Farewell to the Doyen of African Literature: Chinua Achebe, 1930 - 2013

Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat.

Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe

The opening lines of  the great literary piece that is Things Fall Apart (1958) have so much resonance with myself as well as countless generations of Africans. It was therefore with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of the great doyen of African literature, Professor Chinua Achebe on 22 March 2013. 

Aside from the sad news trending on Twitter, my facebook timeline was filled with lovely tributes to a man who was pivotal to our appreciation of African literature. 

Both Chinua Achebe and Things Fall Apart trend on Twitter

Over the past 24 hours, I've had a chance to reflect on where my own love for Achebe's works started. Growing up in Swaziland in the 1980s, our bookshelves at home housed almost the entire Heinmanns African Writers Series collection. As a young child, I would re-arrange these orange/white books without reading them.  One day, when I was 8 years old, a film version of Things Fall Apart was being shown on television. Having watched snippets of the film, I wanted to know more so embarked on reading the book. I devoured it instantly. At the time, the subtleties and underlying themes were lost on me but I was enchanted by the vibrant scenes, colourful characters and how Achebe weaved them all together. 

The dramatic cover of Things Fall Apart I grew up with
Source: alibris.com 

It was only years later on a second reading that I had a better appreciation for some of the central themes of Things Fall Apart such as the struggle of pre-colonial African traditions in the face of colonial incursion and Christianity. The book's sequel, No Longer at Ease (1960) which was set in post-colonial Nigeria, continued on these themes by chronicling the personal conflicts of Obi Okonkwo, the grandson of Things Fall Apart's Okwonkwo.

For me Achebe's real literary masterpiece would have to be the complex Arrow of God (1964) which was compulsory reading for an English class. While Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness managed to mystify colonial Africa with images of native savagery and rituals in the jungle, Arrow God was able to demystify these images. The mysterious drumming in the  forest at night was explained. 

I have never read Achebe's other books Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987) but now seems a good time to discover these other works.

Perhaps the reason Achebe's writing has so much resonance with many of us of the post-colonial African generation is that his work tells the story of the making of contemporary Africa. It reflects our transition from the colonial to post-colonial era. Also, for many of us, our introduction to African literature started with Achebe. His passing is a loss for his family, Nigeria, the entire African continent and the world. 

Professor Achebe, Rest in Peace. 

Thank you for shaping out minds and enriching our lives. 

Source: The New Yorker

While we were sleeping, the Discovery Channel was projecting an image of Ghana in 'Jungle Gold'

@KwakuSpider Protected account18 Mar

@abena_serwaa have u seen #junglegold ?

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To be frank, I had never even heard of the Discovery Channel's Jungle Gold before being asked if I had seen it by the intrepid Kwaku Spider via Twitter. Clearly I may have been too busy getting my brain fried by excessive reality television viewing via TLC. Did you know TLC stands for "The Learning Channel" ? Now that is irony right there.   

Anyway, I digress. Back to Jungle Gold. Apparently it premiered last year on my mother's birthday which is also curious since areas very close to her place of birth feature heavily in this show. 

So here is the Jungle Gold premise according to Wikipedia:

Jungle Gold is an American reality documentary television series on the Discovery Channel.The series debuted on October, 26, 2012.The series follows George Wright and Scott Lomu as they attempt to earn some cash in order to recover from losing everything in the real estate crash of 2008. The series focuses on the duo as they encounter the task of gold placer mining in the Ashanti Belt along the Birim River in Ghana of West Africa. The tools they use to recover the gold are: mercury, a trommel, water pumps, and an excavator. The local village where they extract the gold is across the river, while the nearest town is Romaso, Ghana, and the nearest city is Dunkwa, Ghana.

Source: wikipedia.org

Scott and George in search of "Ghana gold" [as oft repeated by the narrator]
source: nydailynews.com

To be fair I have not watched an entire episode of Jungle Gold and have only had the pleasure of watching clips via Discovery Channel's online site. 

As far as I can see: 

Jungle Gold = 1/4 A-Team + 1/4 Tintin in the Congo + 1/4 Lord of the Rings + 1/4 Reality. 

Snippets of Jungle Gold that I find particularly worrying:

• Environmental degradation being shown in Ghana's rich tropical rain-forest
• Seeming absence of any Ghanaian authorities 
• The adventurers being shot at by a masked gun man who was caught on film
• The heroes of the piece negotiating with a seemingly dubious British land-owner in Ghana for HIS gold-filled land

These clips got me thinking: 

• Where are the Ghanaian chiefs and other authorities in this production? 
• When Scott and George were shot at by a gun-man did the police get involved? 
• How come the news of a gun-man shooting at foreigners never made it into even one newspaper? 
• Was all this gold surface mining done with permits?
• Isn't mass degradation of the environment reserved for Ghanaians only?
• What do Ghanaian authorities have to say about this entire show and the type of image of Ghana it is projecting? 
• Is Ghana really a free-for-all for country where foreigners can simply walk in and do mining?
• Are these the types of foreign 'investors' Ghana is attracting?
• Who is checking the activities of these and other foreign 'investors' in Ghana anyway?

Apparently the duo started this quest for gold three years prior to 2012. So that would be in 2009. I must concede that after watching more of the clips, it seems the entire show is probably 80% Lord of the Rings but with very real environmental degradation.

Interestingly, I could only find one article condemning this show from a Ghanaian media source (GhanaMediaNews.com):

Discovery Channel promotes illegal mining in Ghana - Jungle Gold

This article was from November 2012 and had a link to petition signed by 1,481 people. It seems the premiere of this show in the US last year made few waves in Ghana itself. Was it simply a case of lots of things happening while we were all sleeping?