Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: November 29, 2020 at 6:30:05 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Africa]: Wahu-Mũchiri on Mwangi, 'The Postcolonial > Animal: African Literature and Posthuman Ethics' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Evan Maina Mwangi. The Postcolonial Animal: African Literature and > Posthuman Ethics. Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press, 2019. > 286 pp. $34.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-472-05419-0. > > Reviewed by Nganga Wahu-Mũchiri (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) > Published on H-Africa (November, 2020) > Commissioned by Dawne Y. Curry > > _[T]he colonizer, who in order to ease his conscience gets into the > habit of seeing the other man as an animal, accustoms himself to > treating him like an animal, and tends objectively to transform > himself into an animal_. --Aimé Césaire, _Discourse on > Colonialism_ > > Mũigai wa Njoroge's single, "Mbarĩ ya Kĩmeenderũ" (2018), invokes > the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, more commonly known as the > Dinosaur Extinction, in its first line. While acknowledging that this > megafauna lived and died eons ago, Njoroge relies on the dinosaurs' > perceived gluttony to make a case for why the Creator chose to > eliminate them. Ngai, God, was supposedly angered by dinosaur greed > and cannibalism. In response, he eliminated them, and Njoroge claims > that the descendants are today's lizards. Regardless of the > scientific exactitude of linking dinosaurs to lizard evolution, > Njoroge is particularly interested in the size disparity. The > calamity that befell supersized dinosaurs is akin to that which > awaits Mbarĩ ya Kĩmeenderũ (The Society of Oppressors), Njoroge's > moniker for the corrupt ruling class that has amassed and monopolized > both power and privilege in postindependence Kenya. > > As it turns out, Njoroge's animal-based metaphors are also common in > literary art forms from the African continent. Evan Maina Mwangi's > _The Postcolonial Animal: African Literature and Posthuman Ethics_ > explores the aesthetic and poetic functions of nonhuman life in > African literatures. _The Postcolonial Animal_ is a critical text in > the next generation of Africanist literary criticism, not least for > Mwangi's ability to tie contemporary discussions regarding climate > change and ecological destruction to cultural representation. > > In the texts Mwangi examines--by Bessie Head, Yuda Komora, Ngũgĩ wa > Thiong'o, Henry ole Kulet, Patrice Nganang, Charles Mungoshi, Zakes > Mda, Witi Ihimaera, and Jan Carew--he repeatedly underlines that the > global South does not comprise "ecologically noble savages" (p. 178). > Animal-human relationships are complex. They can no more be reduced > to the one-dimensional image of a carnivorous Africa than they can be > mischaracterized as Africans embodying animal essences. > > _The Postcolonial Animal_ is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 > lays out how Mwangi's own perception of animal motifs in texts has > evolved from reading animals as symbols for interpersonal human > relationships to approaching animals as "representing their own need > for recognition and rights as sentient beings" (p. 1). This is a > crucial distinction. The utilitarian approach toward animals and > other nonhuman life forms prioritizes humanity over plants, animals, > and the ecology at large. In his analysis of Franz Fanon's and Albert > Memmi's anticolonial writing, Mwangi foregrounds an "affirmative > response" to African literature; this he defines as a laudatory > reaction to liberationist writing, while simultaneously critiquing > implicit or even explicit prejudice against the oppressed (p. 7). > Such a comprehensive reading might mean, for instance, acknowledging > the emancipatory thrust of texts in the African literary canon even > as we point out how those same writers marginalize women, endorse > homophobia, and ignore animal cruelty. > > In my opening example, Njoroge is not interested in dinosaurs and > lizards in their own right, but rather as manifestations of greed and > punishment, respectively. It is this kind of shallow paradigm that > Mwangi aims to transcend. He demonstrates the correlation between > "treatment by humans of nonhuman others and the way colonialists view > the colonized natives. Similar parallels exist between the way humans > treat animals and the manner they treat human minorities" (p. 2). > Mwangi builds on Aimé Césaire's argument that with time, the > colonizer "gets into the habit of seeing the other man as an animal." > > What Mwangi sets out to do is dispel the "tendency to see animal and > environmental concerns as the preserve of white writers and > activists" (p. vii). He does so successfully. _The Postcolonial > Animal_ argues that the "animal/human divide found in western > societies is much more porous" in African cultures (p. 12). > Consequently, an aesthetic viewpoint arises whereby African > literature broadly views human and animal destinies as interlinked. > For one, this manifests in texts as the use of animal figures for > "resistance and alternative social formations" (p. 7). On the other > hand, animal narrators--such as in Patrice Nganang's _Dog Days: An > Animal Chronicle_ (2006)--demonstrate "strong support for the belief > that animals and humans are incarnations of each other" (p. 97). > Apart from the creative realm, Mwangi demonstrates how this > philosophical belief influenced political action in the first half of > the twentieth century: one strategy "that the colonized use[d] to > restore their humanity ... [was] to use animals as allies against the > violence of colonialism without animalizing the colonizer to justify > causing harm to the animals used as avatars of the colonizer" (p. 6). > What all these means, ultimately, is that Africanist scholarship must > reposition "postcolonial studies at the interface of ecology, > globalism, ethics, and representation" (p. 3). > > Mwangi's second chapter performs a comparative critique of > precolonial ideas regarding animals and humans. The chapter begins by > revisiting Leopold Sedar Senghor's Negritude and distilling an > often-ignored grasp at relating human and nonhuman lives. Beyond > that, the chapter examines other Africanist philosophies including > Ubuntu, Ukama (Shona), and the consciencism championed by President > Kwame Nkrumah. Mwangi concludes that "African indigenous practices > need as much reform as western institutions" (p. 27). This inference > shores up my previous point that within _The Postcolonial Animal > _Africans are not ecologically innocuous. That, however, is most > definitely not an invitation for foreign tutelage in conservationism. > As Mwangi convincingly attests, efforts to "impose radical changes on > African societies are likely to flop, especially if they are enforced > from outside or by the elites. [Instead,] African literary texts > suggest that the changes need to be gradual and carefully negotiated" > (p. 14). > > "Not Yet Happily Ever After," chapter 3, examines how animals are > depicted in oral and children's literature. Mwangi explores the > refashioning of orature's styles and aesthetics by postcolonial > writers who castigate the manner in which we relate to our animal > kin. For one, the stereotypical "happy endings" that consistently > conclude fables are missing in modern renditions. Another important > departure that Mwangi outlines is that "animals and nature are allies > of women in the fight for gender equality" (p. 54). That is, > literature by Grace Ogot, Henry ole Kulet, Patrice Nganang, and > others repurposes "oral literature to draw parallels between the > plight of animals and the condition of powerless individuals and > communities" (p. 55). The author's reading of Yuda Komora's Kiswahili > fable is particularly poignant. In Komora's work, carnivorous > behavior as well as ticks' pestilence are both emblematic of the > neocolonial oppression witnessed in postindependent African nations. > This allegorical use of animals to represent human behavior undercuts > the aesthetic potential for animals to represent themselves. Often, > animal characters "allegorize human predicaments but do not address > animal rights;" in other words, representation of nonhuman life in > African postcolonial texts may offer "visibility," without any > attendant agency for the animals themselves (pp. 84-85). > > As Mwangi demonstrates in the next chapter, "Winds of Change and the > God of Small Animals," the aesthetic conventions of representing > nonhuman life apply equally to megafauna as to insects. To advance > this argument, Mwangi marshals an expansive corpus of texts that > transcend genre, time, and space. The section opens by invoking the > insect figure in Zuhura Swaleh's _taarab_--the Kiswahili melodies > from East Africa's coastal regions that are infused with Arabic, > Bantu, and Indian flavors. The scholar further chronicles the > depiction of spiders, moths, and scorpions in a global array of > writing: the epic of Gilgamesh, Plato, Ovid, Franz Kafka's _The > Metamorphosis_ (1915), Samuel Beckett's _Molloy_ (1955), James > Joyce's _Finnegans Wake_ (1939) and _Ulysses_ (1922), and Arundhati > Roy's _The God of Small Things_ (1997). I found this selection > particularly productive. Mwangi demonstrates the extent to which > contemporary animal studies, postcolonial or otherwise, reorient > literary criticism toward nonhuman lives featured in canonical and > popular writing. In fact, the very ubiquity of animals and plants may > render us blind to the varied aesthetic uses that writers make of > flora and fauna. Within African literatures, Mwangi's_ The > Postcolonial Animal_ traces snake depictions as totemic figures in > Camara Laye's _The African Child_ (1977), Senghor's "Le Totem" > (1945), and Chinua Achebe's _Arrow of God_ (1964). > > This investigation is underpinned