Reinstating an African Writer: The Case of Yambo Ouologuem

On By Dr. Y.In Great LiteratureLeave a comment
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (Source: France 24)

At the end of 2021, we celebrated the win of Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, the first man from sub-Saharan Africa to win the prestigious literary Prix Goncourt, 100 years after René Maran who was the first person of African descent to win the prize for his controversial novel Batouala. Mbougar Sarr’s winning novel, La plus secrète mémoire des hommes (The Most Secret Memory of Men), tells the story of a young Senegalese writer living in Paris who stumbles by chance across a novel published in 1938 by a fictional African author named TC Elimane, nicknamed “the Black Rimbaud” by an ecstatic Paris media. The story, described as a reflection on the links between fiction and reality, follows the life of a cursed African writer echoing the real-life experience of the Malian writer Yambo Ouologuem who in 1968 was the first African winner of the prix Renaudot, but was later accused of plagiarism, and had to flee France back to his natal Mali, to live a reclusive life, and die in utter misery.

Malian writer Yambo Ouologuem in France in November 1968. Photograph: Yves Le Roux/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images/The Guardian

Now thanks to Mbougar Sarr’s work, the publishing house Penguin Modern Classics is re-publishing the Yambo Ouologuem’s book over 50 years after his work was pulled out and banned. Le devoir de violence (published in English as Bound to Violence) was first published in 1968 by Editions du Seuil. After winning the Prix Renaudot that very year, Ouologuem became a celebrity equated to the likes of Leopold Sedar Senghor. “Ouologuem’s novel is harshly critical of African nationalism, and in fact reserves its greatest hostility for the violence Africans committed against other Africans” (Richard Posner on Plagiarism, the case of Yambo Ouologuem). For many critics, Africans in particular, Ouologuem’s book is a validation of the twisted views of the West on Africa who exonerate themselves of the violence they committed on Africans throughout centuries.

Excerpts below are from the Guardian. You can also check out the blog created by Ouologuem’s daughter or Richard Posner on Plagiarism, the case of Yambo Ouologuem at Amardeep Singh, or The Tortured Legacy of Yambo Ouologuem.

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In 1968 the books pages of the French newspaper Le Monde excitedly praised an uncompromising new novel, Bound to Violence, going on to salute its author as one of “the rare intellectuals of international stature presented to the world by Black Africa”.

The newspaper’s words, written in tribute to the young Malian writer Yambo Ouologuem, sound condescending today. Back then, however, the intended compliment was genuine and many European critics soon agreed: the publication of Ouologuem’s strange novel really did mark the arrival of a major new talent.

But the literary world can be brutal, and particularly so for a young African novelist living in Paris who was attempting a fresh twist on conventional storytelling.

Fellow African writers began to express shock at Ouologuem’s harsh parody of his own culture. Three years later damaging accusations of plagiarism had also emerged, including a public skirmish with Graham Greene, which ended Ouologuem’s short career. He retreated into the life of a recluse, returned to Mali and died in 2017, having never published again.

Now, 50 years after this scandal, Penguin Classics is to bring out a new English edition of Bound to Violence in a bid to rehabilitate the gifted author and introduce him to new readers.

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Impossible de changer la nature des gens / Impossible to change people’s nature

On By Dr. Y.In Great Wisdom2 Comments
Des cochons / Pigs

Vous ne pouvez pas empêcher le cochon de se vautrer dans la boue (proverbe Yoruba – Nigeria).

You can’t stop a pig from wallowing in the mud (Yoruba proverb – Nigeria).

Two Cameroonian Women win the L’Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science

On By Dr. Y.In Great ScienceLeave a comment
Winners of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talent Prize for Women in Science Hadidjatou Daïrou (L) and Sabine Adeline Fanta Yadang (R), pose for a photograph at the Institute of Medical Research and Medicinal Plant Studies in Yaounde on November 23, 2023 (Source: AFP / VOA)

Two Cameroonian women, Sabine Adeline Fanta Yadang, a doctor of neuroscience, and Hadidjatou Daïrou, a doctor of cellular physiology, have won the prestigious L’Oréal-Unesco Young Talent Award for Women in Science for their work on the power of medicinal plants. They were chosen among 30 scientists in sub-Saharan Africa to win the award on November 8 at a ceremony held in Botswana.

Their work focuses on the use of traditional medicinal plants in Cameroon for treating cardiovascular disease and alzheimer. Daïrou’s work centers around the use of kola nut (Garcinia Kola) to improve cardiovascular health, while Yadang’s focuses on tigernut milk which is extracted from a plant with centuries-old medicinal virtues to slow alzheimer. Both scientists work together in the laboratory of the Institute for Medical Research and the Study of Medicinal Plants (IMPM) in Yaoundé, the capital. They also hail from the rural north of Cameroon where education for women, and particularly a career in science is rare.

