cornelius--
very happy to get the beginnings of your memoir. all the references to the past, to the most important moment for the creation of african literature (ok, europhone, west african etc), are absolutely amazing in bringing us back in time to that most crucial of moments.
when we live through our lives, at the time, it seems no more important than yesterday or tomorrow; but in retrospect, all of a sudden what had seemed normal and ordinary becomes something very special for others, and through them, ourselves.
we remember people whose voices were already important in the past, people like lemuel johnson or dick bjornson, who played significant roles in african literature, but were, in fact, for us at the time just friends doing their own smart work.
with time they get transformed in curious ways--sometimes fading with time, sometimes exaggerated over time. but remembering something is quite different from living it, and remembrance creates its own worlds. what birago said: When memory goes a gathering firewood, it brings back the sticks that strike its fancy.... sticks, les bouts de bois de dieu, the children who become the stories we repeat, and then, the great figures of birago diop or sembene ousmane start to construct worlds for us that we do not want to forget.
i am immensely grateful to diawara for his writings about his youth, his coming to the states, his later years, his account w his son in paris, and over and over the worlds of artists and friends he brings back to life for us from guinea and mali. think of soyinka's magisterial autobiographical tomes, and how they have enriched his own corpus, giving us new ways to read the ways christian, wild christian, and yoruba met in his youth.
cornelius, we are waiting for your bouts de bois de dieu
ken
On 1/9/16 10:40 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
--Crown Prince Moses Ochonu
King Falola's crown prince of the budding historians
You are very kind and very diplomatic.
"incredible historical documents and artifacts" indeed!
Methinks that the Crown Prince is exaggerating a wee bit there – but true, I do have stories – true stories to tell that you will not find in any history books to date, and I still have very difficult psychological territories and difficult episodes to navigate but at the end of the day – not that it was ever my aim to fulfil some "American Dream" what inspiration do my words have to convey? Hopefully, to share and arrive at some understandings… and so , you may be right: just for the record !
And who be me, which wisdom is in my possession that I can dream of following up on "A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt"?
Look at the prologue to Khushwant Singh's "Truth, Love and a Little Malice: An Autobiography"!
I know that even when one is liberated from the autobiographical, the autobiographical remains…
I feel much better equipped with voice and guitar, to step into the studio, alone or in concert with some others.
OK, all that Omoluabi/Bode says about our Kenneth Harrow and what more could be said of him is true (forgiving, humble, loving kindness/ chesed personified - but of course not as humble as the Prophet Moses) - and therefore as a compromise – and for my Yoruba grandmother's sake ( the Queen and the greatest story teller. If it will not burden him I should like to forward to him without imposing on his leisure time, some bits and pieces for his kind consideration (surrender them to even some unkindest cuts)
Which reminds me – when we went to the recruitment interview at the Nigerian Embassy in Stockholm and the panel (an all-male cast) asked my Better Half if she had any questions, to my great surprise I heard her saying that she hoped that she would not prove to be "a burden on the Nigerian government" at which they erupted into loud guffaws and some back-slapping -"that was a good one!" one of them actually wiping a tear from the side of his face. I can't remember if my best Nigerian friend then, the First Secretary at the Embassy, the personable Mr. Unah (like you Idoma) was in the room or not ( but at least I do not intend to accuse myself or be accused of " selective amnesia"
What President Buhari said recently about Nigeria winning Noble Prizes in Science and technology (and not only in Literature) is really not radically different from what Patrick Wilmot said in that Nigerians Guardian article in 1981 ( just before he went underground) that Nigerians will have to dance to " Mathematical rhythms" – and then of course he was not thinking of Bach, but of Apartheid South Africa
In the last sixty hours, on and off I have read the first four chapters of Norman Vance's Bible & Novel
And will continue with that as soon as I have pushed the send button.
Best Regards,
Cornelius
On Tuesday, 5 January 2016 21:17:22 UTC+1, MEOc...@gmail.com wrote:Don Cornelius,
Please write a memoir if you have not already written one. Or maybe I should rephrase it as a question: why have you not written a memoir of all these juicy stories and recollections of your rich pan-African experiences, encounters, and sojourns in Africa and Europe? Please stop "wasting" these wonderful stories and reminiscences on this forum and write them up as a memoir. I for one enjoy them, and I am sure others do too. They are incredible historical documents and artifacts. They are richer than anything any social historian could have written about the 1960s, the 1970s, and the 1980s on Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Black Europe.
