SAY MY NAME CAMPAIGN

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“For far too long, the dominant narrative shared in the places where people travel has been the narrative shaped by those identifying with the dominant culture, which is often the story of colonizers. This means that, in many destinations, the primary story shared about a place and its people is the story shaped by colonizers. It is a story that is comfortable, sanitized, easy to tell, and easy to accept — and it is appealing to share this story in the travel context because travelers themselves are often in a position of privilege and power.” – JoAnna Haugen

Consent and the Right Not to Share Stories

In my years of travel, it’s become evident that most travel businesses in Africa are operated by white people, with foreign interests in mind. While it’s true that a majority of black and indigenous people are employed in the tourism industry, they are mainly employed as general workers. I once had a conversation with a co-owner of a prominent safari lodge in South Africa about this issue, and I asked him why more work wasn’t being done to integrate black and indigenous people at managerial and executive levels. He couldn’t answer me. This way of doing things is clearly harmful, and the narrative about travel to Africa is not changing as it should. I am working on changing the narrative in my writing work, but I not only want to change the narrative – I also want black and indigenous people who are often exploited for “authentic African” experiences to be involved in how they are seen and experienced.

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This is why I started the SAY MY NAME CAMPAIGN

If you look at the photographic images of indigenous people today and also from decades earlier, the African body (women, men, and children) is void of little more than ideas of barbarism and primitiveness. Photography can tell powerful stories, but African bodies are often bound to general captions, such as ‘woman from Himbo tribe’; ‘teenage boy in the Omo Valley’, or ‘Maasai men dancing’ which speaks little to the intersectionality of their identities. Names and giving names are intrinsic rituals for any family. In Africa, the naming ritual gives identity honouring the child, the ancestors, the spirit world, the nuclear family and extended family, and the environment. Photographic images cannot tell a true story if they do not give identity to the people whose images are captured.

My mentor, renowned travel writer Pat Hopkins always said travel writing is about people. The #SAYMYNAME campaign is about allowing the people of Africa to use their own voices, tell their own stories. It’s about encouraging conversations between photographers, indigenous people, and readers or travellers.

If we want to see any change within the travel narrative in Africa and non-Euramerican countries, it is vital that we allow people who understand the various communities to tell their stories. Bani Amor writes, “What would happen if we were to reclaim a genre? When the subjects of travel narratives — the ‘noble savages’, the ‘smiling orients’, the perpetual Others — grab the mic, avail what agency we have, and flip The Single Story to centralize our experiences? What if we were recognized as the experts of our homelands, of ourselves?”

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What if in telling our stories we honoured those in the camera shot and those who have gone on before by using the name it is said was written in the stars long ago?

“There are names which identify the individual in relation to a group, and these are drawn from the collective clan name. Often, individuals from Southern African countries like South Africa and Zimbabwe introduce themselves with great pride as they acknowledge their totems and clan names, including the names of those that have gone ahead [ancestors]” Dr Batisai Katia

As a traveller you have the voice to ensure African people are more than bodies, labourers or photographic props.

HOW?

  • Read stories in the Voices of Africa category
  • Support local when you travel
  • Connect with locals when you travel- listen their names and listen to their stories. Storytelling is so integral to the SAYMYNAME Campaign
  • Learn about who your tourist guides are
  • Create a relationship that last beyond your trip for the benefit of you and the host communities
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