The middle-aged woman, her skin the smooth darkness of equatorial Africa, beckons to the blonde-haired porcelain-tinted child of four. “Can you say ‘je m’appelle Esther’?” I ask the child. She smiles shyly and repeats to the woman: “shmpel Esther.” The woman laughs and bounces the child onto her lap. “Tu as peur des noirs?” sheContinue reading “Melanin”
Tag Archives: Africa
Bateke scanning
I am scanning and scanning and scanning, page by page, a book I got by interlibrary loan, because I have not had time to sufficiently memorize it in the allotted time of a few weeks; it is a French / French Congo Bateke dictionary. This book, by the way, was published in 1911 and hasContinue reading “Bateke scanning”
Snach of linguistics project
I have a couple of weeks of class left, and a lot to get done in the meantime. This evening I’ve been working on my phonetics project, which, interestingly enough, is on a language that has not, as far as I or the “informant” from whom I am getting all my language information know, beenContinue reading “Snach of linguistics project”
