writing a paper on the preservation of African traditional religion among African slaves in north America and ran into this line that I feel I am missing context for
interested in the line about Babylon, I was unaware there was a distinctly African experience of Babylon so I am wondering if this is more of a biblical allusion than a historical one. maybe something else? idk I'm white tbh
Full article for anyone curious. It is a good read that has less citations than it deserves.
Commiejones - 6day
In the bible when Israel was conquered by the Babylonians a number of the Israelites were taken as slaves back to Babylon. So the parallels is being drawn between that and the Africans being taken to america.
Much of the Jewish identity was formed in the years of exile. Much like how African americans have been shaped by their time in america though they African American exile has been much longer.
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ComradeSharkfucker - 6day
Ahhhhhhh, that makes a lot of sense, thanks
6
Maeve - 6day
Well it's asking me to log in, but I'm guessing it refers to Babylon as a biblical metaphor the way Rastafarians refer to colonizers' states and mentality as Babylon. Zion would be literal as Ethiopia, for example, or spiritual/internal, depending on context and individual beliefs.
Refer to Damien Marley's Road to Zion, for example.
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ComradeSharkfucker - 6day
Not on my hexbear account but thanks, will look into this further. Babylon is only mentioned this one time so added context of the full article probably won't help much but I thought I'd add it in case anyone has access. I can't be the only college student here lol
Unfortunately a lot of academic databases like jstor require college credentials to use but I didn't have another link for it :/
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Maeve - 6day
You are welcome. If you need help understanding lyrics, you can ask or try genius. Sometimes they do a decent job.
sharkfucker420 in africa
writing a paper on the preservation of African traditional religion among African slaves in north America and ran into this line that I feel I am missing context for
interested in the line about Babylon, I was unaware there was a distinctly African experience of Babylon so I am wondering if this is more of a biblical allusion than a historical one. maybe something else? idk I'm white tbh
Full article for anyone curious. It is a good read that has less citations than it deserves.
In the bible when Israel was conquered by the Babylonians a number of the Israelites were taken as slaves back to Babylon. So the parallels is being drawn between that and the Africans being taken to america. Much of the Jewish identity was formed in the years of exile. Much like how African americans have been shaped by their time in america though they African American exile has been much longer.
Ahhhhhhh, that makes a lot of sense, thanks
Well it's asking me to log in, but I'm guessing it refers to Babylon as a biblical metaphor the way Rastafarians refer to colonizers' states and mentality as Babylon. Zion would be literal as Ethiopia, for example, or spiritual/internal, depending on context and individual beliefs.
Refer to Damien Marley's Road to Zion, for example.
Not on my hexbear account but thanks, will look into this further. Babylon is only mentioned this one time so added context of the full article probably won't help much but I thought I'd add it in case anyone has access. I can't be the only college student here lol
Unfortunately a lot of academic databases like jstor require college credentials to use but I didn't have another link for it :/
You are welcome. If you need help understanding lyrics, you can ask or try genius. Sometimes they do a decent job.
May Aaron rest in power.
This is definitely correct.