Proverb Monday, #31

Proverb: Ogyatanaa, wokɔ ho na w'annwene wo se a, wokyea wo ti.
Meaning: A flaming fire, if you go near it you either show your teeth or turn your head.
Context: You have violent reaction to a dangerous situation.

No. 2491 in Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

87. Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Title: Weep Not, Child

Author: Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Genre: Fiction/Colonial

Publishers: Heinemann

Pages: 143

Year of First Publication: 1964

Country: Kenya

For the Africa Reading Challenge

To begin with, this is a book I last read almost seven years ago. It is also one of the very few books I have re-read. Though I only review books I have just (within the year) read I feel the need to share this with you.

The story revolves around Ngotho and his children and their relationship with Jacobo and the Howlands. Ngotho was a man filled with emotions and loneliness. The type of emotion one cannot do anything to assuage its excruciating pains. As a patriarch Ngotho hurts from the knowledge that even though his children show great potential he cannot help them to fulfill. Worst of all is his inability to stand against Jacobo, the anglicised local man for whom he works. And when he remembers that his son, Boro, fought in the second Big War, his impotence becomes hurting sore; it stares starkly at him. When Boro ran into the bush to fight with the fighters, Ngotho finally gathered some Okonkwo-like bravery and attacked Jacobo. This attack led to a series of disasters. As Ngotho became spiritually alienated and emotionally disturbed; as he became weaker, his enemies, Jacobo and Howland became stronger.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Weep Not Child is a story that examines the relationship that existed between blacks and whites and within blacks themselves prior to independence. It explores several socio-economic issues such as access to education, jobs and the universal right to life. It also explores the Mau Mau bush-fighters and their struggle for an independence in Kenya. When access to social amenities is unequal and others have rights that are lost to others, there is a class struggle and a type of caste system is created. For instance, and here note the play on words, whereas the Ngothos were dead-poor and representative of the Kenyan proletarians, the Jacobos were rich farmers who worked for the white farmers, the Howlands. And names become important. From a very typical and native name of Ngotho, the poor and the masses, we move to those who have sold the land to the whites and serve them. Those who bow before them and in doing so shame the black race. These are called the Jacobos - a localised name for the English name, Jacob. Then the Lord of Lords, the colonialist is represented by Howland... How Land?

This classification were strongly implemented by all the individuals involved. So that even though Kamau wanted to learn carpentry and his 'black' master would not show him all he needs to know he complained bitterly, insinuating that this was the reason why - Ngotho - his father prefers to work for the whiteman;

Blackness is not all that makes a man ... There are some people, be they black or white, who don't want others to rise above them. They want to be the source of all knowledge and share it piecemeal to other less endowed. That is what's wrong with all these carpenters and men who have a certain knowledge. It is the same with rich people. A rich man does not want others to get rich because he wants to be the only man with wealth ... Some Europeans are better than Africans ... That's why you at times hear father say that he would rather work for a white man. A white man is a white man. But a black man trying to be a white man is bad and harsh. (Page 22)

And this is where the crux of the issue lies. The Africans in the novel who adopted the lifestyle of the colonialists were harsher and brutal in their treatment of fellow blacks than the colonialists themselves. Thus, Ngugi here is not piling up the blame at the doorsteps of the colonialists or Europeans but also showing that the ability to do good is inherent and that it is not necessarily true that the oppressed race is always vulnerable and pitiable. But most times that they inflict the pain by themselves on themselves. That on several occasions, in order to please their masters, those who pretend to have the masters' 'colour and manners' go to the extreme in their maltreatment of their very own tribesmen. This observation by Ngugi is not different from many other views, like Mia Couto's The Russian Bride in his short-story collection  Every Man is a Race, where the slave boss treated the others harshly to impress his Russian boss.

Again, this novel could be a precedence to Matigari, even as it precedes it in publication. For in Matigari, which was set in the period following Kenya's independence, we see that it was the rule of the Jacobos and not the Ngothos, even though it was the latter who had fought with their lives for independence. The Ngothos (or Matigari ma Njiruungi) remained an oppressed group and even though there was a change in government (in Matigari) the land was still being misappropriated by the same Jacobos (or John Boys) for their friends, the Howlands (or Williams).

Are these symbiotic relationship different from what prevails in most countries on the continent? Are they different from the today, where governments sell national assets for nothing, if only the capitalist entrepreneurs would promise their children good university education abroad? Or where governments refuse to see the harm being wreaked upon its country because that's where his personal sustenance comes from? Is it different from the present era, where the paunch is put before development or where the "I" supersedes the "We" even when the resource is a Common Resource?

