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I'm Irenosen Okojie, I'm an author. In my humble opinion,
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black joy should be embedded within the fabric of our culture
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and shouldn't just be temporary or fleeting.
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So black joy is expanding the notion of what black artistry is
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and it's contributing to the culture,
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it's shaping what conversations we have.
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It's being completely free and unencumbered in terms of ideas
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and having absolute agency.
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And I think being your most authentic self,
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because sometimes it can be difficult
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operating within the Western structure
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in terms of how we express ourselves as artists
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and how we celebrate our culture.
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If I were to give concrete examples of what black joy means to me,
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I would say it's reading a June Jordan poem,
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it's watching a Barry Jenkins film,
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it's listening to a Fela Kuti record on a hot day,
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it's looking at an image of a Basquiat exhibition.
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All of these things represent black artistry and black innovation
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and the complete freedom and joy that I think is important as an artist.
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There's so much happening that signifies black joy at the moment.
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We're seeing our stories filter into the mainstream
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and finally this idea of whose story is valuable
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is coming to the forefront.
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And black stories are taking precedence,
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not only coming to the forefront but shaping cultural narratives
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and having a really huge impact.
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So, if we look at for example Black Panther, I would say that
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that's a huge cultural moment in terms of black joy
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and just the ripple effect it had globally.
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It shattered every preconceived notion or myth
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about whether black stories are valuable,
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whether they translate into the mainstream,
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whether they're too niche or audiences will go and see them.
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Here we have a film about an imagined African kingdom
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that celebrates black innovation and black culture and authenticity,
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but told using an Afrofuturist aesthetic, and it just made people
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sit up and take notice.
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I think the issue for me is that very much what's happened
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a lot of the time and for a long time is black trauma
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has been something that's been at the forefront, so problematic areas
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like knife crime, and what that does in the long term
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I think is that it creates a warped sense of what black culture is.
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So we don't see enough of black achievement and black celebration,
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what you get is this idea of a community being majorly problematic
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and there are problems in any community.
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So now more than ever with these stories coming out,
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it's just a great counter because it shows that's not all we are.
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I think our cultural gatekeepers need to be more open minded,
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need to feed themselves more and read more and listen more
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and create spaces to talk to people from those communities
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and from the black community in particular.
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And I think that will shape and change things.
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So, it's just about being more open,
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being more empathetic, listening and thinking about not just
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seeing yourself reflected, but other audiences.
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So if you're somebody in a position of power, say for example
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you're a commissioning editor or a producer, look around you.
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Who's at the table? What do they look like? If they all just look like you,
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then that's an issue.
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Thinking really imaginatively and creatively and wanting to be
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very, very experimental in terms of how I approach what I do.
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So again to counter some of the negative ideas or stories around
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black culture, so thinking about celebrating what we've achieved.
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So for example, my debut novel, part of it was set in the Benin Kingdom,
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and my family are from Benin, so it was about reclaiming a lost heritage,
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a kind of lost legacy,
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and how fantastic it was to know about this kingdom,
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to know about the level of art and history, we need to think more
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imaginatively about what the fullness of blackness is and that
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it's complicated and nuanced and really interesting
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and to mind that and present that to the forefront.
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Thanks for watching! :)
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See you again soon.