Sinethemba Hope Magona

"The professor, who is 88, told his students that he planned to move permanently to Japan this summer where he will seek citizenship. He noted that this might seem unusual, given last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. “This is a time when many foreigners are leaving Japan,” he said, adding that people have asked him “why I should be choosing this moment to spend the rest of my life in Japan.” He said later that he decided to move there — “to voluntarily and gladly join the people in time of disaster” — because, “I have more friends there than I have here, and most of my awards have come there.” He said he wanted to show his appreciation to the Japanese people, and that, “I could think of no other way than to say I’d be with them” despite the disastrous events."

- Donald Keene Retires From Columbia and Will Move to Japan - NYTimes.com.
via (via hwatto-izu-disu: 絶対、日本人よりもよく日本の文化をよく知ってるな、この人。日本にも色々貢献してるし。カッコイイ生き方だな。私も、アメリカで育ったけど、日本に住む事にしたことに、意味があると思いたい。so much respect.. he definitely knows more about Japanese culture than many people here, and he’s contributed so much. note to self: read something by him someday. i grew up mainly in the U.S., (but i am Japanese) and it’s people like him, and people who love Japan (including followers that i have talked to) who make me feel like my choice to return to Japan and live here has a meaning.” (via tobia)

(via tobia)

"For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity."

- Frantz Fanon
The Wretched of the Earth
(Of course, to think about “land” in such an abstract purview makes its stronger in one’s mindset, thus attaching one’s sense of dignity to it. For what happens when the land is taken from you, or destroyed, or co-opted? Suddenly the idea of the land grows stronger more useful as a unifying tool and an identity builder.)   (via tobia)