Batho.

BATHO will serve as a mouthpiece (hopefully a learning platform too) on anything and everything that there is to talk about - through text and visual media, so please feel free to comment and share ([email protected]) Creators: Boipelo & Didintle Khunou

[bathopeople]

Manhood is CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL

“I wouldn’t say that men flee. We have to look back into history to understand what happened. I believe slavery had an impact. The oppressor came to dehumanize and take away the dignity of the man and to break his home. Once you break a home you have broken a community. Healthy families build healthy communities. If you want to finish a community take away its sons. Our enemies targeted our men. In South Africa, after the division of different tribes men had to leave their families and look for work in the cities where there were mines. They did not flee, they had to make provision because they no longer owned their own land. When he’s in the city he has needs and loses his path. I wouldn’t say men flee from responsibility but it has now become a pattern. For as long as you have no power you will always submit to the other. You may not find these problems with Europeans because they are in power so their family structures are healthier. Men there don’t run away from their children because they are able to provide. For as long as we don’t own our own land, our own resources there will always be poverty and the destruction will continue.”

Musician, Nhlakanipho Ngqaqu, speaks about how important it is for him to identify spirituality and tradition/culture as vital aspects to defining himself. These aspects inspire him as a musician and artist and also have shaped him in significant ways which have allowed success into his life. “It’s not going to the mountain that makes you a man, it is what you make of it. Like how not everyone who goes to church is holy and full of love. I wouldn’t say that when one hasn’t been to the initiation school then he is a boy. In the cultural context, it is like that but it doesn’t make that person any different to another who hasn’t been. I wouldn’t force my son to go the initiation school but I learned valuable lessons there which helped me look at the world differently. The time spent there caused me to reflect and it was a time where I really saw how much I need God in my life. There are lessons that you will never learn in the formal educational institutions that initiation provides. You think that you need a man to raise you to be a man but It made me appreciate my mother more which is interesting because in most cases its women whom raise men. Manhood does not have to do with gender and it is not that different from womanhood. Each one decides what manhood is to them. And for me, manhood means having a strong source which is God and being respectful and independent.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Manhood is A LOT OF THINGS

“There’s a reason why families that are in high density areas talk about leaving the ghetto because when you stay in the ghetto your mind will stick to what the ghetto is. A lot of us from black communities do not get the chance to travel. When I travelled, I moved from Zimbabwe to South Africa, I realized that there is life out there. There are things that I can do. You start understanding how things work how everything happens and once you get that understanding you start seeing your life differently, it starts openning up. As a black man, you grew up knowing that black people must fight for freedom. That also nudged me to say ‘hey, I cant just sit and cry and say there are not enough black men in the creative industry. What is it that we need to do and how do we fix the problem? First thing is to get out of your comfort zone, get away from home and see the world. Get into the worst conditions and poush your brain to think.”

Graphic designer, Freelance Animator and Lecturer, Batsirai Freddy, expresses his thoughts on the lack of encouragement there is in our society for young black artists to pursue their careers in the arts. These discouragements stem from multiple places where the arts is seen as a luxury, hobbie or not a serious career path to follow and live by. “I think there have been strides made in terms of us getting our portion in the media cake. You now have black production houses, adevrtising agencies and media houses. Obviously, we are not as represented as our white counter-parts. Looking at animation, specifically, it is quite white-dominated because they get the opportunities also because of how we were raised as black men. Growing up, you would draw in you juniour school years and highschool years but after that it was treated as “hey you need to grow up now and get a real career.” The generations before were never exposed to the creative side of things, especially as a career path. People don’t see me as a professional, that’s the notion you get from black communities. But our minds are switching on now. We see that anything is achievable. We can play at the same level as everyone else. We just need to put in time and research and effort.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Manhood is CONSTANTLY EVOLVING

“In our country, how many people do you know that are born into wealth? Monetary wealth? Almost none of us. I think it is only now that some people are being born into wealth. People who are wealthy come from working class, so when they move up they forget where they come from, its almost like they don’t want to remember. They will never fight for the working class, it’s not their problem anymore. People who are born in rural areas and townships and become millionaires or billionaires and don’t invest in their communities and instead invest in urban and other areas, where they were initially not wanted and are still not welcome because they are black, but they want to build a house next to van Vuuren.”