To really understand the development quagmire, within which most African countries seem to be stuck or better still wallow, a reading of these two novels would suffice. For it is only when our present actions bestow positive externalities on posterity that we can hit our chest and say 'yes we've done well'. However, as it is now, we are light-years away from attaining such feat. Ngugi by this book alone has provided us with the solution to our problem by diagnosing what the problem is.

If you have not read this novella, whose title was taken from Walt Whitman's On the Beach at Night, perhaps well-chosen for the subject it addresses, then kindly do so. It is one great novel.

____________________________________

Brief Bio: Ngugi wa Thiong'o, currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine, was born in Kenya, in 1938 into a large peasant family. He was educated at Kamandura, Manguu and Kinyogori primary schools; Alliance High School, all in Kenya; Makerere University College (then a campus of London University), Kampala, Uganda; and the University of Leeds, Britain. He is recipient of seven Honorary Doctorates viz D Litt (Albright); PhD (Roskilde); D Litt (Leeds); D Litt &Ph D (Walter Sisulu University); PhD (Carlstate); D Litt (Dillard) and D Litt (Auckland University). He is also Honorary Member of American Academy of Letters. A many-sided intellectual, he is novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist, editor, academic and social activist.

The Kenya of his birth and youth was a British settler colony (1895-1963). As an adolescent, he lived through the Mau Mau War of Independence (1952-1962), the central historical episode in the making of modern Kenya and a major theme in his early works. (Source)

ImageNations Rating: 6.0/6.0

Quotes for Friday from Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are not to Blame II

This is a continuation of the 'proverbial quotes', which began last week.

All lizards lie prostrate: how can a man tell which lizard suffers from bellyache? In time, the pain will make one of them lie flat on its back, then shall that which has been unknown be made known.

Page 23

A chicken eats corn, drinks water, swallows pebbles, yet she complains of having no teeth. If she had teeth, would she eat gold? Let her ask the cow who has teeth yet eats grass.

Page 26

Is it not ignorance that makes the rat attack the cat?

Page 28

The hyena flirts with the hen, the hen is happy, not knowing that her death has come.

Page 29

The lion's liver is vain wish for dogs

Page 37

Because the farm-owner is slow to catch the thief, the thief calls the farm-owner thief.

Page 46

The mangrove tree dwells in the river, but does that make it a crocodile?

Page 51

Can the cockroach be innocent in a gathering of fowls?

Page 53

The toad likes water, but not when the water is boiling

Page 60

Secrets of the owl must not be known in daylight

Page 62

When the wood-insect gathers sticks on its own head it carries them.

Page 72

________________

Read the review here and the first quotes here

Kwei Quartey Launches Children of the Street

On July 12, 2011, Children of the Street, a new novel by the Ghanaian mystery writer and physician, Kwei Quartey, went on sale. Children of the Street is part of the Inspector Darko Dawson series. Copies could be purchased from bookshops or downloaded onto laptops, smartphones, Kindles, iPads, Kobos and other tablet devices. The first book in the series is Wife of the Gods.

Praise for Children of the Street

“Quartey cleverly hides the culprit, but the whodunit’s strength is as much in the depiction of a world largely unfamiliar to an American readership as in its playing fair…” —STARRED Publisher’s Weekly

“Searing and original and done just right . . . Inspector Darko Dawson is relentless, and I look forward to riding with him again.” —Bestselling Author Michael Connelly

“Darko Dawson, with his secret struggle to stop smoking marijuana and his son’s chronic illness, is one of the most engaging characters this reader has ever encountered. The police work, the unexpected reveal of the murderer and the motivation for the killings, and the clever interactions among characters of widely different professions and social classes will completely satisfy readers who enjoyed the first book and intrigue newcomers.” –Library Journal

“CHILDREN OF THE STREET is a fast-paced rollercoaster through Accra…” - Kate Childs

But don’t take their word for it, try it and be the judge yourself. If you absolutely hate it, let me know by replying to this email and I will email you an Amazon gift card for the amount you paid for the novel. Depending on where you buy it, it runs between $9 and $15. There is no hardcover edition this time, making it much more accessible and affordable to everyone. Most hardcovers run between $24 and $30, which is a lot to pay for a book.