Excerpts below are from VOA.

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Map of Cameroon, with the capital Yaoundé

In Cameroon’s rural north, very few girls go on to enjoy careers in science. But Sabine Adeline Fanta Yadang, a neuroscience doctor, and Hadidjatou Dairou, PhD student of cellular physiology, have smashed through the glass ceiling.

They have been recognized for the quality of their research, along with 28 others from sub-Saharan Africa, by the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Young Talents program.

UNESCO says the program supports “young women researchers around the world to pursue scientific careers at home or abroad.”

Both women were distinguished for their research into the potential of Cameroon’s traditional herbal medicines in the treatment of heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Kola nut
Kola nut

They work in a laboratory at Yaounde’s Institute for Medical Research and Medicinal Plant Studies, IMPM.

… Dairou’s interest in herbal medicine goes back to her years as a pharmacology student at the public University of Ngaoundere, in the country’s north. “I’ve seen what a plant extract does to the human body and how that can help people I know,” she says. The UNESCO program picked out her research into the “potential of the indigenous Garcinia Kola plant for treatment of cardiovascular disease.”

Fanta Yadang … likes to be known as a Moundang, a community from Cameroon’s Far North region, where her grand-parents took herbal cures. “I wanted to become a doctor, but I didn’t get good enough marks. I wanted to help my fellow people so I became interested in medicinal plants,” she says.

… For Dairou, the bark of the bitter Garcinia Kola — a grain that looks like a nut eaten across Africa to ease all kinds of problems — may improve cardiovascular health.

“In particular atherosclerosis, one of the major causes of heart attacks,” she explained.

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Proverbe Lari sur les secrets / Lari Proverb on Secrets

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Il n’y a pas de cachette sur la surface de l’eau (Proverbe Lari – Republique du Congo).

There is no hiding place on the surface of water (Lari proverb – Congo Republic).

“Hopes for a Better World” by Dennis Brutus

On By Dr. Y.In Great Literature2 Comments
Dennis Brutus (Source: Sahistory.org.za)

I found this poem by the great South African writer, activist, educator, journalist, and poet, Dennis Brutus, “Hopes for a better world.” I found it quite appropriate in these times. Dennis Brutus is known as one of the most prolific South African writers. Born in then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Brutus grew up in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) where he was classified as “coloured” under South African apartheid codes. He was an activist against the apartheid government of South Africa in the 1950s and 1960s, best known for his campaign to have South Africa banned from the Olympic Games due to its institutionalized segregation system of apartheid. He is among Africa’s greatest and most influential modern poets.

This poem, “Hopes for a better world” was written on a trip from Caracas, Venezuela, to Durban, South Africa. At the beginning of the poem, Brutus stated, “There are lively political struggles in our time, particularly in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia.” The poem is really about the outlook one has on life, the wish for simple joys, and the hope that something good will come. It highlights simple needs: the joys that come from a smile, the appreciation of frankness, openness, and friendliness.

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Hope

“Hopes for a better world” by Dennis Brutus

Walking those ragged, pitted sidewalks

where walkers, shoppers surged

one had a sense of buoyant hope

surges of confidence, unleashed desire:

the broad-grinned ice cream vendor

frank gazed waitress swabbing spills:

all had a friendliness and trust:

it was good to walk those cordial streets

companioned by one striving to serve

Caracas to Durban, 2008-09, for p.b.

Proverbe Bamoun sur les faits tangibles / Bamun Proverb on Common Sense

On By Dr. Y.In Great WisdomLeave a comment
Leopard

Le léopard est tâcheté, sa queue doit aussi l’être (Proverbe Bamoun – Cameroun).

The leopard’s is spotted, its tail must also be spotted (Bamun proverb – Cameroon).

Maji-Maji Uprising: A German Genocide in East Africa

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments6 Comments
German troops commanded by Wilhelm Kuhnert during the Battle of Mahenge in 1905

At the beginning of the month, on November 1, 2023, the German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologized for the first time for the Maji Maji massacre and other colonial crimes committed by Germany in eastern Africa in what was then German East Africa, a colony comprised of Burundi, Rwanda (Ruanda-Urundi), mainland Tanzania (Tanganyika), and a small region in modern-day Mozambique known as the Kionga Triangle. The Maji Maji rebellion led to the death of over 300,000 Africans in 1905, in Tanganyika.

As we uncover this somber chapter of the history of Tanzania (then part of German East Africa), it is important to note that the events related mark yet again another part of German history that has been erased from history books: genocides in Africa.

