Afro-Swedish Artistic Practices and Discourses in and out of Sweden: A Conversation with Ethnomusicologist Ryan T. Skinner

• Published in: Africa today Vol. 64; no. 2; pp. 92 - 107
• Main Authors: Buggenhagen, Beth, Skinner, Ryan Thomas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bloomington Indiana University Press 22-12-2017
• Subjects: African culture; African music; African studies; Africans; Apartheid; Book publishing; Communities; Cultural identity; Culture; Debates; Demography; Diaspora; Discourses; Double consciousness; Emigration and immigration; Ethics; Ethnography; Ethnomusicology; Friendship; Grammy awards; Identification; Identity; Immigration; Immigration law; Immigration policy; International economic relations; Iron compounds; Language; Missionaries; Music; Musical modes; Muslims; Political debate; Political identity; Political migration; Politics; Race; Racial identity; Racism; Translation; War and society; Sweden; United States; Senegal; Mali; Congo (Kinshasa); France; Ethiopia; Africa
• ISSN: 0001-9887; 1527-1978
• DOI: 10.2979/africatoday.64.2.05

Buggenhagen interviews ehnomusicologist Ryan T. Skinner about African identities in Sweden, debates on race and identity, and the emergence of new terms, like Afro-Swedish. He said the shift is largely generational. If he goes back fifteen years, most of his Mande-speaking friends in Sweden would have identified as Africans, organized through various national associations (nationella föreningar), but today, the new generation is less likely to identify as Malian, Gambian, or Guinean, at least not primarily. He added that the cast and crew were predominantly Afro-Swedes, and the staging was a Swedish adaptation, performed in Swedish. In fact, the Swedish translation had been made some years ago but was never staged until 2016.