Some Christmas vibes.

It is that wonderful time of the year again. It is funny to think that last year around this time, I had just put in my final application for the Renaissance Award and I hoped (but certainly didn't expect) that I would be selected. If we rewind time even further back - 15 years to be exact - it was in Benin that on December 25, 1999 Radio France International announced to my family that a coup had just deposed President Henri Konan Bedie of his functions. The new president, the General Robert Guei, was welcomed by most as "Papa Noel en treillis" (Santa Claus in Camouflage). He promised to "sweep" the government clean and be on his way. Unfortunately, he failed to keep his promises and was eventually killed on September 19, 2002 during the night that marked the beginning of the first Ivorian Civil War.

However, it is not to these sad events that I want to dedicate my Christmas blog post. It is to a song by Yode and Siro called Victoire (Victory). The song tells the story of a brawl between Jesus and Satan in the popular neighbourhoods of Abidjan (i.e. Good vs Evil). Even if my analysis of the song will be somewhat limited, I hope that through the lyrics and video you will be able to capture the complexity of this musical genre made evident through its use of rhythm, dance, satire and humour. The message is also so Christmas-sey! Also, notice how Jesus is depicted as white-skinned and Satan is depicted as black-skinned? Hopefully more on that sort of self-violence later...

In the meantime C'est cadeau! On s'enjaille un peu non? (This is a gift! Let's have little bit of fun!)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all =)

ORIGINAL

TRANSLATION

Dieu a créé son monde avec tous ses habitants... tellement amour il a créé aussi Satan... mais dans la vie tu sais qui peut te frapper, tu ne sais pas qui va te tuer. Lui Satan, tellement mauvais il a blagué Adam et Eve et il a pris le monde de Dieu. Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Dieu pour sauver son monde il a envoyé son fils unique, avec un plan de bataille. Jesus est arrivé il a créé beaucoup d'églises. Assemblée de Dieu: attaque tous le maquis. Royaume de Dieu: attaque les cinémas. Protestant-Baptistes: Eux ils se promènent pour prêcher. Tellement fâché il a créé des églises aux bords des plages, la bas on porte pas chaussures.  Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Un jour moi je passais c’est là Satan il m’a appelé. Il dit: “Jésus a les foutaises. Il a pris mes maquis. Il a pris mes cinémas. Aujourd’hui tout va finir” Satan est arrivé dans un Kimono noir, Timberland dans son pied. Son nez était percé. Tellement digba il ressemblait à Goliath, Goldorak. On dirait un cyborg. Une lumière jaillit c’est la Jésus est arrivé, dans un Kimono blanc, Sebago dans son pied, cheveux bien coiffes.   Tellement petit, j’ai dit Satan va le tuer. Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Jeux de jambes de Jésus, jeux de jambes de Satan, il n’y  a pas eu ouverture. Le gnaga était serré. Coup de pied de Satan, Jésus a bloqué. Coup de tête de Jésus, Satan a dribblé. Le gnaga était mortel. Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Tellement ça a chauffé, tout Adjamé était sorti. Abobo est venu. Koumassi était présent. Même le Gbata était témoin. Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Ça a chauffé! (Victoire) Jeux de jambes de Jésus Ouverture de Satan Jésus n’a pas Dindin, un petit crochet. Le Goliath a pris KO. Oh Victoiiiiire!

God created His world with all its inhabitants, so full of love he also created satan... but in life you know who can beat you, but you don't know who will kill you. Satan was so evil that he misled Adam and Eve and stole God's world. It was a heated battle (Victory) It was a heated battle (Victory) In order to save his world, God sent His only son with a battle plan. Jesus came down and created lots of churches. Assembly of God: Attacked all the bars. Kingdom of God: Attacked all the cinemas. Protestants/Baptists: Those went around preaching. He was so angry that He created churches by the beaches where they don't wear shoes.  It was a heated battle (Victory) It was a heated battle (Victory) One day I was walking by, that’s when Satan called me over. He said: “Jesus is so disrespectful! He took over my bars. He took over my cinemas. Today we will settle this.” Satan came in black Karate Gi. He had Timberlands on his feet. His nose was pierced. He looked so strong, he looked like Goliath, or Grendizer; he looked like a cyborg. A light flash, and then Jesus appeared in a white Karate Gi, He was wearing Sebago shoes. His hair was neatly combed.  He was so tiny, I said Satan will kill him. It was a heated battle (Victory) It was a heated battle (Victory) Jesus does some footwork, Satan does some footwork. No opening. The fight was tight. Satan throws a kick, Jesus blocks! Jesus tries a headbutt, Satan avoids it. This fight was deadly. It was a heated battle (Victory) It was a heated battle (Victory) It was such a heated battle, that all of Adjame came out. Abobo came out. Koumassi was there. Even the Gbata witnessed it. It was a heated battle (Victory) It was a heated battle (Victory) Jesus does some footwork, Opening from Satan. No hesitation from Jesus He throws a little hook, The Goliath is KO! Oh Victorrrryyyyy!

Full song with lyrics available here: 

"Neo: I know ethnography… Morpheus: Show me."

If you’re a Matrix fan like me, you will probably recall which scene of the original movie the title of this post refers to. If not here is a little refresher: 

This past semester has probably been the most challenging one of my entire academic career. Between the unreasonable amounts of readings and writing I had to complete each week; the intellectually stimulating discussions with my peers; work; my own research and my ethics review application; I am surprised to have made it this far without giving up!

In September, I was catapulted into a class in which, I realized with profound horror, I was going to be a minority in every aspect (academic background, race, gender, age etc.). My initial fears were confirmed when I was first assigned 6 papers to read and "prepare" for the next class’ discussion. I had never been asked to read 80 pages of heavy theory on such short notice (one week). Moreover, my progress was seriously impeded by my having to look up every other word in the dictionary. While I was delighted to finish the last article in the 30 minutes that preceded the beginning of class; my excitement quickly faded when I realized that even though I had read the texts, I certainly hadn’t "prepared" them. My peers had come organized with detailed notes on each article complete with excerpts and references ready to answer the questions that had been pre-circulated. I, on the other hand, sat blankly staring at the papers I had read, yet never bothered to highlight, tab or annotate. At that moment I felt utterly inadequate; I was ready to throw in the towel and cry that the social sciences weren’t for me. However, with the support of my classmates and professor I managed to muster enough confidence to persevere on this foreign path. With each passing week, I understood with more clarity what the expectations of the class were. With each passing week, I also slowly began developing a different way of looking at the social field.

This new worldview would force me to trade theoretical and empirical equations – which until then were for me the only acceptable way to describe my environment – for more nuanced approaches to generating knowledge. I came to learn that, unlike in engineering where the behavior of materials could be predicted to various degrees of accuracy and error could be quantified, human behavior was significantly more complex, and thus less readily predictable. To further complicate things, the immeasurable amounts of interconnected variables affecting individual and social agency make the social scientist’s – and more particularly the ethnographer’s– task especially difficult.

So what exactly is ethnography? To be quite frank, I am not sure I can give a straightforward answer to the question. Some respected scholars might also not be able to. It seems to be one of those disciplines that everyone intuitively understands and practices, yet cannot easily define. At first, I understood ethnography to be synonymous with fieldwork, but I was very wrong. While the two are often hard to dissociate, I came to realize that ethnography is a very particular way of doing, reporting and analyzing fieldwork.  By using his/her body as a learning apparatus, the ethnographer attempts to access the social database in order to decode elusive messages and translate them to a non-trained audience. However as it is the case with language translation, cultural translation is often dependent on the translator’s skill and sensibility to nuances, as well as by the inherent compatibility between the language pairs.

This is what I am hoping to do over the course of my research. Understand Zouglou and Coupe-Decale as seen through the eyes of a variety of actors (musicians, scholars, producers and consumers etc.) and translate it to outsiders. I am hoping that by immersing myself in the culture, I can go beyond an analysis of the songs’ lyrics and uncover meanings encoded within the dances, the lifestyles and the discourses while paying attention to their relation to politics. I am hoping to hang out in universities, libraries, Afrobeat nightclubs (in Paris), dance schools, concerts, maquis (open-air bars in Abidjan) etc. to undertake my research. These places will constitute my laboratory and my body will be the instrument.

So far, this Renaissance experience has forced me to explore my own uncharted intellectual limits and completely kicked me out of my comfort zone. I am set to leave Canada on January 14 and return on June 17 of next year (God willing). As I quite literally put my other life on hiatus, I am excited to explore the opportunities that this new one has to offer. My adventures are set to potentially take me to France, Belgium, the UK, Cote D’Ivoire and possibly other places. You can expect a new and improved Juste upon my return!