Someone with the range must unpack how our beloved queen Beyoncé is reducing blackness and Africanness to aesthetics and the western imaginations of our existence. They must also speak about how it’s now profitable to do such gimmicks. Enough with the symbolism, Equality now! https://twitter.com/BeyHov_444/status/1277076602728468481

Can Beyoncé fans please not come for me? I haven’t slept and I’m tired but I’m willing to get in the ring if it’s nb, she’s is a rich black American who appropriates and steals African culture for profit. She’s a capitalist. I love her dearly. Her movie is not available in Africa

Why is Beyoncé beyond critique? Hayi maan, ndithi I also get in “formation”, “all night” makes me cry and miss a love I never had. I use “schoolin life” during my runs and I watch “dance for you” for inspiration but that girly needs to be critiqued. Leska mbora tuu mxm

Guyzini my management has issued an unreserved apology for Pabs embarrassing himself and entering the holy ground of Beyoncé, our one and only perfect human. You can stop dragging me now. See the apology:

https://twitter.com/withpaballo/status/1277159599636955137?s=21 https://twitter.com/withpaballo/status/1277159599636955137

I tried apologizing and y’all are not stopping. I am going to rest and then I’m coming for y’all 1 by 1. Beyonce is a brilliant artist who is not African, she’s African American but that doesn’t mean she and y’all can “motherlanderdize” Africa (made the term up)

In How to Write About Africa,Binyavanga Wainaina says “ Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat.” Beyonce falls in the same trope that Americans and the West do about Africa. They Africa like it’s a country

I’ve been to America and I have taught Americans and I have lived with Americans and one of the things I face is the misinformation and misrepresentation of Africa in the media and education system. That’s my qualm here and my critique of Beyoncé is not just based on the video

In Spirit, she stole an Africans work and other people have exposed this. I appreciate a powerful artist like her “going back to her roots” and representing but we must also unpack how Africa as a continent is not a repository for Americans to come and pick and choose

There are power dynamics between Black Africans and Black Americans. America is global hegemony which means there’s a privilege that comes with being a citizen there. Add to that fame and money and power. Hayi man I’m personally tired of the reduced representation of Africa

Africa is more than music, art, dancing, paintings, poverty, wildlife or whatever myopic imaginations you may hold about this complex continent. We need to have a nuanced discussion about this even outside of Beyoncé because most people do it. *Going to stuff my face, BRB quick *

While I am getting fat and Beyoncé fans are losing their shit, please read this. Knowledge is power stans. I know Beyoncé is schoolin life with no degree and I’m a corny hater who happens to be a fan too so your drags are unwarranted but qhubekani. Read: https://granta.com/how-to-write-about-africa/

Yes Black Americans have roots in Africa and their ancestors were taken by force through violent slave trade. I am empathetic to that history as we are all an oppressed people. But intersectionality and matrix of domination nb. So no Jamal, Africa is not your “motherland!”

You can’t reduce us (Africans) to an ancestral land that you only evoke or tap into when you want to make art or make an argument or for whatever that essentialises and keeps us frozen. We are not your spiritual journey. Because some then go back to looking down on us. *ad break*

Back from eating and yes I’m fatter, but I digress. “Beyoncé is not a politician but an artist” okay Einstein, I wasn’t aware of that. Art doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it’s not abstract, it’s a tangible tool and resource for expression, oppression and domination. Art is political

Contrary to popular belief, I’m actually not that dumb, so I DO NOT expect Beyoncé to write a voluminous and seminal book on critical race theory and systems of oppression. I do however expect her to be aware of the dangers of the single story as my problematic fave Adichie says

Stan culture is actually so scary. I am scared of y’all and your sheep mentality. You can consume art and still critique the artist. Stop placing people on pedastals. Humans are complex and we are all hypocrites, we are all problematic and we must be held accountable beloveds

Ask yourselves why you are so ready to attack and defend and even mete out ad hominem attacks at a stranger online for a celebrity who doesn’t even know you exist. I used Beyoncé as a gateway into this conversation about African representation. I actually respect her work ethic

Hands down Beyoncé is the greatest artist alive. And I’m not saying that to pacify y’all attackers, but genuinely, no one does it like her, and that means power BUT with great power comes great responsibility. I love Black people, but we are not sacrosanct, we also fuck up

I believe in holding each other accountable with the gentleness and love it requires as Black people in the diaspora and “motherland” because the world hates us. We must all grow and we grow through being reflexive and introspection. I’m not paid for these threads, I’m muting

Lmao I have to add this and it’s the last thought, Beyoncé never tours in Africa during her world tours. Ever. She came here to see our beloved Mandela and the charity concert. Other than that, no. Granted she’s giving African artists opportunities to shine but sis doesn’t see us

In run the world she used Mozambican dancers who allegedly went paid properly. In grown woman she used Congolese influence. In lemonade (my fave) she borrowed from Nigeria heavily. Are we there for her to show how African she is? Anyway with that, Beehive, who runs the world?

There’s more to Africa than Egypt and the reductionist HOTEP narratives y’all tell about Africa. Not all your ancestors were kings and queens, I get the need to raise our self esteem but if everyone is a descendant of kings and queens who were the peasants Dr Umar? Stop it abeg

Edward Said wrote a brilliant book on Orientalism which speaks about how the West(read America) Others the East. It’s done through multiple tools one being art. Anyway I actually like visiting New York and I hope Trump(my fave troll) won’t bar me. This thread is officially over

Beyoncé and her team going through the African “country” picking up cultures, art, and influence to use in music, movies and fashion:

Me: Beyoncé is a GOAT but she’s problematic...

Beyhive:

This thread has reached French and Spanish twitter. When I tell you I am being dragged in languages I don’t understand and that I have to google translate what the attack means

People hate the truth. Luckily the truth doesn’t care. Also many things can be true at once. Learn to appreciate COMPLEXITY. Read “Complexity and postmodernism” by Prof Paul Cilliers. Realize how everything is connected. By saying that you are privileged it’s not an attack.

Would this reaction have been pleasing to the Beyhive? Everything she does raises the bar right? even though the bar is built on the backs of the marginalized right? The oppressed can be oppressors, we are in a kyriarchy, the wheel of domination shifts. INTERSECTIONALITY

I’m not policing Beyoncé. Blackness is not monolithic. I’m not a gatekeeper. I’m just a pseudo- intellectual. Stop sending me DMs, drag me, curse me out right here on the tl but after all the craziness is over, grab a few books, journals and watch a few podcasts. Goodbye friends.

China and Portugal have just joined the group chat and it’s actually lit trying to absorb international vitriol, but that’s what I get for being a global citizen I guess, because I’m this girl here

This thread wasn’t intentional. I want peace and silence in my mentions