(An
account of
my sabbatical experience)
by
Professor
Chinyere Okafor
Wichita State
University
Presented
at Piccadilly, Wichita, Kansas
October
28, 2012.
2:00-4:00 pm.
Sponsor:
The
Group of Wichita, Kansas
(A collective
that seeks global knowledge beyond media information)
First
of all, I
want to than you for giving me the opportunity to speak about my
sabbatical in
Nigeria. It was quite a task to select from a nation of about one
hundred and
fifty million individuals in diverse geographical regions, with rain
forests
like parts of the South, vast veld like the prairies of Kansas, awesome
mountains, ocean, lakes and rivers as well as diverse peoples in these
landscapes
but all mingling as Nigerians. I have chosen to focus on my role as an
educator
because that was the reason for the sabbatical. You will have enough
time to
make comments or ask questions that will address your particular
interests and
create more understanding. I spent my sabbatical in the spring and part
of the
summer of this year at the University of Lagos teaching graduate
students of
the Creative Arts department. It was
exciting even if challenging to be home. I had a great time. The first
joy was
that my spirit returned to myself in a way that is hard to explain
– maybe I
did not stand out because of my race or color. I didn’t have to
think about
colorism or race but in the absence of these, gender became the big
issue and
engaging the abuse of people became my main focus. I looked like
everyone else
but they still singled me out as American but in a friendly way –
did not pick
on my accent etc. I had no car and walked one and half miles to my
office and
two miles to my lecture hall and back to my office. In the evening, I
jogged at
the park by the lagoon. The university is by an Atlantic Ocean lagoon.
Here is
a video clip of the main campus:
(Video clips of the University of Lagos)
I
taught two courses to very
enthusiastic students and also attended conferences with them –
we used the
departmental bus. I had the opportunity to speak with young people at
different
places and events – classes, international women’s day
event, seminars, parties
etc. I enjoyed the culture of partying – music, dancing and
feasting were part
of campus life especially at weekends. I had very friendly colleagues
and was
so highly appreciated that they, with support from students, wrote to
the
president to create a position whereby I would come to their department
to work
for two months of every summer. At the end of my stay, the department
had a get-together
for me and expressed their wish that I consider coming every summer to
do some
work. The theater section performed plays in my honor and students
“brought a
send-forth party” with their live-band and all to my office.
(Video
clip: MA
students playing music for me)
It
was fun to
see students perform different instruments and appreciate their talents
outside
my classes. I also had time to enjoy my kids and do fun things with
them. I
travelled a lot and connected with family and friends.
All these are part of why the word “beautiful”
has a place in my stay in Nigeria and in the title of this talk.
I’ll now focus on some of the challenges
that
featured in my public talks. My paper titled, “Masculinity
through omumu lens …” was presented at
the University
of Lagos on the 3rd of May. I was
amazed that it attracted a large
audience – the hall was full, they had to bring and squeeze in
more chairs,
many stood at the back and sides of the hall. I later learnt that many
wanted
to hear what a woman would say about masculinity – presumably
men’s issue. The
main point I made was that negative masculinity is the bane of society
because
it enables the abuse of human rights. I chose to horn the talk on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe,
because of the popularity of the novel especially its hero, Okonkwo,
who is
admired because he made a lot of money and achieved political
successes. I
think that Okonkwo should be scorned because of his deplorable trait of
negative masculinity largely resulting from his fear of being perceived
as weak
or what he regards as womanish. This overwhelms his better judgment and
leads
to acts of violence. He beats up his wives, kills his foster son, kills
his
friend’s son and alienates his biological son.
These criminal acts, abuse of power and abuse of people’s
rights lead to
his downfall and death in a manner, which is so deplored in the society
that
even the earth goddess refuses to embrace him in the traditional way
– he is
not given a befitting burial (I speak about it in the present tense
because it
is a novel).
On
the basis of
this novel I opened the door from fiction to real social life where
there is a
lot of abuse of human rights – women, children, and men. People
are constantly abused,
starved, neglected and harmed in many ways by
those who have political and economic power
as well as those who have some kind of power over others at home,
offices,
streets etc. In this scenario, women and children are the most
vulnerable. Although
the talk pinched one or two members of the audience, it was
well-received. I
was happy that in spite of stirring the place a bit with my unabashed
criticism
of negative masculinity, people still highly appreciated my effort. Men
and of
course women would stop me at different places to say how they liked my
emphasis on how masculine traits of providing food, shelter and
security was
being negated. One woman said that she liked the way I expanded the
notion of
masculinity to include women who are in powerful positions in public
life or as
breadwinners in their families. Students could not stop talking about
it and
asking more questions. I felt that if this were the only thing I gained
from my
sabbatical, then it was worth it.
The
talk
attracted media attention that helped to put the issue on the public
table. CLIPS
OF:
Paul
Oluwakoya’s “The trouble with Nigeria – critics”
The Nation (May 23, 2012).
Michael
Orie’s “Things ... Africa’s
masculinity as bane of real politicks” The
Guardian (May 18, 2012).
Let
me mention
some of the pressing issues in the society while I was there. All of
them are
somewhat connected to negative masculinity and abuse of human rights.
Boko
Haram
This
is an
extremist Islamic group founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 to subvert
modernity
that is not Islamist. Some say that it is a jihadist organization that
seeks to
kill non-Muslims and wants to establish sharia law in Nigeria. Some say
it is a
collection of men who have long been marginalized by society and are
now on a
revenge mission. All these are speculations because they operate
underground.
