As part of the panel, Travelling Nigeria: The Circulation of Politics, Art and Literature, Okey Ndibe spoke on
literature always being pertinent to the way people's images are formed
and how Independence was the opportunity to reshape the narrative of
Africans that existed. Ndibe
explains that Nigeria was a country conceived in hope, but nurtured into
hopelessness by its leaders but also its citizens and how as a
columnist he is harsh towards Nigeria, which is currently a portrait of mediocrity
and failure. This he says because he is confident that Nigeria can do
better. His talk centred on how the image of Nigeria has become an
important subject matter for writers and quoting Teju Cole explains that
'the writers obligation isn't to show a good picture. It is to show a
real one' (I am paraphrasing here). He explains how Nigerian literature
reflects 'this angst, this sense of disillusionment that we aren't where
we need to be' and how through writing we are holding a mirror up in
the hope that we will do better.
Following on from Okey Ndibe, Rebecca Jones, from University of Birmingham, spoke on Nigerian travel writing, such as Folarin Kolawole and Pelu Awofeso, who project a very positive view of Nigeria through their writing. Uche Igwe, from University of Sussex, brought a political perspective and explored the role of literature, and particularly the works of Achebe (The Trouble with Nigeria), Soyinka (The Trials of Brother Jero) and Ndibe (Foreign Gods, Inc.) in politics and corruption. His presentation focused on how everyone in Nigeria is trying to take his/her own national cake. Finally, Kate Haines (also from Sussex) and from Africa in Words explored the relationship between memory, history and how texts travel. She used the case of Farafina Press and their role in making Adichie's Purple Hibiscus big in Nigeria. A write-up of the panel can be found on Africa in Words.
The panel lasted close to two hours and while thoroughly enjoying the discussions I was also slightly panicking about the fact that my Q&A session was slowly approaching and I was asking myself – have I chosen the right questions to ask, will my focus not be academic enough for the space, would people be extremely bored listening to me questioning Okey Ndibe, would people even stay after the first session? Yes, even with seconds leading up to me walking to the front of the room to begin the session I was still terrified. Thankfully, once we started talking my nerves disappeared and it was truly amazing to sit with Okey Ndibe and have a conversation about Foreign Gods, Inc. Forgetting that my phone did not have enough space, I was unable to record the interview so this post is me pulling together my scribbles and thoughts to capture what I remember of my conversation with Okey Ndibe.
PS. I tried to summarise as much as I could, but as I also really wanted to give justice to the conversation just a heads up that this post is longer than usual, but it's worth it.
