Out of Africa

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart.” The book is hailed as the beginning of modern African literature. Chinua Achebe, hailed as the father of African literature.

There have been a lot of good interviews, articles, conferences and ceremonies, honoring the legacy both Achebe and his book has created for African writers.

The following is an interview with Evan Mwangi, an English professor at Northwestern University, who teaches African literature (and is from Kenya) about the beginnings of modern African literature, its evolution and how Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” fits into it all.

Audio

Interview Transcription

Bunmi Ishola: We can kind of start out sort of with the history of African literature; where it all started out.

Evan Mwangi: The major books in African literature started in the 1950s. They started writing in the 1950s, and they did not make as much impact as “Things Fall Apart,” which was published in 1958. And so it ["Things Fall Apart"] became like the benchmark of African literature. And mainly, all these novels, were mainly a response to what the writers felt were distortions and misrepresentations of Africa by Western writers. [Achebe has said that he wrote "Things Fall Apart" to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," and to books written by colonial masters like Mr. Johnson].

BI: Do you think, in a sense, that the book deserved to be the benchmark?

EM: Yes, the book is very well written. Achebe also has a very balanced view of both the Europeans and Africa. Those [older novels written by the West] would idealize colonial Africa as a perfect, romantic place. But Achebe views Africa from a much more objective position. So that he’s criticizing the pre-colonial culture, as much as he’s criticizing colonialism for some of the bad things that happened in Africa.

BI: And after this book was published, what was the development of Africa literature?

EM: Almost all the major authors in Africa wrote their versions of “Things Fall Apart.” So that, almost every country had a “Things Fall Apart;” again, talking about the contact between Europeans and African cultures, and the controversies that arose out of that. The writers persisted in talking about the pre-colonial past way into the 1960s. But later, in the late 1960s, they started talking about the disillusionment with post-independence condition. And mainly what I think they are doing by going back to pre-colonial past is trying to let African know that they have beautiful culture, that they need to preserve their culture. They should have confidence in themselves as a society.

BI: More recently there have been a lot of writers of African descent just coming up lately. I’ve noticed many of the ones that are getting the most remarks [Chris Abani, Chimamanda Adichie, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila] are from Nigerian. I don’t know if you have any theories as to why?

EM: Most likely it’s because of the exile. [In] Nigeria, military dictatorship has been really bad. So writers have been able to go to exile. It happened in the apartheid era too. There were a lot of writers operating in exile. And that’s why there’s a very strong Nigerian diasporic writing, I guess. I think, the reason that Nigeria is so prominent in African Diasporic writing could be because of the economic and political circumstances. If you remember, people like Chris Abani have been jailed. Yeah, he was jailed by Sani Abacha.

BI: I know, for both, at least, Abani and Adichie, they mentioned that Achebe had a lot of influence on the reasons why they write now, and even they way they choose to write. What do you see some of these influences being, and why do you think he is such a strong influence? 

EM: I think it is mainly the emphasis on the thematic relevance of the texts. Like when you read Adichie, she’s very sensitive to the politics of Nigeria. Even if she’s writing, like in [Half of a Yellow Sun], she’s writing about Nigeria of the 1960s, she’s commenting about the present. Just the way Achebe, still, when he’s talking about pre-colonial past — he’s not so much interested in romanticizing that past, he’s commenting about the present-day Nigeria. So, to say, the level of themes, and making sure they [newer African/Nigerian writers] are relevant to their communities, they have followed in the footsteps of Achebe. But they are also changing, they are not just imitating Achebe slavishly. Like Adichie forgrots gender a lot, in a way you may not find in Achebe. Even Chris Abani; issues of gender and sexuality are very prominent in his writing. So they use Achebe, just the way Achebe used the past — in a critical way.   

BI: Where do you see African literature going in the future?

EM: That’s a tough question. But, I think it’s growing. There are people who seem to see African literature as maybe off. Mainly because the kind of writers they see published in the West, they seem to be addressing Western audience as opposed to the African readers. So that this literature becomes part of the West, and the literature in Africa dies off. But I think there are very strong literary traditions in almost all regions of Africa. I think the literature is very good, and it’s going to be talking about issues to do with the Diaspora, issues to do with gender and sexuality. Literature that maybe the Achebe generation may not have been very much interested in.

“For those who report on or care about Africa’s 800 million people, the newfound optimism within the continent is the new news,” journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault writes. And with over 600,000 of the United States population listed as African immigrants, Americans should care about Africa and its people. And more importantly, understanding the continent’s history and place in the world is the key to understanding what has been called the “fastest growing immigrant population in the U.S.”

Hunter-Gault’s “New News Out of Africa” offers a glimpse of the African continent from a perspective rarely seen in Western media. Divided into three distinct sections, Hunter-Gault dispels the image of Africa many American possess through thorough reporting and personal accounts.

“New News” is part memoir, part reportage, and part political and economical analysis. Based off lectures Hunter-Gault gave at Harvard University in 2003, while a fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research, the book is divided into three parts: an analysis of South Africa, under apartheid and post-apartheid; the continent-wide government and political transition from colonialism to democracy; and a look at how foreign and African journalist can accurately report on African and its emerging “renaissance.”

The continent, she writes, is plagued with coverage of 4 Ds – death, disease, disaster, and despair – and one C – corruption. These “bad grades” lead to the assumption for most Americans that Africa is a dark and hopeless continent. As a veteran correspondent for both PBS and CNN, and now for NPR, Hunter-Gualt dispels this belief by addressing the death, disease, disaster, despair and corruption upfront, but also presenting insight to challenge them.

Hunter-Gualt begins discussing the beginnings of her interest in Africa, particularly through the prism of an African-American growing up in the American South. From there, she takes us on a journey of her journalistic history with South Africa – through its struggle with apartheid, the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, his rise to presidency, and all the change that followed. By providing a personal account of her relationship with Africa, as well as giving us a history of her journalistic work on the continent, Hunter-Gault sets herself up as a legitimate source and provides a reason for Americans to care about Africa.

She details the history and changes of the country, unloading a lot of the bad news everyone already knows, particularly in reference to the AIDS pandemic which scourges South Africa, but then turning around and providing the “new news” embedded within. This technique challenges the reader to look beyond the headlines and the news normally associated with Africa.

The second chapter, “Baby Steps to Democracy,” looks at the struggle African countries have faced transitioning from colonial rule to setting up democracies. Here, Hunter-Gault focuses particularly on Rwanda, Kenya, Mozambique, Angola, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. She takes a look at each of these countries political and economic conditions, dispelling myths and illuminating the complex truth behind their struggles to create a thriving democracy. From discussing the “big men” leaders, the rise and initiatives of the African Union, and the role of the international community in African issues (from Rwanda’s genocide to debt cancellation), readers are given a chance to explore the issues African countries deal with and solutions to fix them.

The last section, “Reporting Renaissance,” is probably the most valid and the most important. In 2000, The Economist devoted an entire issue to “The Hopeless Continent,” fueling what Hunter-Gault believes is the wide-spread negative perception of Africa. With the emergence of the African journalist, Hunter-Gault fuels a new view of Africa – as “The Hopeful Continent.” She maps out how foreign journalist can “come in right” when reporting on the continent, and how journalists on the continent are beginning to have a voice to tell their own stories and reveal the winds of change sweeping through their homes.

Originally published in 2006, the book was released in paperback this year, including a newer section: an epilogue. In the epilogue, Hunter-Gault provides updates of the “winds of change [that] continue to blow” over the continent. In South Africa, the turnaround of the government’s approach to the AIDS pandemic; updates and analysis on recent elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Zimbabwe; and a brief look at the battle many African journalists continue to wage against their governments to be independent voices.

Even though the book is a refreshing and new look at Africa and its current conditions, and is valuable for anybody interested in reporting or understanding the continent better, it’s not without its flaws. For one, the book lacks the extensiveness needed to fully understand the African continent. With over 54 countries to look at, Hunter-Gault spends one-third of the book on South Africa. Granted she prefaces the book explaining that this is where most of her reporting and life has been, for a book looking at the “new news” out of Africa, it should have tried to delve deeper into as many of the 54 countries as possible, if not all. While the other sections look at the history and change in other African countries, they are shorter than the first section on South Africa and only graze the surface, focusing primarily on only seven African countries.

It is also obvious that the book is based off of lectures. While the division is logical, its lecture-style form robs the book of any amount of depth a reader might desire. “New News” is only scratching the surface of the new news arising from the continent, and only offers a small peak at the insight and knowledge Hunter-Gault could have offered of the continent’s confusing history, troubled present and hopeful future.

For those already associated with the continent, Hunter-Gualt’s book falls a little short. While she provides an optimistic assessment and a look at the “African Renaissance,” it provides very little that is “new.” For those not associated with Africa, and see it as a continent bearing only bad news, it’s a great primer and should illicit the much needed interest in the “new” news coming from the continent.

Overall, “New News Out of Africa” is an enlightening book that provides a more balanced, and fresh, view of Africa’s past, present and future.