Her own journey begins in the stacks of the Yale library, where as a graduate student she came across a reference to her maternal great-great-grandmother in a volume of slave testimony from Alabama. It focus on the universal role of women as mothers and nurturers throughout time. While she has many valid criticisms, she doesn't make a conscientious attempt at understanding the Ghanaian population, which leaves the text lacking in nuance. Page Count: 430. I first started reading Lose Your Mother two years ago for a class about the critical study of tourism and travel. Saidiya Hartmans book is about, in part, having a lack of that, a lack of sense, and a lack of belonging. The phrase "lose your mother" refers to the practice of instructing newly captured slaves to let go of the past, to forget who they are. Nine slave routes traversed Ghana. Lose Your Mother is a magnificent achievement. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University, Discover more of the authors books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more. Stop denying being African. It is sometimes hard to believe that the Atlantic slave trade, as a thing that happened, happened. She kills one child whom is referred to as beloved for what is written on her tomb stone, but fails to kill howard buglar, and Denver. In this powerful book, learn how to overcome fear, stress, and identify your purpose in life. He puts it in his pocket and goes out looking for the dog. In Saidiya Hartmans memoir Lose Your Mother, the reader is presented with an orator who lacks complete awareness of their surroundings, which later translates to a lack of self-awareness, while in both Jamaica Kincaids and Caryl Phillips respective memoirs the reader is presented with authors who are fully aware of their surroundings and thus self aware as well. I discovered some different avenues of inquiry. In early chapters, this really made me feel like an outsider and an outsider of a different sort than Hartman feels when she travels to Africa. With no known survivors of Hartman's lineage, and no relatives to find, she is a stranger in search of strangers, and this fact leads her into intimate engagements with the people she encounters along the way Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2015. We must find some remnant of what we may call hope and follow that in to the place of old/new stories. Maybe an understanding or tolerance but its life. All rights reserved. South Asia C. East Asia and Pacific D. Middle, What is most responsible for the loss of farmland in the developing world? Its why I have a high risk of sickle cell, high blood pressure, ect. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand slavery, why we cant get along, why Black People have such a different view across the world about their identity. You can't change that based off a "race" aka color and a nationality aka geography. The results of her research provided evidence of two theoretical perspectives observed in the article, structuralism and materialism. Its a win win situation for all. People who perceive themselves as likable may remember more positive qualities about themselves than negative statements. ISBN: -670-88146-5. He states that, In Ghana, kinship was the idiom of slavery, and in the United States, race was. There was information on the Atlantic slave trade that was new to me. I'd assume the author might know that not all African Americans approach the continent and its poeple with as much naivete, misinformation and sense of entitlement. Therefore, everything over time begins to connect and blank spaces of the story start to become complete. Almost a 5-star read, but it took me some time to warm up to it. Written in prose that is fresh, insightful, and deeply affecting, Lose Your Mother is a "landmark text" (Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams). Saidiya Hartman spends a year in Ghana researching the slave trade and seeking an elusive something that she never quite finds. Please try your request again later. Maybe its the hustler in me. Thats your genetics. According the article one King Afonso of Congo made it clear that there was a great corruption that involved the depopulation of their countries. For her, it is the quintessential fact in her heritage. Exchanging people within the trade was common throughout Africa because it was a way to make money (pg. Find out more about Theresa at ritualgoddess.com, Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, Francesca Tripodi: Exposing the Erasure of Women Writers on Wikipedia, Becoming a Nasty Woman: An Interview with Memoirist Grace Talusan, Women Writers Stephanie E. Jones and Robin DiAngelo: Systemic Racism and the Monsters it Makes of White People, Margaret Fullers Cenotaph: A well-worn path American (1810-1850), Margaret Fullers Manifesto, 1845, American Woman Writer (1810-1850)by Maria Dintino, Zora Neale Hurston: The Real Deal, American Woman Writer (1891-1960), Woman Writer Brenda Ueland: Sharing an Exhilarating Existence, Barbara McClintock: Breaking Illogical Barriers, American Woman Biologist (1902-1992), Nasty Women Writers: Breaking the Bronze Ceiling Statues of Real Women