I am

I am the child of the diaspora.
I am a child of the diaspora.
I am a child.
I am sometimes just a child, and I use communities to parent me and help me grow. I choose and I am chosen by communities, by circles of people, sometimes even squares and pyramid systems ask me to join them.

I am many things but there are two key characteristics that have shaped my voice. I am African. I am a Woman. I am many things but when I feel contested,confronted, confused or when my integrity is threatened, these two facts become predominant in my heart. I would love to say my mind but it seems that my heart has been more faithfull to me. I am African. I am a Woman.

I am Bell Dubois a constructed pyseudonym, hybridized by two intellectuals. Arguably an existential forgery taken from Mr W.E.B Dubois the writer of the 'Souls of Black Folk' and Bell Hooks the uncomprimising, engaging feminist critic. There was a time where I felt that others used my gender and my ethnicity to define my boundaries. These two writers helped put many of my thoughts and anxities in perspective. I have taken advantage of the postmodern culture but refuse for it to be a simulcrum.

I am continuosly inspired by both of these people, and find them infectiously engaging at times overwhelming that I burrow their eessence through their name and I am not on their same level of critical engagement. Compared to them I am a child.
I am the Child of the Diaspora.