i agree with moses, there is more than simple victim-oppressor at stake; if not, as he says, agency is lost. the point is important. it also perhaps complicates, but doesn't vitiate, "tough questions" of accountability. the tricky question is how these arguments are mobilized today so as to justify oppressive practices. again, moses pointed to it: many of us remember idi amin presenting himself as the great champion of black resistance to colonial masters.... well, if we are shocked at that gross ideas, it becomes more complicated when we substitute sekou toure for idi amin, and if we seek answers about toure from, say, camera laye, on the one hand, and manthia diawara, on the other--particularly where diawara reminds us about the way toure represented an inspiration to the youth of his generation.
and so on.
emotionally, i love to embrace the ideals of liberation. intellectually, i recognize the deep need for the complex readings on which moses insists--rightly.
last example: les tirailleurs senegalais, or the harkis. all good to render complex the simpler political readings that are all black and white, and never grey
ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
harrow@msu.edu
Sent: Sunday, December 9, 2018 2:10:49 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Logic of Blaming
--This is what I classify as crass unsophisticated neo-colonial apologetics (CUNA).
What is CUNA? It is a rather simplistic explanatory model that plays into the hands of the latter day supporters of colonialism, diverting energies from movements seeking reparations for various atrocities, and current nation building restorative activities. It often tries to simplify anti-colonial discourse, presenting in the process a rather simplistic version of complex ideas.
No serious historian begins with a discourse on "the white man" as such. We deal with the issue of colonial structures and policies of various regimes including French, German, Portuguese, Belgian and British entities. We examine the repercussions of these military, paramilitary regimes and their consequences in terms of civilian casualties etc. psychological impact, economic consequences, land alienation, arrested technology and so on and make an assessment accordingly.The process of decolonization is complex and requires new theoretical tools. Even so we do not need old wine in new bottles. That is why the content and initial premises are so vital in logical architecture.
Instead of spending precious time on "the logic of blaming" it may be more rewarding to focus on the logic of post-colonial reconstruction.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
From: Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
Sent: Sunday, December 9, 2018 11:25:28 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Logic of BlamingThis is what I classify as crass, unsophisticated, neo- colonial apologetics.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chielozona Eze <chieloz@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 9, 2018 6:23:02 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Logic of BlamingObododimma,
You are unto something profound here. Reading you reminds me of Areoye Oyebola, one of the very few African intellectuals to defy the overwhelming tendency in African thinking to always begin every discourse by accusing the West and conclude it by positing what they believe to be authentically African.
Your sharp analysis of African blame-game is similar to what I'm working on now. What you call the logic of blaming, I call the syllogism of a wounded psyche. Blaming others is a typical post-colonial phenomenon. It is borne of Africa's shock of defeat at the hands of the white man. It is a particular form of despair at the overwhelming superiority of Western mastery of reality and Africa's failure to do the same. The African resorts to what my friend Denis Ekpo calls moral posturing. Moral posturing results from accusing others, and it functions in the illusion that once the other has been shown his/her place, then the accuser is, ipso facto, clean/redeemed, absolved of all culpability.
One of the major decisive points in African syllogism of the wounded psyche can be found in Things Fall Apart, in the scene in which Obierika, humiliated by the ignominious death of Okonkwo, turns to accuse the district officer of having driven Okonkwo to kill himself. Another is yet Obierieka's judgment that the white man put a knife on the things that held Umuofia together and they fell apart.
Chinua Achebe, as the literary scholars among us here would attest, helped shape African postcolonial thought. But it is a particular brand of thought that derives its potency from accusation - J'accuse. The syllogism of that brand of postcolonial thought is simple, if not simplistic. First premise: Accuse the white man (God, there's a bunch of evil that can be traced back to him). Second premise: posit the black man's implied innocence as the victim of history (Is he innocent?). Conclusion: posit African "X" or African "Y".
I'm wondering what would have been the color of postcolonial African thought if Obierieka had acknowledged that Umuofia never really stood together and that Okonkwo was also to blame for his death.
Thanks for sharing.
Chielozona
Chielozona Eze
Professor, African Literature and Cultural Studies, Northeastern Illinois University; Extraordinary Professor, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.Fellow - Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies, South Africawww.Chielozona.com
https://neiu.academia.edu/ChielozonaEze
--On Sat, Dec 8, 2018 at 4:35 PM Obododimma Oha <obodooha@gmail.com> wrote:
You need a refreshing weekend. You do. Don't mind Obododimma with that
"Our Odelele Choice." Now, you need to know something more about
blaming others, especially when it has been made a family business. I
would like you to have "The Logic of Blaming" this weekend.
To read the full essay on one of my blogs, click on this URL:
https://x-pensiverrors.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-logic-of-blaming.html
Thank you.
Obododimma.
--
--
B.A.,First Class Honours (English & Literary Studies);
M.A., Ph.D. (English Language);
M.Sc. (Legal, Criminological & Security Psychology);
Professor of Cultural Semiotics & Stylistics,
Department of English,
University of Ibadan.
COORDINATES:
Phone (Mobile):
+234 8033331330;
+234 9033333555;
+234 8022208008;
+234 8073270008.
Skype: obododimma.oha
Twitter: @mmanwu
Personal Blog: http://udude.wordpress.com/
--
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