Sunday, October 31, 2021

USA Africa Dialogue Series - THE TOYIN FALOLA INTERVIEWS: Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III: On History, his Kingdom, and the Yoruba

A CONVERSATION WITH OBA LAMIDI ADEYEMI III, PART 2

 

Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III: On History, his Kingdom, and the Yoruba

Toyin Falola

 

This is the interview report with the Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, on October 24, 2021. For the transcripts, see: Facebook: https://fb.watch/8RtsH8UVn8/ and YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=S-MEj8qr0ls

 

History is innocent to the extent that the individuals handing them down are not motivated by a level of inducement that can trigger fictional addition to the content of events. History is a candid guide that leads humans to suitable backgrounds where the sources of what humans do are revealed with disinterested views. However, the innocence of history as a source linking people to their past experiences is gravely challenged the moment the individual handing them down is induced by material things, has an ulterior motive, or is compelled to do so under duress. In these highlighted situations, the historian can be so dangerous to follow because not only would they mislead their audience exceedingly, but they would also cash in on the innocence of their listeners who would go on with wrong narratives and wrong impressions, to God-knows-when time. This is why those in the discipline of history value historiography as they do history itself. Historiography is essentially a responsible academic engagement simply because it situates a historical experience within the context of the motivation of the historian. Suppose the historian is found to have a sinister motive for their history rendition; they will produce a revisionist history that may result in difficulty between one individual and the other, one community and the other, one civilization and the other, and one race and the other.

One of the most controversial items of history is the history between the Yoruba and Benin, with overzealous historians across the two sides making frantic efforts to reprogram the past events for their parochial intentions. Beyond these revisionists' intentions, many people usually challenge the credibility of what historians say or imply by their narratives. Here is a version of the Oyo tradition. The Oyo people are historically believed to have come from Oranmiyan, their progenitor who sojourned from Ile-Ife to conquer the surrounding areas in an attempt to expand areas under their political control. After he left Ile-Ife, he got to Benin, then a fledging civilization, where his incredible warrior capabilities enthralled the locals around to the level that he governed for a while. He would later offer his son to serve as the king because he was not done with his exploratory expedition. His son, with the assistance of locals, built the Benin civilization.   Oranmiyan had also established similar suzerainty in Oyo.

Photo: The Oranmiyan Staff

Source: Business Docuneeds

In what would perhaps serve as a compass to our correspondence with the Alaafin of Oyo, who is a direct descendant of Oranmiyan from the beginning to the current time, our first distinguished interviewer, Professor Jide Osuntokun, sought to understand the connection between Oyo and Benin because such enlightenment would expose the audience to otherwise hidden knowledge about the past already shrouded in secrecy. Beyond knowing, though, Professor Osuntokun asked how the Alaafin has used the throne to forge a lasting and Pan-Nigerian relationship with the kings of the civilizations Oyo has historically linked.

It is essential to repeat that the association of the Alaafin's ancestral fathers with the Benin people is similar to what he had with the Nupe or the Borgu people. Due to this fact of history and as actors in the evolution of civilization, we know how different and competing groups were managed to bring peace, a lasting economic relationship, and a political alliance so that issues that are capable of threatening humanity would be jointly addressed. After all, humans are connected in multiple ways for a variety of reasons. To underpin the argument that the Benin Empire or kingdom had a tremendous historical association with the Yoruba people as their progenitor, Oranmiyan, the current Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, said that the Benin political engagement and palace affairs were run in the Yoruba language until 1922, a time when the colonial imperialists already established themselves in Nigeria. The exposition of this reality gives a general overview of how the relationship was nurtured and honored by the parties involved. In fact, relating with the story or question about how they forge relationships with one another for regional peace and economic growth of the civilizations involved, it cannot be contested that the adoption of Yoruba language in the palace of Benin until 1922 was an indication that they shared ancestral history.

In the intention to establish a strong connection among the kings because they were the representatives of the people and their cultural systems, the colonial government organized a conference in 1937, with the selection of kings in their hierarchical order. Meanwhile, the institution of kingship in the pre-colonial nations was not only culturally regulated, but it was also sacred. There were not as many kings as we now do. This brought a level of sanity to the system, and the honor attached to kingship was great. Kings did not commonly leave their palace, except there was an occasion mandating them to do so against what is obtainable in modern times. For this reason, the kings earned the respect of their people.

A few decades after the departure of the British, many kings were made by the politicians. The Alaafin was asked if there are efforts to address the issue of proliferation of kingship. His Imperial Majesty confirmed his awareness of the issue, but he is also not oblivious to the political situations that brought these kings to power. He conceded that because partisan politics infiltrated the institution of kingship, it upturned the traditions for the interest of self-serving political representatives.

The primary beneficiaries of such a scheme are the individuals who have political influence. They ensure that their political allies are used to acquire power, support, influence, and money to seek an Obaship position. In essence, the very cultural toga or cultural traditions that brought about the evolution of kingship became abused. It radically changed the institution's prestige and allowed the people who have no interest in traditional leadership to ascend the sacred seat. This would eventually lead to the careless desecration of the Yoruba civilization because the individuals at the echelon of their traditional institutions are ignorant of its tradition and do not know how kingship is operated for the benefit of the people. 

A problem that characterized the kingship institution in Yorubaland is that of succession. It has generated much heat and conflict because individuals want to associate themselves with power and the pecks that come with it.  Regulations are put in place to ensure succession. This includes the selection of Oba, for example, because the ascension of kings on a throne requires orderliness, without which the society could degenerate into potential chaos. Post-colonial disorder created challenges, destroying their indigenous systems and principles followed in selecting kings.   

In responding to the question as to how this became the practice, despite the various challenges that come in the wake, Oba Adeyemi responded that two families belong to the royal lineage of Atiba in Oyo. These are the Agunloye family and the Adeyemi family. Meanwhile, they still preserve this system of succession. The present occupant of the throne is from the Adeyemi family, and the tranquility and serenity that happens in the palace today can be attributed to this. Thus, they have continued to observe the system of succession because it helps to reinforce the fact of history that shows where they are coming from. This was a consensus that the royal lineage and distinguished dignitaries understood that the expanding world deserves new philosophical structures that would assist the people in managing their activities so that they would not become anarchic and imposing in governance. It is thus evident that the structural adjustment has come with a positive impact, as can be seen in the life of the Oyo people.

It is etched in history that the democratic culture of the Yoruba has survived extraordinary circumstances. In its long history, the political seat of Oyo moved across different neighboring city-states from where the Alaafin conducted the affairs of the dynasty or empire. This creates an impression that the political validity of Oyo headship and the dynasty was not particularly associated with or tied to specific geographical locations, which meant that the Alaafin was considered the leader of the people irrespective of where he led from because the authority was reposed in him. This allowed for a flexible central government as it could be rotated or taken to geographical places without triggering infractions. 

Undoubtedly, the survival of a political structure is founded on a robust political understanding that the people built to preserve their legacies, protect their identity, and promote their collective agenda. The Alaafin was asked to explain the reason for this. He was direct with his response. He argued that the practice was built on the understanding that there can only be one palace. Wherever the Alaafin was, that was the political seat from where he was expected to administer the political affairs of the empire. The mutual understanding that his seat of power was important gave it its relevance.

Elements were carried over to the colonial period. Rather than antagonize the system, the British did exceptionally well to preserve it, although with timely modifications meant to encourage the effective management of the colonial system. The system was validated because it showed the British an existing political structure that catered to the differences in interests and aspirations. Oyo had functioned at different times in history as the arrowhead of the Yoruba nation. 

Also, the changes that the British encouraged could submerge the indigenous knowledge and civilization of the people, especially when they do not make efforts to integrate themselves with the dictates of the current time. In responding to questions by Professor Nike Akinjobi and Akin Alao, the king talked admirably of the tremendous transformation he ushered in the last fifty years. There have been structural changes and improvements that align with the contemporary world under him. The most important one he mentioned is his commitment to education to consolidate the existing structure that his forebears laid down. When the colonial imperialist introduced Western education, it required the foresighted ones to immediately explore the potential advantages it came with. Of course, education during the old days was non-formal; however, this does not reduce its values and importance to the development of the race. The non-formal status of education developed people's skill set, which they used to develop themselves and society.

