Below, I have listed the books that will appear on my 3-5 text bookshelf.
1) Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Mendez - This is a great book, not just for discussing Africa, but about discussing origins. Students will be able to discuss how they relate to their country of origin. For some students, this might be a challenging question, and this book will help students do just that in ordering their thoughts about a homeland.
2) Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment by Jessica Curry and Parker Curry - This is a phenomenal choice. In it, the main character views Michelle Obama's portrait. This can lead into great talks about the role of the first African American president and first lady, and how they were so influential to our nation's progress.
3) A Boy Like You by Frank Murphy - This talks about diversity and the importance of including all peoples. This can easily lead to a discussion about Africa because this continent often gets forgotten when we discuss about the cultures of the world.
I have taken the liberty of working with titles that might suit my 11th- and 12th-grade students. I have not yet read all the books listed below, and I take to heart Ainehi Edoro’s argument in The Guardian that the aesthetics of a novel are key to its work (and thus, to my purpose as a high-school lit teacher). I’d place these titles on my bookshelf, nonetheless, as titles that either seem well suited—or worth a closer look—for a course on Nigeria and the Novel.
Cyprian Ekwensi, People of the City (1954): Published just two years after Amos Tutuola’s The Palm-Wine Drinkard, this novel offers a classic view of modern Lagos in all its dynamism and complexity. A gritty melodrama, Ekwensi’s popular novel inaugurated a long tradition in noir depictions of life in Lagos. Yet there is more than sensationalism here, as we see in the novel’s playful oneupmanship of its protagonist, a journalist for the West African Sensation. Ekwensi’s novel ultimately seeks a moral center to combat the mechanistic drives of a rapacious modernity and locates that voice outside the city, in the West African countryside.
Chris Abani, Graceland (2005): I have not yet read this title, but it was recommended to me as a novel that offers a richly detailed picture of contemporary urban life in Lagos. The story centers on the quest of a resourceful young man, a teenage Elvis impersonator, to make his way out of the ghetto in which his family has come to live since falling upon hard times. Along the way, it offers insights into the effects of globalization upon Nigeria’s economy and cultures.
Teju Cole, Every Day is for the Thief (2007): I have not yet read this title, which offers another perspective on contemporary Lagos—this one, from a narrator who returns to the city after having lived abroad in the United States for fifteen years. I’m interested in the book also because of its form, which eschews conventional novelistic narrative in preference to a series of shorter, blog-like entries.
Ifeoma Chinwuba, Sons of the East (2023): I have not yet read this novel, but it appeals to me as a way of complementing the narratives of Lagos, which are often (like Ekwensi’s) also filtered through the lens of Igbo outsiders. Chinwuba moves between city and countryside (in “The East” of Igboland) as her novel explores the bonds of a communal culture and the fracturing effects of money and a quest for “success.” The novel also analyzes gender relations in traditional Igbo society, problematizing the patriarchal reference in its title.
Ben Okri, The Last Gift of the Master Artists (2023): Like Every Day is for the Thief, this work of fiction pushes against the traditional form of the novel; in contrast to Cole’s essayistic blog posts, Okri’s lyricism and short, parabolic chapters give this novel the feel of an extended prose poem. The Last Gift places the arts and craftsmanship at the center of a thriving precolonial society, offering a meditation on the arts as a means of promoting resilience and communal purpose. In this novel Okri invokes the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade while paying tribute to West Africans’ persistence and resilience as makers and re-makers of a vibrant culture.
I chose to focus on poetry for this project. Specifically, poems that speak to the wide range of experiences and ideas in Africa. Further, I tried to incorporate poems from authors from different parts of Africa. I relied heavily upon an article from Okay Africa to locate these poems.
- An African Elegy by Ben Okri - Unlike most elegies that leave the reader depressed, Okri's poem emphasizes the hope and promise of Africa.
- Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka - This poem, set in 1960s England, incorporates humor to address the racism and injustice faced by Africans. This poem will be particularly useful in my unit on decolonization and Cold War politics.
- The Song of Lawino by Okot P'Bitek - This poem, recognized by UNESCO for its cultural significance, gives voice to those experiencing neo-colonialism. I'm excited to use this poem when we consider Franz Fanon and The Wretched of the Earth.
- Home by Warsan Shire - Written in 2011 by British-Somali poet, this work addresses the longing and tragedy of seemingly endless war in Somalia. I would use this work in conjunction with K'Naan's song Somalia.
- African Poems: Oral Poetry From Africa - Finally, I stumbled across this website that includes videos and even some translations of spoken word poetry from Africa. Ideally, I will collect several of these sources each semester and students will explore the poetry and feel the power of the spoken word by those who wrote the poems.
My virtual bookshelf linked below. I really appreciated the readings in this section and the helpful resources!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xro5Bw9hhYa9pjIamtJFXQQvVLxz-XvlP9FMs4pEUXM/edit?usp=sharing
These are some really great books! Thank you for sharing! I hope that you all are able to use some of the books that your peers suggested in your classrooms!