Proverb Monday, #40

Proverb: "Kɔsi" a nkɔsi; "kɔda" a nkɔda

Meaning: "Sit awake" does not sit awake, "Go and sleep" does not go and sleep

Context: Said of a person who does not react to command.

No. 3540 in Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

Quotes for Friday from Kwame Nkrumah's Neo-Colonialism the Last Stage of Imperialism (II)

Capitalism contains many paradoxes, all of them based in the concept of commodity production: the few rich and the many poor; poverty and hunger amid superabundance; 'freedom from hunger' campaigns and subsidies for restriction of crop output. But perhaps the most ludicrous is the constant traffic in the same kinds of goods, products and commodities between countries. Everyone is busy, as it were, taking in other's washing. This is not done out of need, but out of the compulsion of profit-making and monopoly extension. The European Common Market has become the apotheosis of this process, as well as the dumping ground of international investment, dominated by the giant American banking concerns and their British satellites.

Present-day monopoly is highly variegated and spread out. While it draws its strength from its monopolistic position, it is on the other hand seriously exposed to the dangers that face a multiple organism that stretches its limbs to extremity in different directions. A fracture at any one point can lead to a disjunction which may unbalance the structure.

It is the burden of the less developed countries that continue to carry the burden of the increasing development of the highly developed.

Really to understand what goes on in the world today, it is necessary to understand the economic influences and pressures that stand behind the political events. The financial columns of the world's press give, in fact, 'the news behind the news'.

The neo-colonialist aim is not only to export capital but also to control the overseas market. Thus attempts are subtly made to prevent developing countries from taking any decisive steps towards industrialisation, since exploitation of the indigenous expanding market is now the prime motive.

While foreign private investment must be encouraged, it must be carefully regulated so that it is directed to important growth sectors without leaving control of such sectors in foreign hands.

In order to halt foreign interference in the affairs of developing countries it is necessary to study, understand, expose and actively combat neo-colonialism in whatever guise it may appear. For the methods of neo-colonialism are subtle and varied. They operate not only in the economic field, but also in the political, religious, ideological and cultural spheres.

Faced with the militant peoples of ex-colonial territories in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, imperialism simply switches tactics. Without a qualm it dispenses with its flags, and even with certain of its more hated expatriate officials. This means, so it claims, that it is 'giving' independence to its former subjects, to be followed by 'aid' for their development. Under cover of such phrases, however, it devises innumerable ways to accomplish objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism. It is this sum total of these modern attempts to perpetuate colonialism while at the same time talking about 'freedom', which has come to be known as neo-colonialism.

Even the cinema stories of fabulous Hollywood are loaded. One has only to listen to the cheers of an African audience as Hollywood's heroes slaughter read Indians or Asiatics to understand the effectiveness of this weapon. For, in the developing countries, where the colonialist heritage has left a vast majority still illiterate, even the smallest child gets the message contained in the blood and thunder stories emanating from California. And along with murder and the Wild West goes an incessant barrage of anti-socialist propaganda, in which the trade union man, the revolutionary, or the man of dark skin is generally cast as the villain, while the policeman, the gum-shoe, the Federal agent - in a word, the CIA-type spy - is ever the hero. Here, truly, is the ideological under-belly of those political murders which so often use local people as their instruments.

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Quotes for Friday from Kwame Nkrumah's Neo-Colonialism the Last Stage of Imperialism (I)

Read the review

New Acquisitions

Here in Ghana I met a friend who happens to share both my passion and profession. This friend, though not a Ghanaian, has read enough African-authored books to hold meaningful and lasting conversation. And we both share similar opinions on the crowding around of topics and the seeming scatological preferences of publishers, if not of African writers.

This is not what the post is about. Martin, the name of my friend, has gifted me with books I have been meaning  to read by such authors as Jose Saramago and Roberto Bolano. Besides, this I purchased Kofi Akpabli's new book Tickling the Ghanaian at the launch. And got it autographed. Below are the books:

• Tickling the Ghanaian: An Encounter with Contemporary Culture by Kofi Akpabli. Kofi's penchant for humour and insight pervades his second book. This book takes a second and third look at our culture. Is it archaic as some have come to call it? Through this book Kofi seeks to point out things which have been long overlooked.
• A Life in Full and Other Stories. This is an anthology of the 2010 Caine Prize shortlist and stories from the Caine Prize Writers' Workshop held in Kenya. In all there is a total of 17 short stories, including the five shortlisted for the prize. I started my Caine Prize Shortlist reading before this book, hence I would still review the shortlist as individual stories and not as an anthology. When I come round to reading the book, I would link to the already reviewed stories and review the 12 remaining stories in the anthology. Given to me by Martin.
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Looks like I am one of the few readers on blogosphere who haven't been wowed by Kerouac. I haven't read any thing by him but have read a lot about him. Jack is considered alongside Allen Gingsberg as the pioneers of the beat generation. According to Wikipedia, On the Road is a story about two Catholic buddies roaming the country in search of God.
• Blindness by Jose Saramago. Jose Saramago has been recommended (or much talked about) by Kinna of Kinna Reads who considers Blindness to be among the author's top 5 books. I respect Kinna's opinion and hope that she would be right again. Given to me by Martin.
• Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolano. This is a collection of short stories. I was told that this isn't the best of the Chilean author. Again Kinna has read some of his short stories, though I have not read her recommendations and/or high praise, more like she was ambivalent about the read. Given to me by Martin.
• Jazz by Toni Morrison. This would have made it three Morrisons but I gave it to a friend who requested for a book, just after Martin had given them to me. If I get it I would read them, if not I would search for another.

103. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol (2009; 639) is the third in the Robert Langdon novels, after Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code. This particular story though not as controversial as the Da Vinci Code is equally intriguing and mind-opening.

Robert Langdon receives a call from his friend Peter Solomon asking him to prepare a speech for a meeting of Masons at the US Capitol in Washington D.C. Peter is a worshipful master and a 33rd degree Mason. Suddenly, an innocuous acceptance to give speech turns into a rescue mission involving highly placed and powerful institutions and individuals such as Inoue Sato, director of the CIA's Office of security and the Architect of the Capitol and a Freemason, Warren Bellamy. Keeping Peter Solomon as a hostage, Mala'kh who had earlier called Robert, pretending to be Peter's assistant, formally invited Robert with the Hand of Mysteries, which is Peter's hand, to look for the lost symbol.

Mal'akh's is 33rd degree induction was a ploy for him to get access to the whereabouts of the Mason's pyramid which is believed to bring enlightenment to world. It is Mal'akh's personal duty to prevent this enlightenment from coming out and to keep humanity in the darkness they currently find themselves in. Mal'ak, a worshipper of the Black Arts and the physical representation of the angel Moloch, believes that finding that the lost word and tattooing it on the only untatooed part of his body, a small part of his head, would make him complete. To achieve his aim Mal'akh tries to destroy the Noetic Scien laboratory in addition to obtaining the pyramid.

Katherine Solomon, Peter's sister and a Noetic Scientist, has some interesting results from her research: she has found out the effects of thought on matter, was dealing with Dr Abbadon - a man who had described himself as the personal doctor of Peter. Dr Abaddon wanted to discuss certain problems Peter is facing. Using masks and make-ups to cover his total body tattos, Dr Abaddon had gains the trust of Katherine and an appointment is scheduled at her office, with the supposed attendance of Peter.

From here on the story moves on with increasing pace and intrigue and having everything take place in 12 hours tightened the plot a bit. Besides, the short-chapters also aided the reading of this 639-page novel. Trust Dan Brown to throw in a lot of materials, things you have not heard of, things you can hardly believe. With codes and inscriptions Dan Brown has written a story that would keep readers googling and reading. The level of research behind this book is not in doubt for there were much to the extent that we are told of the 'the dual Pratt and Whitney engines' moving the 'Falcon 2000EX'; though it was also its bane for some of the information did not work to improve the novel. For instance, trapped in a tiny conveyor travelling in an enclosed space and in total darkness, Katherine Solomon said this of Mala'kh or Dr Abaddon:

He knew private things about my brother, my mother's death, and even my work ... things he could only have learned from my brother. And so I trusted him ... and that's how he got inside the Smithsonian Museum Center. (Page 307)

Robert Langdon's ability to sustain the reader's attention cannot be disputed. This book would hold your attention and it would do it perfectly if you refuse to be bothered by the many 'internal thoughts' written in italics. These italicisation of characters' thoughts were not necessary as the story would still have succeeded in pace and intrigue if they had been eliminated. Now, they virtually distract the smooth flow of the read.

I was also expecting Jack Bauer-like Robert Langdon to have grown from his earlier two encounters, since this novel was not written in isolation or better still since references were made to the two previous 'escapades' he undertook. However, the book began on a near 'saintly' note for Langdon who could prejudge the thoughts of the villain, so that time had to pass for him to appreciate the size of what he is under.

However, if the reader, like me, reads Dan Brown for the information he provides, the deftness with which he makes innocent objects become bearers of codified secrets, like the Laus Deo inscribed onto an aluminium capstone on Washington Monument, or the Washington Apotheosis in the dome of the rotunda of the US Capitol, or even if it is your faith that you want challenged, if these are your sole or major aim of reading Brown, then Brown deserves another applauds for another masterful novel, as he scores high marks on all of these. However, if you seek flawless prose, structure, a revelation, a convoluted theme, then kindly go elsewhere. Finally, as a book of codes and symbols, the author did a good job to leave some of the 5 coded messages on the cover of the book for readers to solve, making the book interactive. However, reading it two years after publication means that most of them, if not all, have been decoded and published on the internet.

Conversation with Kofi Akpabli, author of 'A Sense of Savannah' and 'Tickling the Ghanaian'

This interview was conducted before the launch of Kofi Akpali's latest book Tickling the Ghanaian: Encounters with Contemporary Culture, as a result this interview focuses on his first book A Sense of Savannah: Tales of a Friendly Walk through Northern Ghana.

How did you come to write this travelogue?

I had the good fortune of being ‘thrown’ off to the north easternmost part of Ghana to do my national service. For a first timer it was a curious, exotic world. My sense of adventure and my curious nature did the rest. By the first three months, I had seen most part of the region including parts of the upper west and Northern Region.

Would you even consider this a travelogue?

Yes. It is. I had to travel to write every piece. As a freelance writer and journalist I can confide in you that I am in my element when I do travel writing. I enjoy doing it.

This book brings smiles to the lips and cheeks of the reader, sometimes even guffaws. You employed a lot of humour in your writing. Was this your first reaction even as you were experiencing these, as some of your experiences would be difficult to label as fun at first occurrence?

