Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fw: The Words of the Wise: Interview of Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel Literature Laureate

Outstanding interview! Thanks a bunch, Professor Assensoh, for posting this. I thought it was dragging initially but picked up a high tempo as the two friends dug it deeper. Here are a few highlights for me: 

 

It's so interesting that Soyinka's desegregation effort in the 1962 Atlanta confrontation never made the news. In fact, I was hearing it for the first time in the interview. That such effort by an African predates the peak of Black resistance of the middle to late 1960s.

 

I also love the footnoted Zanj history. I wonder if more of such insurrections by Black folks exist elsewhere; they would prove to be good reads. Quite fascinating! 

 

Soyinka's critique of Obama's Nobel Prize as well as that of Bob Dylan was right on the money. I think both awards deserve to be questioned. 

It's always amazing to me the level of respect that WS has often shown for the Igbo culture and people. Notice when asked of his impression of what seems like the modern renaissance of African women writings, he only referred to the Ohanaeze, the post-Civil War cultural reconstruction in which the Igbo elders decided to favor women education over men's. When people erroneously speak to the contrary of his "Igbocentric" bias, even over the Yoruba efforts, especially among his sub-ethnic Egba-Ijebu high level women education, I often wonder.

 

His analysis of the state of racial divide in America, the blame on Islamic fundamentalism of Nigeria's antifeminist stances and a breakdown of law and order through the Sharia as helped through Obasanjo's personal political ambition got me thinking. I cannot agree more!

 

I disagree with his presumed "protection" against blatant racism in America probably by virtue of his status, when asked "You've been coming to the United States for almost sixty years. Do you experience racism here? He might not have noticed it but no black person (especially a man) could be shielded against racism in America. I was a student at Yale when he was both a visiting Professor at the then Program in Afro-American Studies (name has since changed) and a fellow of the Department of Theater Arts. He did not enjoy the same benefits his fellow visiting professors who were white enjoyed. He probably saw all those as petty and cared less about them, but in all seriousness, he was not protected.

 

In all, this is a brilliant interview. I enjoyed reading through it. Again, Alagba AB, thanks!

 

Michael O. Afoláyan

 

On Saturday, March 2, 2019, 5:01:45 PM GMT+1, Assensoh, Akwasi B. <aassenso@indiana.edu> wrote:

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/03/21/one-humanity-conversation-henry-louis-gates-wole-soyinka/

 

 

 

 

 

 

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