As the Siyah series draws to a close – one of the most consistently popular features on Afropean.com – it feels like the end of an era. Visionary of the series, Adama Munu reflects on the past five years; from genesis to conclusion. Whilst Siyah might be ending, it’s not the last Afropean.com readers will be hearing from Adama…

It’s been five years since I wrote what would be the first instalment of the Siyah Series on Afropean, but like all good things, it has to come to an end. When I first approached Afropean’s Nat Illumine with this idea, I imagined it would comprise four or five articles, completed before the end of 2020. How wrong I was. Almost five years to the day (11 August), I have been able to publish 20 pieces, including articles, essays, and podcasts, some of which were already available on the internet but repurposed for the series, while others were kindly offered or written specifically for it. I love how poetic it is that the series was completed in Black August, which highlights liberation and freedom in the United States and beyond.

The entire concept behind the Siyah Series was to expand mine and the readers’ understanding of Africanity and Blackness beyond the scope of the Black Atlantic world. As a Sierra Leonean descendant, I’ve always felt aligned with that part of the African diaspora and its constituent parts. But as I mentioned in the first line of the first piece, Turkey’s Black Social and Cultural Historiography, ‘Black history is expansive, abundant and varied across time and space. Yet the term ‘African Diaspora’ may evoke our attention to those regions and peoples that have most informed our understanding of it.’

I started the series during the third year of my stay in Istanbul, and along the way, I thought it was important for me to understand where my Blackness and Black history stood that of others within the country’s and the region’s history. 

I have been humbled by how much of a feat it turned out to be. I was open to but also forced to confront the scantness in the discourse. There were a few surprises along the way, too, the most interesting of which were Haiti’s involvement in Greece’s independence wars, Malcolm X’s influence in Turkish politics and the concept of ‘cool’. 

I knew that this was never going to be an encyclopaedic treatment, but rather an introduction or summation of sorts – a continuation of the work that already existed but was not very well known. And to do so, I tried to ensure that the project overall fit into a chronology or timeline. 

It’s also important to add that the Siyah Series came at a pivotal moment in more recent discussions concerning global injustice. The first piece was published in the aftermath of the Year of Return in 2019, which marked the 400th anniversary of when the first recorded enslaved Africans arrived in the state of Virginia in the United States. It was spearheaded by Ghana, which has since seen huge numbers of Africans from the diaspora visiting, emigrating and building businesses in Ghana and beyond.

 It also came in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, and amid poignant conversations about Black life and visibility in countries beyond Western countries like the United Kingdom and the US. I remember how people wanted to know and would curate content focusing on what it means to be Black in China, in Iran and the Arab World. Black people in particular wanted to make connections and foster greater understanding across land and boundaries with each other.  I would like to think that this series is a contribution to that timely discourse.

And it suffices to say that today, there is greater interest in Blackness as it concerns the Turkic world online on platforms like YouTube, as the country and the region further open up internationally through tourism and trade. Siyah began as I hope it has ended, as a general curiosity towards something as elegant, beautiful, complex, complicated and delightful as Blackness.

I am grateful to Nat Illumine for believing in this project, commissioning it and working tirelessly with me through the endless edits and the many back-and-forths, especially because the perfectionist in me rears her head now and again.

I am also grateful to Yomi for helping out with any technical issues or questions I had, whether it was to do with the display of images or anything else. My requests were often given on short notice, so I appreciate his accommodation.

Much thanks to Nina, who ensured that the pieces were placed on social media in a timely manner for people to engage with.

Much appreciation to Tola, who has been an ardent leader and supporter of this project, and whom I hope to continue to work with as Afropean ventures forth. 

And to Johny Pitts, whose vision for Afropean has made it such an exciting and rare space to be a part of.  

Çok teşekkür ederim, as we say in Turkish, thank you so much.