The following item from the Lagos paper This Day was seen on AllAfrica.com at http://allafrica.com/stories/200601270166.html . It mentions African languages in passing, but makes one wonder about schools encouraging or at least discussing writing in diverse languages of the continent (there can always be translations to English or whatever international language for mass markets). In fact, even though I'm neither an author nor a teacher of literature, I'd imagine that it would really open students' imaginations to discuss how writing in different languages that they know might have different flavor or feeling... DZO
Encouraging Literature in Our Schools This Day (Lagos) http://www.thisdayonline.com/ OPINION January 26, 2006 Posted to the web January 27, 2006 Arinzechi David Lagos On August 8, 2004, the G-15 hosted Chimamanda Adichie, the writer and award winner of the book "Purple Hibiscus". In that meeting Mcphillips Nwachukwu reported in the Vanguard that these efforts "will go a long way in establishing the government's seriousness in propagating Nigeria's positive image at home and abroad. Hopefully, it will trigger a literary awareness campaign as well as contribute in no small measure to the development of the literary and publishing industry in Nigeria, an area of our national life that is in need of re-awakening. Of course, it will also send a positive signal to Nigerians in the Diaspora, and present a positive role model to young ones, especially our female folk whose contributions to society are still marginal partly because of ignorance and lack of opportunities." Many of the youngsters today in Nigeria have the great capacity to write; in school quite a number enjoy reading; some engage themselves in writing something which they hope others might enjoy- more often some of them do not receive the necessary encouragement they need in order to become good writers. Though, schools /organisations and companies do well to encourage a large number of them to write in competitions they organise. In schools, some of them enroll in clubs as part of the co-curricular programmes; some other organisations set up reading and writing clubs. I hadn't finished the book when I commented on the style: Like Achebe's! I enjoyed Achebe's books and I had taken time to go through his "Things Fall Apart" many times. Like many of those who grew up in the cities like Lagos, I am always enthused with Nigeria's traditional settings and cultures. I remember when I travelled in the early eighties to my village, I was very happy to see a farmland! I had seen farmlands on TV-but there they were- cassava, cocoyam farms! With these were other surprises like the " Obi" where the "Umunnas", the extended family, gathered for meetings,. I had seen nothing of such in Lagos . It can be observed from Amanda's short stories and book that she is an immensely talented writer, capable of engaging the reader all through to the end of her works. Her critic has to understand her "Purple Hibiscus" as just one more fiction. In her interviews, I quite agree with her that many people have to hold unto what they have - our treasures - our languages, cultures and traditions. They are ever rich and good. We need people who will present to others this richness - in its undiluted way and fashion showing that what we have and give is not second class. Achebe proved that by writing his first novel. Just today I had visited Falomo shopping complex in Lagos, to buy some books - and there on display were artworks from most parts of Nigeria . Right there were many Europeans as well. The thoughts that came to my mind were: Could it be that these Europeans value our own culture more than us? To what extent do we really value what we have? Well, many Nigerian buy up these clothes and artworks, but how many care to ask questions about their origin and significance? Everyday we are presented with a panorama of our history and culture and Adichie has answered this very often in many of her interviews; we cannot certainly part with them; they are not foregone issues! All the things that happened before and after independence seem to interlace; precipitating into a mesh; though complex but at the same time needs the patience and the critical minds of its citizenry to observe the nature of all the rings and shapes it has hitherto taken up and the trend it would likely transform into in the immediate future. In the light of these, the young, and the not so young, who are proficient in writing would come up with classics for Nigerian and the world to consume. Herbert Ekwe Ekwe of the centre for cross-cultural studies, Dakar wrote recently that many African literary critics have been involved in a spirited debate in the past decade on how soon the African novel that interrogates the salient features of the contemporary African sociopolitics would emerge, of which he affirmed that a distinguished African scholar said it was a sociopolitics of "Age of pestilence". Seemingly observed as age of ruthless African regimes; of one party rule; World Bank and IMF imposition of "SAP" on Africa, leading to further "stomach readjustment" and poverty. Adichie's "Purple Hibiscus" rightly shows these and I guess her next novel would depict them even much more. The neo-colonial era and the hopes it affords to the African people with Nigeria in focus, has a lot to be put down in black and white. Adichie's style of writing and her great capacity of depicting well and placing the characters in her books, at the easy understanding of her readers have so much to be cherished. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
