A couple of think-pieces here
One on changing returnee experiences from this week's The Nation (including a mini-review of Ekow Eshun's Black Gold of the Sun towards the end).
Another on globalisation and tribalism.
The interesting point in this second article is the idea of an emergent new global elite that outdates former dichotomies between Western/non-Western culture, creating fierce forms of localist cultural/religious resistance in their wake..
Both worth printing out and reading.
Thanks Prof LG for the links.
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2 comments:
check out this guy - fascinating.
http://emeagwali.com/
I read the article 'A sort of homecoming' and I feel some despair. Will this be my children's experience when they go to Nigeria? My six year old has to be forced to eat or wear anything African even though Africa is all around us at home. My three year old, thankfully, seems to be African by nature, preferring African food and has a slight Naija accent which she got from me.
However, when it came to the question what does it mean to be white?. I thought to myself - this really isn't about being white or indeed black. It about being 'westernised' or adopting the culture wherever we have found ourselves.
I was born in England, bred in Nigeria only returned to England after university. I understood the culture, participated in ogun and masquerade festivals,helped my gran slaughter animals etc, paid bribes when need be, these were all normal to me.
When i visited Naija again after 18 months, i was appaled and uncomfortable. What kind of attitude to life is this? why are pple like this? I was livid when a policeman informed me at a checkpoint that my mother's car which i was travelling in was imported illegally (in real terms a bribe of N2000) In those days, I would be the first to say "oga you know now.....". I was glad to be back in England after that.
Even within Nigeria if you are born in Lagos and travel to your village only occassionaly with your parents. You would feel that 'loss of identity'.
I have met some people in Naija and abroad who try so hard not to be identified with the country or culture(loonies!)
What do christian/moslem Africans living in Africa think of their still-ancestor-worshipping counterparts?.
Once you 'move away' or are 'born away' your outlook changes. Dispersion is a fact of life (Shame about slavery and shame on the perpetrators).
So to all Africans in the diaspora or otherwise: No matter how alienated you feel or what your set of values are, Mother Africa is in you. She's in your skin, your genes. She's the reason for your supreme physical & emotional strength, your emotions that run so deep, your beauty. Your agelessness, that singing voice, that rythmic dancing. She's nature not nuture she's in you!!
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