Map of German East Africa with the areas affected by the rebellion highlighted in red

After the Berlin conference of 1884, Germany had several colonies in Africa, German South-West Africa (Namibia), German East Africa (Ruanda-Urundi, Tanganyika, and the Kionga Triangle), Kamerun, and Togoland. Germany tried to reinforce their presence in the different regions by using repressive methods. They built roads, bridges, and more, through forced labor. In 1902, in Tanganyika, they forced the populations to plant cotton as a cash-crop for export, levying harsh taxes upon whoever would not bring a particular quota of cotton. This caused an uproar among the populations who had to leave their own cultures of edible plants to cultivate cotton that nobody ate and which brought nothing to them but tough sanctions from the German occupants. In 1905, when a drought hit, the populations had reached breaking point. It is at that time that a prophet by the name of Kinjikitile Ngwale emerged, claiming to have made a war medicine, a potion that could repel German bullets called “Maji Maji,” which means “sacred water,” maji being water in Kiswahili. Armed with arrows, spears, and doused with Maji Maji water, the first warriors of the rebellion began to move against the Germans, attacking German outposts, and destroying cotton crops. Thus started the Maji Maji rebellion which spread throughout the colony, involving over 20 different ethnic groups, leading to a war which lasted from 1905 to 1907 where 75,000 to 300,000 Africans died.

Gustav Adolf von Götzen Governor of German East Africa from 1901 to 1905

As we saw earlier, there had been the Abushiri revolt of 1888 to 1889, the Chagga revolt with Mangi Meli in the North east of Tanganyika earlier, the Wahehe (Hehe) revolt of 1891 to 1898 which culminated with the decapitation of King Mkwawa, all served as precursors to the Maji Maji uprising. The height of the Maji Maji rebellion came at Mahenge on August 1905 where several thousand warriors attacked but failed to overrun a German stronghold defended by Lieutenant von Hassel. On October 21, 1905 the Germans retaliated with an attack on the camp of the unsuspecting Ngoni people who had recently joined the rebellion. The Germans killed hundreds of men, women, and children. This attack marked the beginning of a brutal counteroffensive that left an estimated 75,000 Maji Maji warriors dead by 1907. The Germans also adopted famine as a weapon, with their scorched-earth technique which destroyed the crops of the populations creating mass starvation; Captain Wangenheim, one of German troops’ leaders in the colony, wrote to the Governor of German East Africa Gustav Adolf von Götzen, “Only hunger and want can bring about a final submission. Military actions alone will remain more or less a drop in the ocean.”

Flag of Tanzania

During his visit to Tanzania at the beginning of the month, the German president stopped at the museum in Songea which was built in homage of Chief Songea Mbano, one of the leaders of the Maji Maji rebellion, executed in 1906 by German forces. Songea Mbano was a great Ngoni warrior, hanged in 1906 during the time of German repression of the Maji Maji rebellion. Songea had been spared the death sentence because he had surrendered. However he demanded to be hanged along with the other Ngoni leaders. The Germans happily complied.

This marked a dark chapter in the history of the country, and the entire region. Today, it is also seen by Tanzanians as the beginning of true nationalism triggered by the unity of several large groups in Tanzania to fight the foreign invaders. To learn more, check out Violence in Twentieth Century – The Maji Maji Rebellion, 300,000 Tanzanians were killed by Germany during the Maji-Maji uprising – it was genocide and it should be called that, and Was Quashing the Maji-Maji Uprising Genocide? An Evaluation of Germany’s Conduct through the Lens of International Criminal Law by K. Bachmann.

African Joke: The Prayer

On By Dr. Y.In Great Laughter1 Comment

One day, at church, a man is praying on the pew loudly, “Lord, please send me 4,000 Naira, that is all I need! … Lord! if you send me ₦4,000, I will do anything!… O Lord, answer my prayers… all I need is ₦4,000 … JESUS!!! ₦4,000 is all I need! Lord of Hosts, let ₦4,000 rain on me.” The man goes on in his prayers screaming and shouting in the church.

Suddenly, there is a tap on his shoulder… he stops, opens his eyes, thinking to himself “Who in this world is interrupting my prayers?” The man seated next to him, hands him ₦4,000, and continues praying. The other man is so happy, and says, “Wait, God really answers prayers so fast!”

At the end of the church service, he asks his pew neighbor, “neighbor, you don’t know what you have done for me… but why did you give me ₦4,000 ?”

The man replies, “with your loud screams, you were blocking my prayers for ₦50 millions.”

Everybody has his level of problems. Dr. Y. Afrolegends.com

Mali Forces Succeed in Kidal where France and Allies could not!

