African Reading Challenge

From Jackfruity I got inspired to participate in the African Reading Challenge, where participants commit to read - in the course of 2008 - six books that either were written by African writers, take place in Africa, or deal significantly with Africans and African issues.

This is my list:

1. The Weekenders, Travels in the Heart of Africa (Southern Sudan)
What would happen if you took some of Britain’s best writing talent, put them on a plane and flew them to one of the most extraordinary and inaccessible places on the planet? What would happen if you took Irvine Welsh from the streets of Edinburgh and showed him a remote, dangerous village in Africa? What would happen if you flew Alex Garland into one of the world’s most hazardous war zones? And how would Tony Hawks react if you dragged him away from his tennis and asked him to write a song with a Sudanese tribesman? With Victoria Glendinning, Andrew O’Hagan, Giles Foden and WF Deedes, these writers have experienced for themselves one of the most beautiful and yet troubled lands in the world – The Sudan.

I have already read the contribution from Irvine Welsh (the author of Trainspotting), and having spent time recently in Southern Sudan myself, I am truly impressed how he gets the vibe. Well, I just love Irwin Welsh, and I wouldn't have mind to have been in Southern Sudan with him. Besides, I love the concept of the book - it is an ideal way to create attention on Africa by taking writers from Europe, put them on a plane and dump them in a village with one demand: write a story from here! I'd like to copy this concept.

2. Che in Africa (Congo)
In April 1965, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara left Cuba and mysteriously disappeared, eventually resurfacing in revolutionary Bolivia, where he lived until h is assassination in October 1967. Now we know that he spent most of 1965 and 1966 in Central Africa, helping anti-Mobuto revolutionaries in the Republic of Congo. This new volume is a collection of writings from and about those years: fragments of letters he wrote, bits of an unpublished manuscript called Pasajes de la guerra revolucionar!a: Congo (which Che wrote shortly after leaving the Congo), and transcripts of interviews with Che's compatriots.

I am too old to walk around in a T-shirt with the image of Che, but still extremely fascinated by his ideas of solidarity with less priveledged people and Africa. I also like the idea of taking these ideas into action. Not to mention the fact of admitting when it doesn't work what you believed in.

 3. The Gunny Sack (Tanzania)
This first novel by a Nairobi-born writer raised in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania celebrates the spirit of Asian pioneers, Muslims from India who moved to East Africa in the early 1900s. Living under German colonial rule, the family of Dhanji Govindji become permanent residents of Africa while witnessing historical events that result in the birth of African nationalism. Vassanji has created a family memoir, a coming-of-age story that looks at the past with affection and understanding. He shows that the hopes and dreams of Indian immigrants were essentially the same as those of Europeans who passed through Ellis Island: education for their children and a more prosperous future for the next generation.

There is not lots of available litterature by African writers taking place in Tanzania. I found this one.

4. Miss Kwa Kwa (South Africa)
Struggling to find her path in the Rainbow Nation, Miss Kwa Kwa begins stalking a politician who becomes utterly enamored by the seemingly simple girl, introducing her to the world of Studio 94—the most elite and secret of nightclubs. A raucous political satire of the racism, greed, and criminal ambition in post-apartheid South Africa, the roller coaster ride of Miss Kwa Kwa results in romance, fame, and even her own talk show.

5. There's a Tsotsi in the Boardroom: Winning in a Hostile World (South Africa)
The message of this marketing guide is simple: the correct interpretation of cultural signals is the most important part of opening new territories and entering niche markets. Providing an overview of the basic South African mindset and its regional variations, the book explains that South Africans have had to break down many doors to succeed, and they enjoy being treated like chiefs—whether in parliament, the boardroom, in church, or on the street—and all marketing strategies should be tailored accordingly.

I bought the book the last time I was in Jo'burg. I have the idea that the introduction above also goes for the NGO world and my personal life.  

6. What Is the What (Southern Sudan)
Valentino Achak Deng, real-life hero of this engrossing epic, was a refugee from the Sudanese civil war-the bloodbath before the current Darfur bloodbath-of the 1980s and 90s. In this fictionalized memoir, Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) makes him an icon of globalization. Separated from his family when Arab militia destroy his village, Valentino joins thousands of other "Lost Boys," beset by starvation, thirst and man-eating lions on their march to squalid refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where Valentino pieces together a new life. He eventually reaches America, but finds his quest for safety, community and fulfillment in many ways even more difficult there than in the camps: he recalls, for instance, being robbed, beaten and held captive in his Atlanta apartment. Eggers's limpid prose gives Valentino an unaffected, compelling voice and makes his narrative by turns harrowing, funny, bleak and lyrical. The result is a horrific account of the Sudanese tragedy, but also an emblematic saga of modernity-of the search for home and self in a world of unending upheaval.

This one I need to get my hands on before I can read it. I have heard a lot of good stuff about this book, and I have to keep connected to Southern Sudan and that side, too.

Submit your own list here: http://tukopamoja.wordpress.com/africa-reading-challenge/

Comments

[tumwijuke]

I've joined the challenge. I read about your selection from Jackfruity.

"What is the What" ... I want to say things about it, but I won't spoil it for you.

Enjoy the reads.

[Rebekah]

So glad you're doing this as well! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Eggers. Happy reading!