Club Diaspora

This includes people with roots in Africa, the Caribbean, and North and South America. Literature with roots in the African continent forms the common thread in our selection of books, poems, and short stories. Together, we will discuss the stories and knowledge hidden within them. The book club is led by poets and performers Nicchelle Buyne and Daniëlle Zawadi.

With Club Diaspora, we want to create a space for conversation and reflection on life in the diaspora. By doing this together, we want to strengthen and facilitate our mutual connection. With the selected books, we explore themes such as migration, language, resistance, worldviews, and literary traditions (colonial heritage).

On March 26 we will dive into the poetry of Fiston Mwanza Mujila with the book club and read the incisive and hardhitting collection The River in the Belly.

In this rhythmic and meandering poetry collection, Mwanza Mujila takes you along the flow of the Congo River. This is the largest river in Central Africa. In the collection, you are immersed in how the Democratic Republic of the Congo shapes itself as a post-independence society. Symbolic imagery around the influences of jazz and the Soviet Union takes you along through the writer’s reportage-like lens. At the same time, he is brutal in the way he connects the movement of the river to famine, child soldiers, and diseases in the country. Congo is often spoken about from a Western lens. In this collection, the first person has the floor.

During the book club, we will read several poems from the collection together and address questions such as: what does real independence look like for formerly colonized countries? Do you know a country that mourns? What responsibility do you feel toward your homeland?

Don’t worry if you haven’t read the entire book yet. We will bring excerpts to read during the session.

This session will be guided by writer, spoken word artist, and literary programmer Daniëlle Zawadi. Because of the diversity of the Afro community, the book club alternates between English and Dutch, depending on the preferences of the participants. This book was translated from French into English; which version you read is entirely up to you.

Sign up (and tell a friend)

NL

Op 26 maart duiken we met de boekenclub in de poëzie van Fiston Mwanza Mujila en lezen we de doortastende en onverbloemde bundel voor The River in the Belly.

In deze ritmische en meanderende poëzie bundel neemt Mwanza Mujila je mee door de stroom van de Congo rivier. Dit is de grootste rivier in centraal Afrika. In de bundel wordt je ondergedompeld in hoe De Democratische Republiek Congo zich als een post-onafhankelijke maatschappij optrekt. Symbolische beelden rondom de invloeden van jazz en de Soviet-Unie nemen je mee in de reportage achtige lens van de schrijver. Hij is tegelijk bruut in hoe hij de beweging van de rivier koppelt aan hongersnood, kindsoldaten en ziektes in het land.

Er wordt vaak gesproken over Congo vanuit de lens van het Westen. In deze bundel is de eerste persoon aan het woord.

Tijdens de boekenclub gaan we een aantal van de gedichten uit de bundel gezamenlijk lezen en behandelen vragen als: hoe ziet echte onafhankelijkheid eruit van voormalige gekoloniseerde landen? Ken je een land dat rouwt? Welke verantwoordelijkheid voel je ten opzichte van je thuisland?

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Centrale Bibliotheek, 68 Spui, Den Haag, Netherlands

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

Get App