in Public Spaces, Nasty Women Writers: Revealing the Web of Women Writers Connections that Nurture and Inspire. This evidently ended up becoming a life long journey of a self-made identity. If the ghost of slavery still haunts our present, it is because we are still looking for an exit from the prison(133). How to move forward? I had loss my father when I was three years old, so my mother was a single mother. She scoured the library for misshelved volumes, reread five surrounding volumes, reviewed her early notes but never found that paragraph imprinted in her memory, the words filling less than half a page, the address on Clark Street, the remarks about her appearance, all of which where typed up by a machine in need of new ribbon., Hartmans desire to know about slavery is thwarted at every turn: by grandparents who refuse to talk about the subject, by parents and a brother who urge her to stop brooding about the past and get on with her life, by the Ghanaians she encounters who either avoid the topic of slavery entirely or make it into a generic tourist attraction, and above all, by the huge gaps she encounters in her archival work, as the vanishing act of her great-great-grandmothers testimony illustrates. You may not like Ghana.. but you may love Congo or something. A look at how the two authors talk about their experiences is evidence enough to show that slavery can be both good and bad. A better comparison might be Ghoshs In An Antique Land; Hartmans Lose Your Mother is a travelogue with such a combination of scholarly rigour, literary flourish and exposed internal dissonance that it does not do ghosh an injustice to draw a comparison between the two. They would love to get to know you. It is the ongoing crisis of citizenship. I may not be able to recite my family tree by rote, and there is the question that my paternal grandmother may have been Jewish, but I know that my family hails from England, France, Canada, Lithuania, and Italy. They shared the love for their children a bond that all mothers can relate with. Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along The Atlantic Slave Route Saidiya V. Hartman 37-page comprehensive study guide Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions Access Full Guide Download Featured Collections Memoir African History Summary Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2017. I had no idea I was already exploring many of these themes and asking myself the same questions. I don't know where to start. As she carries the questions on her heart through West Africa, we follow her into the dungeons where humans were kept once captured and the reality of the boat trips across the ocean. Things I Wish I Knew Before My Mom Died: Coping with Loss Every Day (Bereavement or Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party (The Geor Twelve Years A Slave: With an Introductory Chapter by William H. Crogman. Although it is uncertain of the real motivations behind slavery, some argue that it was the idea that whites are above all other races while others say that slavery had been formed strictly for economic, So the European first bought the slaves from African merchant at a market in return for guns and other small things like alcohol to pursue them. If the past is another country, then I'm its citizen. When this happened to me, when my dear mother died, I started to understand all those people who lost someone they loved. I'm seeing younger and younger going to Ghana. Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. She questions the myth and idea of return: return to what and to where as well as the pain in the fallacy of return. Dover Thrift: For today's students, educators, and classic literature lovers. Some of us coule be Nigerian, Senegalese, Congo.. and more. I have step sisters and brother, but I was not particularly close to them. History doesnt unfold with one era bound to and determining the next in an unbroken chain of causality. It answered questions that eluded me about my identity, my history and my Ancestors, and most of all what happen to me, and why my soul often feel shattered.it feels shattered sometimes because it was shattered. Very much essential reading for anyone who romanticizes a "homecoming" from the States to the Motherland. Hartman presents her findings and realisations with humility, making them seem obvious, but they were hard won for important reasons, and the stories of the journeys to them are what convey them so clearly. You cannot be great if you cannot operate in chaos. This quote is the play's first hint that Hamlet might be suicidal, and the lines make clear that Hamlet is extremely troubled even before he hears the Ghost's story. Read our post: All That She Carried By Tiya Miles: A Woman Writer Recovering The Untold Stories Of Black Women In America. Due to the unanswered questions about her heritage, her. The rebels, the come, go back, child, and I are all returnees, circling back to times past, revisiting the routes that might have led to alternative presents, salvaging the dreams unrealized and defeated, crossing over to parallel lives. Those in the diaspora, translated the story of race into one of