Photo: Gov. Seyi Makinde with the Alaafin of Oyo

Source: EveryNG

Understandably, the Alaafin of Oyo is aware of the importance of education in modern Nigeria. Thus, he is a powerful agency of that integration. Under his leadership, numerous academic institutions have been established that are making maximum contributions to the advancement of the people. One thing that cannot be undermined in the developmental trajectory of the people is the influence of identity in their engagements, ranging from cultural views, customary regulations, tolerance, their collective understanding of life, among others. This is because the people are forced to come to a social environment where multiculturalism remains the new basis of existence. Still, they are also conditioned to consider views of state powers as the central values around which they could judge theirs.

Oba Adeyemi's multiculturalism is grounded. He studied in a Catholic school, despite being raised as a Muslim. Therefore, his religious background suggests that the ideas he would be introduced would contradict the ones he was familiar with.   In essence, it is essential to ask if his exposure to Christian values through the Catholic school or his relationship with Islam through his family identity influenced the ways he views people of opposite religions or on his reactions to them. This question is appropriate on many grounds. One is that the king presides on the affairs of the people of different religious orientations and affiliations. Also, he would have to demonstrate a good level of tolerance to all. The king, however, attributed his tolerance and accommodation of alternative perspectives to the robust formative experiences he had as a child and then as an adult.

At the beginning of his life's journey, the Alaafin attended a Christian school under the royal education establishment of the Alake of Egbaland. It was here they introduced him to the philosophical focus and the epistemic world of Christianity.  He became versatile and grew in wisdom. Subsequently, he continued his education under a Muslim school where he was once again introduced to the tenet of Islam, with which he came to identify. All these experiences introduced him to the world of different cultures and views, and by that arrangement, he was learning about several things. By virtue of his traditional position, too, he would later become vast again in the affairs of his forebears that combine tradition with religion. As a result of all these experiences, the Alaafin has no reason to discriminate against any religious practice. Apart from being introduced to many of them as a child, he also has to govern people with different religious orientations.

  Oba Adeyemi III is part of the order of the royal lineage in Oyo that straddles between two ideologically different eras–the primordial lineage and the current modern state. To strike a balance between these two worlds require tact, quality intellection, solid ideological foundations, and the moral authority to execute one's ideas.  The King successfully displayed all these qualities and experiences of governance.

 

USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fw: International Colloquium August 24-26,

Dear Colleagues,

Kindly peruse the attached call for papers, panels and participation.

Please, disseminate within your networks.

Continue to keep safe and remain blessed.

Ire o.

Tunde.


Dr. John Ayotunde (Tunde) Isola BEWAJI, FJIM, MNAL
Professor of Philosophy (Rtd.)
BA, MA, PhD Philosophy, PGDE, MA Distance Education
Postgraduate Certificate in Philosophy for Children
Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy
Faculty of Humanities and Education
University of the West Indies
Mona Campus Kingston 7 Jamaica
Tel:       1-876-927-1661-9 Ext: 3993
             1-876-935-8993 (o)
Fax:      1-876-970-2949
Email:   john.bewaji@uwimona.edu.jm      johnayotundebewaji@gmail.com       tundebewaji@yahoo.com (alternate) 
             tunde.bewaji@gmail.com (alternate)

http://www.cap-press.com/books/isbn/9781611630879/Narratives-of-Struggle (2012)
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Aesthetics (2012)

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739185032/Ontologized-Ethics (2013)

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498518383/The-Rule-of-Law-and-Governance-in-Indigenous-Yoruba-Society-A-Study-in-African-Philosophy-of-Law (2016)

http://www.cambridgescholars.com/the-humanities-and-the-dynamics-of-african-culture-in-the-21st-century (2017)

Saturday, October 30, 2021

USA Africa Dialogue Series - THE TOYIN FALOLA INTERVIEWS: SEUN KUTI and ATTAHIRU JEGA

USA Africa Dialogue Series - Call for Papers

 

 Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies (JCEEAS)

On Nigeria: Balkanization ahead?

 

USA Africa Dialogue Series - CFP: Africa conference

Call for Papers: Education, Knowledge Systems, and Innovations in Africa
https://heartofarts.org/call-for-papers-education-knowledge-systems-and-innovations-in-africa/


Sent from my iPhone

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Friday, October 29, 2021

USA Africa Dialogue Series - on nigerian authors/filmmakers, in guardian



kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: 50 Tanzanian Writers celebrate Abdulrazak Gurnah for Winning the Nobel Prize in Literature

Awesome, isn't it, that Tanzania, a Swahili-speaking former German Colony in East Africa, with a population of sixty million people can boast of up to 50 writers, if not more, currently singing the praises of their countryman who has finally put that country on the world's literary map, writing in English.

You don't have to be a prophet or professor of World Literature to profess or to prophesy that it will probably take between another hundred years ( until circa the year 2121) to a thousand years (circa 3121) before another Tanzanian or Zanzibari is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

However, it will probably not take up to a minimum of one hundred years after Soyinka's crowning glory in 1986 (till circa 2086) before another Nigerian will be crowned with that literary accolade. This is because there are already a good number of names in the offing, my own preferred favourite Teju Cole is surely on his way but only after he has added many more miles of inspired print to his name, so as to be indisputably deserving. I'm constantly floored by his articles and essays – quality-wise often on another wavelength. In my mind's ear,  I hear the rebellious Don Harrow – an Honorary African, wincing, " who the heck determines/ dictates / imposes this so-called quality? Whose quality? "

Holy Bible! Septuagint! King James version!   

Also, the one on everyone's lips, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The other day, Baba Kadiri suggested that maybe our good friend Sheikh Per Roguey, the wannabe "Buckingham Palace Professor of English" ( A Special Chair to be created for him ) will soon be awarded the Nobel Prize. For What? I asked him. For satire? For a sense of humour? Maybe, for fictions written in great or big grammar, but unfortunately, there are no prizes being awarded for that and if there were, I'm sure that such an idea would never be seconded by e.g. Per Wästberg

More seriously, I'd just like to add that it's significant that a Tanzanian has bagged the Nobel Prize for Literature, a prize emanating from Sweden which in my opinion as an interested observer of Sweden- Africa relations since my taking up permanent residence in this country in 1971, I must confess that Tanzania has been Sweden's favourite African country - especially during the good old days of Tanzania's socialist experiment which was implemented as Ujamaa by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Before that Ethiopia was Sweden's favourite country in Africa - the current King's great grandfather was a good friend of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie - and after that, unceasingly, Sweden identified with the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa and Madiba Nelson Mandela's post-apartheid South Africa eventually became Sweden's favourite African Country...

I wonder to what extent the economic and social climate created by Ujamaa's agrarian revolution is part of the landscape, political and social environment of Gurnah's novels set in that country. We're in the library queue for his works in English – the queues for his forthcoming translations into Swedish are already more than a mile long...

A final word on Swahili: Sometime in the 1980s Wole Soyinka proposed that if there was to be a ( one) intra-continental language of communication it should be Swahili....I wonder if he still thinks so, and when like Ngugi writing in Kikuyu, Nobel Laureate Abdulrazzak Gurnah is going to opt for putting that language on the literary world map, perhaps he himself translating his output, from English to Swahili?


On Friday, 29 October 2021 at 09:24:13 UTC+2 chachag...@gmail.com wrote:

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - al jazeer on slavery in mali. striking article



kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - sudan coup

glad to see alex de waal's work and thoughts recognized. an important figure
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu


From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of John Edward Philips (Yahaya Danjuma) <yahaya.danjuma@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2021 4:58 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - sudan coup
 
Let's give credit where it's due. That was not a BBC journalist but Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. I remember reading his analyses of Darfur in The African Studies Review. I recommend that article of his strongly because of the contrast with CNN, where they had an "expert" saying that Sudan had no history of democratic rule, when in fact labor unions and professional associations there have been so successful in overthrowing military regimes that a former dictator of Nigeria once used Sudan as an example of how civilians could also stage coups d'etat. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59050473 


On Oct 27, 2021, at 22:41, Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:

here's what the bbc said: "Not only was the army commanding a vast - and still-increasing - share of the national budget, but military-owned companies operate with tax exemptions and often allegedly corrupt contracting procedures."

