Perspectives on African Experience and Misrepresentation of Africa - Essay Example

Perspectives on African Experience due: Misrepresentation of Africa Africa as a continent has been consistently misrepresented by the west since pre and post-colonialism. Westerners believed that they were more civilized and more educated as compared to Africans. European novelists such as Joseph Conrad and Joyce Cary facilitated the misrepresentation of Africans in the west (Rowell 1998: 18). European novelists made westerners to picture Africa as being a continent that is full of misery, darkness, despair, violence and abuse of women. During 1899, when Joseph Conrad published his book Heart of Darkness resulted to people in the west referring to this continent as being the center of darkness. Conrad depicted Africa as being a continent that was ‘dark’, ‘wild’ and ‘uncivilized’. Joyce Cary was also the author of a book that misrepresented Africa known as Mister Johnson. The book was written in 1952. African novelists, from various countries, arose so as to be able to challenge the works of Europeans such as Conrad and Cary. They wrote their side of the story on what really goes on in Africa and the importance of African culture (Akers 2013:19). This included authors like Chinua Achebe, Chiek Anta Diop, and Tsenay Serequeberham. These authors emerged so that they could bring out the truth regarding the stereotypical notions that were prevalent in Africa and also make people in the west to be more commendatory of Africa and its inhabitants. The following essay discusses how misrepresentation of Africa has been engaged in the works of Chinua Achebe. Chinua Achebe turned to writing so that he could be able to defend Africa from the prejudiced writing of European novelists. He took it as his responsibility to re-inscribe the history of Africa, its deep culture and traditions so as to restore Africa’s true identity and status (Lindfors 1997:2). The scramble for Africa by the Europeans occurred during the age of imperialism; in 1880s and 1890s. Europeans wanted to get their hands on the natural resources that were found in Africa. As a result, they came to Africa and gained control by setting up colonies on the continent. They used the notion that Africa is a continent of primitive and uncivilized individuals as a reason to colonize Africa and as time passed Europeans dominated all aspects of the lives of Africans; political, social and economic (Akers 2013:9). Chinua Achebe was a powerful post-colonial African novelist and author. He was born in Ogidi, Eastern Nigeria in the year 1930. He published his first novel Things Fall Apart in 1958 (Lindfors 1997:3). The book disputed the novels written by Europeans about Africa. In his novels, Achebe reveals to Europeans and his readers the value of African culture. He employs his book to delineate Igbo’s history. He accomplishes this by talking about the merits and demerits of the culture of Igbo people. He also talks about the aspects of their traditions and culture that make it different from that of westerners. Examples include: the killing of twins; bearing of twins was linked to evil spirits, the sacrifice of small boys, worshiping and their belief of ancestral spirits and the abuse of women (Akers 2013:9). In his book Things Fall Apart Achebe shows how the arrival of the missionaries in Umuofia impacted Igbo; the benefits that the missionaries brought and also the challenges that Igbo had to deal with as a result of the arrival of the missionaries to their place (Akers 2013: 10). Achebe’s work challenged the Eurocentric perception of the world that was held by the Europeans. Europeans firmly believed that their culture and traditions were superior to the rest and that they are the center of both humanity and civilization and that every culture that was contrary to theirs was inferior (Sickels 2012:5). The aim of Chinua Achebe was to restore the pride that Africa once had and for this reason he wrote his first book Things Fall Apart. He used the book to challenge the misrepresentation of Africa. His book Things Fall Apart was meant to put straight the entire history of misrepresentation of his fellow African men and country in the west (Achebe 1991:3). In his book Achebe reveals that Africa is a continent where people lived in complex and at the same time very diverse and productive relationship with the environment of Africa, mostly before the colonialist invaded the African land. The invasion of Africa by Europeans resulted in the disturbance of the balance that existed among the people of the continent. It disrupted the harmonious living of African people and contributed to the division of people. Colonization resulted in things falling apart in a relationship the Africans had created with their natural world. There is a significant comparison when you compare the novel of Achebe with those of European novelists who misrepresented Africa in novels. Achebe’s novel thoroughly examines the society of the Igbo and describes Igbo culture in a way that reveals the different features of their culture and he delineates both the desirable and undesirable aspects of the culture (Sickels 2012:27). Why there is a deep comparison between the novels of Achebe and those of Europeans is because; the parents of Achebe had converted to Christianity while at the same time his grandparents still continued to be strong believers and upholders of Igbo traditional culture. Achebe, therefore, understood the culture of the Europeans and the culture of his native land. Understanding of each other’s culture was something very essential. However, it entirely lacked in the relationship the British had with the Nigerian people. The British considered their culture to be more superior to that of the Africans and therefore put no effort in getting to learn the African culture so that they can be able to identify some of the desirable traits of the culture (Sickels 2012:27). The white missionaries had different views regarding what was considered to be acceptable to Igbo’s tradition and culture. Missionaries came to Africa with the aim of introducing Christianity to Africa and bringing light to this ‘dark’ continent as depicted by earlier European novelist. The missionaries were against practices such as polygamy that was practiced in Umuofia. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe tries to make the westerners see the values of some of the traditions that were practiced in Umuofia. An example is polygamy that is practiced in the land. According to the Igbo culture for one to be considered a ‘real man’ in the society, a man must marry two or more wives. Each and every woman in the clan are aware and in favor of this ritual. In other instances the first wife one to encourage the husband to start looking for a younger wife. Achebe shows that this culture enable people to live together in harmony as they give each other a helping hand in performing household duties and developing the community. The white missionaries did not see any value in polygamous marriages as it was against their religion that is Christianity. The missionaries lived according to the bible scriptures and anything that was forbidden in the scriptures they regarded as a dark act (Malachi 2:16). The bible forbade Christians against marrying more than one wife. For a man to gain the title of being wealthy and for him to have the respect of the Igbo society, he had to meet the requirements that were used in defining a man’s social status. The requirements entailed: one having more than one wife; by having many wives the man would be able to produce a lot of yams since women were in charge of productivity of crops and also one should defeat a man who is considered to be the strongest person in the clan in wrestling match; winning a wrestling match will determine how many women a man will marry since many families had the tendency of marrying off their daughters to the stronger men in the society. Okonkwo (a character in the novel Things Fall Apart), for example is considered to be a wealthy man because he defeated a man who was considered to be the strongest man in the village in a wrestling match and for this he has married many women and also produces many yams in his house. Okonkwo viewed his father (Unoka) as being poor since he only had one wife and he was a drunkard whose household did not produce many yams and by the time he passed on he did not possess any title to his name (Achebe 1996: 6). As a result of all these negative traits he possessed, the villagers termed him as being Agbala. In the novel Things Fall Apart we see that Okonkwo’s father had a good relationship with other members of the village, and he lived in harmony with them contrary to his son. Although his son considered him as a failure, Unoka (Okonkwo’s father) is an admirable character since he cherished the season when it stopped raining and the sun rose each morning with absolutely dazzling beauty (Achebe 1996:4). Unoka and the other villagers were familiar with the darker features of nature; they had become versed in ways of balancing the uneasiness brought about by dark nights with the satisfaction that was brought on moonlit nights. The death of Okonkwo’s father was an indicator of the importance of the culture of the Igbo. This is proved because when he gets sick and starts swelling in different parts of his body, he is secluded from the rest of the members of the village and taken to an evil forest and left there to die. According to Igbo culture, a person who was infected by a contagious disease needed to be isolated from the rest of the community. This is an aspect of African culture that helped them in survival, and it was a means of preventing the death of other members of the society. Their culture was not something for them to be humiliated about since it contributed to their survival techniques. In his book Things Fall Apart, Achebe also reveals that before the arrival of the colonialists, Umuofia was an area where men and women were contented with their lives. Even though they sometimes experienced bad weather occasionally as a result of severe weather or locust, Umuofia encouraged the hard work of the community members who had utter respect for the earth and fulfilled its yearnings. An example was when Okonkwo is found guilty for beating up his wife Ezeani after she takes him to court; as allowed by their culture regarding two conflicting parties. The earth goddess priest, Ani, therefore, rebukes Okonkwo saying: “Our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbor. We live in peace with our fellows to honor our great goddess of the earth without whose blessings, and our crops will not grow. “(Achebe 1996: 28) Okonkwo is fully aware that appeasing the earth goddess was an aspect of their culture that was very essential since she was the one who provided fertility. With this Achebe shows that the African culture of worshipping gods not only contributed to individuals caring for the earth, but also encouraged harmonious living among the members of the clan. This shows that African culture is not as uncivilized as depicted by the Europeans. Proverbs were also crucial in the culture of Igbo people. In his book Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe incorporates the use of proverbs, for those who are not of Igbo culture he translates for them to be able to understand. The Europeans did not acknowledge both the myths and the proverbs of the Igbo, and they were fountain of the people’s wisdom and also respect. An example of where Achebe uses proverbs in Things Fall Apart to reveal their importance in the society is when Okoye (a character the book) comes to visit Okonkwo’s father and the purpose of the visit was to ask Okonkwo’s father to settle the debt he owed him. Despite the fact that his debt was overdue, Okoye does not come to scold him rather the two shared a kola nut, gave thanks to their ancestors and afterwards talked about the debt by use of proverbs (Achebe 1996). By speaking in proverbs the two were able to maintain the harmony that existed between them even though they were discussing an issue that usually results in conflicts. Achebe argued by use of facts that he would not under any circumstance accept someone else ‘Great Tradition’ this is because the so called great tradition