Ancestor Stones 2

Thinking about Ancestor Stones and all of Africa after the colonizers left made me think of the film Diner de Cons. The film is a comedy that centers on a successful businessman and his idiotic companion. The idiot continually tries to help the businessman out of sticky situations, and although he has the best intentions and thinks he is doing what's best, he ends up making things worse. This makes me think of the "humanitarian" efforts in Africa, as well as other places around the world. European countries, along with the USA, always seem to think they know what's best for other "less civilized" countries. But how do they know what's best? They often end up causing unwanted affects and sometimes even wars. In trying to make the situation better, they end up making it worse. Everything we have read thus far, especially Ancestor Stones, since we get to take a look at post-colonial Africa, reminds me of this concept. The US and other European countries are, symbolically, the idiot portrayed in Diner de Cons, and Africa, or any other "lesser" country, is symbolically the businessman. The businessman can take care of himself and survives just fine doing things his way. All the idiot does is make things worse.

Ancestor Stones 1

Ancestor Stones begins with Abie traveling from England to her homeland of Africa to take over her family's coffee plantation. However, the main focus throughout the book is not on Abie. Instead, each of her four aunts takes us on a journey though her family's troubled history. The first five chapters introduce each of her aunts and tells mostly of their childhoods. I find the book to be very poetic, and surprisingly easy to read.



I find myself wondering why the book is titled Ancestor Stones, although I did find the part about Miriama and her mother very interesting, and of course, disturbing. I almost wanted to cry for her poor mother after her father threw away her stones. But I found Miriama's mother to be very courageous and noble. As Miriama herself points out, her mother was the only one unwilling to let go of her traditional religion and convert to either Christianity or Islam. Her stones connected her to her own parents as well as her other ancestors, and she refused to let go of their memory and what they stood for. So perhaps that is why Aminatta Forna picked the title that she did. It's about refusing to let go of your traditions in a world that seems so set on becoming "European."

Xala

Has anyone else had trouble logging in? I had to change my password, but here are my long overdue posts...

Xala, by Ousmane Sembene, takes a peak at life in post-colonial Africa. The Africans were successful in driving out the colonizers, but the damage had already been done. The novel portrays the idea of neocolonialism beautifully, as it shows how influential the Europeans were and how they reshaped life in Africa. In fact El Hadji eventually realizes that the powerful Europeans still have control over himself as well as the rest of his business group.


I think the curse of the xala that was placed on El Hadji served as a symbolic warning against becoming "too European," or losing touch with their African roots. Yay Bineta blames the xala on El Hadji's refusal to participate in pre-wedding traditions. But El Hadji seems interested only in following traditions that seem beneficial to him, such as polygamy. His main concern was his own well-being; in particular, his wealth and reputation. He was physically attracted to N'Gone, but he was not in love with her and had no intention of marrying her prior to the persistence of Yay Bineta. He then threw a lavish wedding which showed just how much money he had, and taking on another wife was a huge monetary commitment which further proved his financial stability. In pre-colonial Africa, money was unimportant and for the most part did not even exist. But post-colonial Africa mean that Africans had to be just as concerned with money as the rest of the world, as they could no longer survive on their system of bartering.

The Effects of Colonization in Africa

Pre-colonial Africa was full of numerous individual tribes, most of which had their own language and customs. There was no currency; Africans grew and made what they needed, and what they couldn't produce they would attain through a barter system. Post-colonial Africa is... a different story. Many Africans still trade with others for necessities, but they are also dependent upon European forms of currency, even though most don't have the means to attain any. The majority of Africans speak whichever European language the country that colonized them spoke. The ancient tribal religions and cultures and practices and languages have almost all been lost.

Sembene Ousmane takes a look at post-colonial Africa in his novel, Xala. There are many differences in the cultures. The older characters still follow traditional Muslim and African beliefs and customs, such as the practice of polygamy. They also believe that El Hadji's "xala" is the result of a curse placed upon him by either one of his other wives or one of his business associates. Yay Bineta encourages El Hadji to participate in the traditional pre-wedding customs, although he refuses. She blames his "xala" on his refusal to follow tradition. However, the youthful characters seem to be a lot more modernized, or more influenced by European culture. Rama and Pathe, in particular, are the two youths closely followed in the novel. Rama is strongly opposed to polygamy and wishes her mother were able to divorce El Hadji. She and Pathe have pre-marital sex with her boyfriend/fiance. Pathe is a young doctor who believes El Hadji's "xala" is purely psychological. The registrar, while speaking to Pathe abour El Hadji, defends this conclusion, but says, "we are in Africa, where you can't explain or resolve everything in biochemical terms. Among our own people it's the irrational that holds sway." He realizes that the older community clings to traditional customs and beliefs, even though the more scientifically-inclined youth views this as somewhat foolish, or "irrational." However, Rama, one of the most modernized characters in the book, refuses to speak French and instead speaks Wolof, which is puzzling.

