Posted: April 3rd, 2015

African American Studies

Racial capitalism and colonialism in African Diasporic culture and Western culture

Introduction

The black community is being constituted and reconstituted socially and historically to build a new diverse society. This community is contingent and is shifting constantly under the influence of the racism experiences and shared histories with other nations. Diaspora has been identified as a process since it is evolving through movement, relocation, travel, cultural reproduction and in the political struggles. It is also a condition because diaspora exists with a global race which is constantly changed and influenced by culture, economy and legal lines. Africans were linked internationally by the common shared experiences of racialism. These experiences gave them the power to unite together and form mass movements to fight for their rights. This gave them an opportunity to be part of decision making which contributed to the decolonizing process (Clarke and Deborah 12-13). This article will discuss on how racial capitalism and colonialism shaped African Diasporic cultures while transforming the West.

African Diasporic Culture and the Transformation Process

            There is a relationship between racism and the consciousness of the working class. These stem from the same tree since they signify today’s imperialism and industrialization. The racism problem is as a result of the labor problem, where, the plantation laborers were chosen on a racial basis. The Europeans were the working class while the Africans were the laborers who did not require skills to work. However with continued exposure, the African community became more organized and more intelligent. Through this, they learnt that they could unite and express their concerns and this is what resulted in the First World War. The economic developments were connected with the struggle for national liberation and the Black community fought against the shadows of colonialism. The Africans were mediated by the cultural forms belonging to the Americans and Europeans. In an effort to build a culture that they could identify with, they started identifying the connecting links that would be used to bring them together (Lemelle and Robin 21-22).

Despite the fact that Africans lacked basic formal skills, they were rich in artistic ideas; they could process and learn these ideas to come up with great art works. This attracted the Europeans to work with them and nature their talents. The Europeans had initially neglected the African themes but the discovery of this talent changed their view of the Africans. They started a new path of discovering the African inspiration and offered to provide positive guidance. Through this guidance, they influenced the works of Artists like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso among others (Lemelle, Sidney and Robin 23). This is an indication that the diaspora community is rich in talent. While the Europeans were colonizing them, they improved their art and design skills guided them to benefit economically from their talents. This way, both communities benefited.

Globalization has evolved from the colonial times to the modern setting in which different nations can work together to develop economically. Among the diaspora community, there was movement of products, people, capital and ideas. This is the same thing that is happening in the modern global trade. Through colonialism, the Western nations were influenced to learn African themes and support them to become economic activities. They developed trade through the exchange of these products. The racialization inspires different nations to transform according to the social conditions, increased human value and the need for continuity. The west has been influenced to attach value to other ethnic communities since different people inspire one another through trade, new ideas and practices useful in the formation of the modern state (Clarke and Deborah 24). Today, music and poetry is dominant among the American Negros, a culture was initially disregarded during slavery period. The West has been transformed to value art and respects the black culture as it earns different nations global recognition (Lemelle and Robin 23).

The Western community viewed the diasporic community as unitary with similar cultures, beliefs and practices. However through capitalism, this view has been changed and the west has learnt that the black community consists of people who are divided by gender, class, generations and sexuality. This influenced the U.S growing hegemony to introduce a global culture which could include the place of African America. Unlike before, where the diaspora community was separated from the rest of the black communities outside the US, today there is a connection between these nations in the diasporic political formations. This brings together different people from different nations who share similar historical moments (Clarke and Deborah 15).

Conclusion

The diasporic community is evolving socially and historically to become integrated in the modern global community. The black communities all over the world have established connections that unite them. These include the shared histories and racism experiences which have developed them to become part of the global community. Through the interaction with the colonialists, their talents and potentials were discovered and natured. They were influenced to become independent economically and this saw their journey towards freedom. The West was also influenced to recognize human value and work with other nations to form a global community and culture in which all the nations could fit.