So I beg you, please sit down and write these stories up. I will be the first person to buy the book. Memoirs have become my favorite book genre. Oga Falola's magisterial A Mouth Sweeter than Salt converted me. I spent three days reading it from cover to cover in my brother Professor Okpeh Okpeh's house in Makurdi, Nigeria. It was one of the greatest reading experiences of my life. That experience sits up there with reading Gabriel Marquez's A Hundred Years of Solitude right after I graduated from college....
On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 8:37 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
Craveing your indulgence for just another little aside here: language and people
Re- Creole and Krio
"I invented Jazz " claimed New Orleans Creole, Jelly Roll Morton
Later on (another musical planet) Kid Creole and the coconuts
And even my good friend bass player Samuel Oju King ( in Africa I last linked up with him in Kumasi, in Ghana in 1970 – shortly after Asante Kotoko beat Englebert of Zaire -1-0 in the African Club cup final and we emptied the Kingsway Hotel in Kumasi of all the beer – the Hotel, incidentally owned by a Ghanaian-Sierra Leonean , Mr. Williams)
It should also be interesting to know how "Creole" became "Krio" in Shierra Leone...
Creoledom vs Kriodom
Ogbeni Ignoramus C# would like to know
Cornelius
On Tuesday, 5 January 2016 01:53:09 UTC+1, Kenneth Harrow wrote:hi joan
what "amerikan" implies is not about pronunciation or translation, but about a radical identity claim. if i may say, i would hesitate to correct someone about using "american," because it implies something about the weak intelligence of the user of the term. there are political issues involved in many, maybe most, identity markers; but do you really want to lecture me about what is implied in using that term?
in the case of benin vs bini, i would be interested in the issues, but again you really are lecturing me, or the readers of the post, as if the most obvious historical events were something that i, or we, needed to be told. i would hesitate before taking such an approach before others, unless i knew they were pretty ignorant about africa.
the issues here are, rather, what it means to "reclaim" a name, especially when that reclamation comes from an official figure. if memory serves, the switch from the usage Afro-American to African American was powerfully supported by jesse jackson, whose standing within the black community lend support to the movement for that change.
in the case of benin vs bini, i would be interesting in knowing what is at stake, who is pushing for either term, and how the usages came about.
ken
On 1/4/16 12:47 PM, dAme jOo wrote:
Dear Professor harrow,
The issue is not about pronunciation or translation of a people's name into a different language (which is what "amerikan" implies) but rather about reclaiming identity.There are serious geo-political, social and epistemic consequences for the Benin people if this unintended erasure of a significant portion of their identity is not stopped. It is this attempt to re-claim name that informed the 2006 pronouncement from the Palace of the Oba of Benin, Omo'n'Oba n'Edo Uku Akpolokpolo Oba Erediauwa.
There is also the issue of loosing ownership of the name to the Republic of Benin since the country's name was changed from Dahomey to Benin in 1975, ostensibly after the Bight of Benin, which took its name from the Benin empire- of which the Benin-Edo people of "postcolonial"/post-independence Nigeria are a modern day manifestation.
By the way, there are those who will question the propriety of referring to citizens of the United States as Americans when that nomenclature was originally intended as a marker for people of the Americas-both North and South.
Domo.
joan
On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 9:27 AM, kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu> wrote:
hi joan
who determines what a people call themselves? the chief? the chiefs?
really?
ken (by the way, i am not an igbo, or, maybe it is ibo?)
i am, however, american. or amerikan.
the answer to my question, for me, is, it is the people, their practice.
and, of course, it changes. but not by diktat from above
ken again
On 1/4/16 8:35 AM, dAme jOo wrote:
Professor Zalanga,
Regarding the Benin-Edo ethnic group, Please note that the preferred nomenclature is Benin and not "Bini."
I paste below a 2006 public announcement...
"Our attention has been drawn to the practice in which some persons in correspondence to the Palace and publications in the newspapers and magazines refer to Benin as 'Bini'. It is hereby stated for the information of the general public that our correct ethnic name is Benin and not 'Bini', and that our people are to be referred to as Benin people or simply Benins. The Omo N'Oba requests that the use of 'Bini' should stop forthwith. Individuals, government agencies, corporate organizations, print and electronic media, and the general public should please take note". Signed (actual signature) Chief S. O. U Igbe, MON, Iyase of Benin. On behalf of all Benin Chiefs. Benin Traditional Council - Palace Press Release, Ref. No. BTC.A66/VOL.IV/262 dated 28th August, 2006.
