Nigerian Third- Generation Writers

Joyce Chen and Kate Liu, Fall, 2011

What is last week’s main theme?Which nations have we dealt with? Ugwu as the seed of hope for this nation/place’s

autonomous/cultural development (the intellectuals’ Pan-Africanism, or tribalism.) Seeds of conflicts in the neighborhood in Kano, and

in Olanna’s family. India, Pakistan, Iran, Kurd (as people without a

nation), Sri Lanka, Liberia, Sierra Leon, Uganda and Nigeria

Uganda picked by Lonely Planet as Number 1 Country to Visit in 2012 (source)

Reminder: Place Names … Half of the Yellow Sun: setting of chaps 1-2 Nsukka Lagos Kano (Kainene – Port Harcourt, running her father’s business); Odenigbo from Abba

War Game– Jos Amafor--UmuahiaNsukka

Abba

Recent News about Nigeria Global Voices

http://zh.globalvoicesonline.org/hant/category/world/sub-saharan-africa/nigeria/

Nigeria for backpackers: http://www.backpackers.com.tw/guide/index.php/%E5%A5%88%E5%8F%8A%E5%88%A9%E4%BA%9E

e.g. Lagos (有名的樂手 Fela Kuti就是來自拉哥斯市郊。 Ariya Night Club的老闆就是著名的 Sunny Ade), Kano (西非最古老的城市 )

King Sunny Ade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIoH_bJORho African Digital Art

http://www.africandigitalart.com/category/african-weekly-inspiration/

Recent Islamic Rampage in Nigeria 2011/4/25 (post-election); 2011/ 10/5 Kano 2011/11/5 in Northeatern Nigeria (by

Boko Haram) Red Cross: Gunmen, bombs kill 65 in Nigeria

1; 2 Religions in Nigeria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nigeria

Outline (1): Igbo Culture & Nigerian Writers

A. Igbo Culture Family

Marriage mother

Traditional belief Mask Chi New Yam festival

Superstition Twins Osu

B. Nigerian third- generation in the modern cities Diaspora & Urban

experience National identity vs.

Cultural identity

Joyce

Outline (2): War GamesC. War Games

I. Introd. Cheche — the

Nigerian version of Midnight’s Children

Ethnic rivalry in the North

History seen from a child’s perspective

Cheche’s experience of the war

Cheche’s experience of folk tradition

Next week

Igbo culture: Family Marriage

Polygamy Bride-price

Importance of being a mother Storytelling, songs, and

myths Nneka—meaning “Mother

is supreme” (TFA 133)

Nneka (singer) http://www.wretch.cc/blog/shadowboxer/32741358 “Africans” (YouTube from To and Fro)

Joyce

Residence Pattern of an Igbo Family

(source)

Stage I: A is married to two wives (B and C) each of whom is assigned a separate hut within the c

ompound where she lives with her children

Stage II: A's sons marry and bring in their wives, each of whom is assigned a new hut. His daughters move out as they marry.

Igbo culture: Traditional belief Mask New Yam Festival Chi

“when a man says yes his chi says yes also.” (TFA 27)

“man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi.” (TFA 131)

Zaouli(Gouro Dance Mask) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP9LeBXKZnUIgbo / Ibo People ~ Masquerade Pictures, 1959

Joyce

Igbo culture: superstition Twins killing Olanna & K

The twins were abandoned to a death by exposure immediately after they were born. The women gave birth to twins are usually abominated . (TFA 151)

Osu (outcast) cleansing ritual They are living sacrifice to

the deities of the Igbo. They live in a special section of the village and are forbidden to marry a free person or cut their hair. They are to be buried in the Evil Forest when they die. (TFA 156)

Joyce

Nigerian third generation: Diaspora & Urban experience

Young writers’ works are Less “authentically” Nigerian, but with more

global cultures? Less political but more personal?

“Nigerian” writers in global cities? e.g. Adichie’s short stories-- deal with Nigerian

immigrants’ experience of hardship in the United States and England.

Joyce

Nigerian third generation: National identity vs. Cultural identity

1. Nation: “[All] third-world texts are necessarily . . . allegorical, and in a very specific way they are to be read as what I will call national allegories.’’ (Fredric Jameson, 69)

2. Culture: The roles of “dibia” – in Half of a Yellow Sun Cheche’s “localization” in War Games

Joyce

War GamesA Child’s Experience of War-Time

Conflicts

(Nigerian-Biafran War, 6 July 1967–15 January 1970)

Dulue Mbachu (1961~)

Writer and Journalist (articles written by him) set up The New Gong publishing house to

publish the African Writers Series "After a war is fought, the victors immediately

write their history. But it takes a while for the victims to find their voice and tell their own side story.” (Mbachu on Igbo writers' obsession with the Nigerian civil war source)

War Games: Chaps 1 – 4 1. City Life: Happy childhood (mixed with miracle,

dance, sweets and an episode of being bullied)

2. Village Amafor: Going to Amafor, getting to know Grandfather

3. Amafor Umuahia: Cheche’s experience of the war

4. Amafor: Cheche’s getting to know Amafor and its rituals

War Games: The first 4 Chaps and the Novel Is the presentation of the village life

distracting from the novel’s real focus? 1/3 of the novel: Che Che’s playing with

friends, revels in various ceremonies. “less interesting than the rest of the book. In fact, since the book is so clearly about the Biafran War, they are annoying. (HAWLEY 19)

War Games: The first 4 Chaps and the rest of the Novel The war in the context of the conflicts

between traditional and modern/colonial cultures (in terms of religions, urban and northern Igbo people and Shaw-Shaw people),

Between Hausa and Igbo people,

-- Aren’t the rituals (Catholic or traditional) all games, of one kind or another?

