[3.54..ZAMBIA] Escaping the Colonial Mindset with Aaron Samuel Mulenga

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WHAT TO EXPECT...WHEN YOU PUSH PLAY

Join Kondwani as he interviews Aaron Samuel Mulenga, an artist, (soon to be) professor and an expert on Afro-futurism. The conversation, broadly speaking, touched on the impact of colonialism on African art and culture. Together they question the roots and influences of the colonial mindset, discuss whose history is really taught and how art can challenge the traditional narratives of Africa. With the conversation ranging from the untold stories of WW1’s Tenga Tenga porters, to the subject of art repatriation and the purpose of art itself, you’ll learn from Aaron the origins of Afro-futurism and the true reason he creates his art.

Key Takeaways

• Aaron is a working artist, studying for his PHD, he was influenced and inspired by the Afrofuturism movement of the 60’s and includes the iconic Afronaut in his work
• Many African schools teach the history of their founders, of white, European colonizers, not local history.
• The inspiring and seldom told story of the Tenga Tenga porters in WW1 and their forgotten monument.
• Institutions such as the courts include traditions carried over from colonial times, and this should be questioned and examined as to why that can’t change.
• Repatriation of art and artefacts is good in principle but a delicate subject when considering the purpose of the pieces and the infrastructure in place to receive them.

LEAN IN, LISTEN UP...AND LEARN

“History is history. The only thing is, whose history are we learning?”

“I'm guided by a desire and a thirst to change the African narrative, to really change the narrative from dark to light. It’s the dark continent now, let's illuminate it.”

“That's the work that I'm trying to do, look back at history and say, how do we look at the future? And make ourselves present and more visible.”

“We've got our independence, but we haven't left a colonial mindset.”

“I've had to step back and say, Why do I create, what is my purpose for creating? And really, it's not so that I can sell it, it's so that I could have a conversation. It's so that I can share something meaningful and personal and deep and rich.”

“We're tired of telling the same story and struggling and finding our space of belonging and struggling even to exist or to be given space to.”

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