Saludos,joan
On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 8:16 AM, Samuel Zalanga <szal...@gmail.com> wrote:
With regard to the analogy of the people in the room who are likely going to die because of snake bite, I understand the concern.
The questions being raised are not an attempt to ignore the legitimacy of the concerns that people in Igbo land or any where in the world for that matter have. But because ultimately, the solution is in understanding the long term process. Hannah Arendt developed the concept of "banality of evil" at a time when people focused on the spectacular nature of the holocaust. It is not that she did not see the holocaust as something terrible. Rather, she concluded after the studying the situation following her attendance of Nazi agent's trial in Jerusalem that the holocaust was committed by normal day people functioning normally, which is just a restating of one of the key findings of the Nuremberg Trials. The question then is what is the process that led to this catastrophe?. This same question is relevant for Nigeria and many African countries as well.
While reading the message, I also remember this interesting exegesis of the "Good Samaritan" parable / story in the Bible that was made by an African Minister in a documentary film that I reviewed long ago but I kept thinking about it. For those who are not familiar with the Good Samaritan story, it is about a man who is a good Samaritan traveling from Jericho to Jerusalem for a business trip. But when he saw someone mugged and left by the side of the road by armed robbers, he abandoned his trip plan to make hospital arrangements to help the mugged person get healed.
Generally, most people think the only moral teaching in the story is for us to have many Good Samaritans in the world!. But the exegesis made by the African American minister said, in principle we are not opposed to having Good Samaritans who will help people after they are mugged. However, the fundamental issue here is the need to understand what made the road between Jericho and Jerusalem to be so unsafe that innocent people are mugged in the first place?
What we need to do is to find out the causes of such armed robbery and take care of it, so that in the future, people can travel safely from Jericho to Jerusalem (metaphorically speaking), and maybe if that happens, the Good Samaritans can channel their scarce and valued energy elsewhere to do their good work.
The lesson in this exegesis is that the problem started with a mugged person and the Good Samaritan (people, one suffering and one willing to help solve the problem), but the lasting solution to it while starting from the people, transcended the people to look at the systemic source of the problem that leads to people to be mugged. We should not ignore the cause (long and short term) and just be improving hospitals or teaching more people to be Good Samaritans, while ignoring the root cause of the problem in both their short and long term manifestation.
My point, and I repeat again, many of the problems that Ndi' Igbo will identify as their problems with the Federal Republic of Nigeria are not just problems caused by other people who are not Igbo in Nigeria, assuming because of blood ancestry, that Igbo land is totally free from such problems. This will not be sociologically accurate. We have to look out and within as part of our explanatory methodology.
No part of Nigeria is clinically free from such problems. The problem of the strong taking advantage of the weak, is a problem all over Nigeria caused by Nigerians living in their communities, whether they are Kanuri, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Bini, Tiv or whatever group. Some of the governors that wasted the resources of their states are persons who are indigenous to those states and they had people who supported them within the state. They just got power-drunk, combined with excessive greed. This is all over the country. It happens in all ethnic groups, all regions and all religious groups. If anyone is honest about the country, he or she cannot deny that.
The communities that experienced this problem less often are communities that have developed internal mechanisms within themselves to help them do things differently. State governors received lots of money from the federation account under President Jonathan. At one point, Iwela-Okonjo said the amount of monies received by some states is close to a sizable percentage of the budget of some African countries. But what did they do with it? If anyone cares to do a careful study of this problem state by state, he or she will conclude that the problems of Nigeria are both at the federal and local levels.
A member of my family went to Bauchi for instance during Christmas time with an expired Nigerian passport and requested for a new one. The person was told to go and bring a letter proving that he is an indigene of the state. This is a problem of people that have been granted power to serve the public but are irresponsible with it. I honestly see this problem of irresponsibility all over Nigeria. States that have strong and effective civil society groups do better in holding state officials accountable. Other just say "God Dey" or God exists and will judge them.