Zewande BK Bhengu, Poet, Actor and Editor, emphasizes that material worth often times becomes most important when building an identity in the world we live in, drawing from observations of South African material culture. These influences become abusive and regressive to developing as a collective. “’uBuhle be ndoda kuy’inkomo zakhe’, so the idea of material possessions defining personal worth is something that is long standing. It’s one of the reasons a lot of men have a lot of power in rural areas. We as people, generally, whether you are a woman or man, because of money and because it determines the amount of power or influence we have, our worth becomes defined by how much influence we have and money is a gateway to influence. I don’t know if there is much we can do to break that.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Manhood is A HUMAN BODILY EXPERIENCE THAT WILL DIE AT A CERTAIN TIME

“There’s two predominant forces. There is the force of the traditional cultural notion of what it means to be a black man and there is the neo-liberal, white supremacist capital-patriarchal notion of what it means to be a black man. And somehow between these two feet upon which the masculinity of black men rests there are similarities and dissimilarities. Depending on whichever elements you take from either side, there is a definite sense of confusion and destruction of identity. For instance, if you refuse to go to the mountain and choose to go to a western doctor to get circumcised you have excommunicated yourself from being considered a man in a particular context and in another context you are considered a diligent man because you have used the most scientifically advanced ways of achieving manhood. And people can easily dismiss this and say it’s a choice. But the process of going to the mountain is infused with cultural and spiritual knowledge systems which are passed down and they’re very much focused on the role you need to play, first and foremost, as a human being within the context of the community and also as a human that occupies a particular body within the community. However, there are patriarchal elements within that. My question is: Is patriarchy or matriarchy inherently problematic? Or is it simply where the two do not see eye to eye that we have found issue? It is where the two are no longer wings of one bird, wings that don’t work together. That is where the core issue really sits, for me, with this discourse analysis.” – Itani Thalefi

Artistic medium, Itani Thalefi, believes that manhood / gender is the social construct we formulate on the sex of our bodies. “Personally, manhood and womanhood almost seem to exist on the basis of the physiological roles of the body in reproducing humanity. They are equal shareholders in a magical relation. But I think before and beyond those bodily organizations we are human beings. So for me to try narrowly define manhood - and a black manhood at that - it would be easy to typically be the angry black man and say ‘To be a black man is suffering and to fight against the system.’ I think that is just a part of the human experience. I don’t necessarily identify with being a man as strongly as I Identify with being a human being first. I think manhood is a role I was assigned because I was born into a particular gender and I was born into the context of a system that has been build where a particular gender is preferred and because you are of that gender you benefit from that system. The same way whiteness benefits from white supremacist structures. So manhood becomes a thing that is imposed on me. It becomes something that I need to negotiate with myself, however, my negotiation doesn’t feel like a choice… I can’t just say I don’t want to be a man because no system, no collective society, will allow me to say that. I can’t just simply say I’m a human being.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Manhood is TAKING A STAND

“I think we should value attaining knowledge more than anything else. Peace comes with knowledge. Assimilating information and processing it. I mean, it takes time but in doing so we are slowly beginning to realize what we will not accept anymore. And all these ‘Must Fall movements are an example of that. Of people saying ‘We have been speaking for so long. We are fed up with this. This will not go on from here on forth. We are done!” We need to develop a culture of discussing our issues and what we can do to fix them. And by speaking up we begin to realize what else needs to be changed. The next thing that must fall.” – Kahueka Huntley

Software developer, Kahueka Huntley, emphasizes the importance of creating platforms where the sharing of knowledge in our communities can occur. He states that empathy comes from people understanding one another and in order for this to happen men and women need to speak up and connect. He explains how this idea of sharing and empowering needs to start in our homes with our families. “I don’t think black people can be privileged but I think they can experience privilege. There exists a thing called black tax. If you as a black person become very successful, you know that it is part of your duty to not only provide for your children and wife but to also provide for your cousins and seconds cousins who probably never received the same level of education as your children. Charity starts at home.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Manhood is MAXIMISING ON YOUR SELF

