African Proverbs

Earlier in the year I did research regarding African proverbs (and those particular to Botswana) which I could pepper my main characters' speech with. Tonight I'm going through the proverbs and making notes about where best to use them. In some cases, I'd like to use them as chapter titles to get away from the old "Chapter One", "Chapter Two" business. A chapter with its own title sets it apart and also gives the reader something to look forward to. How many times have you looked over a book's table of contents at the chapter titles?

Here are a few choice proverbs:

When the elephants fight, the grass suffers.

You send a wise person on an important mission, not a long-legged person.

One should not ignore an elephant and throw stones at a small bird.

The result of continually chasing a chicken is that your hand touches some dirty ground.

When the drumbeat changes, the dance changes.

Too much haste splits the yam.

When a bird gets tired, it will land on any tree.

The shoe doesn't need a sock. (ie, Nothing closer to the truth.)

Hotel Rwanda: Hope or Aberration?

I just followed The Last King of Scotland with Hotel Rwanda. Like The Last King of Scotland, Hotel Rwanda shows the beauty, affluence and appeal to Western tourists that African countries can possess. Unfortunately, it also shows the impact of mass-killings and the lack of intervention by those same Western countries.

Unlike The Last King of Scotland, Hotel Rwanda is told from the perspective of a local, in this case, hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, as played by Don Cheadle. The local perspective on the Hutu-Tutsi conflict avoids the patronizing white, Western perspective in The Last King of Scotland while showing that individuals such as Paul can successfully fight the good fight while chaos surrounds them.

If Hotel Rwanda were the only point of reference for Africa that you have, what conclusions would you draw? Depending on your experience with civil war, either you understand how two groups of people can turn on each other over time or it may baffle you. The lack of action by Western powers may frustrate you or may make frigidly cold sense. The main character, Paul, should inspire you - giving one faith in the African people to take care of themselves and each other despite their differences. As in The Last King of Scotland, this film probably doesn't do much for one's respect of African governments or armies. And it may even portray Paul as an aberration - that rare leader amidst the chaos - who works for the common good and succeeds.

How can I use Hotel Rwanda? Good question. I need to learn more about the tribal make-up of Botswana first. If there are multiple tribes and if it they get along it would be nice to show that they don't refer to each other as "cockroaches"; that Botswana's radio stations only incite people when soccer scores are given; and that violence is not the immediate and sole answer to the problems in society that arise.

On the Michigan side, a friend has lent me Sufjan Stevens' "Michigan: Greetings from the Great Lake State" which I'll take a listen to and see what I can glean from it.

The Last King of Scotland and the White Gaze

I watched The Last King of Scotland this past week - a film about the rise and ways of Idi Amin, president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. While Uganda is a good distance from Botswana, I'd be naive to believe that all my readers are up on their African geography, culture, history and politics and that they may fudge together the various distinctions into one composite opinion.

And what, pray tell, would that opinion be if you've only seen this film? Hard to say. If one equates Amin with Africa according to this film, then the country is jocular, but also menacing; large and plentiful, but immature and inefficient; loyal, but suspicious. In the end, Amin's regime installed by Western powers bypasses democracy and kills approximately 300,000 of his own people - an all too often told tale for the dark continent so it would seem.

The story is told from the point of view of a young Scottish doctor who has traveled to Uganda to do good, only to become one of Amin's advisers. The story comes to a head when Amin proclaims himself the father of Uganda only for his white Western adviser to call him a child. I wonder how this story would be different if Ngugi had written the script.

I've been skeptical of the West's ability to tell other cultures how they're wrong and what they should do to correct their situation ever since reading Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. In this book de Soto discusses how the West preached capitalism to former Communist countries (and South America) without taking into account the importance of the proper legal structure to support their new economies. This is kinda like telling someone to bake a cake, giving them pans, food and an oven, but not the recipe. I have a hard enough time with a recipe...

What does this film do for my book? Well, it reminds me that Western audiences still like to buy the African despot story rather than the Western stooge story. How can I use this to my advantage? Drop the occasional genocide joke, you say? Sure. Why not? Always fun to play on the naive assumptions of folks, ie that if you're not a dead African that you're a killer and incapable of being democratic. Then again, what good is democracy when the elected leader sees the vote of confidence as support for his/her will and not trust to do the will of the people?

Confession

My good man Costas is right. I haven't been posting as frequently as I'd like (ie, weekly) lately, but he's also right that I've been working on a side project. I'm editing a chapbook's worth of poems that I'd like to finish by September.

I continue to edit chapter two of Any Color You Want - but the editing process isn't particularly sexy so I haven't posted about it. The first read through was for basic grammatical correctness; in the second I highlighted areas that could be expanded or needed better explanation; and the third will require me to do the expanding and 'splaining. That's where I'm at. Where you at? Where Brooklyn at?
I'm not familiar with The Sheltering Sky so I'll have to look into that. What I did see recently was The Gods Must Be Crazy which is the first movie I remember watching about Africa which'll be the topic of my next posting.

Old School Joints

A local radio station likes to play "old school joints." Last night they introduced such a joint by saying, "Back in the day, New York City...1999." When did 1999 become "back in the day"? And if that's old school, what's Run DMC?

This 9 year window of history seems to be a symptom of America's amnesia, or more likely, our preference for the present and the future than the past. That being said, when someone can show intimate knowledge of history, I cannot help but be impressed.

To this end I've been reading two books on Michigan lately and learning a lot. I've been gaining knowledge that I'd like to arm my African protagonists with; knowledge that'll buy them credibility in their work in a foreign land. For instance, Texas has the Alamo, but in Michigan the cry once was, "Remember the River Raisin!" And did you know Michiganians were dubbed wolverines by Ohioans "who likened them to that 'vicious, smelly, ugly northwoods animal'" during the battle for the Toledo Strip? And that wolverines are part of the weasel family? Crazy kids stuff.

On a side note, I hope to share some good news soon. Stay tuned.

Ngugi

In addition to visiting Michigan, I have read a number of books on Michigan history and African literature. Most of the African works that I've read have either been regarding folklore or poetry to get a feel for the stories Africans tell, how they tell them, what kinds of characters and plots they use and so on. And then there's Ngugi.

A friend recommended that I read Ngugi's Devil on the Cross (1987). As I quickly learned, Ngugi's no joke. A native of Kenya, his writing concentrates on post-colonial Africa. I was reluctant to read his work for a couple reasons:

1) It takes place in East Africa, not Southern Africa
2) I didn't think I had read enough traditional African literature and didn't want to jump ahead to more modern content.

That being said, I believe that I was able to pick up some phrases that could be used universally throughout Africa ("Too much haste splits the yam", "The shoe doesn't need a sock" (meaning, "Nothing's closer to the truth"), "It is never too early to go to the market, before the sun scorches the vegetables"), not just Kenya.

This book also reads like the other side of John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. There Perkins talks about what he would do to extend American business interests abroad. Here, Ngugi talks about how men like Perkins influenced his country's businessmen. Pretty powerful stuff which begins to answer a question I'd always had: Why don't these countries have their own corporations? Perkins may argue it's because we've taken them out (to stay on the hit man tip).

As Ngugi writes, "There is nothing as terrible as a people who have swallowed foreign customs whole, without even chewing them, for such people become mere parrots", which is how he describes some of his post-colonial countrymen who continue to serve the financial interests of foreigners. More positively, he also writes, "...we shouldn't always run after foreign things, following in the footsteps of other people, singing only songs that have been composed by others, joining in the chorus of songs sung by soloists from other lands. We can compose our own songs, produce our own soloists, sing the songs to ourselves."

How does this fit in to Any Color You Want? First, Ngugi's story sewed a seed 21 years ago that now, with the Western world weakened economically and militarily, may give the developing world fruit to bear: That being, they can follow their own way. Second, his story questions the expertise and supremacy of Western ways which my protagonists will also do. Basically, Ngugi may be the dramatic precedent for this comedy.

For those of you finding it hard to believe that this is really a comedy, in chapter two our protagonists start a car alarm symphony with a soccer ball in a public parking lot. Good times.

Stuck in the Middle

After years of squirreling away my writing, I have come to enjoy the comments that other readers bring which I would have never considered. A number of readers have already weighed in on the first chapter and helped me flesh out various parts and characters. This past weekend another reader brought to light another angle I had not given sufficient thought: the perspective of the people of Botswana.

Essentially, the reader said that I was speaking for the people of Botswana and, well, I had no right to do that. After much discussion, I agreed that without spending time there and without consulting long-time residents, that my story would carry little credibility with those in the know.

This line of thought had struck me earlier on in the writing process. I wondered if I should fictionalize the countries in the story to avoid this very problem. I decided not to for a few reasons.

First I thought of Gulliver's Travels and asked myself, "What countries was Jonathan Swift alluding to? And how many people today know that it was a satire, not simply the story of a traveler?" I fear that, on the whole, the specific satiric allusions have been lost to the entertainingly fantastic tales Swift told. [That being said, haven't his stories stood the test of time and can they not allude to present day conflicts as much as those of his time?]

Second, Botswana has a great story to tell. Unlike Borat's Kazakhstan, Botswana is a success and if I could do something to let Western readers know that Africa has such a success, why not show it off rather than having to make up such a case?

Third, I was recently inspired by the following piece which appeared in the 12/19/2007 edition of the Economist regarding the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference:

"Who would save it? The little guy, of course: Kevin Conrad, a (conveniently handsome) delegate from Papua New Guinea, a poor but beautiful country condemned to sink beneath the waves unless the big powers act. He leant towards his microphone, face taught with emotion. 'If for some reason you are not willing to lead,” he said, referring to an arrogant comment on leadership by one of the American delegates, “leave it to the rest of us. Please—get out of the way.' The applause was thunderous. Minutes later, Ms Dobriansky (the U.S. representative) crumpled. 'We will go forward and join consensus,' she said. There were sighs of relief and gasps of elation. The planet was saved. It was, everybody agreed, an historic agreement.'"

While I cannot stand behind Botswana's lecturn on the global stage, I can make a similar point through humor. Jeremiads will continue to be written this way or that and often because of their serious and didactic tone they are easily written off. I'd prefer to make my points with a little laughter. As an old French teacher of mine who recently passed away liked to say, "If you can't laugh at life, you're fucked." Well Mr. Danforth, this one's for you. Au revoir, mon ami.