There is a lot of truth in their being anti-modernity and Christianity
because
they constantly bomb Christian particularly Catholic churches. And
there is no
doubt that they have huge anger issues against society.
Sex
slavery or
Trafficking of women
Many
Nigeria
women are “exported” to Europe especially Italy where they
perform sexual
favors for sale. Research by a group of doctors and academics shows
that most
of the victims were trafficked when they were under the age of twenty,
were
mostly from very poor backgrounds where the family looked up to them as
the
ones to uplift the family through the job they would get in Europe
(“Report of
field survey in Edo State, Nigeria” by C. Okojie et al). Most were trafficked by relations or
acquaintances. Most of the money they made was retained by their
Madams/Sponsors or what can be regarded as “owners” for
want of better word.
Executive
Stealing of People’s money
One
of the
things that I enjoyed was the media particularly the newspapers because
of
their focus on tradition, changing culture and corruption. Newspapers
were unaffordable
by most students, but they could read for free. They had a funny name
for it – Free
Readers Association (FRA). This implied that you could just stand at
the stall
and read as much as you wanted for free. People usually got information
through
cell phones, radio, television, newspapers and so on. We read about
embezzlement of public funds, oil fraud, money laundering, kidnapping
for
ransom etc. The weakest were usually adversely affected by these crimes
and
abuses, so whether they concerned women directly or not, women and
children as well
as the weak and poor were and remain the primary victims.
Hope
In
spite of this
gloomy picture, there is hope, because as the monster has many
tentacles,
fighters confront the monster from many angles – journalists,
NGOs, writers,
people through demonstrations of anger etc.
The corruption-machine is heavy and people are continuously
weakened,
yet they still fight even with their mouths – cursing, talking
about it and emphasizing
the idea of goodness in domestic, public and other societal affairs.
As a
professor,
I tried to tackle the monster mostly through education particularly by
engaging
young minds – future leaders, parents, teachers and responsible
citizens
– in
problem-oriented
discussions of issues. Their ability to think critically about the
issues and
possible strategies for solutions give me hope. Students liked my
classes
because they were not just about teaching them literature, theater and
research
methodology that I was assigned to teach. We also connected class
discussions
to Nigerian issues that facilitated our brainstorming on societal
progress. I
often went to class with a story of something I witnessed or something
in the
newspaper that we would discuss. Let me read an excerpt from one such
anecdote
that we engaged in class and which I got some of my students to
continue
engaging as I left for the US. It may appear as a small thing but it
involves
abuse of power, gender discrimination, victimization, apathy and people
as
agents of change. These are also symptoms and features of the society
at large
not just the little groups mentioned in my anecdote.
I READ.
Excerpt
from
“Much ado about women’s hair”
“You are not properly dressed as a
woman!”
This shock was delivered by a teenage boy.
At first, I said nothing; stunned by his words, their harsh
delivery,
and the audacity of a boy scrutinizing me. Who gave this youngster the
power to
do this? Overcoming my shock, I tried to evaluate my dress. I wore a
gown that
covered my breasts and knees properly. The scarf covered my hair and a
good
part of my forehead. The latter was deliberate because I did not want a
repeat
of the incident that occurred at Mowei two months earlier.
“What’s
wrong with my dress?” I said.
“Your
hands are showing. That is the rule in this church. I’m only
doing my job-o.
Madam you cannot pass through this gate,” he said. He was acting
on orders.
Whose orders?
“All
right. Why not let me and my children pass. We will not go into the
church.
We’ll stay outside and follow the service through the
window.”
“Madam,
let me say it again. I’m doing my
job.
You see those girls walking down the street, I turned them down. I
cannot let
you in.”
“Is
there some weird sense of fairness in treating a woman and kids and
girls
alike,” I swallowed my smile.
After
narrating
the above incident, the students began to discuss it. I was impressed
by the
way they engaged gender power. These were students that I taught the
meaning of
gender and how it is made to be so huge that it dwarfs the little
biological difference
that is often confused with gender. A pastor in the class said that
such a
thing would never happen in his church. A young woman said that
something like
that was common in the provinces, but could not happen in the city of
Lagos.
But it did happen in Lagos and I was in church that day when the priest
castigated women who did not cover their hair in church. I met the
priest after
service and made an appointment to see him.
I told my students that it was not enough to
grumble about something but to go further to try and do something, and
that it
would work better to get other people to join you. I went with a PhD
student
and we had a very interesting conversation with the priest. He had very
progressive ideas and told us that he did not mean it that way. I left
the
matter to three students before I left the country. They have to
continue with
the issue because it is still ongoing.
I
will conclude
my talk by emphasizing that there are lots of bad stuff going on in
Nigeria but
also a lot of very good stuff that give it beauty. It’s like the
rose with
thorns; we still go for it in spite of the spikes.
Winter
is a harsh season with a lot of problems that can negate adoration, but
I am
more committed to Nigeria in spite of and because of the difficulties
that I
imagistically refer to as winter and as harmattan in the poem. I’ll
end this
talk by reading my poem that speaks to this sentiment.
Poem:
“My love grows in winter.” In It
Grows in Winter and Other Poems.
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| Page title:
Nigeria - Exciting and challenging Last update: February 21, 2013 Web page by C. G. Okafor |
Copyrights Copywright © Chinyere G. Okafor Contact: chinyere.okafor@wichita.edu |