Extraction & erasure. It’s the season 3 finale!! Black African music, art and language are co-opted and stolen globally - from Tik Tok to the DJ scene to dance to activism.

I chat with Samira about being a Black African creative in Australia.

We discuss what it means to extract Black talent, labour, ideas and intellect. We focus on how non-Black ‘people of colour’ consume Black people to gain money and social capital. We go beyond appropriation and discuss the violence of extraction in all areas of the arts and media. Of course, colourism enters the chat as we unpack who gets to say things and what it means to be silent; who is protected and who is erased. 

We discuss our love for Black Twitter, the power of the group chat, Black critique, Love Island and more. We end with an ode to Black histories, Black futures and Black possibilities. We revel in the beauty and sacredness of global Blackness and global Africanness. 

Some of the gworls are going to be upset by this episode but we move! I can’t thank Samira enough. We really put our hearts into this. This conversation was a balm - it felt safe. Samira peeled back LAYERS. I’m telling you the range is on another level. I’ll be coming back to the episode for years to come. 

It’s long and it’s beautiful and it’s needed. 

Enjoy! There's a little emotional season farewell at the end from me too hehe. Sending love <3

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• Instagram: @thesubtletyofit 
• Email: thesubtletyofit@gmail.com
• Twitter: @thesubtletyofit 
• Link tree (with episode transcripts)

Samira's Links!

• The Score on Triple R - Wednesdays from 9am to noon
• Still Nomads

Intro Clips by these brilliant people: 

• Kahlil Greene -  Tik Tok video on 'Awkwafina's Blaccent'
• Excerpt of Ousmane Sembène from the documentary Camera d’Afrique (1983) dir. Ferid Boughedir - translation: "Europe is not my centre. Europe is on the outskirts to Africa. Why be a sunflower and turn towards the sun? I myself am the sun!" 
• Kameelah Janan Rasheed in ‘the Edge of Legibility' by Art21 
• Kimberly Foster  - 'Ariana Grande really wants to be mixed’ video 
• Ama Ata Aidoo 

Past episodes mentioned:

• Subtleties of Being Bla[c]k on Black Land
• Subtleties of Bla[c]k Solidarity with Eugenia Flynn
• Subtleties of Desirability with Sangeetha Thanapal

People/articles/books mentioned:

• Trudy who helped Moya Bailey develop the term misogynoir 
• Moya Bailey who coined the term misogynoir 
• 'Black Teens Are Breaking The Internet And Seeing None Of The Profits' by Doreen St Felix  
• 'Ariana Grande really, really wants to be mixed' by Kimberly Foster
• 'There are Black people in the future' by Alisha B Wormsley 
• Kameelah Janan Rasheed 
• Black Futures by Kimberly Drew & Jenna Wortham 
• Jessica Lynne
• Rianna Jade Parker
• ARTS.BLACK
• 'On Likability' by Lacey M Johnson 

The Subtlety of It is created, hosted and produced by Nana.

The Subtlety of It is recorded and produced on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to the Ancestors who protect this sacred land and live and speak through community members. I pay my respects to Elders and community members who are the ongoing custodians of this land and pass on knowledge through generations. Sovereignty was never ceded. This land always was, always will be, Aboriginal land. LAND BACK!! Like, literally. 

Podcast cover design by Kathleen Page

Podcast intro and outro theme music by @mattymadeit