says Waller, that the organizers of the committee, herself included, moved Kuumba Week so it could include the dance performances. "Kuumba was supposed to be two weeks ago, but we put it this week, just because of Dance Diaspora."

Waller, as Kuumba Week committee co-chair, has had to work out many organization problems for the week, including the one involving Dance Diaspora, but she emphasizes that she did not work alone.

The list of financial sponsors attests to this fact: ABUSUA, the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC), the Dean's Office, the Student Financial Committee (SFC), and the Office of Residential Life and Services all provided financial assistance to this fall's Kuumba Week.

Nakisha Heard '98, the Kuumba Week Committee's other co-chair, also emphasized that Kuumba Week has truly been a collaborative effort, and thanked everyone from students to faculty to the staff at the MRC for pulling together the details of this fall's Kuumba Week.