S. Jones's Blog, page 41

dynamicafrica:Reading about one of Africa’s best documented...

dynamicafrica:

Reading about one of Africa’s best documented 17th-century rulers, and one of the the world’s most controversial queens, I am both in awe and slightly disturbed at the magnitude of her power and the ways in which she displayed and demonstrated it.

Ruling of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms in what is today known as Angola, in southern Africa, Queen Nzinga Mbanda (aka Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande) fought fiercely over her territory against encroaching colonial Portuguese forces at a time when the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade was destroying much of the Western coast of the African continent.

Many sources cite Queen Nzinga as a strong military strategist, a trait that probably stems from her upbringing where she spent much of her youth accompanying her father, a warrior named Ndambi Kiluanji who was the ‘ngola’ (king) of the Ndongo in the mid-1500s, during times of war. Her father had led the Ndongo people to war against Portuguese forces in rebellion, at a time when other neighbouring peoples were making deals with the Portuguese. Queen Nzinga’s mother, Kangela, was her father’s second wife and a captive from another ethnic group.

Following her father’s death, her older brother, Mbandi, and son of her father’s first wife became king some time in the early 1620s. In 1622, King Mbandi sent his younger sister on a diplomatic mission to see Portuguese governor Joao Corria de Sousa with whom she was to find an agreement on a way to end the fighting between the Ndongo and the Portuguese forces. It was during this meeting that one of the most iconic moments (as seen in the top drawing imagined and re-created by Italian priest Cavazzi) is recorded. Upon her arrival, de Sousa offered Nzinga a mat on which to sit on, which she refused. Instead, she instructed a servant to offer his back to her as a seat in order for her to sit level with the governor. Despite not wanting to agree to the terms laid out by the Portuguese, because of the odds her people faced, Nzinga reluctantly agreed to adopt Christianity and was baptised Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande with the Portuguese colonial governor and his wife as her godparents, opening up trade between her people and the Portuguese, urging her brother to do the same. Her brother, on the other hand, was not able to handle the mounting pressures of the Portuguese forces with the same defiant attitudes of his sister and, after the Portuguese did not adhere to the terms of the treaty, tragically committed suicide as he was convinced that he would never recover what was lost during the war. The Portuguese, in order to legitimize Nzinga’s succession to the throne, maintained that she had poisoned her brother.

During her reign, Queen Nzinga would eventually be forced to save her people from further tragedy by creating alliances with the Portuguese, who eventually betrayed her by not adhering to the treaty they had signed with her, forcing Queen Nzinga to flee to the neighbouring Matamba Kingdom when fighting once again broke out. Once there, Nzinga captured the Queen of Matamba and used her army to fight on behalf of the Ndongo’s.

To further build up her military capacity, Queen Nzinga offered sanctuary to any runaway slaves and Portuguese-trained African soldiers, laying a foundation for an ideology that many of us today refer to as Pan-Africanism. More out of necessity than anything else, Nzinga also reached out to the Dutch and formed an alliance with them against the Portuguese. However, despite her efforts this was not enough to drive the Portuguese out of the area as they had won over many neighbouring African groups in the area.

Whilst unable to completely drive the Portuguese out of the area as she had intended, Queen Nzinga’s defiant attitude and spirit of resistance remained long-reigned over her people and was a source of constant inspiration as even after her death in 1661 at age 81, her people continued to resist efforts by the Portuguese to integrate them into the colony of Angola. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the Portuguese became successful in integrating the joined Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms into Angola.

Where Nzinga’s life gets interested, and rather complicated, is in the reports that say that she “immolated her lovers” who were often part of a large all-men harem. According to History of Zangua, Queen of Angola
and the Marquis de Sade’s Philosophy in the Budoir, Nzinga is said to have made her lovers fight to the death in order to spend the night with her and, after a single night with her, would put them to death. She is said to have also made them dress in women’s clothing. Whether this is true or is simply a fantasy of some sort concocted by European sources is something that remains somewhat of a mystery.

(sources: 1, 2, 3)

AUGUST: Highlighting African Women

"it’s all so beautiful. everything. all of it. life is a giant thing. death is even larger and..."