John Edward Philips, Professor Emeritus 
International Society, College of Humanities, Hirosaki University
"Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto." -Terentius Afer



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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - sudan coup

Let's give credit where it's due. That was not a BBC journalist but Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. I remember reading his analyses of Darfur in The African Studies Review. I recommend that article of his strongly because of the contrast with CNN, where they had an "expert" saying that Sudan had no history of democratic rule, when in fact labor unions and professional associations there have been so successful in overthrowing military regimes that a former dictator of Nigeria once used Sudan as an example of how civilians could also stage coups d'etat. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59050473 


On Oct 27, 2021, at 22:41, Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:

here's what the bbc said: "Not only was the army commanding a vast - and still-increasing - share of the national budget, but military-owned companies operate with tax exemptions and often allegedly corrupt contracting procedures."

John Edward Philips, Professor Emeritus 
International Society, College of Humanities, Hirosaki University
"Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto." -Terentius Afer



Thursday, October 28, 2021

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: sudan coup

good points. i think darfur, those responsible for the janjaweed and its crimes, the orientation of power around those groups represented by the janjaweed, and those opposed, can be read into cornelius's comments. the generals responsible for war crimes would no doubt not want bashir punished for the crimes they carried out, or his policies that favored the one group over the other.
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu


From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2021 5:08 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: sudan coup
 


I also "wonder how this crude picture strikes the political scientists on this list"

My layman, non-political scientist's guess is that in addition to all the other complex causes of this latest military coup, seething immediately below the surface is the spectre of Sudan's al Bashir being handed over to the ICC – a venue at which he may or may not be likely to give some details about the chain of command thereby implicating some of those along that chain who we are to assume executed some of the orders, progressively from above.

The likelihood that some of the generals now calling the shots in Sudan were in that chain of command, as a partial reason for the coup that should save Bashir being shipped downriver, should be more understandable, that they too would like to save their own skin.

The BBC reported today that Sudan's neighbours and members of the Arab League do not share the African Union's enthusiasm for the extreme measure they have decided to adopt against the fellow Arab Brethren of Sudan's new management.

We are to suppose that the much-needed financial assistance will come from good friends, in order to avert the total state collapse that's being forecast.

I think that in future negotiations with Sudan's governing military, granting or guaranteeing Bashir some kind of immunity could help bring about the desired goal of reducing tensions and relieving the people of Sudan from unnecessary further suffering.

The military said that they took over in order to prevent the country from erupting into civil war.

They will of course promise to restore the country to democratic civilian rule by holding general elections within a reasonable time frame  - and if they say this, shouldn't we be patient and hold them to their promise? 


On Wednesday, 27 October 2021 at 20:59:07 UTC+2 Kenneth Harrow wrote:
i have this simplistic notion that the militaries in many parts of the world profit from their power by taking control of the money, of the economy, of the land. they are predators. in sudan the general leading the coup said it was necessary to "protect our interests." i get that point. here's what the bbc said: "Not only was the army commanding a vast - and still-increasing - share of the national budget, but military-owned companies operate with tax exemptions and often allegedly corrupt contracting procedures."

the interests of the people vs the interests of an oligarchy, call it a military oligarchy.
there are african states that protect against that; others that depend upon the military and in order to stay in power, prop up that military with granting them control over businesses, mines, land in exchange for their guarantees of power.

i wonder how this crude picture strikes the political scientists on this list who would have a more accurate assessment
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: sudan coup


I also "wonder how this crude picture strikes the political scientists on this list"

My layman, non-political scientist's guess is that in addition to all the other complex causes of this latest military coup, seething immediately below the surface is the spectre of Sudan's al Bashir being handed over to the ICC – a venue at which he may or may not be likely to give some details about the chain of command thereby implicating some of those along that chain who we are to assume executed some of the orders, progressively from above.

The likelihood that some of the generals now calling the shots in Sudan were in that chain of command, as a partial reason for the coup that should save Bashir being shipped downriver, should be more understandable, that they too would like to save their own skin.

The BBC reported today that Sudan's neighbours and members of the Arab League do not share the African Union's enthusiasm for the extreme measure they have decided to adopt against the fellow Arab Brethren of Sudan's new management.

We are to suppose that the much-needed financial assistance will come from good friends, in order to avert the total state collapse that's being forecast.

I think that in future negotiations with Sudan's governing military, granting or guaranteeing Bashir some kind of immunity could help bring about the desired goal of reducing tensions and relieving the people of Sudan from unnecessary further suffering.

The military said that they took over in order to prevent the country from erupting into civil war.

They will of course promise to restore the country to democratic civilian rule by holding general elections within a reasonable time frame  - and if they say this, shouldn't we be patient and hold them to their promise? 


On Wednesday, 27 October 2021 at 20:59:07 UTC+2 Kenneth Harrow wrote:
i have this simplistic notion that the militaries in many parts of the world profit from their power by taking control of the money, of the economy, of the land. they are predators. in sudan the general leading the coup said it was necessary to "protect our interests." i get that point. here's what the bbc said: "Not only was the army commanding a vast - and still-increasing - share of the national budget, but military-owned companies operate with tax exemptions and often allegedly corrupt contracting procedures."

the interests of the people vs the interests of an oligarchy, call it a military oligarchy.
there are african states that protect against that; others that depend upon the military and in order to stay in power, prop up that military with granting them control over businesses, mines, land in exchange for their guarantees of power.

i wonder how this crude picture strikes the political scientists on this list who would have a more accurate assessment
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Children of Yemen

https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/yemen/



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

USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies - Special Issue Newsletter - Oct 2021

 

 

From: Mokoena, Loria <loriam@uj.ac.za>
Date: Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 8:04 AM
To:
Subject: Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies - Special Issue Newsletter - Oct 2021

Dear Friend of the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies,

 

Please find attached our Special Issue Newsletter.

 

Regards,

 

LORIA MOKOENA

Administrative assistant

Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies

Faculty of Education
Tel +27 11 559-3450

 

www.uj.ac.za

 

 

 

 



This email and all contents are subject to the following disclaimer:

http://disclaimer.uj.ac.za

USA Africa Dialogue Series - INSECURITY: ASTONISHING GAPS IN SCENARIO PLANNING

INSECURITY: ASTONISHING GAPS IN SCENARIO PLANNING

Ayo Olukotun

Hype and hoopla have predictably trailed the indictment of the Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd.) regime on its failure to tackle insecurity by The Economist (London) in its publication issued a fortnight ago. Though sharp-tenored, there is hardly anything the paper said regarding insecurity which Nigerian journalists have not commented previously. Those who have decided to make the publication a national issue often do not remember that the same paper endorsed presidential candidate, Muhammudu Buhari, in 2015 and even went so far as to call former president, Goodluck Jonathan, "an ineffectual buffoon". What are important are less the style or motives of The Economist than whether there is a clear message that our leaders need to take seriously.

Hardly anyone will dispute, given the escalating and occasionally terrifying scale of insecurity, that the country, as the journal said, has become "a crime scene of destructive magnitude". This is especially so if we take into account continuing incidences of banditry as well as the recent detonation of explosives on the Abuja-Kaduna train track and the break-in into the Nigerian Correctional Service center at Oyo, forcibly freeing about 392 inmates. Those recent activities of the ubiquitous "unknown gunmen" were preceded by such events as the attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna and assaults on Correctional Service centers around the country numbering about 10 in the last 5 months. That is a way of saying that those terrorist raids that happened last week are not in the least new, and perhaps the only question to be asked is: which target will the terrorists strike next?

