|
|
Nigeria: V. S. Naipaul, Nobel Prize Winner, Visits Kano
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Leadership (Abuja)
OPINION
8 August 2008
Posted to the web 8 August 2008
The ancient city of Kano witnessed a quiet and rare intellectual evening on Wednesday, 6th August 2008 when the famous, celebrated and Nobel Prize winning novelist, Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, better known as V. S. Naipaul, and his wife Nadira Naipaul, a former journalist, paid a private visit.
The meeting was facilitated by A. Olawale Edun, Chairman of the Chapel Hill Denham group.
Although the visit was private, nevertheless Sir Naipaul put a request to the facilitator of his visit (who accompanied him from Lagos) to meet a few writers and researchers from Kano. Although at a very short notice, nevertheless the following made themselves available: Alhaji Ibrahim Ado Kurawa (DG, Government House), Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu (cultural theorist and educationist), Prof. Sa'idu Ahmad Babura (Professor of African Literature and lecturer in the Department of English, BUK), and Alhaji Auwal Hamza, a novelist (one of the few who writes in both Hausa and English). The informal meeting took place in the elegant grounds of Prince Hotel, Kano. Basically Sir Naipaul and his guests wanted to know the group's opinion of Kano and its situation.
During a discussion that lasted more than an hour and a half, Sir Naipaul and his guests discussed a wide range of issues about Kano, cultural identity, the nature of Hausa writing, especially novel writing, the Hausa/Fulani cultural identities and the culture and traditions of the Kano people. Prof. Sa'idu Babura, who was very familiar with Naipaul's works provided excellent commentaries on the various novels written by Naipaul he brought along with him to the meeting. Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu lead the discussion on the issue of Hausa identity - apparently an issue very close to Naipaul's heart, as he exhibited great curiosity in knowing how the cultural identity of a Hausa person can be ascertained. Prof Abdalla argued that cultural identity goes beyond being able to speak a particular language - and provided examples with Asian immigrants in London some of whom do not speak their mother tongues, but still consider their identity as Asian.
There was also quite a lot of interested in Auwalu Hamza's use of two languages - Hausa and English to write novels, and this led to more discussions on why the Hausa prefer to write - or converse - in Hausa more than in any other language. Thus although there are over 1,000 Hausa language novelists, not many seem to be interested in writing in English to reach other audience. Prof. Sa'idu Babura theorized that this was probably because of the "inward looking nature of the Hausa person".
Sir Naipaul led more discussion on this issue of "inwardness" of writers which seems to fascinate him. At the same time, it was discussed that this inwardness is not the same as being retrogressive; rather it is con-servative (not even conservative) -- a deliberate strategy to conserve a cultural heritage.
More discussions were held on the growth of Kano - and interestingly enough, Prof. Paul Lubeck, whose excellent work Islam and Urban Labor in Northern Nigeria: The Making of a Muslim Working Class (Cambridge, 1987), remains a classic in industrial anthropology of northern Nigeria - was in the garden around the corner, also on a private visit, although not part of Naipaul conversation. Ibrahim Ado Kurawa provided deep insights into the spatial configuration of Kano and how it rapidly grew. The meeting ended with lots of photos taken, email addresses exchanged and promises to keep in touch.
Naipaul came across as a highly intelligent conversationist, bringing into the conversation his wit, humour and rich literary heritage and experience. It was a literary rewarding experience, as it is not every day that a Nobel Prize winning literary giant passes through Kano and attempt to interact with the local literati.
|
Prof. Abdalla is a part-time lecturer in the Department of Mass Communications, Bayero University, Kano
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
