The first chapter of her speculative fiction novel, Blue Zone, was published digitally through Arch Street Press, winning the 'Meet Me 19th St.' literary award. She was a 2016- 2017 cohort with ‘at lands edge’ pedagogical program to combine art and activism, and in 2020 was named an Indie Memphis Black Filmmaker Resident for her screenplay, ‘Kitt.’ She was also named a 2020-2021 “Time, Space, Money” HRLA Resident, exhibiting a video installation on police brutality protests at Actual Size Gallery in Los Angeles. #Seren sensei archive#Specializing in race, culture, and sociopolitical theory, she has released three seasons of the web series ‘The Americans’ to explore and archive Black American cultural narratives. Her writing has been printed in such publications as NAACP’s The Crisis Magazine, NYLON magazine, Kweli Journal, and Riot Material, and referenced in Jacobin, Vulture, Complex, Newsweek, AJ+, People, Netflix, Vice, Walker Art and more. At this point, until Mars actually shows disrespect of black culture and stops working with actual black artists and honoring the people whose music has shaped his, we’ll have to agree to disagree.Seren Sensei is a filmmaker, writer, and artist. Some people don’t like Mars, some people do. And why focus on Mars so much when someone like G-Eazy is wandering around stages aimlessly telling Cardi B, “fuck with me and get some money?” Is it because no one cares about G-Eazy and it’s easier to get attention when you bring up the Mars debate again? Probably. Mars is not even a Kardashian, with whom we can examine how appropriation of blackness creates beauty standards that elevate white women, but degrades black women. Someone brings up the same points every few months, because it's a popular topic and it can trend and create headlines but it’s ultimately not pushing forward anything in culture except a never-ending debate. This conversation about Mars never seems to move anywhere. #Seren sensei free#Mars isn’t to blame for the fact that Timberlake got a free pass for years even after throwing Janet Jackson under the bus at the Super Bowl. It seems like undercutting Mars because we as a culture let Justin Timberlake do the same thing and didn’t truly start questioning his sincerity in using black culture for personal gain until recently. It’s not merely that the Grammys diminish black artists at the top of their game, they often diminish albums that create huge cultural moments in favor those that are not only barely relevant today, but were hardly relevant when they were released.īut this seems like undercutting Mars’ talent because of grievances over other artists we like. When they are nominated, they lose to albums from Mumford & Sons (Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange) and Paul Simon (Janet’s Control). Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation wasn’t nominated. Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall wasn’t nominated. As I wrote before, legendary albums by black artists have rarely been part of the Album of the Year nomination process. There’s plenty to argue about the racism that exists in Grammy voting. “Mars is also fairly open about his cultural background, so it’s not fair to say that he plays up his racial ambiguity just because some people can’t Google.” This isn’t the work of a pop star dabbling in a genre that they don’t understand and performing just barely enough to get accolades. During his second performance, he survived a dance-off with Beyoncé. What I saw was a musician who had stage presence, talent, and was really fucking fun to watch. That is, until I saw his first Super Bowl performance. I remember not caring for Mars’ brand of music very much. He commits to his music and his performing and he does it really well. For one, Mars is non-black, but he isn’t white and particularly part of “dominant culture.” Second, he’s hardly playing dress up. To ignore the difference between Mars’ music and say, Katy Perry wearing cornrows, Madonna dressing like a geisha, Gwen Stefani trucking around her Harajuku girls, or Iggy Azeala attempting to rap is laughable. It’s also adopting a culture without fully respecting it. Is Mars a non-black artist making R&B, soul, and funk music? Yes, but this conversation is beyond tired.Ĭultural appropriation is defined many ways, but one such definition is an adoption of minority culture by members of the dominant culture. The debate popped up after his wins at the Grammys and did so again last week, thanks to a viral video from activist Seren Sensei where she accused the non-black Mars (his mother is Filipina and his father Puerto Rican and Jewish) of using black culture for fame. The conversation about whether Bruno Mars is guilty of “cultural appropriation” becomes the bane of my existence every week, it seems.
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