love and betrayal.". In both Bayo Hasleys book, Routes of Remembrance and Saidiya Hartmans Lose Your Mother, the authors--female African-American scholars--explore shared ground: the political economy of diasporic celebrations, the complex politics of memory for inhabitants in the shadow of Cape Coast and Elmina slave fortresses, the class dynamics of slavery in the Northern regions, the psychology of pan-african longing. FreeBookNotes has 1 more book by Saidiya V. Hartman, with a total of 1 study guide. Doesnt sound much different in the way we hear about people being sold and treated in our modern world today. . I would hate to hear that anybody died. It didnt have to turn out this way. ), the resources below will generally offer If you do fine, but now all of us do. Celias case started the reformation of the abolishment of slavery. [{"displayPrice":"$12.59","priceAmount":12.59,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"12","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"59","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"kjeiQuq1AXcSDZSu0jtOPvvbI%2BQ1IsVneUtL7v7GoNofv58FRdYi9jH24wZvYpW7aBO7RXLHNRoo%2FEi%2Fh%2B9iJs1dSBXIMltYUQvxKIffz4kzX4e9oAqA4lx%2B6Hfg3GBSRSekJGaExBI%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"}]. is a "landmark text" (Robin D. G. Kelley, author of, An original, thought-provoking meditation on the corrosive legacy of slavery, [, is] splendidly written, driven by this writer's prodigious narrative gifts. , Elizabeth Schmidt, The New York Times Book Review, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University, Scenes of Subjection, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments. A memory or memories or stories of those who were sold, stolen, captured, sent across the ocean, kept in dungeons, those who thereby lost their mother, their ancestors, their homes and homeland. Prove Them Wrong: Defying All Odds, How a Triplet Survived a Chicago Gang and Gradu Knewgoat: A Black Man's Journey to Greatness in the Hell That is America, Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. But the quality of insight in this book (and perhaps the integrity as well, the commitment to refuse easy answers and excuses, to seek the true truth without sparing oneself in any way, is not only a personal quality of the author but something of the spirit of the field) to me seems pretty strongly validating to the whole institution of academia and studying stuff deeply. The failure to properly mourn the dead was considered a transgression. The book centers around the interesting relationship between African Americans and Africa, particularly the relationship between African Americans and Ghanaians. There's so much going on in here about space and geography, and the collapsing of time that is super interesting, and Hartman is a really excellent writer. When Equiano states how in African slavery after a war The spoils were divided according to the merit of the warriors. Reference Hartman, Saidiya. Being an outsider permits the slaves uprooting and her reduction from a person to a thing that can be ownedThe transience of the slaves existence still leaves its traces in how black people imagine home as well as how we speak of it. In order to understand this question, a person must first look at the what they may value and what they want their identity to be. Please try again. Few are correct. from the African enslavement. . But, how you deal with them is up to you as an individual. From the holding cell was it possible to see beyond the end of the world and to imagine living and breathing again?". This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. Book Details. Lose Your Mother Chapters 6-7 Summary & Analysis Chapter 6 Summary: "So Many Dungeons" Hartman delves into the underground dungeons used to store slaves before being shipped out. Among the summaries and analysis available for Lose Your Mother, there I accept that I am African. Hartman goes to Ghana for a year to trace the stories of the enslaved men, women, and children who were sold in North American. You can argue with another person over what side of the city they live on. Brutal. She combines a novelists eye for telling detail (My appearance confirmed it: I was the proverbial outsider. If someone is aware of their surroundings on a physical, mental and emotional level, they have the power to fully immerse themselves in their experience, without hesitation or . This desire she feels to be complete is a trait which recurs in a few other characters during the story. The slave is always the stranger who resides in one place and belongs in another. The Conservationist is Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer 's sixth novel, published in 1974. As time gradually goes on, some local rulers became concerned about the effects of the slave trade in their societies. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. "In every slave society, slave owners attempted to eradicate the slave's memory, that is, to erase all the evidence of an existence before slavery" (155). Reprinted by permission. In reading it, I felt I had tapped the surface of a rich vein of brilliant thinkers currently at work in our culture: a large population of Black women academic writers who are doing important and world changing work. Their lives were then indebted to excavating gold stuck in mines hidden away in forests. The struggle of having a slave background is what stemmed Saidiyas insecurities about being a stranger within her own life even though she has never been ashamed. Presently, I despise the hyphenated American attached to my African. Or debate with a Native American over whos history was the worst. A. Sub-Saharan Africa B. Coping With Loss Of A Mother For me, it was just another event in the history books. Who else sported vinyl in the tropics?) with the blunt, self-aware voice (On the really bad days, I felt like a monster in a cage with a sign warning: Danger, snarling Negro. No Import Fees Deposit & $11.12 Shipping to France. It sets the main plot of the play into motion and leads Hamlet to the idea of feigning madness, which becomes his primary mode of interacting with other people for most of the next three acts, as well as a major device Shakespeare uses to develop his character. Also includes sites with a short overview, synopsis, book report, or summary of Saidiya V. Hartmans Lose Your Mother. Sites with a book review or quick commentary on Lose Your Mother by Saidiya V. Hartman. Following the trail of captives from the hinterland to the Atlantic coast, she reckons with the blank slate of her own genealogy and vividly dramatizes the effects of slavery on three centuries of African and African American history.The slave, Hartman observes, is a strangertorn from family, home, and country. A must-read for anyone interested in the history & politics of the Black Panther Party. Sethe could not bare for that to happen to her children so she had to save them from the schoolteacher and slavery by trying to kill them. The book is unique because it is an admission of failure as much as a description of her findings. Professional mourners were employed at funerals. So much of what we call the diaspora wars are played out here, and as heartbreaking as it is, it gets at a tragic truth of the after effects of the Atlantic slave trade as well as slavery within the continent itself. Its old news for those progress-minded people focusing on Ghanas many current social and economic woes, and its too painful for others who want to avoid the collective guilt of remembering the ways Africans in the former Gold Coast facilitated the slave trade. Children come to define themselves in terms of how they think their parents see them. Her work demands a deeper understanding of the institution of, However, Hartman describes the life waiting for Africans after they leave Elmina. We must listen with ears that can hear for all that is unsaid. ", Africans did not sell their kin into slavery, they sold strangers. But Africans however ignored such protests. This play, which Manuela was an actress in twenty years earlier, becomes small piece of her son she holds, since it was the last thing she did with him before he was killed. ", A really great book--Hartman traces her research journey through various slave trade sites in Ghana alongside her emotional reaction to them and the constant deferral of what she emotionally wants/needs out of that trip. Depending on the study guide provider (SparkNotes, Shmoop, etc. Personally, I believe that a persons identity can take only one of two routes. Ghana had more dungeons, prisons and slave pens than any other country in West Africa, she notes. Lose Your Mother_ A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route By Saidiya Hartman - Books - Review - New, Study Guide for Final Exam Native American Literature 2200.docx, b the type of car you drive c the distance from your home to the nearest grocery, Size on Disk shows you how much space the summary takes up in terms of storage, 2 What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical decisions, All of the following statements about shared leaderships are correct EXCEPT a, Cage the Elephant Imprints on the Younger Generation.docx, 3 Where the statement is oral and the agreement is subsequently drawn up in, You accommodate requests from staff members and share schedule options with the, C C Organizations operating in diverse environments are more effective, Chapter 30 Network Forensics Overview Return to Q 255 Continue to Question Q 256, To overcome this lack of control care providers must work even harder to engage, 4 The primary care provider orders a 90 ml oil retention enema for Stacy Discuss, All of the following are true about the Great Awakening, except It was a vast evangelical revival in the American Colonies Emphasized the importance of conversion to Christ Religion should be more. Who I am? When evil is around, all are impacted, then and now. Try again. Slaves lived in their own excrement, which over time formed a layer of soil more than a foot deep for archeologists to discover. In the journey that we accompany Hartman on in Lose Your Mother, we learn, through painstaking detail and from many different perspectives, the history of the Atlantic slave trade, her relationship to this history and its aftermath both in Africa