by a deft mix of close readings and > pattern making. Mwangi catalogues an extensive list of cultural > artifacts, taking special interest in locating noncanonical East > African poetry within his scholarship. While David Rubadiri's work is > familiar, poetry by Haji Gora Haji and Mwinyihatibu Mohamed--both in > Kiswahili--is not. _The Postcolonial Animal_ expands the scope of > Africa's literary canon--not only through use of translation to cross > linguistic boundaries but also by engaging the homophobia embedded in > Mohamed's verse and the anti-insect poetics constructed in this > endeavor. And while I found the thematic connection between hurricane > weather patterns, insects, and worms not fully explicit, the > connection Mwangi makes between an 1872 Zanzibari hurricane and the > 1964 Afro-Shirazi Revolution is well articulated. Academically, > Mwangi pursues the call to arms issued by Mukoma wa Ngugi's _The Rise > of the African Novel: Politics of Language, Identity, and Ownership_ > (2018), which urges deeper examination of pre-1960s African writing. > Mwangi models an important way of engaging with the wider field of > African literary criticism, one anchored not only by fiction in > European languages but also by close attention to the literary corpus > available in African languages. I find the approach potentially > groundbreaking in linking scholarly pursuits in North America and > western Europe to the theorizing and cultural production on the > African continent. Sustained engagement with African literatures in > Kiswahili, Twi, Fulani, Xhosa, Kinyarwanda, and so on brings us > closer to the use of African languages for the production of > knowledge about the African continent. > > "Interspecies Sexual Intimacies," the fifth chapter, engages the > fraught allusions of sexual relations between humans and animals. As > Mwangi points out, such depictions are not uncommon in postcolonial > literature, only they are "usually mentioned cursorily in dark jokes" > (p. 135). This part of the argument relies on a wide array of texts: > Kenyan political satire by Godfrey Mwampembwa, art by South Africa's > Jane Alexander, fiction by Somalian Nuruddin Farah, Kenyan Yvonne > Owuor, South African Zakes Mda, New Zealander Witi Ihimaera, and > Ghanaian Nana N. Boateng. Mwangi reads a global animal rights and > queer studies canon, centering conversations about African > literatures and posthuman ethics by exploring connections across > texts and geographies. Ultimately, animal-human sex complicates and > undermines the process of liberation. Interspecies sex is > problematic; Mwangi compares it to the efforts of an "empire > accumulating its wealth at the expense of the nations it occupies. > Only citizens of a privileged empire would fail to see the injustice" > (p. 174). Mwangi concludes using a coda focused on Jan Carew's _Black > Midas_ (1958) to discuss the use of "animal-inspired coincidences to > push the plot forward and resolve conflicts" (p. 175). That is, > animals are present in narrative as motifs with aesthetic value. > Mwangi argues that postcolonial African writing offers its readers > animal figures that are "sensitive, compassionate, and intelligent" > (p. 178). > > _The Postcolonial Animal: African Literature and Posthuman Ethics_ > convincingly argues that posthumanism must include humans, nonhuman > life, and the entire planet. Ultimately, this is an important > challenge to a humanism that "materially, discursively, and > institutionally regards the human species as unique, distinct, and > exceptional, [and which] can no longer serve as an ethical model for > the way we relate to nonhuman others" (p. 16). The text concludes > with a call to question the manner in which "animals have been given > agency in literary texts, yet continue to be exploited in the actual > world" (p. 186). This demonstrates a large gap between aesthetics, > politics, and praxis. In the postcolonial world, both imagined and > real, there exists but a "thin line between the human and nonhuman;" > suggesting that an ideological reorienting which deeply considers > nonhuman lives is quite possible and indeed close at hand (p. 186). > As the Mũigai wa Njoroge track discussed at the beginning of this > review demonstrates, animal and plant metaphors proliferate in > artistic production on the African continent. _The Postcolonial > Animal: African Literature and Posthuman Ethics_ is an exceptional > addition to ongoing scholarship on the presence of the nonhuman in > African letters. > > Citation: Nganga Wahu-Mũchiri. Review of Mwangi, Evan Maina, _The > Postcolonial Animal: African Literature and Posthuman Ethics_. > H-Africa, H-Net Reviews. November, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55900 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#4025): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/4025 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/78599491/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