was established in ignorance of the tradition of other people (Lindfors 1997:173). In 1983, Achebe wrote a famous essay called An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The novel Heart of Darkness by Conrad delineates Africa’s image as ‘The Other World’ – a dark continent (Conrad 2007:8). Apart from challenging Europeans pejorative perception about Africa, Achebe also challenged the misrepresentation of Africa in the fictional work (Sickles 2012). In 1990 Achebe’s aim was to re-educate the members of his society and the rest of the world regarding the real history of Africa before the arrival of colonialists. Achebe stated that he would have a feeling of accomplishment when his books would teach his readers that even though their past cultures are not perfect they were also not a long night of savagery (Achebe 1975: 45). According to Achebe colonization and slave trade is the reason why Africans were disgusted and humiliated by their own traditions and culture making them lose a sense of pride. He also wrote another essay My Home under Imperial Fire in 2000. In this essay he stated that he had regrets that Africans were ignorant in the period in which they were subjected to denigration by the people from the west so that their colonization can be possible and also for it to be excusable (Achebe 1975: 33) with this he saw that it was the duty of each and every writer in Africa to re-educate and regenerate their societies with the cultural past of their land. Achebe also challenges the misrepresentation of the west through his novel The Problem with Nigeria. In this novel, he clearly states that the problem with Nigeria is not the climate of the region, nor the land, air, water or other natural aspect however the main problem with the country was its leadership and not its people. The failure of the leadership in the region was what was letting it down. The leaders in Nigeria were unwilling or unable to rise to the responsibility that was required of them. There is evidence of corruption and also malpractices in very high political bodies of Nigeria (Achebe 1983: 22). After the country got its independence (post-colonialism period), the corrupt politicians, political murderers, those who rigged elections were now the ones taking advantage of the independence of Nigeria and they were the primary source of problems in Nigeria. This resulted in Nigeria being unable to develop into a strong nation unless it fixes its problems. The features that Achebe addressed addresses as the cause of the problems in Nigeria are not only experienced in Nigeria but in almost all countries in Africa. With this novel, he was able to enlighten the westerners not to only concentrate on the negative aspects of Africa as a whole but also for them to focus on some of the causes of these problems that are experienced in Africa. In that even if they regard Africa as being a ‘dark’ continent this is because of the inadequate leadership in Africa. Africa however has enough recourse for it to develop as long as it gets good leaders who can rise to the responsibility that is required of them. Africa also was not as uncivilized as the European novelist depicted it to be. Achebe continues to demonstrate this by stating in his novel that even before the arrival of the white missionaries in Umuofia, the Igbo had already established its very own judicial system. The judicial systems are founded on indigenous knowledge regarding their culture that has been passed on to the Igbo people by their forefathers. Their courts were led by the oldest men of Igbo. The knowledge and wisdom of the oldest men were trusted and give rulings that were fair and not biased. When the missionaries arrived in their village, they did not acknowledge the judicial system of the people of Igbo they instead replaced the court systems of Igbo with their own judicial courts. This step proved to be disadvantageous to the villagers since the missionaries had no clue about their culture, history and to top it off their justice system. Due to the fact that the Europeans never considered any cultural aspect or history of the Igbo people and they dismissed all their practices; replacing them with what they deemed to be better resulted to more conflicts between the two groups. By reading Achebe’s Things Fall Apart we see that the missionaries do not act as civilized and educated as they claimed to be since they did not even spare a little of their time so that they can learn the culture of African people. They come to Africa with an opinion that is already formed concerning Africa and consider all their practices to be ‘dark’ and they see Africans as uneducated and uncivilized people. They do not come with an open mind. The Igbo people appeared to be more civilized as compared to the missionaries. The example that is used in the book that proves this is the traditional courts. In their regular courts when two groups of people are in conflict, both parties are given the opportunity to present their story and after everyone has been heard then a ruling can be made. This practice is contrary to what happens in British courts. When the villagers were found doing any act that was considered to be a crime by the Europeans, they were imprisoned without getting the opportunity to narrate their side of the story. Igbo courts were much better since they questioned the two parties who were at conflict before a ruling was made. In conclusion, Chinua Achebe put in much effort in challenging the misrepresentation of African by the Europeans. His aim was to make the value of African culture be acknowledged by Europeans and for him to restore the pride that Africans had regarding their culture. Achebe was determined in ensuring that the presence of Igbo and their beliefs prevailed within his country Nigeria. His works had a significant impact on how Africa is represented in the west, and it also made Africans appreciate their culture more. Despite his efforts, Africa still continues to be misrepresented until now. The media is still being used in various circumstances in facilitating the misrepresentation of Africa. 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