‘Taxi driver returned my lost bag on first Nigerian visit’
The joy and privilege of being a member of a university community are manifold - not least the variety of intellectual and cultural learning events that dot the time-scape. Last week, the Department of Theatre and Performing Arts (DTPA) at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in collaboration with its counterpart DTPA here at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), with the support of the United States Mission in Nigeria, celebrated “February is Black History Month” in some style in Zaria, Kano and Abuja. My academic colleague, Dr. Rasheedah Liman of DTPA ABUZaria (rabuliman@gmail.com) was the Project Coordinator of the celebration, and I talked to her about her reminiscences, which are recorded here for this week, and for posterity:
African American historian Carter G. Woodson was the precursor of Black History Month (BHM). Initially, it started as a humble celebration of Negro History Week, but such celebration was gradually transformed into BHM. By 1976, the American government saw the value of celebrating BHM as part of the overall national culture of the United States. With the institutionalization of annual commemoration of BHM in the U.S, other nations such as Canada, United Kingdom and Netherlands also became attracted to the idea of celebrating BHM, which they have been commemorating in their different ways.
The essence of BHM is to showcase the achievements of Africans in the diaspora in different fields of human endeavor. Contributions of members of the Black race to the common pool of breakthroughs in knowledge, including various disciplinary enclaves, as well as their mark in creativity and innovation, are not just duly acknowledged but are visibly brought to the attention of the rest of world even with the injuries inflicted on Africans through relentless racial profiling. In the arts, for instance, groundbreaking works in literature, theatre and musical performances, cinema, painting and sculpture are showcased; whilein thesciences, feats achievedin medicine, architecture, engineering and other applied sciences are equally highlighted.
The celebration of BHM eventually gravitated to the shores of Africa from its point of origin amongst Africans in the diaspora. Academic institutions in Nigeria started their own commemoration of BHM a couple of years ago. The recent momentum in Nigeria is due largely to the generous support of the American Embassy to promote cultural ties between Nigerians living at home and their brothers and sisters in America and in otherparts of the world. This development is significant considering the recent discoveries of more individuals and groups belonging to the African racial stock in least expected quarters of Europe and Asia through new DNA technologies.
In this year’s celebration, ABU and BUK teamed up to produce some of the most memorable events through public lectures and dramatic performances. The BHMProject Coordinator, Dr Rasheedah Liman, invited three distinguished African American scholars to the country to give talks on any aspect of the cultural history of African Americans in the United States.
Two Professors from Michigan State University, Jeffrey C. Wray and Tama Hamilton-Wray, husband and wife, delivered interesting lectures on shared experiences, struggles, resistance and resilience of African Americans under the age-old institutionalized racism in the United States. However, the main focus of their discussion was politics of representation inmodes of cultural expression with particular reference to media culture, theatre production and film. Dr. Maria Martin, a much younger and dynamic faculty member, was invited from University of California. Her talks augmented the discussions of the more senior African American academics.
Organizers also invited three Nigerian academics. Prof Tanimu Abubakar gave his talk at ABU together with the two Professors from Michigan. Abubakar highlighted the centuries-old bondage of imperialism and other existential snares holding the black race down in perpetuity. He therefore called for concerted efforts by both Africans and African Americans to devise strategies through which the black race can be extricated from the dominance, subjugation, oppression and exploitation of the white race.
At BUK, it was also the combination of Prof Muhammad O. Bhadmus(Head of the DTPA) with the duo from Michigan. Bhadmusx-rayed the ideology of representation found in imaginative literature more vigorously. He examined how the institution of literature negatively portrayed African personality and values.
In Abuja, Prof Mabel Evwierhoma of University of Abuja’s DTPA was the homebased scholar that joined the three African American scholars to give talks on the importance of BHM. Evwierhoma lucidly articulated the contributions of African creative writers to the ongoing discourse on race vis-à-vis the overarching struggles of Africans at home and in the diaspora.
The second level of the commemoration was the stage performance of “Raisin in the Sun”, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, an African American woman playwright, published in the 1950s (a period in which the African Americans vigorously waged civil rights struggles to confront the evil of racial discrimination). The play was creatively performed by the students of the DTPA ABU with Dr Gana Emmanuel (ABU) as Director, assisted by Dr Ola Ifetimehin(BUK). The play was staged in ABU, Zaria, BUK and at the Merit House Auditorium in Abuja.
“Raisin in the Sun”projects the suffering and struggles of the average African American extended family. The play offers its audience a glimpse of limited economic opportunities and social mobility in the available spaces in which people of color operate. The fascinating dimension of the play is in how it nurtures sense of hope and dream in an utterly hopeless situation characteristic of deeply entrenched structural racism in an America that is elsewhere in the world busy promoting its ideals of freedom, liberty and equal opportunities to everybody in spite of race, ethnicity and creed.
The attendance was remarkable: ABU Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Ibrahim Garba made time to attend the lecture in Zaria, where the commemoration was kick-started, as well as the performance of “Raisin in the Sun”in Abuja, with highranking officials of the American Embassy, other officials and the general public. In Kano, the VC was represented by Deputy VC Admin Prof Adamu Tanko, himself a prolific writer.
This year, indeed, the Nigerian academic community has joined its African American brothers and sisters in celebrating February as Black History Month.
Our youngest Department of Information and Media Studies here at BUK’s Faculty of Communication on Tuesday February 13 celebrated World Radio Day with some panache. They invited veteran broadcaster Lawal Yusuf Saulawa (fresh from retirement as Head of Nagarta Radio Kaduna), to speak on “Radio Proliferation and Implications on Political Development”.
Mambayya House also of the BUK Thursday evening hosted African American scholar Prof Horace Campbell, Kwame Nkrumah Chair at the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, who spoke on “NATO and the Destruction of Libya.” Friday morning, the Ambassador of Ireland to Nigeria Sean Hoy was at Mambayya House and spoke on the Northern Ireland Peace Process; perchance Nigeria could adapt a point or two. (More on these next week in sha Allah).