This brings us to a remarkable gap in our counter-terrorism agenda, if indeed we can be said to have one. Let me illustrate. The Abuja-Kaduna Rail Service became hugely popular with rising numbers of customers seeking to bypass the heavily endangered road travel, several portions of which were occupied by bandits. Passengers who could not afford to go by air–and they are in the majority–took advantage of the emergent railway service escaping the dungeon of multiplying deaths and kidnappings on the highway. It would appear then that the bandits had been put out of their murderous business, at least temporarily. Was it difficult to imagine then that sooner than later those bandits, unless they were routed, would attempt to strike at the railways which had taken off the source of their lucrative business? To project even further, someone doing scenario planning, which really is about crafting narratives with several possible conclusions, would have projected that unless diligent care was taken, even the air routes could become endangered if banditry waxed stronger.

Granted, with pandemic upsets around the globe, economic dislocations, social and physical tornadoes; life and governance have become more and more unpredictable. There is talk in some quarters that we are in an age of bewilderment marked by rank uncertainty and the demystification of established ideas. That notwithstanding, governments that wish to get ahead still do and manage to push up governance by scenario planning which simply implies that they take time to think through challenges and take anticipatory measures concerning them.

The British Government, to take an example, in the wake of increasing deaths through COVID-19 crafted two scenarios which it called a Plan A and a Plan B, anticipating a fair amount of normalcy and escalation respectively, regarding the pandemic. Plan A seeks to encourage more people to be vaccinated including offering vaccines to people between 12 and 15 years. It would also administer booster jabs to millions in order to increase their immunity among other steps. Plan B is a stricter version of Plan A and would legally mandate the wearing of face covers as well as guidance on working from home, if required. Part of the strategy in Plan B is to take off pressure off the National Health Service should more deaths occur as a result of the pandemic. As many would know, events in the last few weeks have led to the increasing suggestion of a need to shift policy to Plan B as winter approaches with the associated onset of flus and viruses related to COVID-19.

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, may not be much of a hero or popular politician. Nonetheless, he heads a cabinet that has taken time to consider the nature of the health challenge faced by his country and had engaged in a measure of scenario planning by anticipating possible trajectories including grow-worse ones. Of course, businesses that intend on staying at the cutting and competitive edges engage in building scenarios in order to better plan and ameliorate looming disasters as do countries.

Indeed, a serious counter-terrorism agenda will include alert systems, a cartography of high-risk populations, soft and easy targets and a ranking of threats with a view to determining how best to meet perils or outbreaks of violence. A situation where bandits take whole populations captive at will or sometimes even warn that they are visiting certain territories and carry out the threats is a far different one from what we see in countries which make public announcements when they realize that citizens in some areas are at risk. To put it bluntly, is anyone up there doing any threat analysis? A related question is: when these analyses are done, are there any follow-ups? The latter question is raised in the context of revelations made by intelligence experts that alerts sent were not acted upon until disaster struck. A particular instance which occurred about 2 years ago in Zamfara State was a statement made by a professor who was the Secretary to the Government that tomes of literature were sent to the central authorities concerning the growth and development of banditry in that state but that he got no response. A few months ago, the Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, lamented that he had raised several alerts concerning the occupation of part of the state by Boko Haram insurgents to no avail. There are even now recent reports that some parts of the NorthWest are at risk of occupation by bandits who have had the temerity of collecting taxes from hapless local populace.

In the same connection, does it take much intelligence to predict that if bandits, as they are called, have raided with outstanding success a number of Correctional Service centers that several other ones are sitting ducks for future raids? This columnist listened on Channels Television a few days ago to the Special Adviser on Security to the Governor of Oyo State, Mr Fatai Owoseni, where he described the Correctional Service Center at Oyo as an almost abandoned site in the midst of nowhere with overgrown weeds and the roads leading to the place virtually impassable. So, are they not crocodile tears therefore to make so much fuss about the ease with which bandits overran the place?

All hope is not lost, however. If Nigeria must overcome its security travails, it is compulsory for it to revitalize its counter-terrorism efforts making use of credible intelligence gathering as well as galvanizing local communities, many of them in the throes of desperate poverty, behind government efforts to rally back. That would be a vantage point of regaining the capacity to rout bandits and insurgents.


Professor Ayo Olukotun is a director at the Oba (Dr.) S. K. Adetona Institute of Governance Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sokoto State University's Seminar on Abdulrazak Gurnah

we can all guess. kurtz is absent. the whole point of marlowe's trip upriver is to try to contact him.
or it is the absences at the heart of africa, as in darkness, absence of civilization? or enlightenment?
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu


From: 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2021 3:51 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sokoto State University's Seminar on Abdulrazak Gurnah
 
"In Paradise, as Yusuf journeys to the Congo with Aziz's caravan one seems to be reading a new version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness but without the absence."Falola


My query about the above was purely for clarification. Nothing else.
I did not understand the point made about "without the absence."
I am not familiar with the expression, and it is most likely
my fault here. Can you explain what Professor Falola
 meant? I know that he is too busy to answer.

A prestigious journal asked me to write a review of 
Gurnah's work. I almost agreed to do so,  then pulled back.
 "Paradise" upsets me, but maybe the rest of his work
 may send me to the moon,  given all those positive
 accolades.

 To be honest, I  am more curious  than ever to know what is in
 the rest of the package, and sooner or later will read more of his work. 

Thanks for your invitation.


Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department, Central Connecticut State Universityi
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries
2014 Distinguished Research Excellence Award in African Studies
 University of Texas at Austin
2019   Distinguished Africanist Award                   
New York African Studies Association
 



From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chambi Chachage <chachagechambi@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2021 1:55 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sokoto State University's Seminar on Abdulrazak Gurnah
 

Please be cautious: **External Email**

Gloria, kindly write a review. Surprisingly, all Tanzanians - blacks, brown, and white - that I know do not see it that way, including my mom, a feminist, who is very critical of racism and sexism. There must be something we must be missing. So, kindly assist with a critical review.

PS. I have sent the English version to an editor so there is a bit of delay, I will post it later, you will find my mom's comment there, her name is Demere Kitunga; I await your detailed review.

On Wed, Oct 27, 2021 at 7:55 AM Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com> wrote:
"Gurnah chose a more nuanced narrative as his way of writing back to the empire in books like Paradise and By the sea, the two I am familiar with. In Paradise, as Yusuf journeys to the Congo with Aziz's caravan one seems to be reading a new version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness but without the absence."



Without which absence? 

Gloria Emeagwali 




On Tue, Oct 26, 2021 at 05:19 Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

I have forwarded this to Gurnah.

 

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chambi Chachage <chachagechambi@gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 4:11 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Sokoto State University's Seminar on Abdulrazak Gurnah

Thank you, TF, the  Brittle Paper's article has inspired my compatriot to write an article with congratulatory messages from 50 Tanzanian writers/publishers; it is in Kiswahili - the English version will be published in my website today.

 

This is the Kiswahili version for the likes of Godwin Murunga: https://udadisi.com/hongera-abdulrazak-gurnah-pongezi-kutoka-kwa-waandishi-50-wa-tanzania/

 

I will post the English version here later today.

 

Best Regards,

 

CC

 

On Mon, Oct 25, 2021 at 10:20 PM Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Congratulations to Sokoto State University for its successful seminar on Abdulrazak Gurnah. Coordinated by Dr. Sifawa, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, it was well attended by students and faculty. The Nobel Laurette attended by Zoom, as some of us also did. Professors Usman Kabir of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Prof. Alhaji Ibrahim, Rector of Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic, Dr. Nureni Oyewole of Sokoto State, and Professor Aliyu Kamal gave lectures that put Gurnah's work in context. I was asked to close the seminar, and I spoke to his broader contributions to migrant literature.

Find below, on another platform, several other responses on Gurnah and his writings.

