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First, I apologize for the silence...schedule a bit crowded these days. A belated Happy New Year to all.
I tend to find it most difficult to fall asleep when I am busiest for some reason, and have taken to sneaking in a few pages of fiction as a new nighttime/early morning ritual. For the longest time I have been meaning to read Uwem Akpan's collection of short stories, "Say You're One of Them."
As a matter of personal principle, I try to stay away from reviews, particularly critical ones, until after I finish reading a novel. However, after delving into the first few pages I had to confirm my suspicion that I was in possession of 300plus pages of unadulterated poverty p*rn (sorry for the asterisk, trying to avoid the onslaught of strange comments I receive when I use such terms...such as in this post.) I was so naive....for only stories of child prostitutes and wonton African poverty would titillate the Oprah Book Club following.
While I have less patience for such genres, writer and blogger, Alligator Legs, takes a more balanced view (while confirming my initial gut reaction) and reviews his most recent contribution to the The New Yorker.

2

...May become all the more common in the future. My initial reactions to the foiled terrorist attack on Christmas day can be found at NigeriansTalk.org.

4

You should check out my mom's (yes, as in my own mother's) blog - Akuko Ifo (honestly, it is too late in the day for me to start searching for o's and u's with dots under them...and yeah, you're right - in the time it took me to write this, I could have spelled out "Akuko Ifo" properly.) My mom recently started a blog to share some of the folktales she told my brothers and I when we were younger. Please feel free to widely circulate this message to your children and friends with young children. Right now, all she has up is an intro post, but she hopes to have a fresh story up after the Christmas holiday.

8

I thought I was the only one who could not sit through the completion of Adichie's TED talk, "Danger of a Single Story." Honestly, I think my self-declared fast from Facebook was largely spurned by the inundation of my mailbox and Newsfeed with links to this talk.

First let me admit that I literally swallowed Half a Yellow Sun after dinner one night, and nearly felt somewhat depressed when I started inching towards the final pages of the novel because I so desired the book to go on, and on, and on. To say that Adichie is an amazing storyteller, would be quite the understatement. I have not yet had the chance to pick up her collection of short stories, The Thing Around Your Neck (Christmas gift, anyone?).

Yes, call me a hater, but I felt that at least the first few minutes that I did happen to slug through were somewhat tiresome. Literally, it was the "single story" that I have heard countless numbers of Nigerian, Ghanaian, Jamaican immigrants tell over again, but this time, more eloquently and on a more public stage...

Young person fetishizes the West...person grows up and travels to this West...person becomes increasingly jaded with the West and its apparent love affair with itself (to the ignorance of other non-Western countries)...person becomes more aware of the beauty and diversity of his/her African identity (primarily through Western outlets which were hitherto thought of as inaccessible in home country)...person shuns western dress and takes interest in rocking dashikis and African headwraps...

And true, as someone has mentioned to me in the past, Adichie's loudest critics happen to be men - see here and here - which was why I was initially hesitant to bring attention to yet another male who just doesn't get our collective love affair with Adichie. Beyond calling attention to the fact that several Nigerian stories were well-established around the time of Adichie's birth, Nnorum Azuonye also points out the apparent contradiction behind Adichie's talk...

The jaundice in The Danger of a Single Story is that Ms Adichie was in fact perpetuating stereotypes. Anyone who does not know better who watches that presentation would conclude that all Westerners refer to Africa as a country. We know this is not true. There is a lot of it going on, but it is not standard by any stretch of the imagination. Never mind that Africans, especially Nigerians are guilty of insinuating that Africa is a country. Many times in the United Kingdom, you ask a Nigerian where he comes from. Afraid of admitting to being a Nigerian and being consigned to the heap of criminals...he would say he comes from Africa. He would only admit the Nigerian connection if the person asking knows Africa is a continent and questions further, ‘what part of Africa do you come from?’ Interestingly, some would respond to this more specific question with a neither here nor there answer; ‘my Dad originally comes from Lagos, and my mother is from Benin.’ If pushed further, he will say, ‘Make it Lagos. I come from Lagos.’

Azuonye forgot to add that yes, while some Westerners find Africa as the bastion of poverty and disease, several of our compatriots have also made careers off of such saving some nebulous creature called Africa. I would suggest taking a peek at the essay yourself...and if Azuonye also sounds tiresome, by all means, change the page in search of yet another single story.

H/T Aloofar for the link

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Have been a little slow with social media updates since the holidays so forgive me if I wasn't aware of this earlier.

Texas in Africa describes the recent partnership between Twitter and (RED) to celebrate World AIDS Day as a "failure." I wholeheartedly agree. December 1, a day when the entire world promotes AIDS awareness, Twitter has decided to highlight all tweets with the word Africa in red thereby reinforcing an inextricable link between Africa and AIDS.

Seriously, why? Was not aware that today was Africa AIDS day....missed the memo.

4

Have been feeling under the weather since the weekend, so used that opportunity to watch Nollywood films with the parents. Unfortunately, I could not get to flea market to collect movies from my usual Senegalese hook-up. Anyway, Youtube to the rescue.