On By Dr. Y.In Uncategorized1 Comment
Flag of Mali
Flag of Mali

Mali military forces have succeeded in liberating the city of Kidal from terrorist groups where France and its allies and the MINUSMA could not. They succeeded in a few days, where it took years for France and company. On November 14 2023, president Assimi Goïta of Mali announced the liberation of Kidal, stronghold of terrorist groups for the past few years. The news was so stunning that even the BBC who has been calling the Mali government, ‘the junta’ and all sorts of names, and always showing ugly pictures of Assimi Goïta, had to, begrudgingly write the article and for once showed him in a decent image :). When you listen or read the western media, they say that it is thanks to the help of Wagner that the Malian forces freed the town… Malian forces liberated Kidal, that is all that matters! France was there, how many years, and could not defeat them!

Colonel Assimi Goïta (Source: AllAfrica.com)

This goes without citing the treacherous behavior of the MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping mission, which weeks before they were set to leave at the request of the Malian government, breached their agreements with the government for a safe handout, and left abruptly leaving all sorts of heavy artillery for the rebel groups to take over the city… I wonder how the MINUSMA must be feeling now?

Joy is overfilling our hearts: it is a first step and we are so proud of our FAMas (Forces Armées Maliennes / Malian Armed Forces)… we are so proud of Mali. We need to stay focused and continue the fight. This shows what we have been saying for years: Africans can govern themselves and are sick and tired of foreign interference and intrusion in our affairs. We all know who the real terrorists are in Mali, they are groups paid by these foreign forces to destabilize the region so as to keep getting free resources. This is a first victory, and there will be many more to come. As Thomas Sankara used to say, “La Patrie ou la mort, nous vaincrons!”

Excerpts below are from AfricaNews.

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Mali conflict map

Mali’s military has seized control of the northern town of Kidal, marking the first time the army has held the Tuareg rebel stronghold in nearly a decade, state broadcaster ORTM reported Tuesday.

“This is a message from the president of the transition to the Malian people,” journalist Ibrahim Traore said in his introduction to the ORTM news bulletin. “Today, our armed and security forces have seized Kidal. Our mission is not over.”

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Separatist Tuareg rebels in the north have long sought an independent state they call Azawad. In 2012, they dislodged the Malian military from the town, setting into motion a series of events that destabilized the country.

… Amid the chaos, Islamic extremists soon seized control of the major northern towns including Kidal, imposing their strict interpretation of Islamic law known as Shariah.

In 2013, France led a military intervention to oust the extremists from power, but they later regrouped and spent the next decade launching attacks on the Malian military and U.N. peacekeepers.

Another military coup in 2020, led by transition president Col. Assimi Goïta, resulted in deteriorating relations with Mali’s international partners. Mali’s foreign minister ordered the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMA to depart, and forces left Kidal at the beginning of November.

Dutch King Heckled in Slavery Museum in South Africa

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments1 Comment
Flag of South Africa

Last month, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands visited South Africa, for what was their first official visit, and decided to visit the Iziko Slave Museum in Cape Town. At the end of their visit, as they were exiting the museum, they were surprised by about 100 protesters who confronted them about their country’s part in the enslavement of Africans transported to the Americas. Excerpts below are from AP.

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Flag of the Netherlands

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Angry protesters in Cape Town confronted the king and queen of the Netherlands on Friday as they visited a museum that traces part of their country’s 150-year involvement in slavery in South Africa.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were leaving the Slave Lodge building in central Cape Town when a small group of protesters representing South Africa’s First Nations groups — the earliest inhabitants of the region around Cape Town — surrounded the royal couple and shouted slogans about Dutch colonizers stealing land from their ancestors.

… The Dutch colonized the southwestern part of South Africa in 1652 through the Dutch East India trading company. They controlled the Dutch Cape Colony for more than 150 years before British occupation. Modern-day South Africa still reflects that complicated Dutch history, most notably in the Afrikaans language, which is derived from Dutch and is widely spoken as an official language of the country, including by First Nations descendants.

San (Basarwa/Bushmen) hunters
San (Basarwa/Bushmen) hunters

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima made no speeches during their visit to the Slave Lodge but spent time walking through rooms where slaves were kept under Dutch colonial rule. The Slave Lodge was built in 1679, making it one of the oldest buildings in Cape Town. It was used to keep slaves — men, women and children — until 1811. Slavery in South Africa was abolished by the English colonizers in 1834.

Garth Erasmus, a First Nations representative who accompanied the king and queen on their walk through the Slave Lodge, said their visit should serve to “exorcise some ghosts.”

The Dutch East India Company established Cape Town as a settlement for trading ships to pick up supplies on their way to and from Asia. Slaves were brought to work at the colony from Asian and other African countries, but First Nations inhabitants of South Africa were also enslaved and forced off their land. Historians estimate there were nearly 40,000 slaves in the Cape Colony when slavery ended.

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