 

https://secure-web.cisco.com/16xS1vfFRLfv3aA8AquP-nRFJUg9YT1T2mLRn0ktP30rbZqdKSRcIXZpL_3tmHFXT8RfwNw4iQ8a_N05qusvOv1f1Xby2RATnkJ5Ji9l9kGBrzzOiK0DZGG2BxQrn0irONHNBuxpQGlwPiwJ0vplA-Ul7GukvyNvzXPdffq_WWyFOr0vEFtlhXbnWbrxQ3yqABowrgSqe-fL1K3KYaotFb54bdLC-nZz8YwxNfcncLujlEMHbO9KILMmsn2WoLfbadJlmmC_CZPz9xiXxcR8p_jMyEy7YVRsJ6YIs5rvyzzD4WyCT6FarXXVMy36h7Y0eOk-mg3Z1rBKH6516IuqeNv6x2a-fPTqY1ba_w6MLvNtP5gJwFP1UDHB9d0fbNFYVeAHMto_rwAuPr576AYiTiGAqLZasTgePOtHHXxnatF-mcGRRO1yRa5awINpKgcJ9eNDNHmbbKB_nLloPd1aim9Xdqb32DzEfOt7mcTcHBssuHpT3HUSbVtnjOT_hjSlLTstDW46G41IIAYz4dpMIvXsj_-XHInQ_qzsKCpOa-iAvPcX38C_6FJECAOC2hFTmJDdHLAnzEY_18P6QR3h0vA/https%3A%2F%2Fbrittlepaper.com%2F2021%2F10%2F103-african-writers-respond-to-abdulrazak-gurnahs-nobel-prize-win%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2GCepWglJSqMa134QPvxP3Z8UZf_wVQSFBtaKxjCxQmvpzCnw1xbgNxIs

BOOK LISTS

by ALESIA ALEXANDER

NEWS

"The Nobel Returns Home": Wole Soyinka on Abdulrazak Gurnah's Nobel Prize Win

by CHUKWUEBUKA IBEH

 

OPPORTUNITIES

NEWS

103 African Writers Respond to Abdulrazak Gurnah's Nobel Prize Win

by AINEHI EDORO

October 12, 2021

Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah is the 2021 Nobel laureate for literature. The Swedish Academy shared the news on October 7th. They praised "his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugees in the gulf between cultures and continents." Gurnah has published 10 novels and is the 7th African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, following Albert Camus (1957), Wole Soyinka (1986), Naguib Mahfouz (1988), Nardine Gordimer (1991), J.M Coetzee (2003), and Doris Lessing (2007).

At the news of his win, the African literary community erupted in jubilation. To capture the celebratory mood, we asked African writers on the continent and the Diaspora to share their reactions, which we have collected below. Prof. Wole Soyinka was the first person we approached. It was a symbolic gesture because we wanted him, as a Nobel laureate, to have the first word on what Gurnah's win meant. The opening line of his statement, "The Nobel returns home," certainly expresses the history-making significance of the moment.

The collection of responses reflects the diversity of the African literary community. You'll find veterans such as Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ben Okri, and Nuruddin Farah, but also new voices like Arao Ameny, Nyuol Lueth Tong, and T. J. Benson. Nationalities are diverse, including Rwanda, South Sudan, DRC, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and many others. Some of the commentators speak of Gurnah's work from the distance of fandom while someone like Abdourahman Waberi is a dear friend of Gurnah. While many of the responses are celebratory, others are call-to-actions, asking us to interrogate the problems inherent to the Nobel Prize itself and what these problems say about a Euro-America-centered literary industry.

Gurnah's win is monumental enough, but the collective joy it brings is nearly as significant as the win itself. This collection of responses is an attempt to capture this shared experience and, in the process, say something that truly meets the moment.

It took a lot of administrative labor to put this list together, so I'd like to thank our Assistant Editor Alesia Alexander for dropping everything to work on this with me. Thanks to everyone on the list for taking the time to share their thoughts and to tell their stories.

There can never be too much celebration, so please use the comment section to share your thoughts.

Congrats to Gurnah!

 

103 Responses to Abdulrazak Gurnah's Nobel Prize

(Alphabetical Order)

 

Leila Aboulela

Our well-kept secret is out in the open!  Gurnah's fans cherish him without shouting about him, so private is the reading experience. He exceeds all others in depicting the lives of those made small by cruelty and injustice, the cowed and put-upon – humiliated women, abused orphans and struggling refugees. Time after time he seduces readers with worlds of stunning beauty caught in the grip of cruelty and harshness.

 

Sulaiman Addonia

There are those of us who do not know Gurnah's work well enough, but that doesn't stop us from rejoicing that he is our literature Nobel laureate. The fact that Gurnah consistently maintained focus and discipline all these years despite the lack of this thing called "recognition" is immensely inspiring. He writes for the sake of writing and not for prizes or sales. I respect him for that and send him my warmest congratulations.

 

Leye Adenle

I'm delighted that an African won. This will do so much for Gurnah, and I hope, for other African writers. It's about time.

 

Lanaire Aderemi

Gurnah's writing taught me to think of the writer as a "truth-seer." While working on my play, I read his essay, "Writing and place," which was honest in its reflection of distance and estrangement. Gurnah's vivid and delicate recollections of "lost life" and "lost place" gathers histories and memories of the displaced and unremembered and makes a bold declaration that writing should memorialize the forgotten. Congratulations, Mr. Abdulrazak Gurnah for winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021.

 

Angela Ajayi

I'd been thinking of how I first came across Gurnah's work as an editor in book publishing many years ago. A number of our edited volumes featured scholarly essays on his novels. It concerned me, however, that like quite a few other vital African writers at that time, he'd remained in virtual obscurity outside academia. I can now sit back and watch with satisfaction as he breaks more fully into the mainstream.

 

Richard Ali

Abdulrazaq Gurnah's 2021 Nobel Prize win focuses literary and critical interest on Zanzibar and the larger East African Coast, which gave us Swahili—that great culture and language of hybridity. In this, it kickstarts a long-overdue African conversation in these times when all sorts of tribalists and purist-extremists dominate our commons. That Gurnah was not well known before the Nobel is unimportant; the fact that his work will likely start a continental conversation re-centering the cosmopolitan ethos of identity and place being an equal and distinct give-and-take of many causes is everything. Congratulations to Professor Gurnah.

 

Rosanna Amaka

Congratulations to Abdulrazak Gurnah on winning the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature. For many years, he has been one of the trailblazers in African literature, and now his long body of work has not only been recognized by his readers, but also rewarded by receiving the Nobel Prize. This win is also especially important because his work covers the stories of simple but small lives, both past and present, that can remain hidden beneath the noise and chaos of this world, even as they are ultimately most impacted by the effects of colonialism, displacement and immigration.

 

Arao Ameny

I see opportunity. Here in the US, Abdulrazak Gurnah's win is expanding and adding to already existing conversations on why many readers in the US don't know or aren't aware of writers from the global South, especially African writers, with the exception of a few. I think this win challenges readers to explore vibrant literary worlds and spaces outside of the US, especially those created by and centering Africa writing.

 

Uju Asika

As a Nigerian, I remember how thrilling it was when the great Wole Soyinka won in 1986. It's incredible that it's taken nearly three decades for another Black African writer to receive the Nobel Prize. I am over the moon for Abdulrazak Gurnah whose lyrical, compassionate voice helps illuminate the humans behind labels like "foreigner" and "refugee." Something we need more of in these divisive times. Huge congratulations sir, and here's to your books selling out worldwide!

 

Efe Paul Azino

Gurnah's bookmakers defying win reinforces the importance of quiet commitment to craft in an age of hollow showmanship. A huge encouragement to the many gifted and dedicated African writers across the continent, and the diaspora, telling the stories that need to be told irrespective of the approval or validation of Western literary power structures.

 

Unoma Azuah

Abdulrazak Gurnah's win was a pleasant surprise though I was hoping Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o got it this time. I celebrate this win because Gurnah has done an excellent job of writing about the impact of two issues that are close to my heart: colonialism and migration. I am particularly happy that a writer who portrays the profound effect of dislocation from one's roots finally gets a well-deserved acknowledgement. Perhaps this win will bring more (about time too) attention to the literature of the marginalized, be it migrants, the refugees, and African literature generally.

 

Gabeba Baderoon

The gracious, generous Abdulrazak Gurnah has deservedly received the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. We Africans now have our fifth Laureate of Words, one who writes from and about a complex place, Zanzibar, and with luminous sentences. Many will now discover his erudite narrators and their subtle journeys. May they also encounter the African scholars who read him so finely, among them his finest interlocutors.