“I believe in the principle of bestowing ideas that you may have that other people may not. Critical thinking is something that is largely lacking in a lot of high schools that I have seen. A lot of the time, students believe that you need to understand information in a certain way and regurgitate it the very same way you consumed it, which is not exactly the case. Because in varsity, for example in humanities, you are taught to have your own conception, your own understanding of the certain material. There are certain things that you are supposed to adopt and apply but more over you are supposed to reach your own conclusion and analyse things in your own way and one of the things that helps to develop this skill is debating.”- Katlego Manthata

Fine Art Student and Artist, Katlego Manthata spoke to us about the benefits of interrogating ones society and position in the world today. He speaks largely about the power of being able to critically think and speak about certain topics which influence our upbringing and largely our potential futures. “One thing I know is that within a lot of I am involved in a lot of people know this about me, the fact that I have done debating before, that I enjoy it and am very passionate about it. I found that it was really useful because I was able to book an interview successfully because I was able to ramble on for fifteen minutes in a way that would get a person to nod over and over again. That is a very invaluable skill that you could have. It can also cause you to question certain things and not just take it as they are which is something extremely valuable for a person who spends their life being told that they’re supposed to live a certain way, that they aren’t supposed to experiment a little bit, or fantasize or be vulnerable.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Manhood is THE CONSTANT RE-AUTHORING OF YOURSELF

“You have to constantly be re-authoring because you can’t change the language but you can change and define the story and how the language is used. That’s the power that each person has over their identity. I have to work with what language there is and I have to find my power in that and my power is to author. Intentionally and vehemently author. And know that a book that I wrote ten years ago is outdated. I’d have to brush up on the language of the now that I am authoring in. And that process goes on until the day I will die.” – Hamish Neil

Performer, director and theatre practitioner, Hamish Niel, shared his ideas on how it is often challenging for men to find a voice and language of defining themselves and where their progression may lead to. It’s important to understand that manhood is a performance of different representations of what a man should be and that these representations influence the kind of manhood each man chooses to perform. “You need to develop a vocabulary for what you’re going to speak about or address otherwise you get stuck in reinforcing. At the moment, the mainstream, media fed and fueled idea is that there is no language that is being developed to address the complexity of the masculine emotional experience that is not queered. And I think that’s important to add because there are examples of men sharing their emotions, there are performances of men speaking about what they’re going through but whenever those are shared or presented they are demonstrated to be unusual events. Ranging from sexually unusual to socially unusual. When I say socially I mean social dialogic – men gathering together. It’s always presented as ‘not normal’. And so we watch it because it is ‘not normal’. It’s about making the language normal. Making it something that can be spoken about. So I have certain male friends with whom we can share our emotions and struggles and whatnot and it will be very normal and it’s not queered in anyway but then that’s not mass media, that’s not pop culture, that’s not commonly done. The irony, for me, is that it is commonly done but it’s not publically done and not communicated through mass media. This idea that men don’t talk, I actually think is a white ideology. I think African men do actually speak a lot more but then there’s something around that that has been warped and shifted and perhaps it’s connected to the history of things.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Manhood is PROTECTING AND PROVIDING

“The ideal look that I come across, most recently, in the past two years in the industry, is a darker man as opposed to a light skin guy because a lighter guy is seen as less manly and masculine. It’s really absurd to me. When it comes to castings, they see my skin tone and they ask me if I am black or coloured and I’ve got a lot of darker friends in the industry and they get asked far less questions and when it comes to runway they get more preference over light skinned guy.”- Monde Mason Mase

Model and photographer, Monde Mase, identifies the way manhood has been constructed as a way to signify the assumption that men have to be protectors and providers, which in many cases can become a problem. The expectations on men to have a legacy of rich financial history in order to advance is one thing that Mason highlights in he’s responses, paying close reference to being a model and in the fashion industry, and how these expectations bring about entitled behavior by men towards others who they provide for. “We are portrayed as people that have no fault. That don’t need to answer any questions. When it comes to women we definitely don’t need to answer any questions. If your better half is asking where you’re going to, if you’re providing you don’t have to answer that question. It’s kind of like the woman is out of line when she asks questions.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

‪#‎manhood‬ ‪#‎breakingbarriers‬ ‪#‎blackmanhood‬ ‪#‎whatismanhood‬‪#‎africanmen‬ ‪#‎menspeakup‬ ‪#‎consciousness‬ ‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬‪#‎southafrica‬ ‪#‎Africa‬ ‪#‎mothokemothokabatho‬ ‪#‎Batho‬

[bathopeople]

Manhood is BEING A BETTER HUMAN BEING

“If value is going to be attached to money then there’s only so far that we are valuable. We don’t have money so then our value is intrinsically valueless. So that, in itself, poisons the black community because it consistently says to men “You can’t give so, therefore, you don’t love me” or “You can’t give, therefore, you are incapable of loving me”… Fatherhood within itself comes with terms and conditions. A mother will always be a mother – whether she gives you a miniscule or the world. But a father is only a father if he’s able to meet certain expectations. The minute he doesn’t meet those expectations then he’s no longer a father. Black fatherhood has been set up to fail. Remove the cache of expectation from black fatherhood. Stop defining good fathers to how much they give their kids. Start defining good fatherhood to how much they love their children, how much they play with their children, how much they teach their children, how much they are able to walk their children through all the difficult perils of life, how much they are able to give what they can give to their children. A black man that has nothing that gives everything should be more valued than a black man who has everything but gives only a fraction.” – Leon Hwacha

Singer and songwriter, Leon Hwacha, highlights the importance of reconstructing what makes a good father because the current expectations placed on men have created destructive ideas around fatherhood. He believes that there is need to involve intersexionality when dealing with blackness as a discourse. “The problem with discourse of blackness in our communities is that we are trying to homogenize the black experience. We expect the black experience to be the same throughout. It’s a lot more than that but we refuse to acknowledge that. Even when we push forward black rhetoric to this white world we refuse to acknowledge that blackness is more complex than what it appears to be. We refuse to investigate it through our cultural practices. We don’t make films about the multi-dimensionality of blackness. We make and consume your Tyler Perry films and Empires to represent blackness. We need to move to a point where within ourselves as black people we represent ourselves as more than just black. I’m not just black, I acknowledge that I am black but I’m not just black. The locus of my identity is not vested in the fact that I am black. It is vested in a whole load of other aspects and dimensions of me. I am black, I am a musician, I am male, I am a feminist. I Am. I just AM. I refuse to accept that I am a one dimensional creature. I’m different people at different times, according to the context. If I need to be a black feminist then I will be but if I need to be a queer feminist I will be one. I shouldn’t be faulted for that.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Performer, director and theatre practitioner, Hamish Niel, shared his ideas on how it is often challenging for men to find a voice and language of defining themselves and where their progression may lead to. It’s important to understand that manhood is a performance of different representations of what a man should be and that these representations influence the kind of manhood each man chooses to perform. “You need to develop a vocabulary for what you’re going to speak about or address otherwise you get stuck in reinforcing. At the moment, the mainstream, media fed and fueled idea is that there is no language that is being developed to address the complexity of the masculine emotional experience that is not queered. And I think that’s important to add because there are examples of men sharing their emotions, there are performances of men speaking about what they’re going through but whenever those are shared or presented they are demonstrated to be unusual events. Ranging from sexually unusual to socially unusual. When I say socially I mean social dialogic – men gathering together. It’s always presented as ‘not normal’. And so we watch it because it is ‘not normal’. It’s about making the language normal. Making it something that can be spoken about. So I have certain male friends with whom we can share our emotions and struggles and whatnot and it will be very normal and it’s not queered in anyway but then that’s not mass media, that’s not pop culture, that’s not commonly done. The irony, for me, is that it is commonly done but it’s not publically done and not communicated through mass media. This idea that men don’t talk, I actually think is a white ideology. I think African men do actually speak a lot more but then there’s something around that that has been warped and shifted and perhaps it’s connected to the history of things.” MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO #manhood #breakingbarriers #blackmanhood #whatismanhood #africanmen #menspeakup #consciousness #blacklivesmatter #southafrica #Africa #mothokemothokabatho #Bath