Humour is important to me. One would say it enriches my work. I would say it defines me. Even when I write about death I could make my audience laugh. As to my real experiences yes, they made me smile a lot. Like when that goat urine sprayed my shirt. Question is which is easier: get angry and take all those responsible to task (including the goat) or laugh it off.  I choose humour, any day.

For those of us who are fortunate enough to have travelled to the three northern regions of Ghana, your description brought some form of nostalgic feelings. It was so vivid and picturesque that for one moment I thought I was revisiting. I lost myself completely in the narrative allowing my mind to roam the Savannah. How did you piece all these together? Were you keeping some form of diary?

I like this question. I had travelled the place close to seven years. Some of the impressions thus become familiar and entrenched. So even when you are woken up at midnight, blinded folded and asked to relate a scenario it comes easy. Other experiences were just one-offs like the hippo sanctuary safari at Wechiau. Yes, carrying a diary helps but a mental one was most useful.

Wechiau is a place I would love to visit one day. Not necessarily because of the hippo sanctuary but the use of cowries for certain business transactions and the exchange rate there. That information somehow told me that at least we are not all lost to this monstrosity we call civilization, which keeps heaping upon problems of monumental proportions. How did you warm yourself into the places you visited and into the hearts of the people you met?

Simple. Be myself and respect the other person. Everything else becomes easy. One thing I also did was to get a local guide. People feel important when you show them that you are ignorant and you want to know.

This interesting book presents fresh views of an area most Ghanaians in the south have never visited and probably would never visit. The place has always been associated with chieftaincy conflicts and poverty. Would you say this your presentation would get people visiting?

I hope it does. But what’s more important is the renewal of minds about the place. Anyone who reads A Sense of Savannah will see the positive side as well.

Most often when Westerners are coming to Africa (they always come to Africa, forgetting – naturally – that Africa is not a country) they are wont to read Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness or perhaps now they would be reading Naipual’s The Masque of Africa. How much justice would you say this book has done to neutralize these diabolic Conradic and Naipualic tales?

I believe people think what they want to think. True, they are influenced by what they are exposed to, still, the final decision is theirs. I want to believe that with an open mind, one should realize that people are the same everywhere. It is only the environment which makes the difference.

How do you feel after the publishing your book? Do you feel accomplished? Is the popularity increasing?

I am not a woman but I believe this is how they feel after they have delivered a baby. I feel I have downloaded something important that took a long time to form. Accomplished?  No. Just ‘finished with this one’ and looking for the next. Popularity? A few people claim I look familiar or my name sounds familiar. Is that how it begins? You tell me.

Was it difficult getting published?

You bet it was and I am still counting the cost.

How wide is the book distributed? Where could readers and future tourists go for copies?

It is in the capitals of the three northern regions. In Accra, Legon bookshop, silver bird bookshop, accra mall, Baatsona Total shop (Spintex Road), SEDCO bookshop, EPP, Wild Gecko, etc.

Now your last word… tell us something. How should your book be read?

It should be read like a tour guide, a novel and an autobiography. My last word? It is possible, always.

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Read the review here

Read an excerpt of the new book here

Proverb Monday, #39

Proverb: Wohunu woka tutu a, woho asεm nkɔ abanmu

Meaning: If you know how to postpone your debt, you are not taken before the government (law court)

Context: It is possible to talk your self out of a difficult situation.

Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

102. How Shall we Kill the Bishop? by Lily Mabura

Lily Mabura's How Shall we Kill the Bishop was shortlisted for the 11th Caine Prize for African Writing in 2010. The story was first published in Wasafiri Vol. 23 No. 1, March 2008. It is also part of the Caine Prize for African Writing anthology A Life in Full and Other Stories published in 2010, together with Alex Smith's Soulmates.

How Shall we Kill the Bishop is a story about the lives of four priests, a bishop and a cook at a vicarage in a desolate town in Kenya. In fact the author's description of the town where the vicarage is set is similar to Andre Brink's Praying Mantis. For instance the military base was a

remnant of the colonial legacy standing amongst stunted acacia trees and withered shrubs of solanum. The stunts of sparse grass surrounding the base were too brittle for cattle to graze on - too brittle even for camels. 

and it is this military that provides the 

distraction from the sick dogs that would not stop howling, from the dry animal carcasses in the bush and watering holes caked with mud.

In this town, inhabited by natives virtually begging and scouring for food and military, life seems to happen spontaneously and during the periods where life and access to sustenance seem to be unbearable, the natives who are unable to migrate away from the town, to literally seek greener pastures, turn to the bishop and his four priests for help. Yet these priests have their own problems. Each has something he is eager to forget. According to Fr. Yasin Lordman:

Fr. Ahmed, ... , was hard bent on forgetting cigarettes; Fr. Seif, in his determination to forget the woman he loved, intruded on everyone's quiet time because he could not stand his own; Fr. Dugo determined to forget that the bishop had tested him most before admission; and Dafala [the cook] determined to forget that the bishop was sick at all and carried on as usual.

