Editor’s Take

BY NJEMILE Z. ALI

Social Roles:

Navigating the Universe of Relationships

Two writers grace our pages this week. Otancia Kai Noel hails from Trinidad and Tobago. On the rhythms of the Trinidadian creole dialect, she takes us inside a Muslim compound where the proper places of women and men, husbands and wives and the children they bear are clearly set and often breached. What happens when a new young wife seeks control of the household at the expense of everyone else? Read on. You will soon come to know. “Bamba See Am Look Thing.”

Zakiyyah Ali brings us more Treasures from the African Diaspora.

We explored intimacy in last quarter’s issue of KIZA, discovering that the Universe itself is up-close and personal at all times. The stuff of creation dances with itself, as it takes on the many levels of form and substance. The societies we create—local universes—contain a diversity of those forms. Much of the time, we are so immersed in our societies we can barely see outside of them to embrace the essential trivia of life: molecular darkness, constant forces and incessant creation.

What sort of molecular bonds do we create to form societies? What are the elements? The compounds? The structures that reflect Earth’s soil, mountains, trees and rivers? What roles do we play in our social Universes? How do we treat our fellow creations? How are we treated?

Every week during this month of May 2025, our writers travel through the forces that shape social worlds and set the stage for the interactions that define individuals and communities. They carry precious cargo in their vehicles: childhood, love and relations lost and found—the true treasures of life.