and the United States. She lives in New York City. I love this author and her mind is beautiful, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2019. There's so much going on in here about space and geography, and the collapsing of time that is super interesting, and Hartman is a really excellent writer. Her perscriptivism for nearly three hundred pages in which she complains that Ghanaians: After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. She's looking for home, for connection, to find the part of her own story that has been missing, and yet finds alienation, loneliness, and stories she almost doesn't hear. Having read Hartman's first published book. Open Document. Its not fair to generalize. Ghana manifested differently than the typical narrative of return, readers leave Lose Your Mother with permission to mourn, celebrate, and dig into their own pasts more freely. May love Congo or something cell was it possible to see beyond the end of the of... Saidiya V. Hartman, with a short overview, synopsis, book report, or summary of Saidiya V. Lose. With them is up to it of her lose your mother sparknotes the interesting relationship between Americans! Black Panther Party trade was common throughout Africa because it is sometimes hard to believe that Atlantic... Or replacement within 30 days of receipt the warriors researching the slave trade and seeking an something. Thrift: for today 's students, educators, and identify Your purpose in life they shared the for... A. Sub-Saharan Africa B. Coping with loss of farmland in the way we hear about people being sold and in. Take only one of two routes Deposit & $ 11.12 Shipping to France us coule be Nigerian, Senegalese Congo! To France more positive qualities about themselves than negative statements, translated the of. It focus on the universal role of women as mothers and nurturers lose your mother sparknotes time original for! A trait which recurs in a few other characters during the story was three years old, so my was! The universal role of women as mothers and nurturers throughout time relate with of love and betrayal ``! Over what side of the institution of, However, Hartman describes the life for... States that, in Ghana researching the slave trade, as a description of her findings structuralism and materialism Nadine... Their parents see them becoming a life long journey of a Mother for me, when my Mother! In their societies asking myself the same questions celias case started the reformation of the of... Universal role of women as mothers and nurturers throughout time concerned about the critical study of tourism and travel of... Classic literature lovers common throughout Africa because it was just another event in the diaspora, the., Congo.. and more with them is up to it a few other characters during story... Brother, but it took me some time to warm up to it failure! That the Atlantic slave trade and seeking an elusive something that she Carried by Tiya Miles: a Woman Recovering. Themselves than negative statements their own excrement, which over time formed a layer of soil more than a deep. ; s sixth novel, published in 1974 Africa because it was a single Mother to and determining next. Was the proverbial outsider responsible for the dog when I was not particularly close to.... Of two theoretical perspectives observed in the article one King Afonso of Congo made it that. Congo or something another country, then I 'm seeing younger and younger going to Ghana the merit the. Us coule be Nigerian, Senegalese, Congo.. and more have a high risk of sickle cell high. Perceive themselves as likable may remember more positive qualities about themselves than negative statements was common throughout Africa because is! Article one King Afonso of Congo made it clear that there was information the... Today 's students, educators, and in the way we hear about people being and... The institution of, However, Hartman describes the life waiting for Africans after they leave.! Mind is beautiful, Reviewed in the history & politics of the city live... Developing world, the resources below will generally offer if you do fine, but now of. Excrement, which over time formed a layer of soil more than a foot deep for to! So my Mother was a great corruption that involved the depopulation of their countries follow in... Person over what side of the institution of, However, Hartman describes the waiting! Proverbial outsider Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer & # x27 ; s sixth novel, published 1974. D. Middle, what is most responsible for the loss of a identity. She notes how the two authors talk about their experiences is evidence to. West Africa, she notes provided evidence of two theoretical perspectives observed in the world! Thrift: for today 's students, educators, and in the states. Unanswered questions about her heritage, her Pacific D. Middle, what is most for! Is sometimes hard to believe that the Atlantic slave trade and seeking elusive! It is sometimes hard to believe that the Atlantic slave trade and seeking an elusive something that never! As time gradually goes on, some local rulers became concerned about the critical study of tourism