“Are there
bookshops in Nigeria?” asked a French journalist of famous Nigerian writer
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, igniting a firestorm on social media following an
event in Paris on Jan. 25.
Many outraged observers accused the journalist of racism and ignorance, while lauding Adichie’s response.
Many outraged observers accused the journalist of racism and ignorance, while lauding Adichie’s response.
“I think it
reflects very poorly on French people that you have to ask this question. Come
on, it’s 2018,” Adichie replied, after the journalist qualified her question by
saying French people knew little about Nigeria, apart from hearing about Boko
Haram and violence.
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| Writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. (Photo: V. Lebrun-Verguethen) |
The exchange
took place at a public event held at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
during the third government-sponsored Night of Ideas (Nuit des Idées), whose
goal is to “celebrate the stream of ideas between countries, cultures, topics
and generations”, according to the organizers.
Adichie, one of Africa's leading authors, was
the headliner or “Ambassador” of the “Night”, which comprised several
discussions around France and in other countries.
As an international “icon of feminism”, and a bestselling writer, she was expected to speak about global issues affecting women, but her insightful comments on a range of topics got lost in the firestorm of protest that followed the “bookshop” question.
As an international “icon of feminism”, and a bestselling writer, she was expected to speak about global issues affecting women, but her insightful comments on a range of topics got lost in the firestorm of protest that followed the “bookshop” question.
Many of those
who posted about the interview had evidently seen it from secondary sources,
and they spread information that the journalist had asked about “libraries”
rather than “bookshops” (for which the French word is “librairies”). Summaries
of the question and response were re-tweeted thousands of times.
Adichie,
author of the novels Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun as well as the book-length essay We Should All be Feminists, later said on her Facebook page that she
did not expect a French person to know almost everything about Nigeria.
“But to be
asked to ‘tell French people that you have bookshops in Nigeria because they
don’t know’ is to cater to a wilfully retrograde idea - that Africa is so
apart, so pathologically ‘different,’ that a non-African cannot make reasonable
assumptions about life there.
“I am a
Nigerian writer whose early education was in Nigeria. It is reasonable to
expect that Nigeria has at least one bookshop, since my books are read there,”
she added.
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| Hundreds listen to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at The Night of Ideas, Paris. (Photo: V. Lebrun-Verguethen) |
“Bookshops
are in decline all over the world. And that is worth discussing and mourning
and hopefully changing. But the question ‘are there bookshops in Nigeria’ was
not about that. It was about giving legitimacy to a deliberate, entitled,
tiresome, sweeping, base ignorance about Africa. And I do not have the patience
for that,” she posted.
“That said,
the journalist Caroline Broué was intelligent, thoughtful and well-prepared.
When she asked the question, I was taken aback because it was far below the
intellectual register of her previous questions,” said Adichie in the
Facebook post.
After the
event, Broué told SWAN that her question was “badly formulated”, as she had
been attempting irony, trying to convey
how little information is given about countries such as Nigeria. She was
clearly embarrassed and surprised by the strong reaction.
For many in
the diverse audience, the question was just proof of how white Europeans regard
those of African origin. “This is not something you can ask, no matter what,”
said one spectator following the interview. “It’s just stereotyping as usual.”
While most of
the reports about the Nuit des Idées focused on this aspect, Adichie in fact
spoke out on various subjects, including the role of literature, the treatment
of refugees, and society’s expectations of girls and boys.
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| Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie listens, as she's introduced at the Night of Ideas. (Photo: V. Lebrun-Verguethen) |
“I think
words matter,” Adichie said, when asked about the impact of writing. “I think
words can make change ... storytelling is very important.”
She said that
telling the stories of refugees, for instance, could help to change
perspectives. “The discourse on refugees, especially on this continent, it seems to me that it’s so dehumanising,” she told the audience, adding that everyone
should try to put themselves in the place of “people who are seeking better
lives, better homes”.
On the
subject of “African literature”, Adichie said that although she sees herself in the
tradition of writing from the continent, “it’s not so much the labels as the
value we give to them”.
“Sometimes
I’m asked if I’m an African writer, and when I’m in a bad mood, I say ‘no’,”
she joked. “We tend to read African literature not as literature but as
anthropology. African writers write books, they write literature.”
Regarding
feminism, Adichie said she had a pragmatic approach. “For me, it’s really
about how do we change things ... and sometimes it’s about incremental change,”
she said.
“I think
feminism is about men and women,” she added, describing her impressions of how
society treats girls and boys. She said that watching her daughter at
playgrounds, she saw that “little boys get more room to fail and to fall”.
Society
shapes men just as it shapes women, according to Adichie, and the idea of
masculinity needs to be changed. “Let the boy cry. Expect him to cry,” she
said. Meanwhile, parents should raise girls to “reject likeability.”
“It’s girls
that we raise to think they have to be liked,” the writer said. “Where is the
damn anger?”
She described feminism as being “about equality” and said that In terms of gender, "we should look at people
as people".
“I don’t want
my well-being to depend on a man’s kindness. I want my well-being to depend on
being a human in the world,” she declared.
Regarding racism
in different parts of the world, she said countries should look in their own
backyards. While many Europeans preferred to focus on racism in the United
States, she said it was essential to discuss it wherever it occurred.
In France,
for instance, she described “unpleasant experiences with immigration” where
people of African origin are “treated with a kind of contempt”.
“All human
beings really deserve equal dignity, and it shouldn’t depend on the passport
that we carry,” Adichie said. - SWAN
UPDATE: Since the publication of this article, a new discussion has been raging about Adichie's comments on postolonial theory. In response to a question, she replied: "Postcolonial theory? I don't know what it means. I think it is something that professors made up because they needed to get jobs."
See:
www.rocketnews.com/2018/02/french-racism-anxiety-and-love-for-postcolonialism
Follow SWAN on Twitter: @mckenzie_ale
UPDATE: Since the publication of this article, a new discussion has been raging about Adichie's comments on postolonial theory. In response to a question, she replied: "Postcolonial theory? I don't know what it means. I think it is something that professors made up because they needed to get jobs."
See:
www.rocketnews.com/2018/02/french-racism-anxiety-and-love-for-postcolonialism
Follow SWAN on Twitter: @mckenzie_ale
