Re - "Imagine how to teach, or screen, Osuofia, before a non-African, or non-Nigerian audience. Imagine trying to make the audience understand the humor in representing the country bumpkin, osuofia's hilarious behaviour, his outrageous acts and words. Imagine an audience that knew nothing, thought he was typical, or real...Imagine the same for Nollywood."
About the latter, there's the corresponding Los Angeles hip-hop Hollywood and European cinema portraitures of the affluent West, big cars, big cigars, the impression of the streets of heaven lined with gold as a result of which at least a hundred years after the Middle Passage we now have over 12, 000 Africans being buried in watery graves in the Mediterranean Sea instead of arriving safely on the shores of Italy on the way to the greener pastures of Germany and wintry Scandinavia. And not only cinema versions. I still haven't ever seen a poor White man or White women in Africa , although I'm told (gleefully) that there are now some in post-Apartheid South Africa, asking darkies, " Can you spare me a dime, mate?"
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul 's perceptions and portrayals of Africa are said to be virulent racism. How do you teach him? Painstakingly, I guess .There are still controversies about "The Heart of Darkness" for which Conrad has been rightfully wrongfully accused of racism etc by e.g His Eminence Chinua Achebe and a few others. So how does Professor Harrow teach e.g. Joyce Cary's "Mister Johnson" in which Cary takes delight in taking the mickey out of Mr. Johnson or Paul Theroux's "Fong and the Indians" which I quite enjoyed reading but which some perhaps too self -obsessed Africans ( circa 1972 in Sweden ) did not and perhaps what was missing there was the ability or willingness to take a self-critical or ironic distance, the personal truths of " I am black and beautiful ye daughters of Jerusalem " etc, notwithstanding, that apart from the good, there are also the bad and the ugly ( laid) or plain Africans too, just as there is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53,
" He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not."
Another Africanist that I know, my Better Half who I have known for almost 49 years, she has met Jomo Kenyatta etc before my time, now was asking me just a few minutes ago , did I know that the mother of Prince Harry's fiancee is Black? Cheers, said I, let's just hope that there won't be a blow-back , as was the case of Lady Diana and Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em El-Fayed the son of the Egyptian billionaire Mohamed El Fayed .
And, typical Oyibo , what was her reply to that? A correction : You mean " backlash" not "blow-back"..
Yes
It's not even that...
On Sunday, 4 February 2018 18:09:24 UTC+1, Kenneth Harrow wrote:
Well, this raises two key questions. How do we respond to ignorance and worse vis-à-vis Africa?
Perhaps the answer should be tailored to the publics at stake
The grand public, for one, must be assumed to be ignorant and biased, and this hasn't changed over the long run. I don't work in the domain that addresses that, but famous authors do. They can respond with irony, vituperation, or understanding, depending on how they wish to win over the public.
For us, however, the question becomes much more complicated. In my teaching I used to begin my African courses by evoking the prejudicial and ignorant statements American culture aired about a continent that the students barely knew existed. In a film course I might begin with tarzan or the gods must be crazy or out of Africa or one of those films that served to expose either warped or Eurocentric visions of Africa.
Eventually I ceased doing so, not wishing to waste my precious class time on such films when I could begin with an African film, and let it do the work naturally, rather than me being polemical.
I wouldn't waste time over the issues adiichie faced, but I am not famous, and I speak mostly to academics and knowledgeable Africans.
Yet we are haunted by the grand public, like it or not. Speaking back to their ignorance implies too m uch of a defensive posture, which everyone recognizes immediately. It is best to be calmly informational, and let it rest.
But that's easier said than done
The adichie issue might be relatively simple, but let me take a more difficult one. Imagine how to teach, or screen, Osuofia, before a non-African, or non-Nigerian audience. Imagine trying to make the audience understand the humor in representing the country bumpkin, osuofia's hilarious behaviour, his outrageous acts and words. Imagine an audience that knew nothing, thought he was typical, or real.
Imagine the same for Nollywood.
And then, lastly, imagine a non-american audience trying to understand americans through Hollywood. You pick the movie.
If you have not been exposed to notions of ideology, where would you begin?
ken
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
http://www.english.msu.edu/
people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/ From: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@
googlegroups.com > on behalf of "meoc...@gmail.com" <meoc...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com >
Date: Sunday 4 February 2018 at 09:35
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com >
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Africa Trending (1)
On Sun, Feb 4, 2018 at 7:14 AM, Kenneth Harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:
It nuances it, and everyone agrees with her there. but the issue of brosse's question is different, totally different.
And in fact, I am not surprised at both of their characterizations of French bias. Indeed of European, American biases and ignorances. It doesn't help to warp what brosse said, however.
ken
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
http://www.english.msu.edu/
people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/ From: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@
googlegroups.com > on behalf of Chambi Chachage <chachagechambi@gmail.com>
Reply-To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com >
Date: Saturday 3 February 2018 at 22:54
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com >
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Africa Trending (1)
On Sat, Feb 3, 2018 at 3:10 PM, Kenneth Harrow <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:
This is misleading. I read the piece out of interest, and in face the interviewer, Catherine brouee, says, people have all kinds of ideas about Africa, and I am asking you whether there are bookstores in Nigeria so you can set the record straight. Of course I know there are.
That gets twisted, below, by the single word "seriously," that misrepresents what brouee said.
ken
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
http://www.english.msu.edu/
people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/ From: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@
googlegroups.com > on behalf of Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso <jumoyin@gmail.com>
Reply-To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com >
Date: Saturday 3 February 2018 at 09:31
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com >
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Africa Trending (1)
--
Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, PhD.,
Department of Political Science and Public Administration,
Babcock University,
Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.
PMB 4010, Babcock University, Nigeria.
Official Email: yacob-halisoo@babcock.edu.ng
The Editor, Journal of International Politics and Development: jipad@babcock.edu.ng
.....
Intelligence Plus Character -- that is the goal of True Education - Martin Luther King, Jr.
......
Institutional Website: www.babcock.edu.ng--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index. html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com .
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout .--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index. html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com .
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout .
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index. html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com .
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout .--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index. html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com .
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout .
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index. html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com .
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout .
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment