I recently read the book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, for my World literature class. I do not know much about the country of Nigeria, so I have been researching about Famous Nigerians, and the continent of Africa itself. In this post you will read what I have learned.
Map Game Times:
BEST: 88 seconds.
The first famous Nigerian I researched was, Fela Kuti, a man known for his creativity and innovation of music.
When researching and reading his biography, I learned some interesting things, such as:
To learn more about Fela Kuti, you can use the websites I found most helpful:
Dougan, John. "Fela Kuti | Biography." AllMusic. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/fela-kuti-mn0000138833/biography>.
"Bio | Fela Kuti, Nigerian Music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Fela Ransome Kuti, Fela Kuti Music." Bio | Fela Kuti, Nigerian Music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Fela Ransome Kuti, Fela Kuti Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.fela.net/bio>.
The next Famous Nigerian I researched was, Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, the novel I read in literature, leading to this research.
If you'd like to know more about Chinua Achebe I would really recommend reading this insightful and interesting obituary.
Kandell, Jonathan. "Chinua Achebe, African Literary Titan, Dies at 82." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/world/africa/chinua-achebe-nigerian-writer-dies-at-82.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0>.
The last famous Nigerian I read about was Wole Soyinka, a notable playwright and poet from Nigeria.
To read more about his early life and struggle for Nigerian independence, you may use the website I used, it was:
"Presidential Lectures: Wole Soyinka: Introduction." Presidential Lectures: Wole Soyinka: Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/soyinka/>.
For my next section of research, I researched contemporary Nigeria, for a more broad topic base. I was surprised by some of the things I found.
Though information on this topic were more complicated, I used the websites below to get the best information I could find.
"AllAfrica." AllAfrica.com: Nigeria: Fresh Nasarawa Militia War Kills Dozens (Page 1 of 2). N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
and:
"Emergent Africa : Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria." Emergent Africa : Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
Achebe's Essay: "Nigeria's promise, Africa's hope."
Thesis: "Africa has endured a tortured history of political instability, and religious, racial, and ethnic strife. " I think Achebe is talking about Africa as a whole has been very effected by its surroundings, especially in the instances of the "scramble for Africa" and colonialism itself.
evidence #1: "It created new boundaries in ancient kingdoms, and nation-states resulting in disjointed, inexplicable, tension-prone countries today." This is referring to how colonialism came into the country of Nigeria, and created new governments, and tried to change religion by missionaries.
evidence #2: "Africa’s post-colonial disposition is the result of a people who have lost the habit of ruling themselves, forgotten their traditional way of thinking, embracing and engaging the world without sufficient preparation." This point is referring to how, after the Europeans finally left Africa, the people were left discombobulated. Though they were happy, the did not know how to set up a government, or reorganize their towns.
evidence #3: "The political situation deteriorated rapidly and Nigeria was quickly consumed by civil war. The belligerents were an aggrieved people in the southeast of the nation, the Biafrans, who found themselves fleeing pogroms and persecution at the hands of the determined government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which had been armed to the teeth by some of the major international powers. " This is referring to how the anarchy in Africa, lead the people to aggression and confusion, that ended up resulting in war in many countries. The angriest of people, the most ready for war, left the neocolonialist areas, that were taken care of by major powers, mostly from Europe.
Map Game Times:
BEST: 88 seconds.
The first famous Nigerian I researched was, Fela Kuti, a man known for his creativity and innovation of music.
When researching and reading his biography, I learned some interesting things, such as:
- He was known as many things such as; producer, musician, political radical, outlaw, nonredeemable sexist, and moody megalomaniac. Though he made compromising decisions and in the end it affected his life, when he died from AIDS, many people who knew him would say that his main focus was to fight for the freedom of Africa and that is how he should be remembered.
- He was well known for his defiance of "the norm" or "status quo". He rebelled against conservative elites, for example, he believed religion put constrains on people by stating they had to be in monogamous marriage, and "body-phobia", playing on the fact that he believed the human body was beautiful and believed religions that required clothing were hurting people, not helping.
- He used the criticism he got by political officials, as his own resource. He was not hurt by the judgement and outrage, he fed off of it.
- He was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, into a middle class family, with strong political views, making it no surprise he had many of his own.
- Fela Kuti had a dream of becoming a musician for much of his young life, but that was not the idea his parents had in mind, they wanted him to be a doctor. They sent him to London to study medicine, where Fela decided to take things into his own hands, and registered himself at Trinity College's School of Music.
To learn more about Fela Kuti, you can use the websites I found most helpful:
Dougan, John. "Fela Kuti | Biography." AllMusic. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/fela-kuti-mn0000138833/biography>.
