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Rose Ure Mezu.
Chinua Achebe: The Man and His Works. London:
Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd, 2006. 274 pp.
Achebe Novels:
Things Fall Apart,
Arrow of God,
No Longer at Ease,
A Man of the People, and
Anthills of
the Savannah
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Banning
Chinua Achebe in Kenya
A Man of the People -- Pornographic?
Three novels, including one by revered African
writer Chinua Achebe, at the centre of a heated controversy,
pitting a Catholic lobby group against the Ministry of Education,
are critical to the examination of Kiswahili.
Parents Caucus, a lobby operating under the
wing of the Catholic Church in Kenya, claims that Achebe's
evergreen political satire, A Man of the People, as well as
S.A. Mohammed's two Kiswahili novels, Kiu and Kitumbua
Kimeingia Mchanga, are sexually explicit and pornographic.
For that, the lobby argues, they should be
struck off the schools reading list -- lest they corrupt the
morals of the youth. The three novels were selected as set
textbooks for the Literature in English and Kiswahili courses for
Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education two years ago, and have
been taught in schools since. Form Four students will be sitting
examinations on the books for the first time next month.
In Nairobi and Kiambu, lobbyists have been
frantically collecting signatures on a protest note entitled Help
Kick Pornography Out of the Classroom. Last Sunday, the lobbying
moved a notch higher when the appeal for signatures was made
during Mass at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi - in the
hearing of President Mwai Kibaki and Education minister George
Saitoti.
The import of the appeal was that the Head of
State, and the Education minister should use their influence to
have the contentious books removed from the syllabus. Both Mr
Kibaki and Prof Saitoti are Catholics.
Although those agitating for the books' ban
insist that their themes and content are objectionable, literary
critics have been quick to point out that two of the books have
been taught in secondary school before, and the students were none
the worse for it. Achebe's A Man of the People was taught
to high school students in the 1970s without protest, as was
Mohammed's Kiu in the mid 1980s.
Fr Emmanuel Ngugi of the Holy Family Basilica
says the church is the conscience of society, and must stand up to
be counted. He objects to the language used in the books, saying
it is obscene and immoral.
"There is nothing morally redeeming in the
female characters in the book who are merely portrayed as sex
objects," he says of A Man of the People.
Critics argue that the Nigerian's novel, as
well as the two Kiswahili ones by the prolific Zanzibari, only
mirror society and that their themes do not aim to corrupt but to
correct social mores. Evil does not, in the end, triumph over
good.
The story in Achebe's story revolves around
Chief Nanga, a Cabinet minister, and his former student Odili
Samalu, a school teacher. Their meeting at a school event leads to
the minister inviting Odili to his city residence to help him
secure a scholarship to study abroad.
Odili's host seduces his girlfriend, and thus
igniting a bitter feud for the minister's mistress. The rivalry
between the two men spills into the nation's politics and reaches
its climax in a coup d'etat.
Those pushing for a ban on the books pick
excerpts from A Man of the People, which they say are
clearly explicit and are likely to excite the students'
imagination and stir their sexual desires.
"It is astounding the kind of literature
we are exposing our children to in classrooms," says one
parent. "In fact, it is quite demeaning to women for a man to
think that they can only be recognised or are at their best only
in a sexual relationship."
Educationists, on the other hand, take the
exact opposite view, and are accusing the church of overstepping
its mandate.
Prof Henry Indangasi, a senior lecturer at the
University of Nairobi's Department of Literature, is clearly
angered at what he terms as moral posturing by the church.
"I am passionately convinced that the
critics of [Achebe's] book are wrong. They are deliberately
misinterpreting certain sections in the book to suit their purist
stand," he says.
Achebe, the don argues, is a respected author
in Africa who has not been known as a purveyor of sex and
pornography for its own sake. A Man of the People, he says,
is a satirical book that merely aims to correct the moral
decadence in society, and nothing else.
"Behind the satire is a set of morals to
make us laugh at ourselves, and the characters who are depicted as
morally deprived. Achebe is not telling his readers to behave like
the characters, but wants them to learn from the book," says
the don.
"I would, without hesitation, recommend
the book to my daughter because, in reality, there are men who are
irresponsible and disgusting like Odili, Chief Nanga and "irre"
in our society", says Prof Indangasi.
"People who treat women as sexual objects
and then gloat about it exist in society. It is the failure to
teach girls that such men exist, and that they should be on the
lookout for them, that is the problem," he adds.
Literature mirrors what happens in society, and
sex definitely takes place in society. It is not the work of
literature to moralise, but to reflect society and, therefore,
provide lessons.
Removing the books from the syllabus is being
seen as tantamount to taking the country back to the dark days of
censorship. Prof Indangasi, who sits on the English curriculum
panel at the Kenya Institute of Education, says it would be tragic
if the government resorted to the "Kanu way" of
censoring books it is uncomfortable with.
"Kanu banned books by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. I
want to believe the present government cannot stoop that
low," he says.
Although sex is mentioned in the three books,
it is not explicit as is being claimed by the lobbyists. Students
of literature argue that it is likely the critics of the scenes
have failed to appreciate the larger and more important issues the
texts are commenting on -- like bad governance, immorality,
freedom of the Press, elections, betrayal and hypocrisy.
"The sexual images are a mere statement of
what happens in society. Is the church trying to say that sex does
not take place?" asks a University of Nairobi student.
In academic circles, the campaign to take the
books off the reading list is being viewed as religious
conservatism and perpetuation of a secluded theology that is
removed from reality.
Authors, says the literati, never ask their
readers to emulate the characters in their works, but to instead
learn from them.
A Kiswahili author who sought anonymity said
the church has no business trying to comment on issues best left
to the academia.
If the government accedes to the church's
demands, he says, it will be setting a very bad precedent.
"The view that the books are pornographic,
just because they mention sex, is myopic and totally uninformed.
There are very many passages in
the Bible mentioning and describing sex, yet the church has
never advocated for those sections to be removed, or for the Bible
to be banned," he adds.
Additional reporting by Kwamchetsi Makokha (Story
courtesy of The Nation and All Africa.com)
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Dear friends,
There is much that is comical in our new Kenya;
but the nature of comical statements is often something that
invites threats. Years ago, when the late Kariuki Chotara, a
Kenyan politician, wanted “Karo Max” arrested and detained, we
laughed – but this sort of cowboy narrow-mindedness lead to a
purge of writers, free-speakers and thinkers that Kenya is still
recovering from.
Now a new one: that Chinua Achebe is a
pornographer. His book, A Man of the People, which is taught in
schools to 16-18 year olds. This is what a Catholic Church lobby
group is saying; what several parents groups are saying. (See
attached newspaper article below)
My organisation, kwani? wishes to solicit
commentary from writers and writers organisations so we can use
this to prevent any action being taken to remove this, and the
other books under threat. We hope to have edited comments
published in one of our national newspapers: the East African or
The Sunday Standard.
We would need such submissions in by Monday the
15th of September 2003. We will also put up these
comments on our website www.kwani.org
We are also trying to get in touch with Mr.
Achebe urgently so he may give his views on the matter.
Please forward this to any writers or lovers of
free speech that you know.
Warm regards,
Binyavanga Wainaina
Thank you.
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