[bathopeople]

Model and photographer, Monde Mase, identifies the way manhood has been constructed as a way to signify the assumption that men have to be protectors and providers, which in many cases can become a problem. The expectations on men to have a legacy of rich financial history in order to advance is one thing that Mason highlights in he’s responses, paying close reference to being a model and in the fashion industry, and how these expectations bring about entitled behavior by men towards others who they provide for. “We are portrayed as people that have no fault. That don’t need to answer any questions. When it comes to women we definitely don’t need to answer any questions. If your better half is asking where you’re going to, if you’re providing you don’t have to answer that question. It’s kind of like the woman is out of line when she asks questions.” MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO #manhood #breakingbarriers #blackmanhood #whatismanhood #africanmen #menspeakup #consciousness #blacklivesmatter #southafrica #Africa #mothokemothokabatho #Batho

[bathopeople]

Singer and songwriter, Leon Hwacha, highlights the importance of reconstructing what makes a good father because the current expectations placed on men have created destructive ideas around fatherhood. He believes that there is need to involve intersexionality when dealing with blackness as a discourse. “The problem with discourse of blackness in our communities is that we are trying to homogenize the black experience. We expect the black experience to be the same throughout. It’s a lot more than that but we refuse to acknowledge that. Even when we push forward black rhetoric to this white world we refuse to acknowledge that blackness is more complex than what it appears to be. We refuse to investigate it through our cultural practices. We don’t make films about the multi-dimensionality of blackness. We make and consume your Tyler Perry films and Empires to represent blackness. We need to move to a point where within ourselves as black people we represent ourselves as more than just black. I’m not just black, I acknowledge that I am black but I’m not just black. The locus of my identity is not vested in the fact that I am black. It is vested in a whole load of other aspects and dimensions of me. I am black, I am a musician, I am male, I am a feminist. I Am. I just AM. I refuse to accept that I am a one dimensional creature. I’m different people at different times, according to the context. If I need to be a black feminist then I will be but if I need to be a queer feminist I will be one. I shouldn’t be faulted for that.” MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO #manhood #breakingbarriers #blackmanhood #whatismanhood #africanmen #menspeakup #consciousness #blacklivesmatter #southafrica #africa #mothokemothokabatho #Batho

[bathopeople]

Electrical Engineer, Nakhjavani Mulumba, shares his understanding of what really makes up manhood: Ubuntu, respect. Nakhjavani is from Congo and his mother tongue is Chiloba yet he speaks Swahili. This is significant because it is symbolic of him embracing not just his own culture but other African cultures, which he believes, is key to African men and women finding solidarity and not giving in to xenophobia, black hate and other inferiority complexes that are results and consequences of colonialization. “For me, the change starts from helping each other and supporting each other. We must not look at each other as black men from different country, we must just see each other as black men ALL from Africa. Africa can move forward from there.” MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO #manhood #breakingbarriers #blackmanhood #whatismanhood #africanmen #menspeakup #consiousness #blacklivesmatter #southafrica #africa #mothokemothokabatho #Batho

[bathopeople]

Actor, dancer and singer, Teekay Baloyi, refers to the brave decision he has made, quite early in his life, of rejecting detrimental notions of manhood. He firmly believes in the fact that as much as one cannot fully control what happens to him/her, one has full control of how they respond to these happenings and that is where their true power lies. Taking ownership of your life is truly the key to your success regardless of what oppressive systems, society and the mass media impose on men and women. “One thing that I do enjoy seeing with black people is when we shine. When we become the CEOs, become the teachers, become the doctors. Coming from tough backgrounds, some people made it happen. Our parents and grandparents made it happen. They fought. It is that drive, that persistent will despite the diversity. It was hard for every black person back then and some people made it through. Damn good for them. When I see a black man earning his qualifications after coming from a family of no matric certificates, an entire family – no one with a matric, and then there’s a doctor in the family, That is a fantastic feeling! When you strive and reap the benefits of your hard work and your family’s hard work that is a beautiful thing. And that’s not to say that it does not happen for white people or Asians but purely given the history of South Africa, it really means something when it happens to a black man and woman. To see them achieve.” MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO #manhood #breakingbarriers #blackmanhood #whatismanhood #africanmen #menspeakup #consiousness #blacklivesmatter #southafrica #africa #mothokemothokabatho #Batho