"Bio | Fela Kuti, Nigerian Music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Fela Ransome Kuti, Fela Kuti Music." Bio | Fela Kuti, Nigerian Music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Fela Ransome Kuti, Fela Kuti Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.fela.net/bio>.
The next Famous Nigerian I researched was, Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, the novel I read in literature, leading to this research.
- Chinua Achebe suffered a car accident in Nigeria in 1990 that left him paralyzed from the waist down for much of his life.
- Things Fall Apart was his first novel though it got him much attention, published when he was 28 years old. (In 1958)
- Achebe spent much of his later life, as a college professor in America, most recently Brown, much of his writing takes place of his homeland of the countryside of Nigeria.
- I thought it was very interesting that as I read about Chinua Achebe's life I saw many parallels to Things Fall Apart, not particularly that the same things happened in his life but that the similarities most likely effected his writings. Though I did find it odd that his father was Christian but the main character in the novel is very against Christians and the missionaries. Reading about how his father helped missionaries does give some insight on how he knew so much about that time in Africa, and therefore was very successful when writing about it.
- Publishers initially turned down his book, not knowing if it would have a large fan base, as it was different than normal stories, being an African fiction, but when it was picked up, it became very successful, boy did he prove the first publishers wrong!
If you'd like to know more about Chinua Achebe I would really recommend reading this insightful and interesting obituary.
Kandell, Jonathan. "Chinua Achebe, African Literary Titan, Dies at 82." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/world/africa/chinua-achebe-nigerian-writer-dies-at-82.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0>.
The last famous Nigerian I read about was Wole Soyinka, a notable playwright and poet from Nigeria.
- He won the Nobel Prize in Literature 1986, for his success in writing.
- He was born in Western Nigeria, and was brought up in an Anglican mission compound. Though he was raised in an English speaking environment, his heritage in Yoruba.
- Soyinka was very privileged in his education, he went to primary school, grammar school, Government college(at age 12), and another university at age 18.
- By the time he was in college his interest for theater had become part of his ambition, because of this he traveled to England to get a degree in drama.
- He was a very confident writer and was not afraid to offend or suffer the consequences, he even went through trial when he wrote a book openly defying officials of Nigeria.
To read more about his early life and struggle for Nigerian independence, you may use the website I used, it was:
"Presidential Lectures: Wole Soyinka: Introduction." Presidential Lectures: Wole Soyinka: Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/soyinka/>.
For my next section of research, I researched contemporary Nigeria, for a more broad topic base. I was surprised by some of the things I found.
- This month in Nigeria there was a battle between believed terrorists, and the defense of Nigeria, near the Sambisa Forest, only 4 soldiers were killed.
- Officials would like to relocate schools to less attack-prone areas, as 200 schoolgirls have been abducted from schools in Chibok, Nigeria.
- The government of Nigeria is holding its ground against terror threats, especially the group, Boko Haram, and plans to make them pay for the innocent lives they have taken.
- Not much governance and control of land disputes results in many innocent Nigerians losing their life.
- The Private Sector of Healthcare in Nigeria has plans to innovate and change the way healthcare is set up in Nigeria and is making big strides after merging with the pharmaceutical industry and increasing supply.
Though information on this topic were more complicated, I used the websites below to get the best information I could find.
"AllAfrica." AllAfrica.com: Nigeria: Fresh Nasarawa Militia War Kills Dozens (Page 1 of 2). N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
and:
"Emergent Africa : Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria." Emergent Africa : Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
Achebe's Essay: "Nigeria's promise, Africa's hope."
Thesis: "Africa has endured a tortured history of political instability, and religious, racial, and ethnic strife. " I think Achebe is talking about Africa as a whole has been very effected by its surroundings, especially in the instances of the "scramble for Africa" and colonialism itself.
evidence #1: "It created new boundaries in ancient kingdoms, and nation-states resulting in disjointed, inexplicable, tension-prone countries today." This is referring to how colonialism came into the country of Nigeria, and created new governments, and tried to change religion by missionaries.
evidence #2: "Africa’s post-colonial disposition is the result of a people who have lost the habit of ruling themselves, forgotten their traditional way of thinking, embracing and engaging the world without sufficient preparation." This point is referring to how, after the Europeans finally left Africa, the people were left discombobulated. Though they were happy, the did not know how to set up a government, or reorganize their towns.
evidence #3: "The political situation deteriorated rapidly and Nigeria was quickly consumed by civil war. The belligerents were an aggrieved people in the southeast of the nation, the Biafrans, who found themselves fleeing pogroms and persecution at the hands of the determined government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which had been armed to the teeth by some of the major international powers. " This is referring to how the anarchy in Africa, lead the people to aggression and confusion, that ended up resulting in war in many countries. The angriest of people, the most ready for war, left the neocolonialist areas, that were taken care of by major powers, mostly from Europe.