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
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2022 4:37 PM
To: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu>
Cc: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: lemonde article
Please be cautious: **External Email**
Re - You "not aware of Mali and others outlawing French."
Thank God, for this! Otherwise I would have continued spreading the fake news, all based on this item from our Pan- African Brother from Ghana: Mali cuts ties with France, orders French troops to exit Mali, ends use of French language, to which he added, "It's now official!"
The "ends use of French Language" the headline did not mean to proclaim that French had merely been degraded from official language to unofficial language. And how impractical. (I'm thinking of official correspondence, not the treasure libraries in Timbuktu.
I don't think that the French Government and the Academie Francaise are going to forgive Mali's current military leaders for this travesty/insubordination; if anything, the French Government is going to do their best to replace Mali's current military leadership by a new leadership that will restore French as the official language of Mali.
Whatever next! Should those upstart military men have their way they'll probably want to inspire the rest of Francophone Africa & the Caribbean to move their Central Bank from Paris to Mansa Musa's new economic headquarters in the Bamako of the modern Mali Empire and to stop paying taxes and protection money to France…
Imagine if some past Military leader of Nigeria ( e.g. Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Obasanjo) had decreed that Her Majesty's English should cease to be the Official Language of the Federal Republic of Nigeria! There would have been no deafening silence from Nigeria's Anglophile elites , and needless to add that, that Military ruler's despotism would have been short-lived as Nigeria's Anglophiles would have roared into action in cahoots with other faithful members of The Commonwealth ( The new name for the former British Empire), the Ministry of International Cooperation ( the latest name for the Old Colonial Office) , the British Council, the BBC, London Review of Books, Oxford, Cambridge, and other cultural organisations of that kind, would have worked day and night to bring that regime down as speedily as possible.
By the way, I notice that you are becoming more and more radical. Some would say more hostile, more aggressive...some would say more progressive...
I am not aware of Mali and others outlawing French. I know that they have been speaking inMalinke etc and local languages to communicate with the rural areas and the majority population.
The region is Malinkephone and Mossiphone largely so this is a commonsense policy thatdoes not exclude a huge chunk of the population.
As for the Biblical texts, well it is not a translation issue . It is a matter ofhuman rights violations and contradictory values. But this is from a humaniststandpoint. Believers will think differently.
Thanks for your comment.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department, Central Connecticut State University
www.africahistory.netChief Editor- "Africa Update"www.vimeo.com/gloriaemeagwali
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries2014 Distinguished Research Excellence Award in African StudiesUniversity of Texas at Austin2019 Distinguished Africanist AwardNew York African Studies Association
From: Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2022 2:52 PM
To: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu>
Cc: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: lemonde articlePlease be cautious: **External Email**
Re - "Best of luck to
the three daredevils,
Guinea, Burkina Faso
and Mali."
Amen to your prayers, although kicking against the teeth of French Assimilation Policy by outlawing the French Language in Mali is going to be a little steep and would be likewise even in Haiti, not to mention the petty cultural and nouveau riche bourgeoisie uncle toms in successful assimilé countries such as Senghor's Senegal. It was bad enough back in Sierra Leone where we had first a Belgian (A.W. Rogers) and then Mr. White (a French Canadian) as our French teachers. Rogers didn't like me because I made life impossible for him whilst our class studied André Gide's La Porte étroite for our "A" levels…. But that's another story...
This should interest you: US Secretary of State holds virtual talks with two African leaders (from Pan African Television)
As to your differences with Ken in reading and comprehension when it comes to French – the second most dominant language in post-colonial Africa, similar differences occur with regard to various translations of the Hebrew Bible often quoted in the New Testament (so called) – and the various translations of Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. It's a problem being taken up by one Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg and in " Understanding the Difficult words of Jesus"
When God or God's ambassadors speak we must do our best to understand Him (or Her) and them...
On Mon, 31 Jan 2022 at 18:32, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu> wrote:
There was no escape fromthe IMF in that era andRawlings was caught.Civilian governments fared no
better. In fact it was China,a new kid on the block then,that pulled some Africancountries from the jaws of theusurious IMF, with offers ofzero or low rates. To properlyanalyze China- Africa policyone has to look at the bigpicture, and I am not givingChina an unconditionalpass, either. Policies havemodified, and the good,bad and the ugly have setin. But in the early days,China was a life saver fromthe draconian twins, theIMF and the World Bank.This is now a slightly differentera of the Russian bear,the Chinese dragon, andthe American eagle- oris it a fox? Best of luck tothe three daredevils,Guinea, Burkina Fasoand Mali.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2022 2:06 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: lemonde articlePlease be cautious: **External Email**
Ladies First :
Gloria & Kenneth in Excelcis,
Hopefully, this article by the First Man should interest you two too:
Otherwise , the sequnece is painfully familiar and exactly as Dr. Sikuru Emiola characterised it -in the case of Ghana in the first years of Jerry Rawlings' tenure, the IMF had him simultaneouslyby the jugular and by the balls with their structural adjustment program which demanded that hefirst of all devalue the cedi, and secondly, if I remember correctly, that he take away subsidies toeducation and agriculture at which point he had no choice but to reluctantly nod in compliancefailing which it's anybody's guess what would have happened next. A few months after bitingthe bullet, students at Legon had to start preparing their own meals - gone were the good olddays at Mensah Sarbah Hall ( in our case, me & Better Half it used to be lunch at the WorkersCanteen where two plates loaded with delicious Kenkey and Contumley cost a mere cedi)...the end of subsidies to education resulted in overcrowding - a room meant for two people waseventually being shared by four or more...
--On Sunday, 30 January 2022 at 15:08:45 UTC+1 Emeagwali, Gloria (History) wrote:
CorrectionJust spotted a crazy verb.The top sentence should read:
"Your reading/translation does notcorrelate with mine ……."
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
From: 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2022 8:09 AM
To: Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu>; USAAfric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: lemonde articlePlease be cautious: **External Email**
"the arguments turn on the people'sdisappointment--not with western orfrench interventions per se
………"
Ken, your reading and translation does notcorrelate with mine.The title of the article summarizesthe content accurately, namely,that the students," betrayed "by the politicalelite, put their trust in the military junta.That is the literal translation.No embellishments, ifs and buts asyou imply.
My favorite economist Joan Robinson oncequipped that:
"The purpose of studyingeconomics is not to acquire a setof ready-made answers to economicquestions, but to learn how toavoid being deceived byeconomists."
We can say the same thing aboutFrench, no doubt.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2022 4:54 PM
To: USAAfric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - lemonde article--Please be cautious: **External Email**
i'm afraid many won't see this, or all of it. it is very interesting re our recent discussion. moses's point about african people wanting to find their own way without subservience to received western democracies is echoed somewhat here in students' statements. however, it is not in the mode of let's try new military dictatorships or autocracies, but new ways to frame our own democracy.
the arguments turn on the people's disappointment--not with western or french interventions per se, but with their failures to end the fighting and dangers up north that have destroyed the lives of vast numbers of burkinabe people. the govt failed to deliver security. if this new army group can do it, all the better. that's the bottom line.if you all want me to copy and paste this piece, i can do so. but it is in french, so the value lies in what french readers might get from it.ken
--
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
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