Re - "Maybe cornelius" etc ,
the old Kabbalistic formula ,
" And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"
I'd just like to say, and entirely without guile, that in the realm of human affairs, much is possible. For example, after the Nakba, in the midst of the continuous decimation of Palestinians, this kind of heart-breaking, breaking news:
Saudi Arabia moving closer to "normalising" relations with Israel
Maybe, the normalisation will either put a stop to the decimation or will contribute to the normalisation of the systematic genocidal decimation.
My friend Shalom told me that at Stockholm University he was in a maths class with a fellow student who ( apparently Palestinian) on getting to know that his name was Shalom and that he was Jewish, got up to give this sordid example of subtraction to which he Shalom objected vehemently : "You have 10 Israeli settlers and you shoot 9 of them, how many remain?"
Gladly, for the colonial imperialists and missionaries, such was not the case in much of British and French Colonial Africa, give and take a few exceptions such as Bai Bureh vs the British in Sierra Leone (1898), The Algerian War of Independence (1954 -1962), the Mau-Mau in Kenya (1952 -1960)
In reminiscing briefly at the request of Don Harrow, I'd like to start off with the historical fact that Sierra Leone was the first British colony in Africa, and for the longest period, 150 years. When Sierra Leone attained Independence on 27th April, 1961, English remained the official language (my grandparents generation spoke Victorian English, quoted passages from the King James Version of the Bible - and there's hardly anything that a bloke like Kperogi could have " taught" any of them). Indeed, the Brits left behind them legacies such as institutions of Western Education, a functioning judiciary comprising learned judges , a Westminster model of parliamentary government, a civil service run mostly as a meritocracy, salaries paid on time, back then 2 Leones was = £1 Sterling (the current rate of exchange is £1 = 25, 760 Leones), there was an efficient and effective police constabulary ,it was very much a law and order society, and in the capital City and the rest of the Western Area, there was an uninterrupted flow of electricity and pipe-borne water supply - in my mind how I yearn for the spirit's return, and I cry, as time flies…
Another milestone, another first :
King Charles III addresses the French Senate -partly in French !
Colonialism produced the phenomenon known as Anglo-Sierra Leone and the distinct category known as Anglo-Sierra Leonean, with characteristics that would take several chapters to illustrate ( the Anglo-Sierra Leonean in action in various stressful situations (smile. I think that the closest equivalent that I can think of is various "been-to" Nigerians and Ghanaians that I have encountered (There's Soyinka's The Interpreters etc and Ayi Kwei Armah's Semi Autobiographical Fragments and Why Are We So Blest ? which testify to a certain type of alienation ,variously diagnosed by Franz Fanon
In 1958 when I started secondary school in Sierra Leone, at the Prince of Wales School, we took first Latin, and then French as a second language, but unlike our counterparts in Dakar in Senegal and Guinea Conakry, we did not begin - in the name of some Frenchy assimilation policy, learning by rote that "Our ancestors were Gauls"; nor did we begin where I had started in Merry England, with William the Conqueror and 1066 - along with classmates Sylvester Abimbola Young, Akintola Wyse (who later on became a historian) we started at 1485, and "The War of the Roses" - our first official taste of African history was in lower six, when we studied " The British Empire Under Queen Victoria" - which along with all the literature and philosophy that had already gone down, contributed more than slightly in altering our worldview.
From that point of view, I must say that Senegal for example had a few distinct advantages, not exactly in the person and persona of Léopold Sédar Senghor rapturously singing the praises of the Black Woman whilst busily married to a White one, although to his credit he did produce poems such as New York , as indeed, in similar spirit some of the David Diop and Birago Diop poems not to mention Grand Maître Aimé Césaire who must have impacted and is still impacting Senegal, Francophone Africa and the rest of the African Diaspora, everywhere, in a big way. In addition to with regard to Senegal in particular, the persons of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke and Cheikh Anta Diop impinging on our consciousness forever.
It's time to ask Ken what it was like for him to be teaching at the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal…and in your other place of learning some other kinds of consciousness-raising in the output of e.g. Ferdinand Oyono
To be continued, but at this point, duty calls and garçon cornelius ( in Swedish, "springpojke") has to go and get some groceries, s'il vous plaît
Dear ike,If "assimilation" was more officially french than english policy, the reality was that there wasn't much difference; not much difference at all, in my opinion.I could rally my arguments to try to make my case; right now, this is an expression of my opinion.The french offered entries into french society for the elite who followed the route of education, as you can read in so many novels, or testimonies.So did the brits.They both took high school grads in their university systems and returned them to elite positions at home.The question of language, pretty identical, and the question of culture, of values, etc, pretty identical.Maybe cornelius, who lived through much of the period where these values were taught and expressed could comment on his youth and experiences.Or any of the other greybeards old enough to have experienced that side of colonialismKen
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From: 'Emmanuel Udogu' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2023 1:12:07 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [External] [SOCIAL NETWORK] Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sorrow, tears and blood: France and its permanent colonies, By Toyin FalolaBeautiful piece. I now understand why Nigeria once banned the teaching of history in Nigeria; it's too revealing.
While reflecting on the centrality of this essay and Nigeria, my question is: why is it that many Nigerian leaders love London so much? We witnessed this phenomenon during the last elections period. Indeed, President Buhari went to London for a week's medical checkup. These trips left me scratching my head, and wondering about these politicians' unpatriotic character.
Recall, if you will, that Britain, unlike France and Portugal, never practiced the policy of assimilation in Anglophone Africa. Yet, some of our political actors seem to love the UK more than Nigeria. Why?
Ike Udogu
Ike Udogu
--On Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 8:18 PM Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
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From: 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2023 1:41:17 PM
To: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>; usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sorrow, tears and blood: France and its permanent colonies, By Toyin FalolaIndeed a great piece.I hope I canget the permission to include itin a forthcoming issue ofAfrica Update.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2023 6:33 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sorrow, tears and blood: France and its permanent colonies, By Toyin Falola--EXTERNAL EMAIL: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe.
powerfully written, deeply disturbing
--On Tue, 12 Sept 2023 at 11:01, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
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