NEWS

KUUMBA festivities continue this week

by Merredith Collins

The Black Light makes all things glow with this season's Kuumba celebration.

Kuumba, meaning 'Creativity' in Swahili, is an annual creative expression of black culture which started last Monday and will continue well into Sunday evening. Abusua, the black student union, and Afrikan Heritage House (AHH) are sponsoring Kuumba and, for this season, have given it the theme of Black Light: removing the eclipse of cultural unawareness.

Black light. "It's the ultimate paradox," said college sophomore Shanelle Jenkins, head coordinator of the Kuumba committee. She explained that "black" connotes negative images or untruth while its antipathy, "light" sends ideas of truth and clarity. Jenkins hopes students take "more cultural communication about what people have seen" from Kuumba. "[I want people to understand] that black folks are more than singing and dancing and being loud. We go outside the purview of rap and hip hop. We want to debase these stereotypes."

To open this forum Jenkins wanted to include all students, regardless of race. "You don't have to be black to learn about culture," she said. "We want to be open to other students to say, 'This is what we're all about.'"

Kuumba may have gotten off to a rough start with the cancellation of its first event, the Brotherhood & Sisterhood Positively Forum last Monday. "It was due to poor planning," said Jenkins. However, the black light truly began to shine at Tuesday evenings Talent Night at the 'Sco.

Students read poetry, performed jazz and rapped while a moderate-sized crowd of onlookers showed their cheering support. College first-year Rosa Hyde participated in the show by reading two of her poems. Her first poem was entitled Black Woman's Baptism. "[It] was about a woman cleaning herself and the burdens on her back. She cleanses the spirit and body," Hyde said.

Hyde hoped the audience benefited from talent night. "I think it went pretty well. I hope people take back whatever they could. . . to help them appreciate other people's talent," she said.

An Educational and Informational Forum was held Wednesday night at AHH, where upperclassmen of various majors discussed their experiences at Oberlin as well as their prospective post graduate futures. "Attendance was low," said Jenkins, "but there was a lot of input. They gave personal as well as academic insight."

The Kuumba celebration continues with a candlelight dinner and formal at AHH, a Foxy Brown's Rent Party/'70s party and will end on Sunday with a second Dance Diaspora performance, Sunday Church at AHH, a Soul breakfast and Black Conservatory night.

Traditionally, the most popular Kuumba event is Dance Diaspora. "We always sell out," said college senior Dana Robinson, who has participated in Diaspora for the past three years.

"Diaspora is just a taste of our interpretation of African dance. It's our opportunity to give the culture to Oberlin campus. Hopefully it gives people more of an interest to understand," she said.

Dance Diaspora, directed by Faculty-in-Residence and Lecturer in African American Studies Adenike Sharpley, has some new moves this year. Last summer, Sharpley and college junior Sheri Burnett visited Gambia for two weeks to participate in and learn new Gambian dance styles to bring back to Oberlin.

"I'm excited to perform this because there are new dances people have never seen. In the past the dances were re-choreographed," said Robinson.

The participation of each event adds to the overall success of the Kuumba celebration.

"In any one of these events there is some element of light in the African and African-American community," said Jenkins.

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Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 11, December 4, 1998

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