
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on what it means to be “an African writer” - Thevet
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/01/shut-and-write
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veddox
This is a beautiful (and very true) passage:

"Among Nigerians, complaining about our problems is an art form. Most
conversations quickly become a litany of complaints – about government
corruption, no light, no water, etc. But if a foreigner were to say the same
things, to recite the same litany of complaints, Nigerians would become
defensive, sometimes angrily so.

"I have always been curious about this brand of defensiveness – which I myself
often exhibit, by the way. It seems to me that we have it because we assume
that the complaining Nigerian is aware that Nigeria is not only about its
problems, is aware of the human complexity, knows of the intelligence and
ingenuity of people, knows how they cry and laugh, knows what motivates them
and what they aspire to and what they find meaningful. And we suspect that the
foreigner does not know these other stories about us and so we worry about
being defined solely by what we do not have and by what we are not. And so our
defensiveness emerges."

~~~
wenc
This is true of many kinds of people (e.g. New Yorkers, Parisiens, text
editor/programming language aficionados, etc.) They complain about whatever it
is they hold dear, but take umbrage when outsiders do so.

I hate to use a NNT-popularized phrase, but it's partly because outsiders
don't have "skin in the game", and their complaints don't come from a place of
shared adversity and knowledge, but from a place of unearned superiority and
ignorance.

In most areas in life, you have to earn the right to complain.

~~~
kgwxd
NNT?

~~~
lkrych
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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fgandiya
> It is to be scrutinised for the right kind of African representation. You
> are required to perform the rituals. You are required to bow to the
> expectations of citizenship.

I totally get this. I wanted to write a book which centered around my life in
high school. One thing that worries me is that even though Africa is a diverse
place, there's an expectation that "African literature" should be written in a
particular way on particular subjects and experiences. I doubt coming from an
upper class family attending a fancy private school counts as such.

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teachrdan
Maybe you could write the African version of "Crazy Rich Asians"?

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fgandiya
Lol, that would actually make sense.

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te_chris
Highly recommend her work! I've read Americanah and loved it. My partner read
Half of a Yellow Sun and also really enjoyed it.

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SolaceQuantum
_" It is difficult in the West to talk about the connections between creating
and citizenship because of the general ideas placed around art, that it is a
thing apart, that an artist by creating suddenly becomes a citizen of an
imaginary and apolitical land of other artists. There are people in the West
who use the term “political” almost as a pejorative in reference to a work of
literature. (I emphasise the West because in parts of the world called
developing, art is often not seen as automatically separate from politics.)"_

This is quite poignant and on the nose in my experience. I'm a dark science
fiction author and this has been my understanding of the situation in my field
also. With the Sad/Rabid puppies, Gamergate, Racefail, etc. its always been a
large discussion that politics should stay out of art, or that art should be
apolitical, or that politics in art is pandering/bad.

I feel that the selection of politics in art is actually quite specific- 1984,
Farenheit 451, Ayn Rand's works are political with esteem. But works in a
distinctly diverse voice are often chagrined for it- the new star wars stuff,
the new star trek stuff (even when the old star trek stuff, which is also
quite diverse, is well regarded). I've seen criticism that these are 'too
political', but I've yet to see someone complaining that 1984 is too political
of a scifi piece, or that Brave New World is shoving too much politics in its
scifi. But I may just not be adequately read on criticisms of those works- I
only have so much attention and I've found the loudest voices are of the most
recent works of our time.

So I agree that in the West, describing fiction as political is sometimes used
in a pejorative manner, even though several well-regarded works are very
political. It's just certain politics are broadly considered 'too far' and
hyperfocused on identity in a negative sense. I don't understand this
phenomenon myself, actually, but her observance is also my observance here as
a Western writer.

But her later writing, about not only writing politically, but also being
viewed in a political light are also true to me. Even as one does not write
with a political agenda, the writing will be interpreted in a political lens
and then you the author will be held responsible. This contrast between that
which is viewed politically and that which is written politically is a core of
significant amounts of chagrin within the field of science fiction writing.

The final paragraph, before the quote, encompasses so much that I relate to.
(I still respect that, as an American author, I could never fully relate to
her experiences as a Nigerian author. I respect that her experiences are her
own. Merely that I relate to aspects of it.)

 _" That question “Are you an African Writer?” is one I have been asked many
times, and there are times when I have answered “Yes”, a yes that reflected my
ambivalence but also my anxiety not to be misunderstood. I belong, was what my
“Yes” said, I belong. But that “Yes” often came with a whisper: “But you must
let me belong on my own terms, on multiple terms, for that is the essence of
art.”"_

~~~
jerf
I think that the issue isn't that people don't want politics out of their art
entirely. It's that people seek a balance, and right now, the balance is
atrociously tilted in favor of politics. It is a very common mistake across a
wide range of fields to mistake an imbalance and a desire to move back towards
balance as a desire to move right past that balance and keep going, made by
both people desiring the move and those fighting it. But I think this is a
balance problem, not a "get it all out" problem.

Of course, it's also scrambled by the way the Internet amplifies every outlier
voice, and you can get yelled at simultaneously for having too much politics
and not enough. And we've got a good group of folk running around and
projecting politics everywhere, and screaming at you if you resist them.

