Beyonce and Chimamanda on feminism with a small ‘f’
This morning at 4 am (GMT) I received a text from my sister that read, “Beyonce has a new album that also has 17 videos and Chimamanda’s on it!!!” Half sleeping, I thought I mis-read, but a few minutes later I got insanely happy. I hadn’t heard the song yet, and had no idea what the collaboration would sound or look like, but I knew that it would have something to do with feminism, and at that moment, I knew there was no way I could go back to sleep.
It’s almost like when you have a brain fart, because something that seems so random is actually perfection and it’s like these are the collaborations that we’ll continue talking about for decades, and I’m just sad that I can’t quit my job and be a part of Beyonce’s creative team so that my life can have meaning. But brain fart aside, the collaboration between Chimamanda and Beyonce takes shape in the track ‘***Flawless‘ and begins with the controversial ‘Bow Down Bitches‘ before transforming into the perfect boughetto anthem of black womynism.
Chimamanda’s contribution to the song is a speech, which consists of elements of her lauded TEDx2013 address ‘we should all be feminists.’ While I’m sure many could be confused as to how Beyonce’s lyrics connect with Adichie’s call to feminism it’s that very confusion that addresses the critical feminism that both Adichie and Beyonce speak to. When ‘Bow Down’ was released (or leaked?) earlier this year, there was a lot of discussion that Beyonce telling other women to ‘bow down’ was anti-feminist, which is what most white feminists declare whenever Beyonce does anything. Many have critically examined why white feminists need to leave Bey alone, but ‘Flawless’ hails as a powerful response to the notion that being feminist has to be strictly defined. In tandem with Chimamanda’s call to feminism- both Chimamanda and Beyonce are also critical of a feminism that doesn’t recognize a women’s right to speak through her body and sexuality (which is what many try and shame Beyonce for).
What I love about how Beyonce speaks through feminism, is how simplistic the language is. It reminds me of Nigerian feminist author Buchi Emecheta’s critical intervention to western narratives of feminism, where she calls for a recognition of feminism with a small ‘f’- opening our eyes to the fact that African women achieve in different measures, and also that women live in and through their decisions to be whatever they want to be. Even though Emecheta refers to ‘feminism with a small f’ in a starkly diffferent framework than female super stardom- I think it resonates through it’s recognition of the varying and supposedly contradictory ways we can lead our lives and still be feminists. For Beyonce, it’s really as simple as saying “I woke up like dis. I look good tonight’ and it’s interconnectedness to conversations of womanism that happens through ‘diaspora’ with Chimamanda is still causing brain farts in my mind.
Originally published at pluralistical.tumblr.com.