2020 Oct 1. Transcript of Audio Clip on Shifting Use of Significant Identity Categories

Transcript of Audio Clip Recorded October 1, 2020

Angela Okune:

Savannah Fund came out of a moment, right, where it was like, in some ways, it was like, we need more local funding, like I think the call for “local,” i.e. African funding and capital actually isn't recent. It was there from whenever Savannah Fund started, right? But then this race question of like, we need Black funding, you know, and like so like, it's, it's gonna, it's interesting to…it will be interesting to find moments when like, the narratives started shifting.

Leonida Mutuku:

And then when I look back at Savannah Fund, I feel like, you're right. These are two different conversations, because at that point, it was about finding local money to invest in tech. And I feel like that's still an ongoing conversation. But I do believe that a lot of Savanna funding funded companies who are not necessarily Black funded things, either. I have to go and confirm that. So. that still was a parallel conversation happening at the same time.

Angela Okune:

Yeah, like, that's one area that I would want us to keep our eyes open to and like to try and track that. Like, where those changes started happening? Like when? How did that shift? Because I think definitely now the conversation is not…it's not about “local,” like, so we should pay attention to the words being used. Like it's not about “local” funding. And by “local” being like white Kenyan or white African, it's, it's Black now. And the word Black, like even I'm like reading the Time article right now and the word Black is never mentioned, for example.

Leonida Mutuku:

Interesting!!

Angela Okune:

Like there's no mention of…yeah. And so I'm super interested in like, also, yeah, like tracking…this is now the cultural part, right, of like tracking the Kenyan identity, African identity, like how these become foregrounded and backgrounded in the narratives that are used. So like, in the Time article in 2011, Juliana mentions, “I think it's really cool to have tech in Africa, brought to a global stage, because basically, people are realizing…” I think she said, she mentioned being a woman. And then she mentioned being African. And basically, she said, being African is now seen as cool or something like this. But she never mentioned, “Blackness,” she never mentioned “Kenyanness.” You know, and so like it’s interesting to see what people bring to the front and what people don't say. So we can just pay attention to those as we're reading over time.