When I did my doctoral field work, I visited two oil palm plantations in Nigeria: One in Edo State and the other in Rivers, i.e. Risson palm. I was interested in the role of ruling elites in transforming their societies through agricultural development policies, which Southeast Asian countries have been more successful in this respect than African countries. Agricultural policy was a site for me to explore the question of state capacity and role of elites in development. From Edo and Rivers, I drove to Sokoto to visit a friend who is also a sociologist. It was then I became impressed that Nigerians will condemn each other but injustice is practiced in all regions, all states, and ethnic groups: The strong take advantage of the weak. This is one thing I concluded. I learned this from the people. They will tell you. And the people taking advantage of others are not coming from another planet. The social disease is like a kind of virus. But it is easier for Northern elites, for instance, to deflect attention from their failures by projecting all the problems of the region to someone else just as other regions do without applying as much rigorous analysis to internal processes. If the germs of injustice, greed, entitlement and avarice (some of original deadly sins) are not taken care of, it does not matter in my view, even if every family in Nigeria or Igbo land gets its own country, there will still be problem of neglect and exploitation. The literature on patriarchy shows many injustices even within the family,-- this is as small as it can get.
Along the same line I will argue that, no one will deny that the international global capitalist system is structured in such a way that it puts Third World countries at a great disadvantage. But in my assessment, if this is all that our universities in Africa will preach against, it will not take anywhere. We have to seriously look internally also, and examine how our societies do things differently. Asian countries did not just sit down criticizing the West. They recognized the lopsidedness of the international system but chose to compete with the West and beat them in their own game. With different kinds of institutions and commitment, we can transform many things in Africa, which will then put us even in a better position to confront the international system.
We can decide to break away from the international system because it is unjust to us, but if we do not address the fundamental issues in our systems, that will not be a solution. I do not deny the fact that there are problems in Igbo land and indeed many parts of Africa. Indeed, I will stand side by side with Igbo people who are oppressed against others whether in Igbo land or Nigeria who oppress them. But this line of reasoning is subversive because it diminishes the significance of blood ancestry and makes a broader case for struggle along the lines of shared humanity or common purpose. Some Igbo elites as in other parts of the Nigerian federation and Africa have been part of the problem of the strong taking advantage of the weak. A thorough and honest class analysis will show that there are many persons from Igbo land who benefited from the same Nigerian system that is corrupt, but they ignored other ordinary Igbos, which is exactly what is happening in other parts of Nigeria. Class analysis will show that the best struggle we need is that of the oppressed against the oppressors, wherever they come from. This is as simple as it is. If you do not have money to feed yourself or get medicine, it does not matter what is your blood ancestry.
So in conclusion, I do not deny the significance of the problem the people in the room face with regard to snake bites, but using the version of exegesis of the Good Samaritan story, I will ask, what in the first place allowed such a situation where so many people are gathered in a room and they are likely going to die because of snake bite. Should they not focus on addressing the causes of congestion and disease in their society than just be focusing on who is going to die. In any case, the way the situation is characterized can easily lead to the "tragedy of the commons." I say so because if they do not reach a common understanding, everyone will rush to protect himself or herself and in the process many will die because of the strategy they have adopted. There are times when fire starts and people are supposed to exit a place but instead of cooperating to get out all quickly, everyone tries to go first and in the process few escape.
It is just like the climate issue that was discussed in France. Should countries go about it alone in pursuit of their national interest, or should they cooperate because the problem ultimately transcends nations? The people should be the starting point of our analysis, but not the end of the analysis. Unless if the people suffering are having a veil of ignorance as Rawls fictitiously started his theory of justice with, I would ask: what are the processes that led to the congestion and the problem of snake bite in the first place. Is it like in some parts of the Appalachian region where people go and hunt snakes in order to worship with them in churches? And of course they end up being killed by the snakes but because of their faith, they think it is alright.
Without addressing the fundamental questions of justice, morality and ethics in how people relate to each other and how institutions function, not much will be accomplished. We have seen this in Southern Sudan where, yes, they had legitimate grievances, but because they focused just on the grievances, and did not deal with the problem of elites who are greedy and hungry for power, they plunged the lives of many ordinary people in danger. What this means is that they took the easy way out by initially seeing evil as something that can only exist among Arabs, but not Black Africans. Well, now they have a good history lesson there.
In my view, it is not only Igbo land but every human society in this world that assumes it can proceed without making the social justice question central to how institutions function, without making the suffering of others a moral and ethical question rooted in human dignity, such societies will encounter serious threat to their survival or cohesion. Even the United States in her current trend cannot claim being exceptional to this challenge. Three is a limit to how much widening inequality a society can handle and still remain normal. And widening inequality is a problem not just in he U.S., but also, a problem in Igbo land, Nigeria and Africa. Even hitherto egalitarian European countries are now
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.
-- kenneth w. harrow professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.eduListserv 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment