Five years ago today The Africa Book Challenge launched and less than a month ago it was completed. Entries for books from 53 out of the 54 countries on the African continent have been posted on this website! Though it may have taken longer than I initially anticipated to complete this mission, in some ways, this was a positive thing as it allowed the site to bear witness to the expansion of the publishing scene for African literature. Of course, there is still work to be done as The Africa Book Challenge remains unfinished so long as there is one country in Africa for which an English translation of a book does not exist. Furthermore, I will be monitoring the possibility of new nations emerging on the African continent, particularly with regard to regions such as Western Sahara and Somaliland.
Here are the top 10 most popular entries on The Africa Book Challenge:
This list has obviously evolved a great deal since the inception of The Africa Book Challenge.
Here is a map of all the countries in the world that The Africa Book Challenge has received visitors from.
The Africa Book Challenge has received visitors from more than 100 countries in the world and 40 countries in Africa.
I would like to give a special acknowledgement of thanks to Gordon Johnson (Pixabay User: GDJ) who is responsible for uploading onto Pixabay.com the map & flag icons of each country in Africa that are featured in many of the posts for The Africa Book Challenge. The icon he uses for his Pixabay profile bears the words “All men are brothers,” which is certainly relevant to the ethos of The Africa Book Challenge.
These past five years have been a truly enriching experience for me, and I hope that others have learned a thing or two along the way as well. I will be back from time-to-time to check in with updates as appropriate.
English translations of book-length works of literature from São Tomé and Príncipe are virtually non-existent. At this time, the only book by a São Toméan author available in English is Exorcising Devils from the Throne: São Tomé and Príncipe in the Chaos of Democratization by Albertino Francisco and Nujoma Agostinho. As a work of nonfiction describing the political and socioeconomic issues that afflict São Tomé and Príncipe, this text—which is an updated edition, released in 2011, of the original book that was published in 2009—is a sharp departure from the others that have been featured on The Africa Book Challenge.
The tome opens with an incendiary assertion by its authors, who state “[…]that underdeveloped countries perform better when governed by centralist political regimes and have a chaotic performance when the system adopted is democratic” (Kataria, 2010, as cited in Francisco & Agostinho, 2011). The book is made up of three sections, each of which has two chapters. The first chapter provides a general overview of São Tomé and Príncipe—a country made up of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, with its population predominantly located on the two islands that it is named for. In the second chapter, the authors delineate the difficult issues that São Tomé and Príncipe is beset by—namely political corruption, a stagnant economy that prevents citizens from lifting themselves out of poverty, and the vestiges of Portuguese colonialism, from which São Tomé and Príncipe was formally liberated in 1975. The authors point out that their country’s history, despite its turmoil, has been largely free of political violence, the primary exception being a massacre conducted by Portuguese colonial authorities in 1953. In the third chapter, they continue their excoriation of the São Toméan political class, which also featured heavily in the second chapter, writing that “[…]the house of Government is a hell[…][1]” The fourth chapter deals with how the possible presence of petroleum in the waters near São Tomé and Príncipe has generated the interest of the international community.
Exorcising Devils from the Throne concludes with a series of multifaceted recommendations for how to solve the crises that are wreaking havoc on São Tomé and Príncipe. The authors advocate for a pact between citizens and governing authorities, which they describe thusly:
[…]the Government has confidence that the Nation is able to actively and honestly work and participate in its programs, and …the Nation has confidence that the Government is able to develop effective programs and govern with transparency and mastery (Francisco & Agostinho, 2011).
To accomplish this objective, “…the country needs to be ‘populated’ with people shaped in the ‘new style’ and possessing new virtues.” The authors clarify that “…no physical replacement is required; just political and moral, allowing each man to cultivate appropriate virtues.” Thus, men and women must be inculcated to put aside self-centeredness and be more mindful of what their society needs. Perhaps the authors’ most intriguing recommendation is the creation of “a permanent collegial body, responsible for the analysis, evaluation and training of state organs, statesmen, academics and organizational leaders” which they call “the Office of the State.” The notion of a governmental sector that has the sole mission of offering a specific course of instruction to certain individuals in order to make them into prospective leaders is remarkable for its attempt to craft objective standards for quality leadership in candidates before they are presented to the voting population.
Albertino Francisco and Nujoma Agostinho are highly intelligent and very eager to utilize their talents to generate positive change in their country. At times, their enthusiasm for exploring ideas dilutes the strength of their arguments because a significant amount of the text is devoted to defining principles and describing theoretical scenarios as opposed to putting forth concrete data that would refine their thesis. Since this edition of Exercising Devils from the Throne was released in 2011, it would be interesting for Francisco and Agostinho to write a new volume providing updates on the present situation in São Tomé and Príncipe as well as their assessment of whether the nation has made progress in the past eleven years addressing the issues they have written about.
It is unfortunate that currently no English translations of full-length literary works from São Tomé and Príncipe have been published. However, there is reason for optimism as Lusophone African Short Stories and Poetry After Independence: Decolonial Destinies edited by Lamonte Aidoo and Daniel F. Silva was published last year and includes a selection of translated shorter works by São Toméan authors including Conceiçao Lima, Olinda Beja, and Albertino Bragança amongst others. As members of the global literary community, it is our responsibility to see that São Toméan authors’ works are translated into many different languages so that they are accessible to the widest audience possible.
Editor’s Note: This is the final entry for The Africa Book Challenge. Thank you to everyone who has visited, read, and followed along these past five years. Please stay tuned for more updates.
[1] All citations are direct material of Francisco & Agostinho unless otherwise specified.
Bibliography
1. “The World Factbook: SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE.”Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 14 Jan. 2022. Web. 29 Jan. 2022.
2. Francisco, Albertino, and Agostinho, Nujoma. (2011). Exorcising Devils from the Throne: São Tomé and Príncipe and the Chaos of Democratization. New York, NY: Algora Publishing.
3. Kataria, Anuradha. (2010). Demoracy on Trial, All Rise! New York, NY: Algora Publishing.
4. Silva, Daniel F., and Lamonte Aidoo, editors. (2021). Lusophone African Short Stories and Poetry after Independence: Decolonial Destinies. London, U.K. & New York, NY: Anthem Press: Anthem Studies in Race, Power, and Society. Kindle Edition.
5. “U.N. Data App: SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE.”United Nations. United Nations. Web. 29 Jan. 2022.
6. “U.N. Data App: Country Profile – SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE.” United Nations. United Nations. Web. 29 Jan. 2022.
Co-wives, Co-widows by Adrienne Yabouza is the first English translation of a book from the Central African Republic to be published in fifty years since Makombo Bamboté’s Daba’s Travels from Ouadda to Bangui was published in 1971. The novel describes the ordeal faced by Ndongo Passy and Grekpoubou when Lidou, their shared husband, dies and their in-laws scheme to unlawfully seize their inheritance. The two widows must unite to protect the assets that are rightfully theirs and essential for them to provide for their children.
Co-wives, Co-widows opens with Ndongo Passy and Grekpoubou making their way to downtown Bangui to vote for the first time in the 2011 presidential elections. Although this is meant to be an empowering act for the women, they are aware that voting is little more than a symbolic gesture in their country. “When the results came in, the outgoing president had not won the first round with 120% of the vote. He could have, if he’d wanted, but he’d chosen 66%. That was hardly greedy[…]” A few days later, Lidou dies of a heart attack—presumably from combining both traditional and pharmaceutical remedies to enhance his sexual performance. Minutes after he is discovered dead, Zouaboua, Lidou’s cousin, appears on the scene and commandeers it to his advantage. “[…]Zouaboua… locked the doors to the widows’ bedrooms, Lidou’s bedroom, Lidou’s office and the hallway. He put all the keys in his pocket[…]” Working with Lidou’s older sister, Songowali, Zouaboua bribes a doctor at the local hospital to write a letter stating his professional belief that Lidou was poisoned.
In defiance of Zouaboua, Ndongo Passy uses an axe to demolish the locked doors of the rooms of her home and instructs Grekpoubou to gather her possessions while she does the same. The two widows hire a female attorney and take Zouaboua and Songowali to court, returning to their parents’ homes to live with their children while the legal proceedings are carried out. Unfortunately, despite the sincere efforts of their lawyer to help them, the same forces that prevent the country from having an honest election cause the judge to rule in Zouaboua’s favor. Ndongo Passy reluctantly accepts that, ‘“The judge of Justice, the judge they say is impartial, he was bought, the way you can buy kola or groundnuts.”’ As Ndongo Passy is leaving the court on the day that the verdict is handed down, a prosperous, widowed cattle breeder from the Fulani ethnic group approaches her and introduces himself. The two find themselves drawn to one another and begin courting.
Polygamy is a theme that is commonly explored in African literature. In Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter, the protagonist reflects on the agony she experienced when her husband married a second wife in a letter she pens to a friend in the aftermath of his death. What sets Co-wives, Co-widows apart from other books about this topic is the amicable relationship between Lidou’s two wives. Ndongo Passy admits to Grekpoubou that it was not easy for her to accept another woman as her husband’s wife, ‘“…I didn’t want you here. I turned my back on Lidou for a long time because of it.”’ However, as a widow, Ndongo Passy never believes Grekpoubou is entitled to a lesser share of Lidou’s assets than she is. Thus, Yabouza depicts the two women rising above the patriarchal system that permits polygamy and coming together in their empathy for one another as mothers who need to provide for their children.
Imoussa Yamssa, the Fulani cattle breeder, soon proposes to Ndongo Passy. She agrees to marry him but with a stipulation, ‘“My sister. My co-widow, Grekpoubou. She must come and live with us. I can’t abandon her.”’ Yamssa is surprised by this request but agrees to it. Though the novel may strain credibility by portraying a man who is willing to provide for a woman and her four children without being married to her, the fact that Ndongo Passy makes this demand illustrates the depth of the rapport between her and Grekpoubou. The narrative ends on an uplifting note with Ndongo Passy celebrating her marriage and both women eager to begin a new chapter in their lives. They even manage to covertly take retribution against Zouaboua by anonymously summoning him to the dowry ceremony on behalf of Yamssa without naming who his bride is. The prevailing moral of Co-wives, Co-widows is that the actions one takes to seek justice are more significant than the outcomes they are intended to achieve. The legal system in their country may have allowed Zouaboua to cheat Ndongo Passy and Grekpoubou out of their inheritance, but their willingness to fight against him incidentally led Ndongo Passy to meet her new husband. This tenet about justice has promising implications when applied to the political situation in the Central African Republic.
Bibliography
1.“The World Factbook: Central African Republic.” Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 14 Dec. 2021. Web. 26 Dec. 2021.
An unnamed city in Ethiopia shapes and is molded by the ugly misdeeds that occur within its borders in The Case of the Criminal Walk and Other Stories by Hama Tuma. The twelve tales, which vary in length, analyze the collective psyche of a nation of people for whom hardship is as innate as tradition. The collection begins with a preface that describes the metropolis that serves as the setting for these works of fiction and introduces Captain Berhanu, the protagonist of the first story, who may be inspired by a real person referenced in the book’s opening dedication. “For Captain Berhanu, the City was the sum of its dirt poor and indecently rich inhabitants, of their dreams and fears, their passions and yearnings, their hostilities and similarities[…]” Hama Tuma skillfully delineates the adversities faced by contemporary Ethiopians, while never depriving them of their dignity.
In “The Other Son”, the first story in the collection, Captain Berhanu, an experienced member of the police force, is assigned to investigate the death by stabbing of a middle-aged man, in which the victim was castrated and his severed penis was placed conspicuously on his body. Captain Berhanu suspects that the killing may be an act of political vengeance as the murdered man was at one time a high-level official in a regime that ruled the country prior to the current “one-ethnic based government.” He also realizes, as is often the case, that he cannot expect either the relatives and neighbors of the deceased man nor those whom he deems probable suspects to be forthright when they answer his questions, and therefore, he must rely upon his own contacts to learn more about who the victim really was. Captain Berhanu’s initial hunch about the reason for the murder proves correct, however this realization only complicates the investigation, especially when he confronts one of the culprits and makes an even more chilling discovery about the killing. “Captain Berhanu was not sure of what he had to do now. Once again justice had shrouded herself in ambiguous garbs and challenged him to understand.” The narrative ends without a clear resolution—readers will have to decide how to interpret the final sentences for themselves. In this way, “The Other Son” serves as a fitting opening for the collection, introducing its theme of “vendetta” and the extent to which personal retribution is carried out by Ethiopians not only for cultural reasons but because political upheaval and exploitation have rendered them unable to seek redress any other way.
In the piece which serves as the namesake for the book, a man is brought to trial for violating a new mandate which stipulates that traveling outside of one’s “Kilil” (the district assigned to each ethnic group) without approval from the government is trespassing. The legal proceedings in the courtroom are carried out in a ludicrous manner and it is clear that the defendant will not be treated with fairness or clemency during his trial. The arresting officer testifies that upon being approached and informed of his crime, the suspect insisted that ‘“…he was an Ethiopian and free to walk anywhere in his country.”’ The prevailing moral conveyed by the story is that when laws do not promote the rights of citizens, the pursuit of justice becomes impossible.
“The Garbage Baby” chronicles the formative years of an orphaned three-year-old girl who is found sleeping on a mound of refuse by a sympathetic young boy who convinces the group of homeless urchins he roams the city with to let her join them. When she grows into a teenager, the girl attracts the attention of a treacherous police officer who arrests the boy illegitimately and then rapes her. Soon after the attack, fate leads her to an infant boy left in a dumpster in the same manner she had been. “A smile lit her face, her tooth-gap and dimples visible. ‘You will grow up and avenge me,’ she told the baby.” In this way, Hama Tuma revisits the quest for “[t]he Bekel’, the vengeance was all, the more cruel the vendetta, the more the satisfaction,” that he introduced in “The Other Son” but from a female perspective.
The collection concludes appropriately with “The Sheratonians” which depicts “a group of six who sat every evening… drinking and smoking, eating Belugia caviar and other aperitifs imported from France and Italy[…]” in a bar at the city’s Sheraton Hotel while cavalierly discussing the dire situation of their nation with the assumption that its woes do not have a significant impact on their lives. One of them sums up their mentality of conceited indifference thusly, ‘“[…O]ur eyes do not see the miserable thousands right outside of this marvelous hotel not because we are blind but we are convinced there is nothing worthwhile to see.”’ However, the group’s complacency is upended when special agents of the current government appear at their table one evening and inform them that one of their companions has been apprehended for political reasons and he insists that they can vouch for his innocence. The panicked group immediately disassociates themselves from the man and says that they had always harbored reservations about him. Even after the officers disperse, the clique is alarmed that they could now face scrutiny from the authorities. To complicate matters, they were in the process of vetting a new member, who subsequently declines to join their ranks due to concerns about further trouble after witnessing their encounter with the agents. The story illustrates that those who are indifferent to the privations of other people on the grounds that they are strangers, will ultimately prove disloyal to their supposed allies. It also serves as a reminder that wealth cannot fully shield its possessors from the ramifications of tyranny.
The Case of the Criminal Walk depicts an Ethiopian society where virtually every citizen harbors a desire for “Bekel,” knows a victim of the country’s “Red Terror,” and starving beggars outnumber pedestrians on its cities’ streets. In the epilogue to the book, Captain Berhanu drives home from his police station on a turbulent night in the city which is no different from any other night. Hama Tuma published The Case of the Criminal Walk fifteen years ago and yet the issues he explores in it could not be more relevant in the wake of the intense conflict that has broken out in Ethiopia in the past year.
Bibliography
1. Harding, Andrew. “Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict: Mass Arrests and Ethnic Profiling Haunt Addis Ababa.” BBC News. BBC News, 21 Nov. 2021. Web. 21 Nov. 2021.
2. “The World Factbook: ETHIOPIA.” Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 16 Nov. 2021. Web. 21 Nov. 2021.
3. “U.S. Gravely Concerned’ by Escalating Violence in Ethiopia Ahead of Envoy’s Visit.” Reuters. Reuters, 3 Nov. 2021. Web. 21 Nov. 2021.
English-language works of literature by authors from Seychelles are extremely difficult to find. While it is unclear whether Ritah’s collection of poems 40 years: For my 40th Birthday, I pause to share 40 poems then I shall be on my way is the first book by a Seychellois author to be published in English, it is certainly one of the first to be available for worldwide access. As the title states, the book is a compendium of poems that reflect on various moments of significance in the life of the author as she celebrates her fortieth birthday.
In a brief prelude to the poems, Ritah describes her upbringing and some of the adversities she was forced to contend with in her early life, which she probes in more detail in her verses. In a poem entitled “Rip Current,” Ritah illustrates the effects that domestic violence against her mother had on her, comparing it to the dangers of the restless ocean and her rage about it to a volcano, “I watched helplessly, as blows landed, / An undersea volcano inside of me.” In “Rewind to Childhood,” she contemplates the timeless question of whether an adult would ever want to become a child again. “Go, if you want, but I shall stay. / Why would I want to depend on others?” Thus, she reiterates her unhappiness about her formative years by asserting that she has no desire to relive her youth. 40 years has a similar theme to Ananda Devi’s novel Eve Out of Her Ruins in that Seychelles and Mauritius—both African nations comprised of islands in the Indian Ocean—are popular destinations for Western tourists; however, the reality for the people who live in these countries year-round is quite different as poverty and violence are common.
Parenthood emerges as a theme towards the middle of the collection. In “Motherhood” she writes, “Nine months, I waited, twice, / Way before the bud blossomed.” In the two subsequent poems, she describes the dissimilar personalities of her two sons. However, the joy she experiences upon becoming a parent is tempered by the sobering stress brought on by the realities of caregiving and providing for her children. In “No Rest in the Nest” she writes, “It is not easy to feed the young ones, / Especially as I still need to be fed.” Her struggles may be intensified by the fact that she appears to be a single mother, making no mention of a partner with whom she can share her newfound responsibilities.
In the latter half of 40 years, the author writes about subjects such as the natural beauty of Seychelles and her thoughts about aging and what she would like her legacy to be. In “Suicide” she grimly contemplates ending her life, “Flip a coin. / Head, to die; / Tail, to live.” Thus, she accurately captures the way in which chronic depression and hardship can leave a person so inured to their situation that an action as drastic as inflicting death on oneself can be decided by something as glib as a coin toss. “Les Mon Lalimyer Briye” is written in Seychellois Creole and is not accompanied by an English translation. It is intriguing to consider what Ritah’s motivations may have been for not providing an English translation for the poem especially since she wrote the rest of the book in English. Even with limited comprehension of their meaning, reading these verses in the native language of Seychelles is an important intellectual exercise.
40 years ends on an uplifting note with “I Dance.” Ritah writes, “Dancing to express, I prefer. / For black, blue ink on white sheet,” comparing the physical artform of dancing to her creative process for composing verses and the act of writing with pen and paper. Despite the suffering she has experienced, Ritah is finally capable of celebrating her existence and it very well may have taken her the titular “40 years” to reach this point. Upon finishing this collection, one can only feel fortunate that Ritah was willing to share these personal meditations on her life with an audience. Hopefully, 40 years will inspire a broader interest in making works of literature by Seychellois writers available in English in the future.
Bibliography
1. “The World Factbook: SEYCHELLES.” Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 23 Sep. 2021. Web. 11 Oct. 2021.
2. RITAH. (2019.) Foreward. In 40 years : For my 40th Birthday, I pause to share 40 poems then I shall be on my way (pp. 1-2). Chennai, India: Notion Press. Kindle Edition.
The legend of the first man to inhabit Madagascar is evoked in juxtaposition to the chronicle of the life of his contemporary heir in Johary Ravaloson’s Return to the Enchanted Island, a novel that strives to never take itself too seriously. After he “accidentally fell from the sky” onto the Malagasy mainland, Ietsy is fascinated by his surroundings yet so desperate to connect with other humans that “…he sculpt[s] statues in the image of himself and the women of his dreams.” The female embodiment of wind and atmosphere “breathed into the statues, and they became alive.” Eventually, other settlers “reached the Great Island after traveling thousands of miles in their huge outriggers and finished the crossing by walking on giant lily pads[…]” These colorful anecdotes and other examples of folklore are interspersed with the narrative focused on the novel’s present-day protagonist.
Several centuries later, Ietsy Razak is born into a Malagasy family that is “blessed by the Gods and Ancestors” or perhaps simply utilizes the political tumult that Madagascar has experienced through the ages to its advantage. He lives the pampered life of an aristocrat, lacking the motivation to prosper that once galvanized his predecessors, presumably because it is not necessary for him. Scandal occurs when Ietsy and his friends get high on recreational drugs at their private school and one of them suffers a fatal overdose. His father swiftly ships him off to France to a boarding school to escape the disgrace he has brought upon himself. In France, Ietsy casually pursues degrees that he has little inclination to finish while immersing himself in the bourgeois party scene. Scandal strikes again on a trip home during summer recess when Ietsy kills a pedestrian with his car during a race. Once again, his father intervenes and sends him back to France and obligingly pays off the victim’s family. However, Ietsy soon becomes a victim himself when he develops an infatuation with a beautiful French model, a femme fatale, who is incapable of taking their relationship seriously. Ultimately, Ietsy decides to move back to Madagascar.
In his homeland, Ietsy manages to find salvation, falling in love in a genuine way after reconnecting with a childhood acquaintance. Lea-Nour, the woman who becomes his wife, is arguably the antithesis of Ietsy. She is a literature scholar and passionate advocate for the preservation and promotion of Malagasy art and culture. Intriguingly, Lea-Nour’s marriage to a man from such a prestigious family causes a rift between her and those who support the causes she champions, “despite their clear-sightedness, even the most righteous among them could not help but associate Lea-Nour with how they were being exploited[…]” However, she remains loyal to Ietsy and they have three children together. Of course, Ietsy’s inherited wealth means that he is absolved of the responsibility of providing for his children financially.
It is difficult to assess Ietsy’s cavalier behavior and the extent to which his family’s affluence shields him from facing the consequences of his actions when considering that he hails from a developing nation that struggles with widespread poverty. Likewise, Ietsy’s antics in school underscore the extent to which he has squandered opportunities that are not available to many other Africans. In one of the book’s most poignant scenes, Ietsy decides to make amends with the family of the pedestrian he killed several years after the accident by apologizing to them in-person in their home and offering to pay tuition for the deceased man’s son to attend a school maintained by his father. However, his initial motivation for taking this action was to please the mother of a childhood friend on whom he had a longstanding crush. In the concluding moments of Return to the Enchanted Island, Ietsy seems to realize that he can find meaning in life not by dwelling on his past lineage but by devoting himself to the life he is building with his wife and children.
Bibliography
1. “The World Factbook: MADAGASCAR.” Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 22 Sept. 2021. Web. 24 Sept. 2021.
The Dragons, The Giant, The Womenis Wayétu Moore’s expansive memoir of not only her family’s abrupt exodus from Liberia after insurgents stage a coup to depose the president, but also of their resettlement in the United States. As a five-year-old, Wayétu lives with her father and two sisters in Monrovia. Her mother, Mam, is attending Columbia University in New York on a Fulbright scholarship and her absence is keenly felt by her daughters. As rumors of violent challengers to the president’s authority begin to circulate, Wayétu’s father initially downplays the threat to civilians and resists leaving Monrovia. Then, one weekend morning, rebels storm their neighborhood. Wayétu, her father, and two sisters must evacuate their home, accompanied by Wayétu’s maternal grandmother and a young woman who works as household help for the family. They make their way to Lai, a remote village where Mam’s family is from, and anxiously await word via radio reports that it is safe to return to Monrovia. As rivaling factions begin fighting amongst themselves after ousting the president, Wayétu’s family fears that they will be stranded in Lai until one day a rebel appears in the village and informs them that Mam has enlisted her to escort them over the Liberian border to Sierra Leone.
The next section of the memoir begins with Wayétu living in New York City as a grown woman. She recounts her family’s relocation to the United States, first staying with an aunt in Connecticut and then moving to Texas on their own. She experiences prejudice as a woman of color, something she never had to contend with in Liberia. “[…]I was black in this kingdom where black was criminal, a stain, a deformity.” She struggles with romantic relationships and periodically has distressing dreams about her family’s evacuation from Monrovia. She decides to visit her parents, who have moved back to Liberia, aware that it will be her first time returning to the country since she left as a child. In Monrovia, she becomes determined to locate Satta, the rebel who brought her family to Sierra Leone, who has become a fixture in her dreams. Ultimately, her quest is unsuccessful. The next portion of the book, narrated by Mam as a younger woman, chronicles her ordeal of watching the coup unfold from New York after discovering that she is pregnant with her fourth child. Unable to bear her feelings of helplessness as the conflict persists, Mam entrusts her new baby to a sister who has recently immigrated to New York and travels to Sierra Leone in hopes of bringing her family to America.
A fascinating aspect of this memoir is that the author describes experiences that happened to her at a very young age when she lacks the developmental capacity to comprehend them. Her father insists to her that the noise from gunshots is actually from “drums” carried by the insurgents. Upon seeing dead bodies on the street, she wants to know, ‘“Why is everyone lying down?”’ Thus, Moore skillfully melds her childlike perspective on these brutal events with her adult realization of what was occurring. It is a testament to her father’s fortitude that he was able to partially safeguard his children from understanding the dangerousness of their situation.
Satta emerges as a compelling figure within the narrative. As Wayétu notes in the concluding section of her memoir, which details her family’s sojourn from Lai to Sierra Leone, “She was smaller than other big people, shorter though her shoulders were wide, but she walked in a bigger way than them, godlike with the certainty of her steps.” Satta is aloof towards Wayétu’s family and seems uncomfortable with any form of intimacy. She insists on not being present when the Moore family is reunited in Sierra Leone and when Mam tries to hug her after paying her the money she demands in advance in exchange for finding her family, “Satta flit[s] uncomfortably in the embrace.” Wayétu observes that the male fighters Satta encounters on their journey “looked at her for a long time, up and down and up and down…” evidencing their awareness as males that even as a soldier she is still a woman, implying that she may have experienced sexual trauma. In her unfulfilled desire to meet Satta, Wayétu seems to realize that many of the rebels who caused so much destruction to her family and country were often victims themselves.
Belying the turmoil chronicled in the narrative, Wayétu Moore also pays tribute to the landscape of Liberia and the harmonious ways of its people in her memoir. “Little boys drove with their Ol’ Pas, a grandfather or other old man with pupils eclipsed with a dwelling blue, to the Atlantic, to fish facing the sunset.” The Dragons, The Giant, The Women is a multifaceted work of literature that exposes not only the grim reality of violent conflict, which drives multitudes of refugees and immigrants to leave their native countries, but also the hardships they face resettling in new lands where they often feel unwelcome and find themselves pining for the familiar comforts of the land they once knew.
Bibliography
“The World Factbook: LIBERIA.” Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 Jul. 2021. Web. 7 Aug. 2021.
The spider’s web is introduced early on in Elieshi Lema’s novel Parched Earth as a metaphor for the “matrix in which we travel, sometimes blindly, because our consciousness is often colored by the primacy of our own desires…” and later in the text is used to describe the pernicious effects of patriarchy, a doctrine that the novel’s narrator, Doreen, is highly familiar with even before she learns the word. A web is also an apt description of the novel itself, as it hardly maintains a linear focus on Doreen but expands to include the perspectives of her family of origin, her husband and daughter, and her in-laws, thus asserting that no story is ever solely defined by one person.
Doreen was raised by a single mother who struggled to provide for her four children because she did not maintain relationships with their fathers. As she matures, Doreen pieces together the ignominy that befell her mother in her youth “gathered from people’s words and gestures, from the silent language of her eyes.” Doreen manages to liberate herself from poverty by becoming a teacher and moving to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. Her older brother, Godbless, does not perform as well academically and has limited opportunities for advancement. He is particularly distressed about the absence of his father from his life and is convinced that it is partially responsible for his lack of success.
Doreen meets Martin by chance at a teaching conference that she attends in place of a colleague. The two have an intense affair and get married in a civil ceremony at a government office. Initially, their marriage proves to be a fulfilling union and Martin continues to prioritize Doreen’s needs in the way that he did during their courtship. ‘“Men make a big mistake when they invade a woman instead of walking in, slowly, carefully, calling to be welcome. Waiting to be met at the door,’ he said.” However, he gradually succumbs to the societal pressures placed upon him, particularly by his sister, Rebekah, who lives with the couple for a period of time. ‘“Women have the company of women and men have the company of men[…]” she explains to them reproachfully. Martin, feeling emasculated for enjoying the company of his wife, begins frequenting bars after work and has an extramarital affair. Doreen feels obligated to give him a son, even though they both claimed to be content with their firstborn daughter, Milika. However, she finds that she is unable to get pregnant a second time.
Doreen begins to unravel emotionally, devastated by the loss of the bond she once had with her husband. She attempts to revitalize her life, making herself “a social missionary giving free services to any relative marrying or baptizing a child.” However, even as she struggles to make the happiness of others the focus of her life, she feels bereft. She meets Joseph, a retired ambassador, in another chance occurrence, and the two develop an immediate connection. He confides in her that his wife left him for another man after twenty-two years of marriage. He channels his emotions into painting and teaches Doreen to paint. The two have in-depth philosophical conversations about the nature of relationships between men and women. It is Joseph who introduces her to the concept of patriarchy. Doreen chooses to pursue a relationship with Joseph while she is still married to Martin, drawing from the example of her mother who made herself indifferent to the judgment of those around her regarding her status as an unwed mother. In this way, she is able to get her need for companionship met while maintaining a civil yet detached attitude towards her husband.
Parched Earth touches upon many themes that are frequently explored in novels written by African women. As a protagonist, Doreen exhibits similarities to Emilienne in Angèle Rawiri’s The Fury and Cries of Women. Both women are educated and independent and struggle to preserve their autonomy after getting married. Each woman has given birth to a daughter and faces fertility issues when trying to conceive a second child. Female relatives of the women’s husbands—Martin’s sister and Emilienne’s mother-in-law—live with both couples and seek to influence their relationships. The two men betray their wives by having affairs. Though it may take time before the problems created by patriarchy are addressed at a core level, writers like Elieshi Lema demonstrate through their works of literature that women can make personal decisions that give them more agency over their lives as individuals.
Bibliography
1. “The World Factbook: TANZANIA.” Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 14 June 2021. Web. 19 June 2021.
Tunisia’s tenuous path to democracy more than fifty years after becoming an independent nation is explored by Yamen Manai in his novel The Ardent Swarm. Villagers in rural Nawa are shocked when a convoy of young people arrives and erects a voting booth for them and encourages them to participate in the upcoming elections. However, the empowerment this gesture supposedly symbolizes is undermined when the “Party of God” sends its own emissaries to Nawa who distribute necessities such as food and clothing to the villagers and instruct them to vote for their party’s candidate. Meanwhile, Sidi, an old beekeeper who lives near Nawa, avoids this political turmoil, viewing it as irrelevant to his life, until one of his hives is destroyed by a predator and all its occupants are killed. Seeking to protect the rest of the bees, whom he refers to as “his girls” from further harm, Sidi realizes that he must reject the confines of his insular life and rely on assistance from both the villagers and university scholars to learn more about the nature of this threat.
In the aftermath of the raid, Sidi keeps watch over his bees, expecting that the predator will return. His suspicion proves correct and one day he discovers “A horde of giant hornets […] cloaked in black, broadcasting their murderous intentions in broad daylight.” He manages to apprehend one in a jar and presents it to the villagers in Nawa, wanting to know if anyone has ever come across such a creature. One man recalls that a similar insect flew out of an object in one of the boxes he received from the Party of God. In this way, the hornets become symbolic of the nefarious intentions of the Party of God. The necessities passed out to the villagers for free were meant to entice them to vote for the party without understanding the reality of their agenda, however they also inadvertently harbored and unleashed an antagonist to the local bee population. “No more bees: no more pollination. No more pollination: no more harvests. No more harvests: hello, famine.” Thus, the issue has ramifications far broader than Sidi’s livelihood.
Sidi travels to the capital city and seeks out a niece who is married to a university dean to help him research the hornets. After poring over encyclopedias with Jannet, his niece, and her husband, Tahar, Sidi identifies the hornet species as one that originates from East Asia. He learns that “Only Japanese bees, the Apis mellifera japonica, have succeeded in developing an effective defense technique…” that kills their assailants. Acknowledging the harm that could ensue if the hornets continue their assaults on the Tunisian bee population, Jannet and Tahar resolve to travel to Japan with the plan of bringing back some of the native Japanese bees. The hope is that Sidi can introduce the Japanese bees into his hives and these new bees will teach his other bees how to thwart the hornets. The trip also gives the couple the opportunity to experience a culture that is quite different from their own.
Sidi decides to explore the mountainous region beyond Nawa with the goal of finding the giant hornets, using honey as bait for them and a traditional beekeeping suit as protection for himself. He succeeds in locating one of their nests and manages the uneasy task of seizing it from one of the uppermost branches of a pine tree without disturbing its occupants. However, once he has the hornets in his possession, his determination falters. “He was merely a man, and his duty was to destroy. A nest of hornets, but living hornets. Was duty the only solution?” He begins the trek back from the mountain, carrying the intact hornet nest on his donkey. He is blindsided by an attack perpetrated by a group of militants against agents from the local border patrol squad. The militants have parted ways with the Party of God, considering them to be too tolerant, and intend to use violence to establish religious rule over the country. Sidi is appalled when he recognizes an ordinary villager from Nawa as one of the combatants. In the novel’s most powerful scene, Sidi is presented with his solution for how to appropriately dispose of the hornet’s nest. “With one assured motion, he smashed the nest on the ground and it split in two. Within seconds, thousands of hysterical giant hornets were everywhere.” Thus, this man who was so keen to stay removed from the world of politics, finds himself in exactly the right position to stand up to those who threaten genuine sovereignty and is able to use the enemy that they have brought forth against his beloved bees against them.
Originally published in French in 2017 and translated into English this year, The Ardent Swarm is a contemporary and compelling account of the sociopolitical issues currently facing Tunisia and other nations throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Sidi is a thoughtful protagonist whose humble life contrasts sharply with the greedy aspirations of the political stakeholders in his country. The inclusion of information about the breeding and keeping of bees adds a unique dimension to this novel. The international literary community can only hope that Yamen Manai will continue to provide his insightful commentary on events unfolding both in his native land and beyond it.
Bibliography
1. “The World Factbook: TUNISIA.” Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 27 Apr. 2021. Web. 1 May 2021.
Media outlets worldwide are reporting that Egyptian author Nawal El Saadawi died yesterday, March 21, 2021. She was the author of many works of literature, including Woman at Point Zero, which was featured during the first year of The Africa Book Challenge. She was 89 years-old.
This is the first time that the author of a book that has been written about for The Africa Book Challenge has died since the inception of the project. Though it is hard to know what to say at this time, we can only be thankful for her presence in our world and that she was able to remain with us and fighting for us for so long.
THE AFRICA BOOK CHALLENGE 