Bibi Bakare-Yusuf

Writings and writers from the African Continent have a long history that is both outside of and indebted to the English metaphysical empire—a history about which we do not know even though we should. If it takes a committee in faraway Sweden to force the world to (re)read Abdulrazak Gurnah, then the existing publishing and media infrastructure need to do better in serving the interests of readers and moving beyond a monolith.

Gurnah's name will now rightly be rolling off everyone's tongue as it should have been, and his books will be discovered by a new audience. In the midst of the celebrations, we must make time to acknowledge his publishers who through 10 books have continued to publish him despite all odds. That's commitment and belief. It is that commitment and belief from both writer and publisher that has made this Nobel possible.

 

Biyi Bandele

I'm absolutely thrilled for Abdulrazak. It couldn't have gone to a more deserving writer, a writer whose works speak so directly to these most turbulent and frenetic of times, in a voice no less eloquent for being so understated. It's also a great moment for African literature. This truly calls for celebration. Congratulations, Abdulrazak!

 

T.J. Benson

Apart from his heartfelt brilliant novels, he has done so much to elevate the work of other African writers in academia. It is a delight to see Prof Gurnah's gentle genius honored in this way.

 

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

I was thrilled when I got the WhatsApp message that Abdulrazak Gurnah won the Nobel! The friend who messaged me is a Cape Verdean writer, and we had just been speaking the day before about how writing from African authors has not only been gaining more (overdue) attention, but the opportunity this has meant for writers who don't write in English. I hope the Nobel Committee for Literature also looks to our women writers, someone such as Ama Ata Aidoo, in particular.

 

Alma-Nalisha Cele and Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane

Congratulations to Prof Abdulrazak Gurnah on his Nobel prize for literature. We started the Cheeky Natives as a space to critically engage with the work of black writers with the reverence and criticality deserved. What a special joy to see one of our own, who has worked so brilliantly to write our experiences into the archive, awarded such a high honor. Congratulations Prof Gurnah. Long may your light shine!

 

Panashe Chigumadzi 

Munyori, magona, madadisa. For years, the world has denied itself the pleasure of our worlds and words. Through your work, may they begin to share in our multitudes.

 

Tsitsi Dangarembga

I am delighted that work which highlights still extant structures of colonialism's ruinous impact on people's lives today receives such high recognition and congratulate Abdulrazak Gurnah heartily for this achievement. It is a signal to us to continue our symbolic struggle in literature and proof that the writer's word can contribute to positive transformation.

 

Abi Daré

I am absolutely delighted by the win, which is a significant one for African writers all over the world, that which tells us that our stories continue to be relevant and worthy of every accolade and recognition. Hearty congratulations to Gurnah.

 

Tjawangwa Dema

You can't hear or see me but I'm ululating – still! Much has been said about Abdulrazak Gurnah's writing and character – the ways in which the work is an experience so unwaveringly inclusive of the ordinary and careful with the vulnerable speaks volumes. We talk abstractedly about empathy and here you have it across decades as gaze and voice – as active, I think, as story can be. So, I celebrate this too. That the prize has deservedly gone to Gurnah not only gives someone like me a figure to look to, but it is an overdue offering for spaces and countries, that even within postcolonial literary circles, tend to be made absent. I may be wrong, but in my experience, Tanzania is not necessarily the country you hear referenced most often when literature or African or postcolonial literature is mentioned and as we see it is not because the calibre or writing isn't there. But let us not lose sight of the man – Congratulations to Gurnah!

 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi-Alipoeh

Text in French:

C'est un plaisir et un honneur de compter un nouveau prix Nobel africain avec Abdulrazat Gurnah. Nos plus chaleureuses félicitations à ce monument de notre littérature et cette nouvelle inspiration pour les auteurs africains que nous sommes. Ce prix est un symbole pour toute l'Afrique, en particulier pour sa jeunesse, c'est le signe que le continent a encore beaucoup à offrir, non seulement au monde mais d'abord à lui-même. C'est aussi un rappel que nous, Africains, devons nous étudier davantage, nous connaître davantage, reconnaître nos plus grands créateurs, les traduire et les partager massivement à travers les régions et les zones linguistiques, et ne pas attendre qu'ils soient "découverts" et célébrés par des instances extérieures, aussi prestigieuses soient-elles. L'Afrique peut s'écrire elle-même, pour elle-même et pour le monde, et merci au grand Gurnah de nous le rappeler. — Ayi Renaud Dossavi-Alipoeh, Ecrivain Poète togolais, Secrétaire général de l'association d'écrivain PEN – Togo, Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite national

Text in English:

It is a pleasure and an honor to have a new African Nobel Prize winner with Abdulrazak Gurnah. Our warmest congratulations to this monument of our literature and this new inspiration for African authors that we are. This prize is a symbol for all of Africa, especially for its youth, and a sign that the continent still has much to offer, not only to the world but first of all to itself. It is also a reminder that we Africans must study ourselves more, know ourselves more, recognize our greatest creators, translate and share them massively across regions and linguistic zones, and not wait for them to be "discovered" and celebrated by external bodies, however prestigious they may be. Africa can write itself, for itself, and for the world, and thousand thanks to the great Gurnah for reminding us of this. — Ayi Renaud Dossavi-Alipoeh, Togolese writer and poet, Secretary-General of the PEN – Togo writer's association, Officer of the National Order of Merit.

 

Edwige Renée Dro

Text in French:

Quand on pense connaitre toute la production littéraire africaine, le monde se reveille avec le nom de Abdulrazak Gurnah sur toutes les lèvres comme pour nous rappeler qu'on a seulement effleuré la surface de cette dense production littéraire. 'Félicitations' ne rend pas assez justice à ce Prix Nobel de Littérature tant mérité, mais FELICITATIONS!!! Surtout que nous savons que très bientôt, nous dans cette partie de l'Afrique dite francophone, aurons le bonhehur d'aller au-delà de Paradis, Près de la mer ou encore Adieu Zanzibar pour découvrir (ou redécouvrir) la plume magistrale d'Abdulrazak Gurnah

Text in English:

When we think that we know all of Africa's literary production, the world wakes up to the name of Abdulrazak Gurnah on everyone's lips as if to remind us that we've only scratched the surface of that dense literary production. "Congratulations" does not render enough justice to such a deserved Nobel Prize for Literature, but CONGRATULATIONS!!! Especially as we now know that, very soon, those of us in this part of Africa called francophone Africa will have the joy of going beyond ParadiseBy the Sea or Desertion to discover (or rediscover) the fantastic penmanship of Abdulrazak Gurnah.

 

Amatoritsero Ede

It was gratifying to hear of Abdulrazak Gurnah winning the Nobel Prize. This is particularly so because his is a quiet literary intelligence in a calm, unassuming and self-effacing personality. His humility is such that some sections of the global reading public are caught unawares by this obviously 'unpopular' writer. So unpopular that the now ritualistic and annual Nobel prospect guessing games did not mention his name at all. However, Gurnah has been a prolific and large literary presence in the European university curriculum and literary festival circuits since the early 1990s.

 

Victor Ehikhamenor

It is awesome to have Gurnah's name added to the greats who have won the Nobel. For many who are strangers to his great body of work, which deals with longing, belonging and beyond all of that, I believe this prize will acquaint them.

 

Nurrudin Farah

Abdulrazak Gurnah has been a very close friend for many years, and I am delighted that he has received the prize this year. His writing is like no other, his sentences are elegant, his prose is precise, and he is an artist of the highest degree. I am full of joy.

 

Sibongile Fisher

This win by Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose work I was only introduced to recently upon the announcement that he will be headlining the 2021 Ake Festival, is a reaffirmation that patience and intentionality is still rewarded and very important in producing quality work. As Michaela Coel mentioned, we live in a world that now requires writers to be hyper-visible in order to succeed.  Gurnah's win becomes a personal reminder that one should write not for the promised success that may come but simply because one is compelled to.  Congratulations to Abdulrazak Gurnah on a well-deserved win that has inspired younger generations of writers.

