Maaza Mengiste and Nadifa Mohamed on the Burden of Writing About Africa
Warscapes‘ Bhakti Shringarpure recently spoke to two authors hailing from the horn of Africa, Nadifa Mohamed and Maaza Mengiste, about Italian colonialism, the frustrating expectations placed on African writers, Binyavana Wainaina’s Guardian article about British literature, and “men with the power to turn into hyenas”.
Mengiste, author of Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, speaks about her experience of meeting those Italians who are in denial about their history in East Africa and who claim that they were “good” colonialists. Mengiste challenges this, explaining how the “apartheid” of that era in Italian East Africa “went beyond what the British and French practiced”.
Mohamed and Mengiste also discussed writing in the voices of young males. Mohamed, author of Black Mamba Boy, says she felt compelled to write from the viewpoint of a young boy in order to tell her father’s story, but during the process realised there was “no clear-cut male/female voice”. Read the interview:
Bhakti Shringarpure: Nadifa, when I met Maaza in New York, she told me that the both of you were paired at many book events and festivals in Italy. Why do you think that is?
Nadifa Mohamed: I think that in Italy particularly there is a greater awareness of East Africa, and the fact that we are both young women living outside of our home countries created a connection in people’s minds.
Maaza Mengiste: Yes, that’s true. Italy has a lot of people from Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia. It speaks to these very complex historical relationships among the countries – colonialism, war, etc. But these relationships are not easily discussed in Italy. And I think that was part of the interest in both our books – a window into this part of history.
Book details
- Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
EAN: 9780007315772
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- Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste
EAN: 9780224089166
Find this book with BOOK Finder!
Photo courtesy the Guardian
Apr
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