[bathopeople]

Student and Artist, Mpho Ndaba expresses the fact that our outlook on society and those who influence our progression or regression creates the kinds of perceptions we have about ourselves. The constant need to be affirmed by someone else and not being able to create that affirmation for ourselves places a lot of dependence on others to mold our thinking and prevents creation of our own ideas. “If you are going to constantly want people to affirm who you are, that act of wanting to be embraced and affirmed is problematic on its own because what if that person is not there, does it mean that you stop thinking that you are worthy? It’s problematic. We need to be able to say, “look, I am a problematic black man, however I must be worthy of something. I must be worthy of caring for myself. Embracing the fact that I can cry. Embrace the fact that I am human.” MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO #manhood #breakingbarriers #blackmanhood #whatismanhood #africanmen #menspeakup #consiousness #blacklivesmatter #southafrica #africa #mothokemothokabatho #Batho

[bathopeople]

Manhood is RESPECT

“You know, I grew up as a mama’s boy. The way I was raised to love my mother should be the same way I have to love my wife and all African woman. They have so much in them that our brothers don’t always see. But then we need to come together as black men and respect our black women, support them, make them feel that they are responsible for the great men that we are. There is a secret that we men forget, without a woman there is no man. It’s like that. Behind a great man there is a powerful, greater woman.” – Nakhjavani Mulumba

Electrical Engineer, Nakhjavani Mulumba, shares his understanding of what really makes up manhood: Ubuntu, respect. Nakhjavani is from Congo and his mother tongue is Chiloba yet he speaks Swahili. This is significant because it is symbolic of him embracing not just his own culture but other African cultures, which he believes, is key to African men and women finding solidarity and not giving in to xenophobia, black hate and other inferiority complexes that are results and consequences of colonialization. “For me, the change starts from helping each other and supporting each other. We must not look at each other as black men from different country, we must just see each other as black men ALL from Africa. Africa can move forward from there.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO

[bathopeople]

Manhood is TRIUMPHING

“I discarded certain stereotypical ideas about black men for the sole purpose of my own journey and progression in my life and career. I discarded them purely because they were, are and will not be necessary for me. There are certain things where I said “I don’t want to be part of this. I don’t understand this. I respect it. I respect those who do it and feel they must practice it and that is fine because that is their journey.” But there are certain ideas, characteristics, nuances of the stereotypical portrayals of black men that I said no to.There are some things that people have to let go of for their own sake and betterment.” – Tumelo Teekay Baloyi

Actor, dancer and singer, Teekay Baloyi, refers to the brave decision he has made, quite early in his life, of rejecting detrimental notions of manhood. He firmly believes in the fact that as much as one cannot fully control what happens to him/her, one has full control of how they respond to these happenings and that is where their true power lies. Taking ownership of your life is truly the key to your success regardless of what oppressive systems, society and the mass media impose on men and women. “One thing that I do enjoy seeing with black people is when we shine. When we become the CEOs, become the teachers, become the doctors. Coming from tough backgrounds, some people made it happen. Our parents and grandparents made it happen. They fought. It is that drive, that persistent will despite the diversity. It was hard for every black person back then and some people made it through. Damn good for them. When I see a black man earning his qualifications after coming from a family of no matric certificates, an entire family – no one with a matric, and then there’s a doctor in the family, That is a fantastic feeling! When you strive and reap the benefits of your hard work and your family’s hard work that is a beautiful thing. And that’s not to say that it does not happen for white people or Asians but purely given the history of South Africa, it really means something when it happens to a black man and woman. To see them achieve.”

MOTHO KE MOTHO KA BATHO