 

Tope Folarin

I came to know about Abdulrazak Gurnah through his criticism, which introduced me to new ways of feeling and thinking about African literature. Eventually I found my way to his fiction, which enlivened my heart and mind. I could not be happier that he won the Nobel. It's a fabulous achievement—for him, obviously, and for all of Africa. His win is also a reminder to all writers to keep the faith. Great art will find its moment.

 

Petina Gappah

I couldn't be more thrilled. Quietly industrious, Abdulrazak Gurnah has consistently produced wok of great beauty and power, from Memory of DepartureParadise, all the way to Afterlives. Personally, I'm delighted both because he inspired me to write historical fiction, and because I just love Zanzibar. As an amateur cultural anthropologist, I wonder if his win makes him as much of a tourist attraction there as Freddie Mercury!

 

Chimeka Garricks

Big congratulations to Abdulrazak Gurnah — one of post-colonial literature's extraordinarily compassionate and assured voices — on winning the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature. This is a deserving win for a gifted writer, scholar, and critic. Also, it is heartwarming that this win has rubbed off on African and Black writing and is an inspiration for the unsung and the diligent.

 

Simon Gikandi

The awarding of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature to Abdulrazak Gurnah may have come as a surprise to many readers and scholars of fiction, especially those who only seem to understand literature in its narrow nationalist sense, but not to those of us who believe that there is no contradiction to being African and postcolonial. Rejecting the rush to a facile globalization and its simple hashtags, Gurnah's novels, like his critical essays, have always been attuned to the nature of identities lived across the historical ruptures that defined the long twentieth century—the trauma of colonial conscription, the anxieties of a belated potscolonialism, and the pain and pleasure of exile and displacement. His novel are constant reminders of the capacity of literary language and the imagination to heal the wounds of the past.

 

Hawa Jande Golakai

Congratulations to Abdulrazak Gurnah, our father and brother in ink! This win is his honor as much as it is ours…another step in highlighting African art as global art.

 

Pumla Dineo Gqola

The award of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature to Abdulrazak Gurnah is wonderful recognition of the body of work and thinking by a writer and intellectual who has consistently invited us, as readers of his work and as teachers of the same, to think again about the messy business of belonging. Gurnah's writing asks that we pause on the meanings we ascribe to the long afterlives of slavery and colonialism, whose shadows continue to complicate what home is both in our imaginations and for our bodies. Zanzibari, Swahili, Tanzanian, Arab, African. He is all these things, of course. And his words on the page allow us to infuse these places with increasing possibility.

Helon Habila

Gurnah's win has come as a surprise–not because he is undeserving in any way, but because in America and the UK, prizes have become too much about king making and bestowing of prestige on only a few select writers. With Gurnah the Scandinavians have shown us that it is possible to work diligently and honestly outside the limelight and to be recognized someday for the work itself. Bravo.

 

Ivor Hartmann

Every year, we hope for the likes of Ngugi, Mda, Okri, Farah, and of course Gurnah. This rare year we were not disappointed. As the second black African to win a Nobel for literature in 120 years of the prize, we hope now as we hoped in '86 that this indeed signals a movement of sustained recognition and appreciation from the Nobel and beyond for the existing and future work of black Africans.

 

Tendai Huchu

Gurnah's win was a wonderful surprise and a joy for us lovers of African literature. I was delighted to see a master craftsman receive the ultimate recognition for his body of work. Congratulations to him, to Tanzania, and all the appreciative readers of his work.

 

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

Gurnah's win is a delightful surprise, not only because of his race, or his long-almost forgotten link to Nigeria. His writing has always had a way of percolating under one's skin and staying there and I am delighted that because of this win, more readers will seek out his work. But what is even more surprising though is the fact that Gurnah becomes only the second black, African to win the Nobel. I hope it will be just one of many to come.

 

Jude Idada

More than nationality, race, sex, and creed is the brilliance of the writing, the depth and breadth of a stellar literary career, the profundity of thought, uniqueness of perspective, originality of voice, invocation of scholastic interest, and the quality of the contribution to the human experience that marks the stature of the mind of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Abdulrazak Gurnah is such a mind. An academic soul content with the rigors of research, critique and writing while bestriding the realities of multiple existences in near populist anonymity. The one who though great, is more renowned for his critically acclaimed study of the greats. Although I am proud to call him an African and exhilarated that the prize has once again berthed in black Africa, I am prouder that there was no social media campaign, heated scholarly dialogue or nationalist, publicized angst that could be construed as an attempt to arm-twist the Nobel committee into crowning another black African after a more than three decades hiatus by those who share his hue, creed, nationality or heritage before a talented, erudite, courageous and independent minded human like he is was chosen worthy of such an honor. It is this light, that like the unexpected laureates before him, literature as a high art in the amorphous spectrum of its existence and the Nobel as an attestation of greatness and expert mastery is all the much better for this award. Congratulations to you, sir. You inspire.

 

Cajetan Iheka

I celebrate Abdulrazak Gurnah on his well-deserved achievement. This momentous Nobel  Prize, like Gurnah's oeuvre, offers a sobering reminder of the multiplicities of the thing called African literature. I hope the renewed attention to Gurnah's striking, delightful prose results in further appreciation of the flourishing literary tradition spread across linguistic and generic modes on the continent. It is morning yet for African letters!

 

Eghosa Imasuen

It comes with a shared pride to see Abdulrazak Gurnah awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. To see a lifetime of work appreciated. There is always the hope that a day will come when wins like these are no longer recognized for being "firsts" for a group of people. When this is taken for granted. That Abdulrazak is a great writer and we are happy he won. When good writing, important writing, is rewarded for what it is. Today is a good day. I am happy.

 

Tade Ipadeola

Cutting to the chase now, Abdulrazak Gurnah is a thoughtful, deep and serious writer who has devoted his life to the craft of writing. It feels great to have the prize come to Africa, and such an African, again. Our stories are being told by some of the finest storytellers on earth, and this award simply amplifies the pertinence of what we want the world to know.

 

Sean Jacobs

Abdulrazak Gurnah's Nobel should be celebrated. It is a major achievement for a prize, which, as Bhakti Shringarpure, co-founder of Radical Books Collective, characterizes it, has "always favored the whitest and the most European of all literature." I don't have to repeat the statistics here, but they are abysmal: 4 black winners, 6 Africans (two of them white South Africans and a white Zimbabwean), and the first African only won one in 1986.

As a result, not surprisingly, initial appreciations of Gurnah's win, particularly on social media, have played up his racial identity; that is his Africanness and Blackness. That is fine, but Gurnah is from Zanzibar, an island nation (now in a confederation with Tanzania) that is at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean, Arabia, and Africa. And, as a Tanzanian friend reminded me, mainlanders and Zanzibaris exchanged words online over who could claim him. Even more significantly, Gurnah himself has fought these categories. And as we've learned in the last few days, the politics of publishing, especially some of the parochialism of the US, is again being exposed. Lily Saint, the literary scholar, tweeted right after his win: "The US literati's silence on Twitter re Gurnah's Nobel win is an admission of ignorance by omission, without the willingness to reckon with the reasons for that ignorance."

 

Tsitsi Jaji

Gurnah's award proves how central highly-texture African writing is to the idea of World Literature. His imagination radiates from Zanzibar, which is both a "small place" and a global nexus saturated in centuries of encounters at the intersection of the continent and the Indian Ocean, and Gurnah's writing has always encapsulated this phenomenon by boldly telling the most intimate and locally-inflected stories. He writes with the confidence that Zanzibar is the center of its own world, and a portal into understanding the great crises of our time – migration, civil unrest, ecological precarity.

 

Karen Jennings

My hope with Gurnah's recognition as this year's Nobel laureate is that the world will more willingly turn its gaze towards Africa and be more open to accepting and engaging with the stories that we have to tell on this continent.

 

Richard Ali A Mutu K.