I have always admired veteran Nollywood actresses and film, The Maid, starring Eucharia Anunobi, amongst others, caught my attention. It's a religious film - which is more palatable to my conservative parents (as opposed to films such as this one). Anyway, the film, produced in 2004, follows a Christian family and their maid as they come into a better financial situation and slowly lose their faith. The maid, (played by Mercy Johnson), later becomes demon possessed and enlists the help of the Eucharia's children - no older than 12 or 13, in carrying out demonic activities in school and in the family.

You can already figure out the rest of the film - maid and children run havoc in various homes and schools, powerful pastor comes in to cast out demons and "To God Be the Glory." No need for spoiler alerts here. However, in light of this year's revelations of the child witches phenomenon, I found the portrayal of the maid and children as agents of Satan to be incredibly disturbing. The scene below opens with a child in a cast who was injured during one of these violent exorcisms. Later, another young boy admits to killing his parents and preventing "locking up" the success of his uncle's business.



Such scenes are highly reminiscent of testimonies from rescued "child witches" who claim they were severely abused or abandoned because similarly minded "pastors" accused them of causing the misfortune of their parents through occultic means. Also, many are familiar with the all to familiar story of justifying abuse metted out to house helps who also may be deemed as "witches and wizards." Unfortunately, as in the case here, reality, at times, inspires some Nollywood themes. However, Nollywood, in turn, reinforces some of these realities through films such as these. Not only does to further ruin Nigeria's fragile image, it also supports the notion that yes, some children are indeed agents of evil, bearers of evil spirits which require purging. Films such as these demonstrate the need to reign in Nollywood's negative portrayal of Nigerians.

Speaking of Nollywood, check out the NollywoodForever blog, which provides detailed reviews about the latest Nigerian and Ghanaian films. Highly recommend it. Much better than my short-lived attempt (couldn't support the habit at the time).

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To even attempt to describe the political mess that has occurred over the past ten years in Anambra state is quite the feat. However, Chxta, at his blog has done so, and I commend him for it. Seriously, it reads like a very complicated drama - and I am surprised that Nollywood has not yet picked up on it yet - godfathers, rifts between brothers, dubious shrines - the whole nine.

Currently, the Anambra Court of Appeals is deciding whether to re-instate Andy Uba as governor once the Peter Obi's term expires in 2010. Leader of All Progressives Grand Alliance Party (APGA) and former military leader of Biafra, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, made headlines last week when he claimed that installation of Andy Uba as governor were grounds for the start of another civil war.

“...What we are playing out [in Anambra] is not anything short of playing with the possibilities of another civil war.

I make no apologies about this; the Anambra people are looking unto me, and I am sure most of them have already decided that if we have to fight again, I will be Commander-in-Chief. So, I want to make it clear today I am before you and I am begging. Please I am begging, not drag us into another civil war.

“I make it quite clear that whatever we are playing with we must know the full consequences of it. The full consequences are that we are stepping with our eyes wide open into another bloody conflict. I will not sit around and allow Anambra State to be used as a balloon ball for children to kick around. No. We have our rights. We are a people. I will certainly, to the end, support justice for Anambra State.” (emphasis, mine)

Over the past few days, several have debated whether Ojukwu's calls for justice on behalf of Anambrarians are in essence, calls for another civil war - an invitation for chaos. More than 30 years post-1967, the unsavoury memories of the Nigerian civil war still remain ingrained in the psyche of a number of Igbo who survived the conflict and whose lives remain forever changed by memories of forced conscription, air raids, and starvation. Members of the opposing party and others have strongly condemned Ojukwu's comments and some, not necessarily associated with PDP, have even gone as far as stating that Ojukwu himself, poses a national security threat.

Critics of Ojukwu's critics maintain that Ojukwu's comments were largely taken out of context, claiming that Ojukwu merely stated that decisions taken by the court could potentially destabilise that state. And of course, across Nigerian or Igbo messages boards, requests for Ojukwu's canonisation as the Igbo patron saint have been registered.

While Ojukwu's comments were somewhat misunderstood by the mass media (see bolded portions above), I still question his motives. He did clearly state that if Anambra found itself in such a civil war, he would position himself as the people's "commander-in-chief." Reactions to Ojukwu's careless statements have surprised me a bit, for I was not aware that he still commanded such respect and loyalty from the masses (or perhaps, this is an Anambra thing?). Personally, I am of the opinion that Ojukwu has long expired his usefulness and that his latest rants thinly disguise his selfish desire for some relevance in modern Igbo politics. Also, let us remember that beyond the Biafran war, this is not Ojukwu's first time he has called for popular uprisings on the part of the Igbos. During his failed bid for presidency of Nigeria, in 2007, he ironically states that Igbos will only be fulfilled if there were allowed to live a "separate existence."

Ambitions aside, Ojukwu's recent penchant for civil wars and separate existences reflective of larger trend that has been embraced by several parties, organisations and ethinic groups within Nigeria. When dissatisfied with due process or the rule of law (both of which are have largely been corrupted), the alternative presented to Nigerians is anarchy and chaos. Nigeria's fledgling democracy and tenous stability is oftentimes the target and unfortunate victim of, at times, well-meaning parties. The crisis in the Niger Delta is case-in-point and I would even venture to say that the recent, though resolved, stalement between univerisity unions and the Nigerian government served as a destabilising force within the nation. Ojukwu, Niger Delta militants, unions - all find themselves resorting to methods which put the people they claim to serve at a disadvantage. True change will only come to Nigeria when ordinary citizens are able to effectively petition their government in the face of grave injustices.