“It
does not matter a damn in the achievements of Ernest
Hemingway whether or not he slept with a Wakamba girl.”
—from Nadine Gordimer's “Hemingway's Expatriates”
TRANSITION 80: Table of Contents
REMEMBRANCE____________________
White Skin,
Black Mask
India in the 1970s was adrift in cut-rate imports--Cokes,
cameras, Cadbury bars. This was a cargo cult, and
its leader was an outlandishly worldly superhero .
. . The Phantom. Three decades later, Kai
Friese asks, Who was that masked
man?
DISPATCHES____________________
A Question of Style
In the slums of Kinshasa, the street kids are so
poor they can hardly afford their Versace. They call
themselves La Sape--the Society for the Advancement
of Persons of Elegance. Michela
Wrong walks among the black dandies
of the Congo.
Rosewood Revisited
Eighty years ago, the town of Rosewood, Florida burned
to the ground: men were lynched or incinerated; womenfolk
were gunned down; a lucky few, disguised as lumber,
escaped on freight cars. Today, there is only one
house in Rosewood. Richard
Newman journeys to an American killing
field.
MEMOIRS____________________
The Cosmic RaceIn the open spaces of the New World, a race of bastards: conquistadores and concubines, ancient astronomers and new gods. From Aztlan to New Spain to Mexico to Texas, one family's peregrinations chart the history of a people. John Phillip Santos remembers growing up in the borderlands.
Veils of My Youth
What's in a veil? The story of Muslim women is a
story of evolution: from wool to silk, to rayon, and
back to wool again. Ghania
Hammadou reflects on mothers, daughters,
and the passing of old Algiers.
UNDER REVIEW____________________
Moorish ScienceThe African slaves who survived the Middle Passage brought new sounds and new styles with them. They also brought Islam: among the earliest arrivals were scribes, teachers, and true believers. From Fouta Djallon to Farrakhan, Moustafa Bayoumi tells the strange story of Muslim America.
Believe the Hype
Rap music panders to everyone: lefties unearth parables
of race and resistance; prudes bemoan the sound of
youth culture run amok; financiers find reflections
of their own extravagant tastes. In the funhouse mirror
of rap culture, rappers and critics compete to see
who can tell the taller tale. Kelefa
Sanneh reflects on hip-hop and its
discontents.
FICTION____________________
Trinidad
A story about boys.
By Victor D. LaValle.