And so too is the bishop as he lay dying on his bed. The bishop wanted someone to confess his sins to before he passes on. In his determination he writes a confessional letter for Fr. Yasin to post to the Nuncio Felice in Nairobi . Early on, it was Fr. Yasin who had asked the question 'How shall we kill the bishop' - as a joke - when they realised that he was the one who is preventing them from going back to their old ways. Fr. Yasin on his way to posting the letter saw Salima, a girl who had become part of the life of the priests and the bishop after she scaled the wall onto the compound and was asked, as penance for her sins, to serve as the altar girl, since the vicarage had lost all their altar boys to the unending drought. Following Salima, perhaps to verify why she has not been coming to the vicarage, Fr. Yasin misses her in the military crowd.

Fr. Yasin exchanged the bishop's envelope for the promise (from a woman in charge of the place where the military were dancing) of seeing Salima. Then suddenly, on the vicarage's compound was an armed military man with his boot on Yasin's neck. And in one censer swing of his gun, dropped the bishop.

This story is an enigma. What caused the military man who was keeping Salima to come to the vicarage and kill the Bishop? Was it a competition for Salima? Or revenge? Since the content of the envelope was removed, the military man could not be acting on revenge as initially one might think that the bishop had known Salima carnally. This story is somewhat above my head. I hope you read it and point this out to me, perhaps I am missing something. I think this story was shortlisted because of its enigma.

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Brief Bio: Lily Mabura is an African and African Diaspora scholar and writer at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her literary awards include the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature and Kenya's National Book Week Literary Award. She has published several short stories, a novel, The Pretoria Conspiracy (Focus Books, 2000), and three children's books. She is currently working on a fictional exploration of Kenya's 2007-08 post-election violence, Man from Magadi. (source: A Life in Full and other stories)

ImageNations: 3.5/6.0

Other Caine Prize Shortlist: Soulmates by Alex Smith (2010)

Quotes for Friday from Kwame Nkrumah's Neo-Colonialism the Last Stage of Imperialism (I)

To begin with, this book contains a lot of statements that could be quoted. That's why I keep recommending reading it in its entirety. What I seek to achieve with this is to only whet your reading appetite; this cannot and should not be taken as a substitute.

Neo-colonialism is based upon the principle of breaking up former large united colonial territories into a number of small non-viable States which are incapable of independent development and must rely upon the former imperial power for defence and even internal security. Their economic and financial systems are linked, as in colonial days, with those of the former colonial ruler.

In the neo-colonialist territories, since the former colonial power has in theory relinquished political control, if the social conditions occasioned by the neo-colonialism cause a revolt the local neo-colonialist government can be sacrificed and another equally subservient one substituted in its place. On the other hand, in any continent where neo-colonialism exist on a wide scale the same social pressures which can produce revolts in neo-colonial territories will also affect those States which have refused to accept the system and therefore neo-colonialist nations have a ready-made weapon with which they can threaten their opponents if they appear successfully to be challenging the system.

In fact neo-colonialism is the victim of its own contradictions. In order to make it attractive to those upon whom it is practised it must be shown as capable of raising their living standards, but the economic object of neo-colonialism is to keep those standards depressed in the interest of developed countries. It is only when this contradiction is understood that the failure of innumerable 'aid' programmes, many of them well intentioned, can be explained.

The less developed world will not become developed through the goodwill or generosity of the developed powers. It can only become developed through a struggle against the external forces which have a vested interest in keep it undeveloped.

Balkanisation is the major instrument of neo-colonisation and will be found wherever neo-colonialism is practised.

Fearing that the example of Guinea might be followed by other states which had decided to join the community, the French Government removed everything of value from the territory. Administrators and teachers were withdrawn. Documents and even electric light bulbs were removed from government buildings. Financial assistance, trade support and the payment of pensions to Guinean war veterans were discontinued.

Africa today is the main stamping ground of the neo-colonialist forces that seek domination of the world for the imperialism they serve. Spreading from South Africa, the Congo, the Rhodesias, Angola, Mozambique, they form a maze-like connection with the mightiest international financial monopolies in the world. These monopolies are extending their banking and industrial organisations throughout the African continent. 

Decolonisation is a word much and unctuously used by imperialist spokesmen to describe the transfer of political control from colonialist to African sovereignty. The motive spring of colonialism, however, still controls the sovereignty. The young countries are still the providers of raw materials, the old of manufactured goods. The change in economic relationship between the new sovereign states and the erstwhile masters is only one of form. Colonialism has achieved a new guise. It has become neo-colonialism, the last stage of imperialism; its final bid for existence, as monopoly-capitalism or imperialism is the last stage of capitalism. and neo-colonialism is fast entrenching itself within the body of Africa today through the consortia and monopoly combinations that are the carpet-baggers of the African revolt against colonialism and the urge for continental unity.

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Quotes for Friday from Kwame Nkrumah's Neo-Colonialism the Last Stage of Imperialism (II)

Read the review

Shortlists: Booker Prize and NLNG

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2011 shortlist was announced on Tuesday September 6, 2011. From a longlist of 13 books comes a shortlist of 6.

• Jualian Barnes The Sense of Ending (Jonathan Cape)
• Carol Birch Jamrach's Menagerie (Canongate)
• Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers (Granta Books)
• Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues (Serpent's Tail)
• Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
• A.D. Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic Books)

This list contains 2 first time novelists: Stephen Kelman and A.D. Miller and two have had success with the prize in the past: Julian Barnes and Carol Birch. Four of the books are from independent publishers, two are Canadian writers and four are British.

ImageNations interest is in Esi Edugyan who, though a Canadian, was born to Ghanaian emigrants. Then there is also the Ghanaian connection, in terms of the protagonist, in Kelman's Pigeon English. My friend Geosi has suggested that after reading all the reviews, he tips Esi to win. I have not yet read any of the reviews. I wish Esi all the best.

The winner will be announced on October 18, 2011 at London's Guildhall, with the winner receiving 50,000 Pounds. Shortlisted authors would also receive some monetary prizes as well. Read more here.

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The shortened shortlist of NLNG Prize for Literature has been announced. The previous shortlist of 6 stories has been whittled down to 3:

• Eno's Story by Ayodele Olofintuade
• The Missing Clock by Mai Nasara
• The Great Fall by Chinyere Obi-Obasi

The winner will be announced on October 10, 2011 at a world press conference at Eko Hotel in Lagos. We wish all the shortlisted authors the best of luck.

101. Soulmates by Alex Smith

Alex Smith's Soulmates was shortlisted for the 11th Caine Prize for African Writing in 2010. The story appeared in New Writing from Africa (2009) published by Johnson & King James Book, Cape Town.

Mary of the bees and thorns, Mary of the porcupines and nubbly roots, namelijk Maria, genaamd Magdalena, van welke zeven duivelen uitgegaan waren, Maria minus seven devils, Maria after whom I have been named, help me, please! Outside spiders were spinning webs, bees were waiting, motionless, for day, and porcupines were chewing through the frost and rutty bulbs of the renosterveld. Inside Maria was tearing. The door to the room was closed, but windy wind, tumultous as Maria's loss, violated the locks and cracks and came in with grit and insects, to witness the splitting of the elliptical entrance to Maria's physical soul, and, regardless of the fragile circumstances, boorish wind rampaged about the room with all the rattle of seven devils. Maria was laid out on a bed of coarse sheets.

Soulmates is the retelling of a historical event that occurred in Cape of Good Hope in the 18th Century. It is a story of love and murder, of a woman who, in finding love, found death for in finding love she stepped over an abominable line: killing her husband, in a patriarchal era, and falling in love with a black slave in an era where all that blacks were good for were dienaars en slawe: servants and slaves.

Maria was married to 'Rough' Franz Jooste, 'a knurled farmer, who has spent his blessed savings on negotiating for a bride price' at a young age her family was in need of the money. From the story we observe that Maria is depressed. There is no joy in the marriage, no love, no affection exhibited by Franz. There was two main activity that Franz demanded, one was asked, the other was taken: food and sex, respectively. Sex with Franz was one of a punishment through asphyxiation, physically and emotionally, than it was of love, for Franz, as portrayed in the story, was a straightforward person who goes in directly for what he wants. It was one-sided without the kisses, without the conversation, without the sharing of emotions: it was always rough and dry. 

Franz, who had stripped her of clothes to fondle, squeeze, prod, suck, suffocate, vandalise and admire her, and now now slept fully dressed with his pants still unbuttoned and his mouth hanging open, ...

Consequently, Maria experienced no joy in the household. Not even in her language, as Franz had 'disallowed her mother tongue, French' thus taking away her willingness to read the 'humourless Bible in Dutch'.

Suddenly, Maria, who had always thought of herself as better than their slave, Titus, realised that she was no different from him; they were both slaves to Franz, beaten by him at his will for the least offence and sometimes for nothing at all. However, 

Impish Titus with tapering fingers, ..., in spite of everything that was in his life possessed the playfulness of youth. He was a jester, not especially gifted at comedy, but irrepressibly inclined to joke.

This meeting, this realisation forbade doom. From then on Maria 'grew fond of the Biblical book of Titus, regardless of its Dutch, and from it drew comfort.' Titus would dress her wounds with lotion and herbs after the master had beaten her; Titus would get her a flower, a leaf, a speckled egg, a feather, even as the master refused to buy her clothes. Then one day Maria 'leaned upwards and held her lips near to Titus's lips.' And the abomination was complete.

Death by impalement and decapitation to Titus and by strangulation to Maria was the judge's sentence, when Maria shot and killed her husband after Titus's shot failed to kill him for beating Maria. The sentencing of Maria and Titus took place on September 1, 1714 and Titus lived for two more days after his impalement, giving up life on September 3, after which

His right hand and head were sawed off and fixed on the gates of Jooste farm as a warning to other slaves who might dare to love beyond their quarters.

This story, full of biblical allusions (for it seemed that Franz Jooste was one who kept the Lord's words in some sense), shows how far the people of South Africa, and humanity in general, have come. For 'today, they would be allowed to kiss, allowed to love and would surely have been acquitted from the charges of murder, for they were acting in self-defence'. From the latter statement, one can deduce that this story is meant to be a rallying call for their 'names to be cleared'. Yet, they were

'a contemptible slave guilty of carnal intercourse' and 'a woman who gratified her foul and godless lust'

I am extremely impressed by this story; not only for the quality and beauty of its prose (reason why I quoted part of the opening paragraph to the story at the beginning of this review), but also for the unlikely source from which the story was taken. With this story, Alex Smith has shown the wideness and deepness of the river how varied the fishes that swim in it. Read the true account of this story here.
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Brief Bio: Alex Smith was born in Cape Town but has lived in China, Taiwan and the UK. She is a teacher, textile merchant, a bookseller and an author. She has been shortlisted for and won several awards. In 2009 she was shortlisted for the PEN/Studinsky Award judged by J.M. Coetzee for Soulmates, which was also shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing and is currently part of the Caine Prize anthology for 2011 To see the Mountain, after appearing in the New Writing from Africa anthology. She won the 2011 Nielsen Book Data Booksellers Choice Award for Four Drunk Beauties (Random House publication). She was also the prize winner in the Tafelberg-Sanlam Youth Literature Competition 2010 for her youth novel Agency Blue. In 2009 her story Change was included in the prestigious Touch anthology of stories by 25 top South Africa authors.

ImageNations' Rating: 5.5/6.0

Other Caine Prize Shortlist: Waiting by E.C. Osondu (2009)

Excerpt of Tickling the Ghanaian by Kofi Akpabli

On August 26, 2011, at the British Council auditorium, Kofi Akpabli, author of A Sense of Savannah: Tales from a Friendly Walk through Northern Ghana, launched his second book, Tickling the Ghanaian: Encounters with Contemporary Culture. In this book Kofi seeks to unravel what at all tickles the Ghanaian. Is it Sunday afternoon's after church Omo Tuo and beer, or when Ghana is 'beating' its arch-rivals in sports, Nigeria? Articles in this book include the two that won him the CNN/Multichoice Journalist Award for Arts and Culture back to back in 2010 and 2011, becoming the first journalist, in the award's history, to have won one category back to back: The Serious Business of Soup in Ghana and What is right with Akpeteshie. Following his usual humorous style of writing, Tickling the Ghanaian promises to be funny and educating. Kofi takes a different view of what we have perceived as always to be archaic. Kofi has eyes of details and tells his story the best way it could possibly be told.

At the launch were Nana Professor S.K.B Asante, Dr Esi Sutherland, Dr Kwaku Boakye - a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (who was the reviewer) and Mr. Edward Boateng - Executive Chairman and Group CEO of Global Media Alliance. The book is currently available in all bookshops in the country.

How Cloths Tickle the Ghanaian

In today’s global village many would find it hard to understand why we make such a fuss about cloths. But the truth is that in Ghanaian society cloths mean the world. Beyond  adding style and colour to our fashion sense their usage also reflects a range of values. Clothes also serve  as mediums to convey traditional symbols and messages. While the utility value of cloths are almost endless a bulk of our proverbs  and riddles are derived from them. In this discourse, find out what some folks do when they have a cloth and desire to express a particular  gesture.

Ghanaman and the Rastaman - A Hair-Witness Account

This is a discourse on Ghanaians’ attitude to the rasta phenomenon. It is narrated through the writer’s own ‘hair witness’ account. Carrying the rasta hair-do from England to the ‘Motherland’ he evokes a range of emotions from people. Do you become a special person when you carry the Rasta image? There is also a psychological upper hand that one gains in close encounters. Find out what happened on the few times that people stepped on my toes and raised their head only to notice my rasta.

The Serious Business of Soup in Ghana

This award winning article takes the lid off the soup pot to reveal intriguing aspects of the Ghanaian character. When others sit at table they flaunt starter stuff, main dish, sauce, vegetables, lamb and the works. With us, it is all in the soup. Ghanaians love their soup. However, as it turns out, it is not everywhere that soup is king.  Even in our West African neighbourhood, not everyone gives soup the attention it deserves. Bottomline? As soup-eriors in continental liberation, Ghanaians must continue to cherish their soup culture and make our nation great and strong. 

The Rise of The Schnapps

No one walks to the bar to buy and drink schnapps. No one even serves it to friends when they visit. But due to a combination of factors, Schnapps has risen to become one of Ghana’s most important alcoholic beverages. The relationship between alcohol and power is well grounded in colonial history. When Europeans visited our shores to trade, their bargaining chips included exotic bottles of refined alcohol. Drinks such as Schnapps thus shared the same status symbols as guns. Schnapps may not be many people’s favourite drink but it is like medicine that must be drunk to keep cultural relations whole.

Between Tinapa and Boflot- Where did the old  Taste go?

This discourse deals with taste and memory or better still the memory of taste. The meat of the matter is a simple question. Did our foods taste better in the past? The story also proposes the promotion of Ghanaian snacks and dishes which seems to be losing ground. This discourse reminisce akukor mmensa. And wonders why ‘ojenma’ pepper has stopped being a thriller.  Is it the fertilizer or it is climate change? Or it is Christmas chicken tasting wrong. 

Dongomi … Albarika- the  Ghanaian Art of Bargaining

One thing tourists and other visitors to Ghana seem never able to grasp is the way we bargain over goods and services. When a price is quoted, the seller rather goes on to ask how much the buyer would like to pay. We bargain not because we cannot afford but because we must. Indeed, for certain items it would be rude if you didn’t ask for discount. While we trace the history of bargaining discourse we discover how ‘‘Albarika’’ a term denoting discount became linked to Adabraka, an Accra suburb.

Things We Do For Rings

How come some things escape your attention and against all odds, manage to remain outside your understanding? Do you have such a grey area; something ordinary yet you never have been able to figure out? I do. Wedding rings, engagement rings, promissory rings and the lot. In Ghana, our forebears didn’t bother one bit about rings. But as with many habits we have adopted, we’ve taken it to levels that would surprise the originators. Thing about rings is they mean a m to the F side of the gender scale. Why for instance, would a lady wear her engagement ring while she has the wedding band on?  But are rings able to do what they are supposed to do? That is the 14- carat question.

The Truth about Fufu

In Ghana, we express serendipity by saying that ‘fufu has fallen into soup.’ This article shows how Fufu is a rallying point for families. For many enthusiasts fufu is life. It’s life attributes are typified by the mortar and pestle which  are analogous to the copulation that leads to procreation. All said and done, fufu is not only about finger licking and tummy filling. According to a local myth, the fufu story is central to the creation of the world!

Ghana vrs. Naija- Rubbing shoulders with a Giant

When it comes to West African neighbours that come closest in likeness to Ghanaians,  Nigeria offers a paradoxical prospect. In one sense, they are like us but in another... Nigerians are so interestingly different. In recent times Ghana’s showbiz scene reflects a huge dose of Naija influence. It’s all good. But there is only one  problem- we Ghanaians hardly have it in our heads that we are a small country. All we know is that ours is a very, very important nation, abi?

Batakari Has Spoken

The Fugu smock is the most distinctive dress from Northern Ghana. Also known in southern Ghana as batakari, Fugu has evolved from a native wear to a recognisable fashion statement awaiting its turn at the international catwalk. In Ghana, the Fugu smock assumed great significance when President Nkrumah chose to wear it in declaring Ghana’s independence. Indeed, a look at the dais on the historic moment of 6^th March 1957 would show that all his aides were in Fugu. Find out the reason for this dress code on the most important day of a nation’s life.

Why  Kokonte is facing the Wall

There are issues concerning aspects of our culture that colonialism and our religious experiences have stigmatised. There are also issues which we have blacklisted because …well we really don’t know. The story of kokonte is one such matter. Check this: give the Ghanaian a ‘behind closed doors’ treat of hot kokonte with groundnut or palm not soup with okro representing. The beneficiary will come out sweaty and gratified after having  swallowed and licked the fingers. But suggest to this same individual to serve kokonte at his own birthday party and the excuses would begin...

What is right with Akpeteshie?

With an active grass root loyalty, Akpeteshie is one of  the most recognisable alcoholic brands in Ghana. However, all has never been well. For the right or wrong reasons the drink was outlawed in the past. Does this account for the defiance character Akpeteshie and its drinkers are associated with? Akpeteshie also has a very serious value proposition- that of faithfully serving Ghanaian traditional culture. This award-winning article shows why the love of Akpteshie makes some grown-ups weep, while others hate it with self-righteous anger. Most importantly, where does the law stand?

This is the way we say Good Bye

Funerals are big part of Ghanaian culture. They allow us to show  the bereaved family that they are not alone. Today’s funeral process, however, is becoming a complex, money churning enterprise. This story explores the various types of Ghanaian funerals. Because a huge chunk of the average person’s savings (and borrowing) goes into funerals, the discourse raises issues which challenge the status quo. For instance, how does it make sense to lay the dead in an expensive casket only to deface it because thieves would dig it up? In some cases, contractors and professional mourners are recruited. Find out what happens when these enthusiasts arrive at the wrong funeral! Interestingly, the ‘funeral segment’ is the biggest chunk in Ghanaians’ participation in domestic tourism… Talk about fun in funeral.

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I would be reviewing the book soon. Read my review here.

Proverb Monday, #38

Proverb: Yenhunu onipa dakoro nse no sε w'afɔn
Meaning: We don't see a person for the first time and say 'you have grown lean'.
Context: Don't judge too quickly. We judge by comparisons

100. Waiting by E.C. Osondu

Waiting (2008) is the winning  story on the 10th Caine Prize for African Writing, 2009. This story was published at Guernica.

Written in the first person, Orlando Zaki writes about his life in a refugee camp. Orlando is amongst a group of young people in a refugee camp. According to him, most of the people at this camp got their names from the inscriptions on the shirts they receive from the Red Cross

Orlando is taken from Orlando, Florida, which is what is written on the t-shirt  given to me by the Red Cross. Zaki is the name of the town where I was found and from which I was brought to this refugee camp. My friends in the camp are known by the inscriptions on their t-shirts.

In general, life at the camp is lived according to the theory of 'only the fittest survive'. There is struggle for water and food, that is when they become available. For the most part they live in wait of these basic facilities and also in expectation of being adopted and sent to abroad. The story borders on being a catalogue of scatology with 'shit' bandied here and there. And such was the visual presentation of this filthiness that one could go without food for days after reading this filth-packed paragraph.

There were a lot of black dogs. They were our friends, they were our protectors. Even though food was scarce, the dogs never went hungry. The women would call them whenever a child squatted down to shit and the dogs would come running. They would wait for the child to finish and lick child's buttocks clean before they ate the shit.

Later on, when food became scarce, the dogs were killed and eaten as food. And must the dogs be black? Or what is the symbolic significance of a black dog? This is a clear example of what has become the African stories and the very ones that are noted and awarded. In the end, as the writer stopped narrating his story, all that has been covered were the desolate lives of a group of young people in a refugee camp whose only hope of survival is to be adopted. And this is the very stories that almost always put me off from my objective of reading African stories and promoting them. 

Per this story, and if this theme pervades Osondu's new short story anthology Voice of America, then I think I would pass on that one. This is not a matter of writing the so-called positive stories about Africa, but about writing stories not for the popularity of the themes. It is about writing because you have something else to say. How can there be a representative story if all that is said are on the extreme left.As it stands now, such themes have become crowded and I have read a lot of them to last me a generation. 

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Brief Bio: was born in Nigeria, where he worked for many years as an advertising copywriter. He won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2009. His book of stories Voice of America is due from HarperCollins in November, and his novel This House Is Not For Sale is due from HarperCollins in 2012. His short stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Guernica, AGNI, and many other magazines. With William Pierce, he coedited The AGNI Portfolio of African Fiction. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University, where he was a Syracuse University Fellow. He is assistant professor of English at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. (Continue reading) The story could be read at the Guernica site here and its pdf version could be downloaded from the Caine Prize for African Writing site.

Other Caine Prize Shortlist: How Kamau wa Mwangi Escaped into Exile by Mukoma wa Ngugi

Quotes for Friday from Ngugi wa Thiong'o's The River Between

[T]he oilskin of the house is not for rubbing into the skin of strangers. [P.3]

She had learnt the value of Christian submission, and she thought every other believer had the same attitude to life. Not that she questioned life. It had given her a man and in her own way she loved and cared for him. Her faith and belief in God were coupled with her fear for Joshua. But that was religion and it was the way things were ordered. However, one could still tell by her eyes that this was a religion learnt and accepted; inside the true Gikuyu woman was sleeping. [P. 34]

A young man who rises to leadership is always a target of jealousy for his equals, for those older than himself and for those who think they could have been better leaders. [P.63]

Nyambura knew then that she could never be saved by Christ; that the Christ who died could only be meaningful if Waiyaki was there for her to touch, for her to feel and talk to. She could only be saved through Waiyaki. Waiyaki was her saviour, her black Messiah, the promised one who would come and lead her into the light. [P.103]

Circumcision of women was not important as a physical operation. It was what it did inside a person. It could not be stopped overnight. Patience and, above all, education, were needed. [P.142]

If the white man's religion made you abandon a custom and then did not give you something else of equal value, you became lost. [P.142]

The land was now silent. The two ridges lay side by side, hidden in darkness. And Honia river went on flowing between them, down through the valley of life, its beat rising above the dark stillness, reaching into the heart of the people of Makuyu and Kameno. [P.152]

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Read the review here

August in Review, Projections for September

This is the first time I overachieved my reading targets. I set out to read four books, or five time permitting, but ended up reading seven books and four single stories (for the Caine Prize Shortlist Reading). 

• Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe. This book tells of the rift that came among a group of three friends as one became the head of state. It shows how the quest of power could wreck a lifelong relationship. 
• Eno's Story by Ayodele Olofintuade. This is a children's story about witch-labelling and tagging. The language is simple but the subject is complex. We get to know how people in seeming authority and elders could all be wrong and wreck lives because of misunderstanding. And folly.
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. A story that traces the complexity of relationships between the rich and the poor over the course of a country's history. A story that would affect you in more than one way.
• The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. A story about the tribal relations at the eve of colonialist invasion into the deeper regions of Kenya.
• Opening Spaces by Yvonne Vera (editor). A short story anthology by contemporary women of Africa. It deals with issue such as polygamy, rape, and irresponsible husbands. There are other themes like politics and the cycle of abuse.
• Look Where you have Gone to Sit by Martin Egbelwogbe and Laban Carrick Hill (editors). This is a poetry anthology by new Ghanaian writers, most of whom have never had their work published before.
• Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism by Kwame Nkrumah. Kwame Nkrumah's book traces the factors that has led to the underdevelopment of most African countries, the impediments on the path to unity, the powers behind the extractive industry in African and the world at large and how these corporations work to impede Africa's progress; how they control production and supply and has the power to affect prices and output; how capitalism works, through its very free nature, to aid the development of monopolies, so that the extractive industries is a made up of a link of few corporations with interests in one another and controlled by fewer people.

In August I set out to read all the Caine Prize Shortlist, beginning 2009, one story at a time or as single stories rather than an anthology. The difficulty here is that single stories are difficult to review as the breadth of the story is not that wide. In 2010, I read Mamle Kabu's End of Skill which was on the 2009 shortlist. The others read in August to complete the 2009 shortlist are:

• Icebergs by Alistair Morgan
• You Wreck her by Parselelo Kantai
• How Kamau Wa Mwangi Escaped into Exile by Mukoma
• Waiting by E.C. Osondu (Winner of the 2009 Caine Prize)

Currently, I am reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I hope to finish this in time and start the selected books for September. The total number pages read, excluding the one currently being read, is 1,390.

Again, I would be conservative with my selections for September. For this month, I have the non-fiction Excursions in my Mind by Nana Awere Damoah. I reviewed Nana's Through the Gates of Thoughts, his second book, on this blog. For the non-African-authored book for the month I would be reading a book that has been with me for a long time The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins. The remaining books for the month are: A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga, a sequel to Nervous Conditions.

In addition to these, I would review the 2010 Caine Prize shortlist: The Life of Worm by Ken Barris, How shall we Kill the Bishop by Lily Mabura, Muzungu by Namwali Serpell, and Soulmates by Alex Smith. Follow me for updates and reviews of these books.

Again, these are just projections and could change depending on mood and other factors. They are meant to be a guide only.