Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Habit of Underdevelopment

"also most of the criticism of Pius essay seems  directed more at his person..." Toyin Adepoju Toyin: You must be careful how you say "most of the criticism", sounding like the essay hasn't had an overwhelmingly positive reception. I am assuming you mean most of one person's criticism? From Sahara Reporters to the Nigerian VillageSquare and all the listservs, I am unable to see "most of the criticism" you are talking about. All I see are very enthusiastic reactions with people having healthy debates about the essay - such as the "shame on NEPA" debate going on right now in the Nigerian listservs at the prompting of Dr Kassim. Only one person has been heehawing across the listservs attacking my person as you said. Even at that, he has so far been unable to produce a draft of his attacks that passes muster - after two submissions! Ikhide says it is approaching readable. That is being generous. If he keeps reworking it, he may finally be able to cobble 4 or 5 coherent and readable paragraphs together - at which point I may indulge him with a response. And you know his efforts are not informed by genuine intellection but an infantilist tit-for-tat scholarly instinct. If Pius says his Ode to Wole Soyinka @ 76 is bad, he must attack anything Pius writes even if it means rambling incoherently like he has been doing. He even started out by saying that I am colonised for learning French! I betrayed his indigenist sensibilities by acquiring a second European language! When that line failed, he changed his tack and rambled on and on about superiority in a straightforward essay about being humbled and returning from the experience to tell compatriots to be humble. This is the same fellow who once accused me of praising white philosophers in an essay I wrote to argue that African philosophy and philosophers aren't inferior to Western philosophers as Osuji was claiming!  Sometimes you wonder if the fellow also cannot read. It is already bad enough that he can't write coherently. Along the way, he has gained two animus-inspired fans for all his efforts. The angry poet who hasn't appreciated being shown the frequent intrusions of racism bigotry into the orientalizing lullaby he often writes as the history of the Yoruba; and now the latest entrant, of the "exilic preference" fame, who is still smarting from my opinion on his "poetry" and his frequent bile-inspired rants against colleagues abroad. So, do not elevate the animus of three people - in all the discussions of the essay that you have witnessed across the fora - to "most of the criticism..." For now, I am swatting all three like flies. They welcome to keep attacking my person if they have nothing tangible to say about the essay. It comes with the territory. When they have real issues they want to debate about the essay beyond sour grapes, I will be more than happy to engage them. Pius --- On Tue, 10/8/10, toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com> wrote: From: toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Habit of Underdevelopment To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com Date: Tuesday, 10 August, 2010, 12:32 how is my position patronising? also most of the criticism of Pius essay seems  directed more at his person than the substance of his essay thanks tpoyin On 10 August 2010 11:08, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote: If we remove the usual  Pius' self glorification slant, Biko's desperate attempt to hit back at Pius, Ikhide's usual espirit d'corp and Toyin's unusual patronizing presentation from this post, there is a lesson to be learnt herein, which is that any socio-political and economic entity could slide into the abyss of poverty and chaos no matter how well endowed due to bad leaderhip and to some extent, due to bad follower ship. The important thing in my opinion is for us to try and make viable suggestions on how this situation can be remedied in the case of Nigeria. Chidi Anthony Opara "I am always available for punches, they make me stronger". On Aug 9, 9:50 pm, Ikhide <xoki...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Citizen Agozino, > > Looking better, I see now that even with all your shakara, you still listen to > me as if I am your professor. You see, if you delete the first and the last > paragraphs of this your latest njakiri, it begins to approach the readable. You > actually read the posting to yourself before posting it fiam ;-))))) And you > found your spell checker. You were also no doubt inspired by the quiet dignity > and grace in the postings of Citizens Ukaga and Adepoju who modelled tou you how > to behave in public. I might have to commission them to teach you how to hold a > fork and knife. You look like one of those LIGs (Low Income Groups) that wield > cutlery like a mass murderer ;-)))))))) And please call Pius by his real name. > It makes you look unprofessional.  I am trying hard to make you look good, > despite your yeye self. > > So, I am actually beginning to like you. You are full of unnecessary bluster but > you are a fairly good student. You have been reading up on Pius Adesanmi's > excellent pieces. You see how he carefully marshalls his thoughts in nice > readable chunky paragraphs, eliminates all typos and iyan like a good gardener, > reads the piece for flow and then, only then, releases the result. There is > plenty to disagree with the man over his pieces but you will have to give the > man props for modelling how to present your thoughts. You should pay the man. > And Citizen Ukaga, And Citizen Adepoju. And me. Of course. > > I will send you my bill. Yeye man ;-)))) > > - Ikhide > > ________________________________ > From: Biko Agozino <bikoz...@yahoo.com> > To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com > Sent: Mon, August 9, 2010 4:50:42 PM > Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Habit of Underdevelopment > > Toyin, > > You are right in diagnosing a certain syndrome in Payos, the monarchical master > wanna be syndrome that you said he was cured of with a trip to Francophone West > Africa. Yet he continues to feel supreme by reason of the historical accident > that he was born in the Giant of Africa compared to other supposedly lesser > Africans, or just because he was forced to do a year abroad (not as a democratic > choice but as a bureaucratic requirement in his program) compared to the poor > swaggerless classmates whose courses did not include a visit to Togo; now he > wants us to believe that his Nigerian friend is inferior or underdeveloped > compared to him and that he is the index of development, or that he is the chief > grammarian of the internet compared to elderly fellow Africans that he would > like to ridicule in order to feel that he is a grown man. He is still full of > that thing you said that he was cured of. > > I agree with you that there is a lot of knowledge in French (and Kemetic, > Arabic, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Swahili, Jewish, and the thousands of Bantu > languages') contributions to African literature that we may not be fully aware > of due to lack of translations and my favorite translations come from the work > of the great Cheikh Anta Diop who was failed three times in his doctorate in > France because of his original thesis that Africans are not inferior to > Europeans in any