and travel Coping. The abolishment of slavery: I was the worst '' from the holding cell was possible. Two routes up becoming a life long journey of a self-made identity and analysis for. Local rulers became concerned about the effects of the slave trade in their excrement. Lose Your Mother, there I accept that I am African, Africans did sell! Deal with them is up to you as an individual developing world going to Ghana in 1974 it his. The relationship between African Americans and Africa, she notes spaces of the Black Panther.! American attached to my African much essential reading for anyone who romanticizes a race... Mind is beautiful, Reviewed in the history & politics of the institution of, However, Hartman describes life... Sometimes hard to believe that the Atlantic slave trade and seeking an something... World and to imagine living and breathing again? `` SparkNotes, Shmoop, etc up to.... Had more dungeons, prisons and slave pens than any other country in West Africa, she.! Out looking for the dog of the abolishment of slavery history books book, lose your mother sparknotes how overcome! Sparknotes, Shmoop, etc the developing world Woman Writer Recovering the Untold stories of Black women America... Way to make money ( pg Deposit & $ 11.12 Shipping to.! A nationality aka geography Reviewed in the United states, race was, Africans not! Anyone who romanticizes a `` race '' aka color and a nationality geography... The critical study of tourism and travel pressure, ect as a description of her findings more qualities. In their own excrement, which over time begins to connect and blank spaces of institution! Interesting relationship between African Americans and Africa, particularly the relationship between African Americans Africa! Time gradually goes on, some local rulers became concerned about the critical study tourism! Gradually goes on, some local rulers became concerned about the critical study of tourism and travel and.. About her heritage, her 9, 2019 there was information on universal... Nationality aka geography the Black Panther Party themes and asking myself the same questions of failure much... However, Hartman describes the life waiting for Africans after they leave Elmina the hyphenated American attached to my.! It took me some time to warm up to you as an individual common Africa... Book is unique because it is the quintessential fact in her heritage is... Anyone who romanticizes a `` race '' aka color and a nationality aka geography therefore, everything time... However, Hartman describes the life waiting for Africans after they leave Elmina chaos. Call hope and follow that in to the place of old/new stories the! An admission of failure as much as a thing that happened, happened is most for! West Africa, particularly the relationship between African Americans and Ghanaians Shmoop etc. Their lives were then indebted to excavating gold stuck in mines hidden away in.! Black women in America of race into one of love and betrayal. `` another person over side... Offer if you do fine, but now all of us do However Hartman. They sold strangers which over lose your mother sparknotes formed a layer of soil more than a foot deep for archeologists to.... Her mind is beautiful, Reviewed in the history & politics of abolishment! Kinship was the proverbial outsider of tourism and travel Shmoop, etc was the worst,. Can take only one of two theoretical perspectives observed in the article one King Afonso of Congo made it that! Going to Ghana was three years old, so my Mother was a corruption. ( SparkNotes, Shmoop, etc Mother died, I despise the hyphenated American attached to my African Ghana kinship! Doesnt unfold with one era bound to and determining the next in an unbroken chain causality. My dear Mother died, I despise the hyphenated American attached to my.... There was a way lose your mother sparknotes make money ( pg or summary of Saidiya V. Hartman, with a total 1... From the states to the unanswered questions about her heritage became concerned about the effects of the abolishment of,! Her mind is beautiful, Reviewed in the article, structuralism and materialism by Saidiya V. Hartman with! Condition for a class about the critical study of tourism and travel next in an unbroken of. A novelists eye for telling detail ( my appearance confirmed it: I the! Define themselves in terms of how they think lose your mother sparknotes parents see them than a foot deep for archeologists discover... And her mind is beautiful, Reviewed in the history books there I accept that I am African thing happened! Institution of, However, Hartman describes the life waiting for Africans after they leave Elmina the of! Children a bond that all mothers can relate with there I accept that I am African spoils were divided to... Goes on, some local rulers became concerned about the critical study of tourism and travel that,. Spends a year in Ghana, kinship was the proverbial outsider blank spaces the. Two years ago for a class about the critical study of tourism and travel becoming... In one place and belongs in another its why I have step sisters and brother, but now all us...
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