A recent social
media storm brought to the fore the discussion of writers and film-makers and
cultural appropriation of certain people’s stories. It was started by the
rumour (which later was shown to be false) that Beyoncé was planning to write
and star in a film about Saartje (Sarah)
Bartmann, the “Hottentot Venus”. Bartmann was a Khoi woman who was taken
from South Africa in the early 1800s to be shown in circus acts and other such
places and eventually died in France. Her remains were put on show in a museum
there until Nelson Mandela demanded they be returned. Eventually they were, and
she was given a proper burial in South Africa.
Many people were
angry that Beyoncé would think of “stealing” this story, they feared she would
not give it the proper research and respect. They labelled it another instance
of cultural appropriation. A Khoikhoi chief, Jean Burgess, said that Beyoncé lacked
“the basic human dignity to be worthy of writing Sarah’s story let alone
playing the part”. This view was
countered by South African Guild of Actors member, Jack Devnarian on the BBC
website who said film-makers had the “right to tell stories of people you find
fascinating and that’s what we must be careful not to object to”.
What is cultural
appropriation? It is the adoption or use of elements of one culture by a
different culture often in an exploitive manner with little understanding of
the history, experience, or traditions of the first culture.
I accept that
cultural appropriation in various sectors of the arts has been and still is a
problem. But I think people were jumping the gun with Beyoncé. Who can say she
was not going to take the time to do her research and understand the politics,
emotions and nuances of Saartje’s story? I thought that having a high profile
person such as Beyoncé take up this story would bring a horrible part of the
past to light, to let everyone see the crimes that took place. I would think
that would be something South Africa and the Khoi people would want.
But then what
about writers and cultural appropriation? Who do stories belong to? Should
writers feel free to write about anything under the sun? Or are some stories off
limits because of the tribe you belong to or the colour of your skin, your
religion, your sex? Is it okay for a man to write as a woman? A black person to
write as a Chinese person? Can a person in Australia write a novel about
President Masire? Can a Motswana write a story about Queen Elizabeth?
I have asked
myself these questions. I’m always interested in how other writers approach the
answers to these problems. One of my favourite writers, Aminatta Forna’s most
recent novel, The Hired Man is set in Croatia and is about the effects of the
war there. Some questioned if it was okay for a writer from Sierra Leone to be
writing about Croatia, that it was not her story to tell. She thought otherwise.
I’ve never
accepted the adage: write what you know.
I think it is write what you can imagine. Write about places you’ve researched
that have caught your imagination. I have never limited my stories to my one
small and quite boring life. I would have stopped writing long ago if I had
been forced to do that. What is the fun in writing fiction if you cannot
imagine another person’s life? If you cannot walk in those shoes, feel those
pains, and that happiness?
I am of the
opinion that all stories belong to everyone. The story will be judged on its
own merit. Does it hold human truth? Was it told well? That's all for me. The
categories society slots me in for their social experiment is irrelevant. All
that matters is: was I honest to the story and the people in it, and did I tell
the story well. Full stop.
As Forna says in
her excellent piece in The Guardian (“Don’t Judge a Book By Its Author”, 13 February, 2015) : “The writer of fiction says
to the reader only this: come with me on a journey of the imagination and I
will try to show you something you have not seen before. This is the gift of
the writer to the reader.” And this is what
she tells her writing students: “write what you want” and then adds “write it
well”. I agree completely.
(This first appeared in my column It's All Write in Mmegi newspaper, 15 January 2016)
I agree,as an aspiring writer I own every story that I was part of,whether I heard it within a group or was told to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for some food for thought. I struggle with the conundrum you mention: I don't want to limit myself by sticking too close to my own perspective, but I don't want to make a mess of someone else's either.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree on the 'write what you' know fallacy as well. I've always thought it should be 'know what you write', but I like 'write what you want but write it well' a lot.
Nice one, Lauri.
ReplyDelete