way. It is just the case that all over the world, those who > learned English first are reluctant to learn another European language because > English is fast becoming the language of global commerce. > > Our Francophone colleagues, say the African French-Arab-Jew Jacques Derrida, > have better commands of English than many of us could manage in French but they > do not necessarily feel superior to us, neither do we feel superior to them just > because we can speak the Queen's English or nonchalantly butcher the language in > our inventive broken English with clear communication. My point is that we > should not feel superior to fellow Africans simply on the basis of of where we > were born, our religion, which foreign country we find ourselves today, and or > the number of European languages or even African ones we command. No matter how > many languages you speak, you are always blessed with one tongue just like > everybody else. All heads are equal! > > When bro Obi commended Fashola for pledging to appoint more Nigerian citizens > into his cabinet irrespective of places of origin, Payo smells a superiorism > that is not there and starts defending the non-controversial authenticity of his > ethnic group as usual. But Fashola was not the first to appoint someone from a > different part of Nigeria to a state government cabinet. I think that Governor > Nnamani had a Yoruba member of his executive all those eight years and there > were fewer Yoruba residents of Enugu than Igbo residents of Lagos. The uncle of > Ojukwu, Okonkwo Kano, was an elected member of the Northern House of Assembly in > the first republic just as a Kano man was the elected mayor of Enugu. Obi said > that this is a normal part of democracy and I fully agree with him, there is > nothing racist or tribalist about his support for Fashola's pledge of inclusive > excellence in appointments. > > Brother Ukaga thinks that the name of bro Payo was deliberately mis-spelled by > me but it is not a mis-spelling, it is a tonal spelling which is understood by > almost every African who bears that name. That is how we call the name back home > and Payos always recognizes the name when I address him. Why should we always > spell our names the way colonial authorities dictated when Russians, Germans, > French, Greeks, Arabs, Jews and every group on earth spell the same names to > reflect their national dialects? An Africanized spelling of a colonial name is > only an insult to any African who believes that speaking an additional European > tongue makes him a greater African. > > Let us put our heads together and figure out how to banish darkness from our > land because the shameful interrupted supply of electricity is not what defines > our culture. If the friend of Payo who is used to the lack of electricity is > given the choice, he could still elect to live without electricity but we have > the resources to supply power constantly to our people. Yet the friend may have > used electricity as a metaphor for the fact that East or West, home is best; but > we would like to see this homeland of ours defined to transgress artificial > colonial boundaries to embrace the whole of Africa. Feeling superior to patriots > at home just because you can earn foreign currencies abroad is not part of the > solutions! > > Biko > > --- On Sun, 8/8/10, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com> wrote: > > > > >From: toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com> > >Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Habit of Underdevelopment > >To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com, naijapolit...@yahoogroups.com > >Date: Sunday, August 8, 2010, 6:46 PM > > >I understand Pius's point in that essay,which I  enjoyed very much, to be quite > >straightforward.I understand him as stating that he was cured of believing in > >Nigeria as superior to the rest of Africa by his experience of the relative > >superiority of the provision of  services in some African countries compared > >those in Nigeria.He learnt this lesson about the 'Giant of Africa' when he > >traveled to another African country. > > >He also argues,accurately,that Nigerians have often cultivated a mentality > >conditioned by underdevelopment.One assessment of this argument, not one > >provided by Pius,though, would be-what is the degree to whichstate  governors > >are measured by their ability to provide the fundamentals of basic civilized > >living:constant electricity,potable water in every home,all  roads in good > >condition? To ask for hot water from taps might be asking a lot.To request gas > >piped to homes might also be quite demanding.The basics I have outlined,if > >achieved by any Nigerian government in the next five years,would have done > >wonders that will transform the quality of life in the country. > > >One can provide a litany of example of acclimatization to a culture of > >underdevelopment. > > >The relative quality of resource  management in  Nigeria in comparison  to other > >African countries needs to be examined  on account of Nigeria's very large share > >of resources:oil,land and human power. > > >Pius was also not taking pride in his being a student of French.That is an > >accident of his education in relation to the exposure it gave him to visit > >another African country. > > >With reference to Biko's point on considering learning European languages > >unnecessary,for my part,I see no pride in being ignorant of either > >African,European,Asian  or Western languages.No amount of grounding in any other > >language will replace a sensitivity to the beauty of Yoruba tonal patterns and > >use of rhyme in modulating meaning as evident in Wande Abimbola's Ifa Divination > >Poetry.No mastery of relationships between Twi phonetics and philosophy as > >described by Kwesi Ra Nehem Ptah Akhan in his essays atwww.odwirafo.comor > >between Zulu  morphology  and classical Zulu thought as described by Mazisi > >Kunene in the introduction to his The Ancestors and the Sacred Mountain will > >replace a sensitivity to the nuances of  Martin Heidegger's German in Sein und > >Zeit,translated as Being and Time,where Heidegger derives significant levels of > >meaning from his peculiar fashioning of German,or to San Juan de La Yepes > >modulation of meaning between various forms of knowledge by using  using a > >similar Spanish word in varying ways to demonstrate differences between > >intellectual and spiritual knowledge in "Songs of the Soul in Ecstasy" which is > >close to if not identical with the title of the poem. > > >All these examples are high points in their respective languages and > >cultures.(Ptah Akhan sadly celebrates a fantastic form of racism directed all > >non-Black races that makes it necessary to read him very critically).Those > >outside the cultures represented by these writers  are indebted to those who > >understand those languages and cultures and who translate these works for the > >rest of the world to share in  > > ... > > read more »- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.   For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue   For previous archives, visit  http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html   To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-   unsubscribe@googlegroups.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin. 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