Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - An Unfinished Ukraine Palace and a Fugitive Leader's Folly

Dear Kwabena and Adeshina,

No problem and no offence taken.

I did think of posting something to the effect that while Kwabena is correct in saying that my views about ascribing negative qualities to Africans (I think we get enough negative stereotyping from non-Africans without internalising and dishing it up for ourselves!) is an opinion on which we can differ, my gender is a fact on which we cannot: but I know that our Moderator finds one-liners a bit oppressively time consuming, and I asked myself whether it makes that much difference?  After all, I cannot claim to be able to detect the gender of most people on the list with African names - even my present interlocutors! - and even European names are not always a certain indicator and we can't always Google for pictures of each other can we?

Ayo

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama

On 27 Feb 2014, at 02:45, "Akurang-Parry, Kwabena" <KAParr@ship.edu> wrote:

Adeshina:

I had sent the apology below to Madam Ayo Obe at exactly 12: 45 PM, but Oga Falola has not posted it. Let me stress that unlike you, I didn't see anything terrible about that news item: I offered it as a cavalier, mischievous comparative lens!

Kwabena.

 

 -------------------------------------------------------

 

Madam Ayo Obe:

Please, accept my sincere apology for thinking that you were a "Baba." My judgment in "gendering" names/naming speaks to my Eurocentric education that has in so many ways conditioned me to "gendering" Western names rather than coming to terms with "African names." I can understand how frustrating this is: years ago, a group of editors of a feminist-driven journal assumed that Kwabena was a name for females because "na" resonates with tons of Anglo-Saxon female names, e.g. Christina. Once again, sorry oh Madam! This is a teaching moment for all. Na me always want trouble.

Kwabena

 

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Adeshina Afolayan [shina73_1999@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 2:51 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - An Unfinished Ukraine Palace and a Fugitive Leader's Folly

Ayo Obe is a woman o. Or, was the 'baba' intended. 

I equally felt somehow about the terrible assumption behind the 'African leader' in the Ukraine post. Why that? Corruption and grotesque folly aren't African; they're human.

Adeshina Afolayan

Sent from Samsung Mobile

-------- Original message --------
From: "Akurang-Parry, Kwabena" <KAParr@ship.edu>
Date:
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - An Unfinished Ukraine Palace and a Fugitive Leader's Folly

Baba Ayo Obe.

 

Let me affably add that with all "undue respect" thank God we are only retailing opinions. Simply and kindly put, yours is as much an opinion as mine.

 

Kwabena

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Ayo Obe [ayo.m.o.obe@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 9:18 AM
To: USA Africadialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - An Unfinished Ukraine Palace and a Fugitive Leader's Folly

With all due respect, there is a Ukrainian leader in Ukraine.  After all, he is said to be following in well-worn footsteps in that country, which is why some questioned why Julia Tymoshenko should presume to lead the country when in the eyes of many she qualifies as just another 'oligarch'.

If the man can dance well, you can call him an African but however many African rulers there may be living in Pharaonic palaces and marble halls, greed, excess and waste are not uniquely African traits.  Or do I say that a lot of Ukrainians seem to have infiltrated the seats of government in Africa?

On 26 Feb 2014, at 14:02, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena <KAParr@ship.edu> wrote:

An there is an "African leader" in the Ukraine!

An Unfinished Ukraine Palace and a Fugitive Leader's Folly

By ANDREW HIGGINS [The New York Times] FEB. 25, 2014

 

LASPI, Ukraine — Chased from his sumptuous villa outside the Ukrainian capital and last sighted searching for a sanctuary here on the Crimean Peninsula, Viktor F. Yanukovych, the former president, suffered a final indignity on Tuesday: The masons and electricians he had hired to build a Pharaonic seaside retreat in a historic, old-growth forest decided that he would never pay his bills and started hauling away their equipment and materials.

The mansion, still under construction but even bigger than the palatial presidential residence outside Kiev that was overrun by protesters over the weekend, had been at least two years in the making, a gargantuan folly of excess just down the Crimean coast from the former summer palace of Russia's toppled imperial family. The main hall has a 40-foot-high ceiling and majestic view of the Black Sea, while living quarters downstairs feature an indoor swimming pool, a big hole for a hot tub and walls thick enough to withstand an armed attack.

Continue reading the main story

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/world/europe/an-unfinished-ukraine-palace-and-a-fugitive-leaders-folly.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140226&_r=0

 

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