War Games: The first 4 Chaps and the rest of the NovelWar Games, Village Rituals and Children’s Games

1.How do we deal with conflicts and evils?

2.Games– with rules and enforcing conformity—sometimes brutally

3.The experience of survival (“eat as much as you can”) and being a “rebel” or non-conformist.

Questions How do you relate to Cheche’s stories (about

childhood, the Biafra war and the Igbo rituals)? Do you find anything similar in your own life or culture?

What do you think about the narrator, his mixture of an adult and child perspectives?

How is Igbo’s folk tradition represented first through the Grandfather, and then the rituals?

The Happy Childhood in the CityCheche – The beginning of his memory – moving to the housethe center of the extended family’s and the tenants’ attention (3) Experience:

miracle of singing and dancing vs. being bullied (6-7) education – experience of racism, using Hausa songs

on Shaw-Shaw people (10) market and Papa’s shop dance

The Happy Childhood in the City His understanding as a child:

Mother/Father: attached to the mother (2), see grandfather as twice as big

the world as “a bumpy place” (4) Genealogy // identity – born 3 months after the birth of the

nation “only those younger than a country can belong to it” (10) chap 3 (p. 34)

Names – wants to use father’s name as his surname. A cloud watcher (13); Papa’s shop, diasppointing

Later understanding the role of money in the priests’ blessing. (5)

History Seen from a Child’s Perspective

pp. 16-17 (chap 2): lack of comprehension – parties –different from the birthday parties. why were Igbos singled out as the common enemy. “a

meeting somewhere?” pp. 28 – 29 (chap 3): sorrow and indignation over deaths--

Gowon vs. Ojukwu (Johnson T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi - Nigerian general); pogrom and programme

pp. 33-34 (chap 3): – nationalism (later: egg-rusher payment 171)

The boy– witnessing or hearing about deaths: a pregnant woman 17; 30

Chapter 2: Cheche’s surprise at seeing Grandpa Shaw-Shaw house

and the Grandpa of the Shaw-Shaw p. 23-24

Odukwe Compound –obu for men and boys, ohwo for the wives.

Obu house (source)

Igbo Farmers vs. Shaw-Shaw people P. 10 Cheche: exaggerates their

nakedness and poverty pp. 19-20 thinks their houses too small Igbo farmers also naked!!! p. 22; (later understanding) p. 23 Shaw-Shaw

people made fun of because they used leaves instead of clothes to cover their nakedness. But ...

Cheche vs. Grandfather

A mask depicting a dibia

(healer) (source)

1) In conflict with their Catholic belief (e.g. the chicken 25)

2) Grandpa vs. the radio – 27

3) (chap 4) p. 41 –with magic power –descending from the sky, passing as a pregnant woman

The War Experience of the war –

Sympathizes with Mama’s fears (pp. 18-) Worries over Papa, the neighbors’ secret pleasure

Tales of the survivors – brutal killings, rescue or betrayal of the neighbors (30);

e.g. Papa’s being rescued by Paradang (who was not particularly friendly) and betrayed by a friendly tenant.

The adults’ excitement over the nationalist war Air raids – Mama’s responses (36-37)

Chap 4: Embracing Amafor Cheche –ready to accept Amafor (Grandpa,

and the environment); becoming a village boy,

not wearing slippers or a shirt. p. 42 fighting bigger girls at their weaker spots p. 43

Ritual (1): Cleansing pp. 43-45 vindicated if the villagers’ response is “lyaa” or

“Ooooh!”; condemned if they are silent. e.g. Esoniru (poisoning people, including his wife);

Ekwegbe (killing young boys)

What do you think about this cleansing ritual? Why do the people die after being condemned in public?

The rule of the Majority – may not be justified

Ritual (2): Masked Spirit (Egwugwu)

Joyce

Ritual (2): Masked Spirit in the Ogwugwu festival (Ogwugwu-- ogwugwu is the strongest deity

in Nigeria. The deity is more than 300 years old. sited in the eastern part of Nigeria.)

Masked spirits – as sprinters 短跑者 , as dancers, inflicting diseases on others (46)

Feast, race (taunting the spirits and escaping their whipping) and dance of the spirits

Ritual (2): Masked Spirit in the Ogwugwu festival Echi-Eteka –tomorrow is too far (51) The song

“Respect yourself…

Medicine man/

Stop divinating for me/

The one you’re divinating for/

Understands the mysteries better than you do….

Meaning?

A rite of passage for the boys later he becomes one of the altar boys.

From War Games

toHalf of a Yellow Sun

A child’s experience (cityvillage)

adults’ experiences (traumatized; village city)

Reference http://www.igboguide.org/index.php?l=chapter9 G. I. Jones Photographic Archive of Southeastern Nigerian Art and

Culture. <http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/jmccall/jones/> Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print. Adesanmi, Pius and Chris Dunton. “Introduction— Everything Good is

Raining: Provisional Notes on the Nigerian Novel of the Third Generation.” Research in African Literatures 39.2 (2008): vii-xii. Print.

---. “Nigeria’s Third Generation Writing: Historiography and Preliminary Theoretical Considerations.” English in Africa 32.1(2005): 7-19. Print.

Hawley, John C. “Biafra as Heritage and Symbol: Adichie, Mbachu, and Iweala.” Research in african literatures, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Summer 2008): 15-26.

Jameson, Frederic. “Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism.” Social Text 15 (Fall 1986): 65-88. Print.

Next Week [Group Q&A Time] 456--Nadine Gordimer

"Amnesty" The week after next [Group Q&A Time]

123: "The Prophetess“ by Njabulo S. Ndebele ..Group report: Yesterday