Comments on: An Authentic Joburg Afternoon

By: 2summers

2summers — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 15:52:43 +0000

In reply to Owls. Haha! Thanks so much for the detailed reply -- that was fascinating. I was hoping your response might shed some light on what the Twitter guy meant when he said Joburg is inauthentic. But Joburg is obviously nothing like what you've described Buenos Aires to be (or at least what it was when you were there).

By: Owls

Owls — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 13:29:18 +0000

There was an element of neuroses in play because of an entirely unstable economy. People were panic stricken, which leaves an impression. Argentina is also relatively unique Latin American country in that it is essentially a bunch of Europeans who have moved “temporarily” to make some money, but home is still Europe. People would ask me where I was from, and I would say the U.S. and they would say, but no where are you REALLY from. And I’m not talking 1st generation, I’m talking 4th and 5th generation Argentines from Spain, Ireland and later Italy, etc. There seemed to be no sense of national pride at all. And they were scornful of countries with a sense of nationalism, like Mexico. They have a mindset of chronic homesickness, hence dances like the Tango, which is basically a sad footwork expressing a longing for the old country. I saw literally only a handful of “people of color” the whole time I was there…maybe one or two black people from Uruguay and no indigenous population whatsoever. I eventually learned of course that this was because BA was never anything more than a backwater smuggling port, that there was never an established Indian population there, and never an established Spanish colonial presence. 19th century Europeans who made scads of money designed the town in a European style, with French Provincial architecture dating 1870s rather than 16th century, and little to no representation of Spanish Colonial architecture, dating 16th century, which I so adored in Mexico. I always felt like I was in Busch Gardens when I walked the streets there. The economy also made ex-pat life near to impossible. Everything was SO expensive it was really tough for the family of a journalist to really do any kind of good exploring because it just cost too damn much. Plus, I’m sorry, but the food sucked, except for the ice cream. Also, language is a problem. I knew Spanish from Mexico, but had to re-learn it altogether to fit the Argentine concept of Castellno. And they are quite haughty and unforgiving in their delusion about proper Spanish. They would even tell a Spaniard they didn’t speak proper Spanish.

By: 2summers

2summers — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 08:45:15 +0000

In reply to Owls. That's very interesting, Drury. So what exactly made you feel like the city was inauthentic? Did you not feel safe exploring? Or did you feel like there just wasn't much to explore because of the economic difficulties? Or did you feel like the people there actually behaved in an inauthentic way?

By: Owls

Owls — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 20:51:48 +0000

This is so interesting because when I lived in Buenos Aires my main complaint about the city was that it lacked authenticity. I had heard this complaint from others as well. In the back of my mind I knew it had a great art scene, etc., but Argentina was going through a major economic meltdown at the time and I never got to do the kind of exploring I did in Mexico City or that you are doing in Joburg. What a marvelous job you are doing showing all the positives of this obviously great city, cuz!

By: 2summers

2summers — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 06:01:07 +0000

In reply to psychologistmimi. Thank you. And yes, it certainly is!

By: 2summers

2summers — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 05:59:58 +0000

In reply to psycotichippiebby. Thanks for the reblog!

By: psychologistmimi

psychologistmimi — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 01:30:59 +0000

Interesting shots. “Aunt sylvia” seems an interesting mix of tastes

By: psycotichippiebby

psycotichippiebby — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 22:09:19 +0000

Reblogged this on psycotichippiebby.

By: 2summers

2summers — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:29:45 +0000

In reply to Kathryn McCullough.

I think it’s hard to say what is authentic or inauthentic about any place. It’s such a subjective thing. That’s one of the reasons I was so confused by that guy’s comment.

Chocolate and bananas…yum 🙂

By: 2summers

2summers — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 12:55:40 +0000

In reply to daniellehardman. Yes! That's a perfect way to put it. Thanks for the comment.

By: daniellehardman

daniellehardman — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 12:53:59 +0000

I love Joburg and all its amazing restaurants,
It’s very authentic as it somehow manages to be completely different to the rest of Africa and yet completely different to 1st world countries.

By: Kathryn McCullough

Kathryn McCullough — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 19:45:07 +0000

That’s got me wondering what one would consider authentically Ecuadorian or Cuencanan? Interesting, Ecuador makes some great coffee, but most of it for export. What we get here is a bit less desirable–not that I know a lot about coffee. I do know that the black tea I drink is definitely not authentic to the country. Chocolate would be authentic or bananas, I suppose.

Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy