I dropped the word "shanzai" recently. In my mind, it's something I blogged about not that long ago (2011) - a term I learned from meeting Dr. Josh Goldstein at USC via Adam Minter. But I do admit to that habit of dropping a word or a phrase in places where no one knows what I'm talking about (unless they do).
Like a reference to "the Keystone Cops", the word "shanzhai" went "whoosh" over the heads of my listeners. But in a reuse and recycling context, it's a profound concept. It is like a master guitarist finding that a fan has learned to play his riffs even better than he can. It's the concept of taking an iPhone 6 and repairing it with bells and whistles that make it, virtually, like an iPhone 9 (yet to be invented).
Today's blog has three goals - 1) remind readers of the importance of shanzhai, 2) show some really awesome examples of Africans turning broken LCD TVs into things of higher value, and 3) explore the "poor communicator" dynamic which so often dumbs down own discussions. When is it necessary to go back and remind a new reader what a word means? Often today, journalists and bloggers "hotline" the word by html to a definition somewhere else online, similar to a footnote.
So here's the thing - Shanzai is being re-defined in relationship to "counterfeit" stuff. In the same way the charitable industrial complex defined African electronic recycling with "bad" images of Agbogbloshie, and defined Chinese technology reuse with cesspools and rice paddies, someone is out to bury the concept of refurbishment itself, and to make it seem shameful.
And they are going to use European and American implicit racism and assumptions about Africans and Chinese people to keep the competition away. Like second string white baseball players, the American and European "big shred" recyclers are frightened of competition from Jackie Robinson.
To be fair, shanzai does also mean borrowed or knock-off, but in Chinese it has a much more respected context. As I explained in the blog, Shanzhai is respected in China, in the way that John Frusciante, 47, (Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist) respects Josh Klinghoffer, 37. Klinghoffer copied Frusciante's guitar riffs and added a spice to them that put the Red Hot Chili Peppers on another level.
Here's what you will see in the blog below the "more" line:
1) Chili Peppers "under the bridge" video
2) An explanation of how I feel lonely explaining African exports (tied to lyrics)
3) A photo slide show demonstrating what Africans are doing with broken LCD TVs (like the ones Total Reclaim allowed to be exported to China)
And as usual, the conclusion
4) African geeks know more than we do, and the "circular economy" doesn't revolve around white people.
followed by
5) a blog-end of why it may be worth it to sometimes write a blog that's over most reader's level of expertise.
See if you can check the boxes
