Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Jeremy Weate: The closing of the African Mind: A walk through the University of Ibadan

Pa Ikhide,
I agree that the cassava guy's write up is condescending and a continuation of the European mission to salvage the primitive man from the heart of darkness.
However, the below;

"Nigeria] is a country where the majority of people believe that evil spirits can be transmitted via a mobile phone..."

I laughed, then I wept tears of frustration, pity and disgust at my country men. Most were gripped with the fear of dying from picking a call. Otherwise rational people became imbeciles, spouting inanities. The one that flagellated me most was an otherwise kindred soul that quoted Shakespeare thus "...there are more things under heaven and earth than are dreamt in your philosophy Horatio".

Now witches in their witchcrafts are being warned not to fly to such altitudes that can interfere with aircrafts. Salem has landed in Africa and small children are being hounded,persecuted and murdered on allegations of witchery.

Albinos and the hunchback of various lands in Africa are endangered like the snow leopard.

We have trudged only a few meters from the days of Abiku's tyranny and superstition remains the blackman's burden.

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

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From: Ikhide <xokigbo@yahoo.com>

Sender: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2013 01:02:24 -0400

To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com<USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Jeremy Weate: The closing of the African Mind: A walk through the University of Ibadan

"At this low point of vulgar commercialism, an epiphany of insight hits me. I finally understand why evangelical, Christianity has captured the young minds of the University of Ibadan (at least the Christian portion). Here, instead of Marxism, feminism, environmentalism or any other form of progressive and critical political discourse, one encounters the drugged silence of non-thought, of non-being. And this deafening tranquility is the shocking sign of the most severe form of institutional decay. As elsewhere in Nigeria, the world refuses hope inside the campus gates. The children of the rich are already abroad, with access to libraries, committed teaching and broadband Internet and a cushy job in Daddy's firm on return. Everyone else's kids sweat as hard as they can to reach a place like UI. But the years of struggle that brought them here are met with the complete absence of reward or affirmation. The female students face massive widespread sexual abuse from the male lecturers, who have some easy persuasion tactics at hand. If the female student doesn't 'deliver the goods', the exam paper may mysteriously end up lost, meaning the student will have to retake the year. Again, students suffer from months of strikes (a lucrative option for the teaching staff, who get paid from the University yet have ti me on their hands to make money in other ways). This can stretch a three-year degree course into four, five, six or more years of toil. In class, students are regularly infantilised (one random example: a student is disciplined for chewing gum in class by having to push the gum into her hair). Finally, in terms of teaching methods, the standards simply could not stoop any lower: the lecturer often simply writes out notes from an out-of-date course book, while the students have to write down the notes, then repeat them verbatim to pass the exam (anyone mistakenly trying to think in class or the exam is punished with execration and failure – the gifted and bright are rejected by a system which celebrates sheer mediocrity and non-critical mimesis)."

- Jeremy Weate [Co-owner of Cassava Republic Press. Lives in Nigeria]
Read the rest here...

Interesting. This essay is unfortunate in many parts, but it is a must read, I urge everyone to read the essay and ponder its messages. There are many, beginning with the title. "The closing of the African Mind..." is the pompous title of this essay. According to this scholar, "Africans" are of one mind. Achebe turns and stares in his pantheon.

It gets better. Listen to this: "Perhaps all that can be done at present is for the world outside to know that if they are serious about changing Africa and the lives of Africans, they had better start with the closing of the African mind."

The White Savior Industrial Complex strikes again. "Africans" are simians to be saved. Again, Achebe comes to mind. You remember his seminal essay, Today the balance of stories. Conrad smirks. And VS Naipaul sneers at us from the bend in that dark river.

And this offensive sentence takes the cake:

"Nigeria] is a country where the majority of people believe that evil spirits can be transmitted via a mobile phone..."

Really? Really? Wow.

There is one thing I can say for Soyinka, Achebe and JP Clark-Bekederemo. No one, no one would have gotten away with spewing this racist nonsense. Thunder and heads would have rolled. Literally and figuratively. We have fallen far.

But then, is there not fire where there is smoke? We certainly cannot legislate respect. We must earn it. We have not earned it. Let the racist taunts continue. Maybe one day we'll get off our duff and do something about the condition of our humanity. If you pee on the floor of your living room, you should expect your guest to do number two on it.

Good night.

Don't forget to read it...

http://www.bakareweate.com/texts/The%20closing%20of%20the%20Nigerian%20Mind.pdf

- Ikhide