You'd get tired of even your favorite food if everyone you knew was literally
sticking it in your mouth at what felt like every available opportunity. And
even if it's a very healthy food and desirable in every other way, you're not
going to enjoy it.

While I'm not sure I call myself "an anime fan", I've found myself going there
a lot more lately, because either A: the Japanese culture right now is a lot
more willing to just _tell a story_ and not provide me with the "correct"
interpretation, complete with social pressure and serious threats of
ostrichization if I don't agree with it or B: I'm oblivious to the politics
because I lack the context or C: I can see them but I haven't been rubbed raw
by constant exposure to the issue, or I have no particular reason to care
(e.g., a series clearly tackling the political issue of Japanese government
censorship, but it's pretty easy for me to be fairly detached from the
politics).

~~~
SolaceQuantum
Regarding anime, I think anime has its fair share of constant politicking. In
fact, I recall several important anime being discussed in political discourse
in japan- especially among the depiction of homosexual
relationships/homosexuality as an identity and how sexualised depictions of
young girls can be. I myself am not japanese, but I am aware of this discourse
occuring among people I know who are far more expertise on the subject than I
am. I encourage looking into this matter if you are curious.

I think that the balance is quite confused- as I stated before, the most well-
lauded works are almost all highly political, especially in science fiction.
My confusion is that there is a claim there is too much politics in a field
whose foundational works are all political works. This makes me believe that
it is not that it is political, but that political views around certain
narratives are less acceptable than other political views, and are considered
"too far". The actual lines are quite fuzzy and filled with nuance, similar to
the essayist's experiences with being an "African writer".

~~~
jerf
I wasn't clear. It isn't that anime never has politics. It is that there is
anime that isn't political, and quite a lot of it. (I mean, you can always
read something in, but if there is a such thing as "not political", there are
many animes that are this.) In the west, the latter is becoming rare. At
least, in the mainstream. If I may anthropomorphize a bit, the dominant
political narrative in the West for the past ~60 years is sensing it's own
growing weakness and facing significant challenges for the first time in
several decades, and it has responded by cranking up the volume. If you are
not precisely in lockstep with it, the volume is quite deafening and it's
hardly a wonder that it's turning a lot of people off.

I would also distinguish "political" from "philosophical". A _lot_ of anime is
_philosophical_. That's not what's bothering people. Ghost in the Shell musing
about what it means to be human and what the line between human and machine
will someday be isn't telling me which candidate I need to vote for or else
I'll be cast into the outer social darkness where there is much wailing,
gnashing of teeth, and deplatforming.

~~~
SolaceQuantum
Ghost in the shell is a direct exploration into the ramifications of sentiment
after nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan. This is a really political event
and it explores the ramifications of this political event. It's steeped in
politics, and even explores the gender identity of being an android.

Also, for what I've experienced in the west, I am not seeing what you are
seeing- the " telling me which candidate I need to vote for or else I'll be
cast into the outer social darkness where there is much wailing, gnashing of
teeth, and deplatforming". I'm unsure where Star Wars has done this, or, say,
that weird female-cast remake of Ghostbusters? These were fairly mainstream
works from what I understand, but they weren't about voting or who to vote
for. Their politics, from what I understand, was entirely about who was casted
and the choices in casting them, not about candidates.

I'm really confused now. I don't understand where you're discerning politics
from philosophy. An anime about exploring the ramifications of the nuclear
bomb and the human identity including gender of androids is philosophical, but
the dominant western media is about candidate voting- of which I don't know
any mainstream western media directly saying who to vote for?

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jerf
I take it you are mainstream politically for silicon valley? You won't see the
colored tint of the politics of the media culture if you're already wearing
spectacles of the same tint. New Ghostbusters absolutely has opinions about
what you should believe and who you should vote for. Hollywood is drenched in
it nowadays. It can't hardly produce anything without it. Recent Star Wars was
full of it too, yes.

I'm not sure why you think Ghost in the Shell was about the nuclear bombing.
I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone take that angle on it before, and I've read
some stuff about it. It's primarily about technology, most of which doesn't
exist yet. And if it differs, it is that it doesn't necessarly _take a stand_
and tell you what to believe, like Hollywood does so much today. I guess
that's my primary line-draw on philosophy vs. politics. I see so much less
"cartoonish buffoon with obvious badthink vs. righteous, all-virtue
rightthinker" in anime.

If you don't believe me, you can easily put it to the test, if you're on
social media. Just try posting that you'd like to see some bit of media that
reaches across the aisle and treats a Trump voter with some degree of respect,
in the interests of human brotherhood. Warning: You may lose friends if you do
this. I've posted this challenge three or four times to people before now, and
nobody's reported trying it, because on some level... you know.

~~~
SolaceQuantum
_I take it you are mainstream politically for silicon valley?_

I'm not, actually. I don't live in silicon valley, and have no idea what the
mainstream of silicon valley is in terms of politics.

Also, I think you may be approaching this with a lot more assumptions than is
reasonable to be made here. You've made assumptions about me and my position,
and instead of diverting to social media I would like to bring it back to the
inherent politicality of western media and how it's distinctly more overt and
telling people how to vote?

