World literature must interact

By Henry Munene

When Ola Rotimi penned The Gods are not to Blame, which is loosely based on the Greek mythology-inspired play by Sophocles — Oedipus Rex — there was uproar among critics in Africa. The argument was that, Rotimi should have delved deep into our repertoire of myths for more relevant stuff than the Greek mythology. But looking at the world today, I think this debate needs to be looked at from more perspectives.

I have never believed the mantra that Africans should ignore literature from other places and promote only their own. I will be the first to join the first cult that preaches that the healing of the continent will result from interaction with other cultures.

Look at what we have done with our ‘pure’ ethnic identities! Whereas there is something honourable about who we are, trust our cheap politic(ian)s to turn ethnic identity into a powder keg where people decimate each other without remorse. Again, travelling outside one’s geographical space gives one a broader perspective of things, if only to show you that the neighbouring community is not next to the end of the world.

Cultural productions

Since all cannot afford to travel and study all the cultures in other parts of the world, the keener amongst us have learnt to rely on cultural productions from these places.

The last time I was in Mombasa, a taxi driver narrowed his eyes in astonishment when I said how much I love the coast. Then he quipped: "Why do you burn your money just to come all the way here to gawk at the ocean, when I have always wanted to leave this place and live the good life in Nairobi?"

Love for the exotic

I understood the man. In this age of globalisation, people tend to be fascinated with others’ cultural ways. Thus, even though I’m always wowed by my people’s (Embu), lore I’m a faithful fan of Jua Cali’s genge flavour and the Kikuyu mugiithi. I’m even campaigning for the traditional mwomboko among my natives.

Our girls even change their gait every time they cross the streets in Nairobi in a vice-like grip of a Caucasian arm. And Kenyan men are rumoured to be nocturnal frequenters to Kampala and other places.

It is human nature to love things exotic. And with the globalisation here, I think we need to embrace our indigenous traditional ways and sell these at the world market.

We have seen Japanese revellers falling in love with the nyatiti, and a legion of tourists spending a fortune just to watch wildebeests crossing to the Serengeti. This while we try to sing, dress, eat, sleep and even dream like people from the US and across the Atlantic. And indeed no suit sells in certain parts of the city unless it comes with a tag indicating that it is imported from Italy.

What I think we fail to realise is that we need not hate our own because, just as we love things and cultures from other places, other people love our own.

Humanity is one and world cultures need to interact with each other. Let us shed our cocoons of exclusivism and embrace the world and table what we have.

Winds of globalisation

As for literature, let us clothe the drama of the African gods in modern garb (universally, our stories are the same, it’s only the characters, time and space that keeps shifting).

Which is why I think the criticism against Rotimi’s book would have been more heated before the winds of globalisation started sweeping to these shores, but the book, in my view, is a perfect blend of global cultural ways.

The world of cultural productions, including the literary arts, has really changed.

The book has undergone a metamorphosis that will necessitate that the next time we reprint the Oxford Advanced learners dictionary, we will have to alter the definition to include the kindle, audio book, ebook and the digital, multimedia versions of the modern book.

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