Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Did Chinua Achebe Write Things Fall Apart? Anti-Igbo Demonization and Conspiracy Theory at its Height in Facebook Post and Thread

"Its also possible that Achebe did not write 

either Things Fall Apart or Arrow of God.

If so, why are they so different in sophistication 

from each other and from his other novels?"Adepoju

Authors, poets and artists  evolve, and 

may develop "sophistication"

over time. It should not be a surprise 

to see a transformation over time

in their work,  due to exposure to

new methodologies, ideologies, and

 experiences, as well as new expectations 

from patrons, fans, readers etc. 

A better approach would be to

humbly attempt to analyze the 

difference between 

the two novels cited -  and

the diverse phenomena that may

 have affected the author's writing 

and creativity.

Dr. Gloria Emeagwali
Professor of History/African Studies, CCSU
Chief Editor- "Africa Update"
https://sites.ccsu.edu/afstudy/archive.html
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries
www.vimeo.com/gloriaemeagwali
www.africahistory.net
Founding Coordinator, African Studies, CCSU

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 4, 2024 1:54 PM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Did Chinua Achebe Write Things Fall Apart? Anti-Igbo Demonization and Conspiracy Theory at its Height in Facebook Post and Thread

 

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An Anti-Achebe and Anti-Igbo Argument 

Why is Falola denying the obvious?

Can he reference any research demonstrating Igbo society as so civilized in the time the work refers to?

Its also possible that Achebe did not write either Things Fall Apart or Arrow of God.

If so, why are they so different in sophistication from each other and from his other novels?

Is it not this unevenness that made him unable to get the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Are such claims of uncreditable grandeur not the bane of the Igbo person in Nigeria, claiming non-existent glories and therefore failing to grasp the apex recognitions craved for by all means?

An Anti-Soyinka and Anti-Yoruba Argument 

Wole Soyinka is simply an ubscurantist slave of Western cultural imperialism, writing an English even English people would struggle with, all beceause he wants to show he understands English better than others, even the owners of the language.

His Nobel Prize for Literature was an imperialists gift, awarded by former colonial powers for being "a good boy for massa".

Achebe, with his limpidly beautiful prose and Ngugi, with his powerful anti-colonial vision feeding his storytelling and intellectual powers, did not get the prize bcs the imperialists did not want to honour their critics.

Is such suspect empowerment not the stock in trade of Yoruba people, amassing wealth from Nigeria's Indigenization Decree after the civil war, while impoverishing Igbos who got nothing for their savings during the war?

Quasi-Intellectualism as an Ethnocentric Tool

Those two arguments above are quasi- intellectual arguments of the kind presented in the Facebook post referenced in my earlier posting and in responses to that Facebook post in the post's Facebook thread.

Should such arguments be dismissed as trash unfitting for discussion by an intellectual platform?

Such dismissal is dangerous, as history demonstrates.

Similar ethnocentrisms have been weaponized against various groups across time, across the world, with devastating consequences.

Critically examining them helps to drain them of their venom, their capacity to negatively shape people's minds.

Can they be adequately countered without some knowledge of Achebe's and Soyinka's works and of Nigerian history in relation to Igbos and Yorubas?

No.

Yet such discourse is readily found on social media.

They cant be dismissed as being of no intellectual value even as they speak to the social and intellectual cross currents of ethnic conflicts in Nigeria reverberating since the civil war.

Are such subjects not worthy of intellectual study? Why should they not be, particularly if they are part of the fabric of Nigerian society?

Anti-Igbo orientations amongst Yoruba people and anti Yoruba orientations amongst Igbos are part of the Nigerian reality.

On what grounds can a person make what they understand is a coherent claim debunking what is universally understood to be an iconic truth- Chinua Achebe's authorship of Things Fall Apart?

The poster presents what he describes as  evidence from Achebe's financial history, plus an account, supposedly from Achebe, on how the book was written and the fact that Achebe did not win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Respondents, all Yoruba, like the poster, amplified this approach to intellectual discourse, by presenting various arguments which they understand as reinforcing the logic of the person making the post that inspired them.

The efforts of the poster and his respondents have to be appreciated as efforts to intellectually project a bias, using methods that can be debunked only through close analysis of the claims being made bcs their efforts at creating an intellectual structure imply their claims cant be summarily dismissed.

In the wake of Wole Soyinka's critique of Peter Obi after the last Presidential elections, a related campaign of discrediting Soyinka's intellectual achievement was also launched on Facebook, largely by Igbos, to the best of my knowledge.

To counter those intellectually framed efforts, one had to have some understanding of Soyinka's work and career, a necessity taking the subject beyond calumnies one could readily dismiss.

A friend of mine, a PhD student well versed in literature and theory, the ideological influence of his Igbo ethnicity being crucial to his dismissal of Soyinka's creative work, in my view, argued that there is no valid rationale for the recent setting up of a Soyinka Research Centre, centred in the study of Soyinka's work, since Soyinka's work is simply a rehash of Yoruba culture, therefore demonstrating no originality worthy of the effort represented by a research centre.

Responding to that view required my drawing upon my knowledge of Yoruba culture as a lived reality, my understanding of its discursive expression across various disciplines and Soyinka's contribution to its creative transmutation, along with my knowledge of the range of Soyinkas work a lot of it not built on Yoruba culture.

When anti -ethnic orientations take the form of intellectual presentations, its particularly dangerous to  dismiss them as unworthy of critical attention, thereby failing to disempower them by demonstrating their false reasoning or misinformation.

Thanks 

Toyin Adepoju 

On Fri, Oct 4, 2024, 12:49 PM Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Apologies for posting this. Adepoju should not have sent this kind if thrash in the first instance.

Get Outlook for iOS

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 4, 2024 4:48:16 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Did Chinua Achebe Write Things Fall Apart? Anti-Igbo Demonization and Conspiracy Theory at its Height in Facebook Post and Thread

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/gpHDSso9kFLLoA3J/?mibextid=xfxF2i 

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