Not to mention all the back-of-scene politics,

I have a little Igbo bias since I’m married to one :)….Nobel Prize is big, but it doesn’t necessarily make a person a household name.

For Achebe, who is probably the most famous Nigerian outside of Nigeria, it is about his generation.

Make you no say am like that o. Yoruba people go claim say Wole Soyinka pass Chinay Achebe because him get Nobel Prize…. :-0

There. I admitted it.

Maybe I can move on now.

When I was a kid, I was an unthinking Conservative, because that’s what everyone around me was. When I went to college, I became an unthinking liberal, because that’s what everyone around me was, except for the Young Republicans, who were all losers.

Then, after college, I picked up “Things Fall Apart,” for no good reason that I can think of now. I think I was just looking for a good book, and started on the first shelf at Borders, and “Achebe” is on the first shelf alphabetically.

And I started reading about how the Christian missionaries imposed themselves on the natives (”Boo!! Imperialists!!”) And the got a foothold by bringing in people from the lower castes and treating them as equals (”Yey!! Equality!!”) and then taking over and prohibiting things like leaving baby twins out in the woods to die (”Yey!! Forced imposition of Western values that I agree with!!”) and then they started taking other powers away from the native rulers (”Boo!! Abuse of power!!”) and the book was over and I sat there and though, “Who were the good guys?” “Who were the bad guys?” “Was this a ‘liberal’ book or a ‘conservative’ book?” Well, it was ‘just’ a book about stuff the way the author saw it.

And, well, ever since then I have been unable to NOT see both sides of the situation. I became interested in politics, but never really had a favorite candidate because I saw the arguments for and against everyone’s positions. Then, I started reading blogs, and felt forced to comment when people were all saying the same thing without considering the other side. So, then, pretty soon, I had a whole list of liberal blogs where I had been called a right-wing-fascist troll, and a whole list of conservative blogs where I had been call a loony-leftist-liberal troll, and I ended up with no internet friends, forcing me to only deal with “real” people, with whom I try hard not to discuss politics, because I am sure I would disagree with everything they said, not because they were wrong, but because they believed it too strongly and without qualification.

And, yes, I blame it all on “Things Fall Apart.”

Sewere said, “The thing is that for most folks who are not Igbo or from the South Eastern part of Nigeria, the war does not register as a historical event and part of their personal history….I remember a friend in secondary school telling me how his father and uncle, had to cook food in hiding so that planes wouldn’t hone in on the fire from the wood burning. A bunch of my uncle’s colleaguesm (most of whom were Igbo) who moved to the US as refugees recounted how many of their families were on the verge of starving to death when the Nigerian military prevented aid and support to civilians. How can anyone ever forget that?”

There is definitely a historical element to these stories. For Achebe, who is probably the most famous Nigerian outside of Nigeria, it is about his generation. For the younger writers, it may be paying homage to their parents and grandparents, many of whom didn’t survive. I’m curious how these younger writers will describe their generations experiences in their writing.

Sewere said, “…the experiences of folks from his (my parent’s) generation who went to parochial/colonial schools in Nigeria and/or England (racism, classism, sexism etc) as well as theirs and our experiences of being of trying to juggle
multiple identities as citizens of two or more countries.”

Yeah that is complicated.

I think there are many Igbo kids growing up in the US who are going to have really interesting stories to tell. For them the added layer of identity–being American and African American could make for some really interesting analysis. (I don’t know many Nigerian Americans who are not Igbos; I guess the refugee factor could play into that.)

I knew you would come out of the wood work to comment. :)

I don’t know what the deal with Igbo writers is, but Uzodinma Iweala is another person getting a lot of attention.

The younger writers are transnational folks, but the writing is about west Africa. I’m waiting for the story that is written about the transnational experience.

I knew nobody would comment on this. I get exasperated sometimes.

My sista, make you no worry, you know say I get you back. You for put am on for your side make we yarn for there. :)

Achebe has always been a hero of mine simply because of his take on the Nigeria’s Civil War (aka Biafra War) doesn’t tow the party/dominant line of historical revisionism (Although I haven’t read her work yet, I believe Adichie shares the same perspective). The thing is that for most folks who are not Igbo or from the South Eastern part of Nigeria, the war does not register as a historical event and part of their personal history.

I remember a friend in secondary school telling me how his father and uncle, had to cook food in hiding so that planes wouldn’t hone in on the fire from the wood burning. A bunch of my uncle’s colleaguesm (most of whom were Igbo) who moved to the US as refugees recounted how many of their families were on the verge of starving to death when the Nigerian military prevented aid and support to civilians. How can anyone ever forget that? There are still folks who have pictures of Odumegwu Ojukwu in uniform on their walls (even though I think of him as a spoilt brat, but that’s another story for another day).

The other aspect of Achebe’s (and from what I can tell from the excerpt, Adichie’s) writing is that they write from a comprehensive view of post-colonial Nigeria (and in a few cases, other Sub-Saharan African countries) i.e. national identity, racialized/ethnicized/classist structures, the experiences of folks from his (my parent’s) generation who went to parochial/colonial schools in Nigeria and/or England (racism, classism, sexism etc) as well as theirs and our experiences of being of trying to juggle multiple identities as citizens of two or more countries.

It’s interesting that both Achebe and Adichie live in the U.S. and are affiliated with American universities. Are there any writers living and working in Africa who are well-known in the U.S.? I can think of a couple of South Africans, but nobody else. I wonder what to make of that.