“it’s all so beautiful. everything. all of it. life is a giant thing. death is even larger and swallows life whole. but both life and death are tiny fish in the grand ocean that is love. make love. sink or swim. float or drown. you will never ever escape love. for better or worse you are literally in love always and forever. as for myself, I love it. all of it. all of its beauty and danger and fear and lust and warmth and…I love all of it. trying to “find love” is silly. it is a fish swimming around in search of water. it is looking for sunlight at noon in the open desert on a cloudless day. you’re in love. rejoice! we are in love. raise your glasses! do you find a person looking around for their own body? we are more in love than we are in bodies. have you seen a person roaming around looking for Earth? we are more in love than we are on Earth. our body will fall away. Earth will freeze up or burn out. love remains. still. drowning is almost like swimming just as flying is almost like falling. the difference is life and death. love is like this. what a great tragedy it is for someone to not know they are in love. living their whole life not knowing that all that they are seeking is hidden right in their own breast. how tragic; to live and die and not know. maybe all of this is over the top. too much. who wants to her about love when they cant see it. when they cant feel it. do we still think we are bodies? one day you will step out of your body like an evening gown after a long beautiful evening at the ball. one day you will peel off your body like a marathon runner peels off his shirts after crossing the finish line. wet with the proof of his labor.”

- amir sulaiman (via mumblingmelodies)

"the love design" by s.jones AKA RevDr

"the love design" by s.jones AKA RevDr

Neurolove.me: Before you fall in love with me,

Neurolove.me: Before you fall in love with me,:

remembertosmileyou:

you must know that I’ve been broken into a million pieces. A boy came into my life, we talked, we liked each other, we fell in love, I felt so happy, and then he left. No goodbyes, no explanations. He took a piece of me that I cannot take back. So please, understand that…

"I offer you my mouth—Let me marry my lips to the tops of your thighs,I kneel between your legs. I..."

“

I offer you my mouth—

Let me marry my lips to the tops of your thighs,

I kneel between your legs.

I offer you my hands—

Your name written all over my palms,

the fingers I press against you.

I offer you my hips—

My apologetic body.

”

-

Chantelle Ann, ”Altars”

(via chantelle-ann)

"My love is deeper, tighter, sweeter, higher, flyerDidn’t you know this or didn’t you..."

“My love is deeper, tighter, sweeter, higher, flyer

Didn’t you know this or didn’t you notice?”

- Jilly from Philly

"green" by s.jones

I stand

FIRMLY

Rooted as a tree

I was made to LOVE

The ones seeking for me

I uprooted myself time & time again

Only to tumble & wither

Angels replanted me

Strengthened me

Prepared me for cold winters

& even hotter summers

Don’t take advantage of my shade

If you refuse to water me

Don’t pluck the fruit from my tree

If you won’t bother planting a seed beside me

Follow the path to the weeds

Or to the barren dry land

Leave this blossoming source of power

For the one who comes….& stands…root to root

Sharing and bearing each others fruit

As nature intended.

-s.jones

"divine felines" by s.jones

Beautiful world

Full of beautiful brown girls

Loving their curls

Kinks

Knots

Zig zags

& sprouts

Caressing their own thighs

Admiring their hips

& curvature below

Unconsumed by top heaviness

Only concerned with the love of that man

That natural man

That man that can

Appreciate God’s gift to him

In its rarest & unique form

Multi-hued

Thick or thin lipped

Bootylicious

Or slenderly fine

We’re all dimes

Choose ONE.

-s.jones

"surprise" by s.jones

I met beauty in a box

So carefully wrapped

Well packaged

Eye catching but not over the top

I love this beauty in a box

Made my box beat

Heart stop

Eyes slant

& body yield

Eyes so longingly mine

My gift from above

Thank you Lord for sending me LOVE.

-s.jones

"Laying so closelyI feel your skin rubbing and touching meOnly sweat between usFeeling you kissing..."

“Laying so closely

I feel your skin rubbing and touching me

Only sweat between us

Feeling you kissing and pleasing me

I rub your back

I kiss your neck

I know that you love when we touch like that

I can feel you need me

Feels so good to me

Feels so good to me”

- Beyonce, “Speechless”