I found a quote from Sembene Ousmane while browsing the web: "As far as I am concerned, I no longer support notions of purity. Purity has become a thing of the past. . . I constantly question myself. I am neither looking for a school nor for a solution but asking questions and making others think."

Post-colonial Africa struggles to find its identity in a world torn between tradition and modernization. Rama is one of the most European-influenced characters in the book, yet she clings to her traditional African language. El Hadji is one of the more traditional characters, yet he refuses to participate in traditional pre-marital rituals. Each individual character mimics their countries struggle with identity. The novel was very interesting, and incredibly amusing.

Neocolonialism

"Neo-colonialism is... the worst form of imperialism. For those who practise it, it means power without responsibility and for those who suffer from it, it means exploitation without redress. In the days of old-fashioned colonialism, the imperial power had at least to explain and justify at home the actions it was taking abroad. In the colony those who served the ruling imperial power could at least look to its protection against any violent move by their opponents. With neo-colonialism neither is the case."
-Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana post-independence.

Neocolonialism is a loose term which defines the economic and political relationships between newly independent countries, which had been colonies, and their former countries of rule. As we saw in King Leopold's Ghost and Heart of Darkness, Africa was literally robbed of not only its valuable natural resources, but also of its labor force, and essentially its independence. Pre-colonization, African tribes used bartering and trading instead of any real currency, like dollars or pounds. That all changed during their period of colonization. And since all their possessions had become obsolete, it would be hard to revert back to their former lifestyle (or, more appropriately, their former culture.)

Many scholars would agree with Nkrumah in his accusation that "neocolonialism is the worst form of imperialis." In fact, it doesn't take a scholar to draw that conclusion. As we learned in class on Tuesday, the only roads and railroads lead to the coast, as opposed to linking the country together. This symbolizes not only the economical connection between African countries and their former rulers, but also the colonizing countries' refusal to invest money in developing new roads and railroads. They are also dependent on European countries for phone service. Not to mention the entire tribal culture of Africa has been completely obliterated. Yes, there are still tribes in modern-day Africa who still cling to their traditional tribal values and practices. But they are the ones barely surviving on less than a dollar a day. It is just not practical anymore, but how fair is it that they should have to give up their anscestral culture just because Europe ruined them?

Perhaps if the former colonizers would lend real a hand, Africa would be better off. Sure, you hear about missionary and humanitarian efforts in Africa all the time, but it's nothing compared to all the bad that occurred in that same country. It's like a big slap in the face from Europe - "Now that you are no longer our colony, we will not try to undo the damage we have done."

Cultural Oddities

First off, let me say that it really bothered me that Marlow seemed to be so disgusted by what he saw happening in Africa, yet he did not object to having 60 barefooted Africans carrying "60-lb. load[s]" accompany him on his trip. But now that that's out of the way...

I will be the first to admit that I never realized the racism present (save for the above-mentioned issue) in Heart of Darkness until Chinua Achebe opened my eyes to it. And no, I don't agree with everything that I read. But the evidence seems relevant, as well as prominent. And, I have to agree - how can you judge another culture for their "unusual" customs, when every culture has their own? What were the "odd" customs that Conrad came across in Africa anyway? I agree that cannibalism is a little odd. But since the Company refused to give their African slaves any sort of nourishment, it was perhaps the only option. And in the grand scheme of things, cannibalism is not the worst, or even the grossest, occurence in history. I highly recommend reading "Of Cannibals," by Michel de Montaigne. "They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces." Well I can almost guarantee that some of the faces the white people made would have been considered horrid to the natives. In fact, I see people making horrid faces every day. Tha dancing, the drumming, the chanting - all of these things that were considered to be unusal or "savage-like' behavior were completely normal to the Africans. So I guess what I'm getting at, and what Achebe was as well, is that "unusual" customs are actually just unfamiliar customs.

Let's think about some of the customs or superstitions that we, as in Americans, find perfectly normal and acceptable;
-Making a wish and blowing out candles on a birthday cake.
-Shaking hands when you meet someone for the first time.
-Opening an umbrella inside is bad luck.
-Flipping a coin or playing rock, paper, scissors to make a decision.
-Not wearing white after Labor Day

The list goes on and on. None of these things really make sense, but they are believed to either bring good luck or to ward off bad luck. The same thing could have been said for the Africans' "unusual" customs. The had chants and dances and songs to help grow crops, to keep away evil spirits, etc. it's basically the same concept, but it was apparently acceptable only for Europeans to have their own customs.