Text in French:

Le choix porté cette année sur l'auteur tanzanien, le professeur Abdulrazak Gurnah, comme Nobel de littérature est très significatif pour nous et cela se justifie par la joie immense et la fierté que nous avons tous ressenti une fois que son nom a été cité! Écrivains et jeunes écrivains du Congo-Kinshasa, nous remercions le comité Nobel pour ce choix et félicitons vivement l'heureux lauréat qui, pour nous, à coté d'autres grands noms de littérature du continent, devient un vrai modèle et source de fierté pour cette passion des mots qui nous singularise et surtout l'engagement dans l'écriture qui devrait souvent nous caractériser. Que vive Abdulrazak !!!

Text in English:

The choice of the Tanzanian author, Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah, as this year's Nobel Prize for Literature is very significant for us and is justified by the immense joy and pride we all felt once his name was mentioned! Writers and young writers from Congo-Kinshasa, we thank the Nobel Committee for this choice and congratulate the lucky winner who, for us, alongside other great names of literature from the continent, becomes a true model and source of pride for this passion for words that sets us apart and especially the commitment in writing that should often characterize us. Long live Abdulrazak!!!

 

Billy Kahora

It's so incredible. I was lucky to interview Gurnah a long time ago in Zanzibar. For me, it's his unwillingness to compromise and produce works that have more mainstream Western readability and continue with his amazingly immersive East African Coastal worlds and their subtle complexities while all the time talking to ongoing contemporary postcolonial debates on migration and movement and being rewarded for it that I'm so happy about. It tells me that I can continue doing my own thing.

 

Toni Kan

This was a surprise but a well-deserved win. I say surprise because when we speak of African writers or East African writers, for that matter, Gurnah is not among the first to come to mind. But he has been working quietly and consistently over the years. He now has his time in the sun as Nobel laureate and headliner for this year's Ake festival. In terms of what the Nobel committee described as "his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents," I believe that much of Gurnah's work stems from trauma brought about by the forceful departure from his homeland and being "twice Othered" as persecuted Arab and refuge seeking African. That trauma and the experience of exile and seeking refuge have informed his works. As a postcolonial writer, Gurnah chose a more nuanced narrative as his way of writing back to the empire in books like Paradise and By the sea, the two I am familiar with. In Paradise, as Yusuf journeys to the Congo with Aziz's caravan one seems to be reading a new version of Conrad's Heart of Darkness but without the absence. While Achebe chose a polemical response to Conrad, Gurnah chose a less strident and direct approach which, as we now see, is also an equally valid response.

 

Yejide Kilanko

As an African writer living in the diaspora, I am inspired by Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah's life story and the unflinching gaze of his art. Over the past week, much has been said about obscurity. I think this is a win for possibilities.

 

Laila Lalami

I'm absolutely thrilled to hear that Abdulrazak Gurnah has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. His sensitive exploration of belonging, his keen eye for how power affects human relationships, his beautifully crafted sentences, and his humor drew me to his novels and made me a devoted reader of his. It really is so wonderful to see him recognized in this way. (It doesn't hurt that he's also one of the nicest writers I've ever met!) If you're new to his work, I recommend starting with By the Sea and Paradise. (Originally posted on Instagram).

 

Dzekashu MacViban

As the first black writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature since Toni Morrison in 1993, Gurnah's win is a tremendous achievement. In addition to introducing his work to a larger audience, I hope the prize will lead people to pay more attention to Tanzanian writers as well as the immense body of work produced in Kiswahili.

 

Siphiwo Mahala

I was inspired by the quiet wisdom of Abdulrazak Gurnah when I met him in March 2005 at the Time of the Writer festival in Durban, South Africa. He is not the one to stand on mountain tops and talk about how great a mind he is. Instead, he lets his work speak for itself. His quiet demeanour is contradicted by his thundering literary voice which reverberates across the globe. His recognition with the 2021 Nobel Prize for literature is a very well-deserved honour. This is a proud moment for the African continent and a great inspiration to many writers and readers of African letters. It affirms the dynamism of our voices, our stories and our literature. It introduces to the world a new African canon, a new generation of writers. This is also a reminder that as Africans we ought to celebrate our own writers and not wait for validation from the West before we recognise them.

 

Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse

As an East African, I am immensely happy that Gurnah's stories will be given a wider audience à travers le monde. As a francophone, knowing how hard it is to find Gurnah's books translated in French, I can only hope that this Nobel will eventually catch the interest of french speaking publishers.

 

Jennifer Makumbi

I've been dancing and drinking. This is as unexpected a moment as it is beautiful and wonderful but also special for East African literature. Will this do? This moment, this recognition are the blocks that bolster our self-belief and determination. It is such perfect timing when Africa writing is enjoying a renaissance that writers who have been nourished by Gurnah's work will be thinking, 'I can do that.'

 

Sarah Ladipo Manyika

Congratulations to Abdulrazak Gurnah on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature!  May Gurnah's win be an inspiration to all writers who quietly and consistently—often in the absence of recognition—dedicate themselves to writing the important untold stories.

 

Nkateko Masinga

Africa in Dialogue's Fiction Interviewer, Saliha Haddad, had an interview with Abdulrazak Gurnah about his novel, Afterlives, earlier this year. Their conversation, titled "The Retrieval of Life after Trauma," left a lasting impression on me, just as Gurnah's work has done over the years. In response to a question about love being present in a story that has "very harsh subjects" at its core, Gurnah said: "It is one of the things that keeps people going: affection and small kindnesses that we extend to each other even in the most difficult times." On Gurnah receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature, Haddad said to me, "I'm happy that a writer from Africa received the Prize. With all the great talent we have, awarding him feels much like awarding all these amazing talents."

As we celebrated Gurnah's momentous win, another team member, Creative Nonfiction Interviewer, Adhiambo Edith Magak, was on her way to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to attend the 4th edition of the African Writers Conference. How serendipitous that the awards were being held in the home country of the newly-announced Nobel Prize laureate! I am proud to lead a team of interviewers who engage, daily, with the work of African writers. This win feels personal for us as curators, an affirmation of what Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka said to Brittle Paper in his response to Gurnah's win, to which we collectively raise our glasses: "May the tribe increase!"

 

Maaza Mengiste

For decades Abdulrazak Gurnah has been writing novels and essays that have pushed back against historical erasures. His books shift the narrative lens of history to center those who have been written out of textbooks and ignored in global conversations about colonialism and migration. In doing so, he has helped to reshape what we know of the world.

 

Helen Moffett

Abdulrazak Gurnah's Nobel win is already doing important work in swiveling the eyes of the literary and publishing worlds towards Africa, a powerhouse of creative richness, especially in literature. The uncertainties about which laureates hail from the continent (Naguib Mahfouz was left out of a lot of the initial reports), and the question of why towering figures such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Nuruddin Farah and Chinua Achebe have been overlooked all point to the need for the compass needle to swing in this direction. So, we celebrate Gurnah with delight, and I personally dream of one day seeing Ivan Vladislavić's name up there.

 

Natalia Molebatsi

Congratulations to Abdulrazak Gurnah on such a significant win. One of my favorite writers, his work is a tool of resistance and radical compassion. His writing, which exhorts us to see one another, touches not only Africans on the continent and in the diaspora, but all people in the world. I hope that this win is yet another push (although not yet enough) for our writing to be not only "African literature," but also "writing in the world of literatures," with the aim of making the world more imaginative, a bit more human, and enriched by our stories.

 

Keletso Mopai

It was pleasantly surprising to hear the news about the Nobel Prize honoring Gurnah, an author originally from a country that is often overlooked when it comes to African Literature. As a young African writer, I know first-hand how often African writers are ignored and barely supported, while expected to compete and do well despite the sidelining. Congratulations to Professor Gurnah for this incredible feat. It is so well deserved! May his incredible work continue to educate and shine throughout the world.

 

Wayétu Moore

Writing with colonialism as a context, as a character, is so profound a burden that it frequently seems and feels impossible. Yet Abdulrazak Gurnah has done this again and again, and with such grace and truth that his works become less about the detailed consequences of imperialism and war, and more about the universal human condition. I am thrilled and inspired. I am proud and eager. We are moving.

 

Lidudumalingani Mqombothi

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