Anyway, I’ll shut up now so you can get to reading, and while you’re sinking into the story, I’ll go buy some sparkling apple cider to celebrate.

Read ImageNations' interview Dr Kwei Quartey. Click here to visit the author's website.

Wole Soyinka is 77 Today!

Africa's first Nobelist, Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka - commonly referred to as Wole Soyinka, is celebrating his 77th birthday today. According to Cassava Republic, a list of literary events have been planned to celebrate this great personality.

In Abuja, the Arojah Royal Theatre will be hosting a series of readings from Soyinka's plays and poems, as well as talks around the theme "My Favourite Wole Soyinka Book". [courtesy: Cassava Republic]

Over here at ImageNations - and this is something we would be looking out for, henceforth - I bring you links to Soyinka's books that have been reviewed here:

• The first is his memoir You Must Set Forth at Dawn reviewed on August 25, 2010.
• The next is his play The Lion and the Jewel reviewed on November 22, 2010.

I also treat you to Soyinka's famous poem Telephone Conversation, wherein he treats racism with humour and sarcasm.

            Telephone Conversation

            The price seemed reasonable, location
            Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
            Off premises. Nothing remained
            But self-confession. “Madam,” I warned,
5         “I hate a wasted journey—I am African.”
            Silence. Silenced transmission of
            Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
            Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
            Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully. 
10         “HOW DARK?” . . . I had not misheard . . . “ARE YOU LIGHT
            OR VERY DARK?” Button B. Button A. Stench
            Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
            Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered
            Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed
15         By ill-mannered silence, surrender
            Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.
            Considerate she was, varying the emphasis— 
            “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Revelation came.
            “You mean—like plain or milk chocolate?”
20         Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light
            Impersonality. Rapidly, wavelength adjusted,
            I chose. “West African sepia”—and as an afterthought,
            “Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic
            Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent
25         Hard on the mouthpiece. “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding,
            “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” “Like brunette.” 
            “THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” “Not altogether.
            Facially, I am brunette, but madam, you should see
            The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet
30         Are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused—
            Foolishly, madam—by sitting down, has turned
            My bottom raven black—One moment madam!”—sensing
            Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap
            About my ears—“Madam,” I pleaded, “wouldn’t you rather
35         See for yourself?”
[Source]

Happy 77th birthday Soyinka... Ogun, the god of Iron, bless your path and lengthened your days on this earth, that whilst you leave you would still be with us.

NoViolet Bulawayo wins 12th Caine Prize for African Writing

I had always known that the announcement of the Caine Prize for African Writing would fall on my birthday. However, in joyful and thoughtful moods that birthdays always bestow upon its adult celebrants, I entirely forgot to follow the announcement on twitter. Thanks, however, to the internet I have been able to retrieve the announcement of the winner.

Press Release

Zimbabwe’s NoViolet Bulawayo has won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing, described as Africa’s leading literary award, for her short story entitled ‘Hitting Budapest’, from The Boston Review, Vol 35, no. 6 – Nov/Dec 2010.

The Chair of Judges, award-winning author Hisham Matar, announced NoViolet Bulawayo as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held this evening (Monday 11 July) at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Hisham Matar said:

The language of ‘Hitting Budapest’ crackles. Here we encounter Darling, Bastard, Chipo, Godknows, Stina and Sbho, a gang reminiscent of Clockwork Orange. But these are children, poor and violated and hungry. This is a story with moral power and weight, it has the artistry to refrain from moral commentary. NoViolet Bulawayo is a writer who takes delight in language.

NoViolet Bulawayo was born and raised in Zimbabwe. She recently completed her MFA at Cornell University, in the US, where she is now a Truman Capote Fellow and Lecturer of English. Another of her stories, ‘Snapshots’, was shortlisted for the 2009 SA PEN/Studzinski Literary Award. NoViolet has recently completed a novel manuscript tentatively titled We Need New Names, and has begun work on a memoir project.

Also shortlisted were:

• Lauri Kubuitsile (Botswana) ‘In the spirit of McPhineas Lata’ from The Bed Book of Short Stories published by Modjaji Books, SA, 2010
• Tim Keegan (South Africa) ‘What Molly Knew’ from Bad Company published by Pan Macmillan SA, 2008
• David Medalie (South Africa) ‘The Mistress’s Dog’, from The Mistress’s Dog: Short stories, 1996-2010 published by Picador Africa, 2010
• Beatrice Lamwaka (Uganda) ‘Butterfly dreams’ from Butterfly Dreams and Other New Short Stories from Uganda published by Critical, Cultural and Communications Press, Nottingham, 2010

The panel of judges is chaired by award-winning Libyan novelist Hisham Matar, whose first novel, In the Country of Men, was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. His second novel, Anatomy of a Disappearance, was published by Viking this March.

He is joined on the panel by Granta deputy editor Ellah Allfrey, publisher, film and travel writer Vicky Unwin, Georgetown University Professor and poet David Gewanter, and the award-winning author Aminatta Forna.

Once again, the winner of the £10,000 Caine Prize will be given the opportunity to take up a month’s residence at Georgetown University, Washington DC as a ‘Caine Prize/Georgetown University Writer-in-Residence’. The award will cover all travel and living expenses.

Last year the Caine Prize was won by Sierra Leonean writer Olufemi Terry. As the then Chair of judges, Fiammetta Rocco, said at the time, the story was 

ambitious, brave and hugely imaginative. Olufemi Terry’s ‘Stickfighting Days’ presents a heroic culture that is Homeric in its scale and conception. The execution of this story is so tight and the presentation so cinematic, it confirms Olufemi Terry as a talent with an enormous future.

Previous winners include Sudan’s Leila Aboulela, winner of the first Caine Prize in 2000, whose new novel Lyrics Alley was published in January 2010 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, as well as Binyavanga Wainaina, from Kenya, who founded the well-known literary magazine, Kwani?, dedicated to promoting the work of new Kenyan writers and whose memoir One Day I Will Write About this Place will be published by Granta Books in November 2011.

You can read the winning story here.

[Courtesy: Wealth of Ideas]

Proverb Monday, #30

Proverb: Onipa dɔ wo a, ɔdɔ wo ne wo nkwaseasεm.
Meaning: If a person loves you, he loves you with all your nonsense.
Context: You don't judge those you love, but you love everything about them.

No. 4444 in Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

Nana Brew Hammond in Essence

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, author of Powder Necklace and a fashion aficionado has granted Essence an interview. In it she talked about her book, her background and her work as a fashion editor at Bluefly.com. According to the Magazine:

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond has proven herself to be a force to be reckoned with in the unforgivably competitive literary world. A cum laude graduate of Vassar College, sh ehas become a trailblazer in African literature and has risen to the challenge with her new book, "Powder Necklace." What began as a potential memoir ended up morphing into a striking portrayal of multi-faceted character whose eclectic cultural background and layered life experience created a story that is hard to forget. Currently the Style Editor for Bluefly.com, this modern day fashionista and author had quite a bit to share with ESSENCE on her career, fashion philosophy and what it takes to stand out in the crowd.

Read the full interview at ESSENCE. 

WPG Call for Submissions (for 2012 Anthologies)*

The Writers Project of Ghana intends to publish two anthologies of Ghanaian writing in 2012.  There will be one anthology of poetry and another of short stories. You are welcome to be a part of this.

Poetry: Send in five poems on any theme to poetry@writersprojectghana.com . Maximum length of any poem is 120 lines.

Short Stories: Send a short story between 400 – 4,000 words, on any theme to story@writersprojectghana.com .

 The target readership is young adults and older. 

The language of choice is English, but works in other Ghanaian languages are welcome.

Submissions should be received by 30^th September, 2011.

Our 2011 anthology of poetry, look where you have gone to sit, is available at the following places:

EPP bookshop

University of Ghana Bookshop, Legon

Citi FM, Adabraka
___________________
*Edited: July 09, 2011 @12:38 PM

Quotes for Friday from Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are not to Blame I

Though the title says 'quotes', the following quotes are more of proverbs than quotes. The richness of a culture, the values a group of people hold and their philosophies, distilled through time tested means, are quickly learnt from their proverbs. And every culture has one.

It is not changing into the lion that is hard, it is getting the tail of a lion

Page 7

Kolanut last long in the mouths of them who value it

Page 7

Joy has a slender body that breaks too soon

Page 8

When the chameleon brings forth a child, is not that child expected to dance? As we have made you King, act as King.

Page 9

When the rain falls on the leopard, does it wash off its spots? Has the richness of kingly life washed off the love of our King for his people?

Page 10

My people. Children of our fathers. Sickness is like rain. Does the rain fall on one roof alone? No. Does it fall on one body and not on another? No. Whoever the rain sees, on him it rains. Does it not? It is the same with sickness. 

Page 10

It is sickness that man can cure, not death

Page 12

To get fully cured one needs patience. The moon moves slowly but by daybreak it crosses the sky.

Page 14

By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from tree to tree without falling.

Page 14

The horns cannot be too heavy for the head of the cow that must bear them.

Page 20

Until the rotten tooth is pulled out, the mouth must chew with caution.

Page 21

When the frog in front falls in pit, others behind take caution.

Page 23

___________________

Read the review here

86. Dew in the Morning by Shimmer Chinodya

Title: Dew in the Morning

Author: Shimmer Chinodya

Genre: Fiction/Pastoral

Publishers: Heinemann (African Writers Series)

Pages: 218

Year of First Publication: 1982 (this edition, 2001)

Country: Zimbabwe*

For the Africa Reading Challenge

Shimmer Chinodya's first novel, Dew in the Morning, deals with the gradual changes that engulf individuals, villages and the environment as population increases and the carrying-capacity is exceeded. Set in a small rural community in northern Zimbabwe, Dew in the Morning tells this story from the point of view of Godi, a young boy whose father lives and works in the city but also keeps a farm and family in the village.

As crops failed and life and the general agrarian economy began to suffer after seven years of adverse weather conditions, the government moved people into the northern parts of the country where the land is fertile and the forest virgin. This massive exodus of the derukas - newcomers - into existing villages, which hitherto had remained closed to outsiders, led to the degradation of the forest and of the people's lives, the tension in values and the adaptation of new cultures. Godi leads us through the changes that took place in the village life like replacing forests with buildings and farms, fencing off farms to prevent destruction by grazing cattle and above all the fight for more land as the village's population increases. Even fruits, which at first were picked from beneath the trees, were now harvested in their green state and stored for ripening to take place. In the middle of all these is headman Jairos, a sloven patriarch whose requirement for land lies in the provision of alcohol and cigarettes.

Now the forests were gone and people had become restless. The owls did not hoot anymore. The huge trees where they had perched had been cut down for firewood. Ten years previously, owls had been part of the village, but now when an owl hooted people woke up, with throbbing hearts, to listen. Snakes no longer came slithering across compound clearings attracted by firelight. They kept away from the tread of human feet.

then

Village children shook the once-respected fruit trees, battering their trunks with rocks to make them shed their fruit. Some children even collected green fruit to ripen at home and sell to the bus passengers on the road. Gone were the days when children believed that shaking fruit trees would get them lost in the forest and that walking with upturned axe blades would anger the Gods into withholding the rain.

In all these, the one thing that never changed but was strengthened by the strange deaths that took place was the belief in spirits and witchcraft. When mysteriously people began to fall dead in matter of hours and days without showing symptoms of sickness in previous days, headman Simon who had succeeded Jairos (after the latter became mad), decided to call in the best shaman in the locality to sniff out the witches and wizards. In fact, this is one book that provided an unadulterated, non-prejudicial, non-judgemental view of witchcraft and its place in African societies. Where most writers would have exhibited their 'modernity' through derision - showing off their 'progressiveness' - Chinodya remained true to the core belief and attitude towards spritism. So that even though Godi and his mother were Christians, they submitted to the shaman.

All through the narration we observe the personal changes that Godi was going through; his affection for this one lady she swam with sometime ago and the frequent Sunday visits he made to her village, half a morning's walk away from his. Chinodya also brought out clearly the gender disparity that existed. Whereas Godi and his brothers were being educated in the city, coming home (to the village) only when on vacations to help their mother with farm work, the girls were always with their mother, working on the farm. Thus, a greater theme of this novel is one of change(s): environmental changes, cultural changes and sociological changes. And whereas some of these changes - the first two - took place within the pages of the book, the latter - as it deals with gender and accessibility - might have taken place outside of it.

Overall, this is a good book especially if you really want to know how rural life is. The author presented it as it is and unlike many of such novels refrained from assigning ascribed needs to rural denizens and portraying them as in dire need of things they know nothing about. This being positive though, could as well be seen as negative by some readers who are likely to classify the novel as a pastoral romanticism. However, written by an 18 year old, such sentiments are likely to be genuine.

_________________________________

Shimmer Chinodya

Brief Bio: Chinodya Shimmer (b. in 1957), is a Zimbabwean writer and has won the 2008 Noma award for literature for his latest novel "Strife". The novel Strife is a rich and densely written novel that explores the life of a large family growing up in Gweru whose father aspires to be an enlightened Christian man. He sees his children through school and college where they do well but as adults, they are struck by a mysterious illness which hinders their personal development. Was born in Gweru, Zimbabwe, in 1957, the second child in a large, happy family. He studied English Literature and Education at the University of Zimbabwe.  After a spell in teaching and Curriculum Development he proceeded to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (USA) where he  earned an MA in Creative Writing. (Source)

____________________________________

* Zimbabwe, after this post, is no longer part of the African Reading Challenge. 

ImageNations Rating: 4.0 out of 6.0

Covert Operations at Agbogbloshiestan*

the ballot-man, moulting

into a bullet-man, belts

through cockroached tunnels

(in a bullet-proof Limo)

seeking out those animals

that would eat their intestines

to calm growling bellies

those whose hunger

is only sated when another’s

blood spills on mouldy minds

to these animals are offered

alcohol laced laxatives

and: guns, cutlasses, and a list

___________________________

*Agbogbloshie is a large market in Accra, Ghana.

Proverb Monday, #29

Proverb: Yεnim sε Kɔrmante bεbere a, anka y'antete no abunu ansεe no.
Meaning: If we knew that Kɔrmante would become "ripe", we would not have eaten it green.
Context: The oath of Kɔrmante is one of the most serious in Asante. The Asante army toiled hard to beat the Kɔrmante people but finally found them submissive. Hence: if you had known that something would end up being easy, you would not have put so much effort into it.

No. 4363 in Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

June in Review, Projections for July, and Reflections of the First Half of 2011

June came and passed me by so suddenly that as I turned to look at its tail in the bend, I saw I had only three books behind me in addition to zero interviews. The fascinating thing about June and its departure is that it also marks the end of the first half of the journey towards December. That's, in someway, July is like January - promising a new beginning and providing a new canvass for the making of resolutions.

Now back to the quick-feet June. The slough of books I left behind were:

1.  Shadows by Chenjerai Hove
2. A Sense of Savannah: Tales of a Friendly Walk through Northern Ghana by Kofi Akpabli
3. The Gods are not to Blame by Ola Rotimi

In addition to these reads, I also reviewed two books which were read in May:

1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2. Every Man is a Race by Mia Couto

Though June was a lazy-drone, churning out a paltry sum of 311 pages - less than the lower boundary of a chunkster - it was the month in which this blog recorded its highest number of hits. Again, there were not many literary activities to attend - except last Wednesdays' (June 29, 2011) Book Reading by Manu Herbstein, author of Ama: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, at the Goethe Institute. And like a prophet of doom I predicted my own failure in May's review:

June would might also be dull as the data collected would need to be inputed and analysed. However, once I am in Accra I would be here more frequently than when I was away. I would be reviewing the two books I have already read. Currently, I am reading Shadows by Chenjerai Hove and enjoying it. (May in Review, Projections for June)

In July I hope things would pick up, though I would have to combine reading with searching for a job and performing some data analyses. However, I don't expect this dip in reading to continue forever. Definitely not.

Reflections for the First Half of the Year

On the whole, the first half of 2011 has been fruitful. Already I have almost equalled the total number of books I read  in the whole of 2010. I have read 29 books (as against 30 in 2010). The current total number of pages read stands at 5,926 (7,914 in 2010) and averages 988 pages per month (for the six months), or almost one Proust (Remembrance of Things Past) per month. At this rate, if things generally improve I hope to read more than a half-century of books.

In terms of translation (for more on these visit Winstondad) I have also read 9 translations this year (compared to 3 in 2010). I can proudly tell Amy of Amy Reads and Kinna of Kinna Reads that, 13 of the 29 books I have read so far were authored by women (compared to 8 in 2010). Finally, because I set out to read from many different African countries, I found myself enjoying, for the very first time, some Lusophonic writers such as Mia Couto, Lilia Momple, Pepetela and Jose Eduardo Agualusa.

Though these figures do not actually represent one who calls himself a reader, it does give me hope that 'it can only get better'. On personal writing fronts, I had some of my poems appearing at Sentinel Nigeria, Munyori Journal, Africa Knowledge Project (or JENda!), Writers Project of Ghana (WPG) and Dust Magazine. The poetry anthology Look Where You have Gone to Sit, also featured one of my poems.

ImageNations is focused on Promoting African Literature and it is our (my blog and I) belief that we shall become a locus for all those interested in promoting literature on the continent.

Quotes for Friday from Kwame Nkrumah

To mark Ghana's Republic Day, which falls today, I present to you several quotes from the first president of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Voted as the African of the Century, Nkrumah wrote several books espousing patriotism, communalism, nationhood, and more. He believed in the black man and believed he alone has the right to decide his own destiny. Several years after his demise, we are still struggling with the very issue he raised that led to his overthrow in a supposed CIA-sponsored coup. Today, we are now beginning to fathom, to dissect, with little success and at several places with utter failure the imports of what this man was saying.

"Common territory, language and culture may in fact be present in a nation, but the existence of a nation does not necessarily imply the presence of all three. Common territory and language alone may form the basis of a nation. Similarly, common territory plus common culture may be the basis. In some cases, only one of the three applies. A state may exist on a multi-national basis. The community of economic life is the major feature within a nation, and it is the economy which holds together the people living in a territory. It is on this basis that the new Africans recognise themselves as potentially one nation, whose domination is the entire African continent." Class Struggle in Africa"

"In the very early days of the Christian era, long before England had assumed any importance, long even before her people had united into a nation, our ancestors had attained a great empire, which lasted until the eleventh century, when it fell before the attacks of the Moors of the North. At its height that empire stretched from Timbuktu to Bamako, and even as far as to the Atlantic. It is said that lawyers and scholars were much respected in that empire and that the inhabitants of Ghana wore garments of wool, cotton, silk and velvet. There was trade in copper, gold and textile fabrics, and jewels and weapons of gold and silver were carried." Autobiography

"Besides, political independence, though worth while in itself, is still only a means to the fuller redemption and realization of a people. When independence has been gained, positive action requires a new orientation away from the sheer destruction of colonialism and towards national reconstruction It is indeed in this address to national reconstruction that positive action faces its gravest dangers. The cajolement, the wheedlings, the seductions and the Trojan horses of neocolonialism must be stoutly resisted, for neocolonialism is a latter-day harpy, a monster which entices its victims with sweet music. In order to be able to carry out this resistance to neo-colonialism at every point, Positive action requires to be armed with an ideology, an ideology which, vitalizing it, and operating through a mass party with a regenerative concept of the world and life, forge for it a strong continuing link with our past and offer to it an assured bond with our future. Under the searchlight of an ideology, every fact affecting the life of a people can be assessed and judged, and neo-colonialism's detrimental aspirations and sleights of hand will constantly stand. In order that this ideology should be comprehensive, in order that it should light up every aspect of the life of our people, in order that it should affect the total interest of our society, establishing a continuity with our past, it must be socialist in form and in content and be embraced by a mass party."Consciencism - Philosophy and Ideology for De-Colonisation

"If imperialists are faced with so many external and domestic difficulties, how then can they afford to step up their aggression in Africa? To answer this question, it is necessary to examine the internal factors which make our continent so vulnerable to attack, and particularly to look closely at the whole question of African unity. For this lies at the core of our problem. There are three conflicting conceptions of African unity which explain to a large extent, the present critical situation in Africa:"

"1. The mutual protection theory: that the OAU serves as a kind of insurance against any change in the status quo, membership providing a protection for heads of state and government against all forms of political action aimed at their overthrow. Since most of the leaders who adhere to this idea owe their position to imperialists and their agents, it is not surprising that this is the viewpoint which really serves the interests of imperialism. For the puppet states are being used both for short-term purposes of exploitation and as springboards of subversion against progressive African states."

"2. The functional conception: that African unity should be purely a matter of economic co-operation. Those who hold this view overlook the vital fact that African regional economic organizations will remain weak and subject to the same neo-colonialist pressures and domination, as long as they lack overall political cohesion. Without political unity, African states can never commit themselves to full economic integration, which is the only productive form of integration able to develop our great resources fully for the well-being of the African people as a whole. Furthermore, the lack of political unity places inter-African economic institutions at the mercy of powerful, foreign commercial interests, and sooner or later these will use such institutions as funnels through which to pour money for the continued exploitation of Africa."

"3. The political union conception: that a union government should be in charge of economic development, defence and foreign policy, while other government functions would continue to be discharged by the existing states grouped, in federal fashion, within a gigantic central political organization. Clearly, this is the strongest position Africa could adopt in its struggle against modern imperialism."