Achebe tells stories of his people

Famed Nigerian author Chinua Achebe delivered his own Valentine message of peace and justice to Penn's campus on Friday. "I am truly delighted that my humble attempts for peace and justice are receiving attention in this great institution," Achebe said, speaking to a crowded Irvine Auditorium about his life and his works. In opening his speech, Achebe stressed the importance for him of his image as a peacemaker. Indeed, Achebe was the recent recipient of a German peace prize, which he claims "saved my life from those who call me a troublemaker." His quest for peace is manifested in his poignant and expressive portrayals of African history in several essays, short stories, poems and novels about Nigeria. "I have heard people ask, 'How do you write Africa?'" Achebe said, adding emphatically that the answer is to "read our books." African authors "are the movers of the story," he added. In his works, Achebe said he deals with the issue of black humanity "most simply." "I write my own story," he explained. "I tell the story of my own people.... If you tell your story, your humanity will emerge. You don't have to shout it." Though he resides in upstate New York where he teaches at Bard College, Achebe feels closely tied to his "mother country" and hopes one day to return to Nigeria. While he wants to instill pride and identity through portrayals of African history, he also states that "it is not my business to tell people who their mother is." Achebe, whose full name is Chinualumogu Albert Achebe, was born in Ogidi, Nigeria in 1930. He describes himself as an activist from the beginning, a young man in his 20s who began to ask dissatisfied questions. The strength he needed, he says, "came partly from the accident of my time." The other, "from inquisitive reading" of authors such as Joseph Conrad, whose novel Heart of Darkness Achebe criticized as a dehumanizing portrayal of Africans. "The longest speech given by a black man in Joseph Conrad is six words long," Achebe said. "The African I write about is not without speech." After reading a selection from one of his most acclaimed novels, Things Fall Apart, Achebe noted the verbosity of one of the characters. According to Achebe, "the people I write about are often great masters of their own language. "I wrote what I did hear" in the books, he said. "I wrote a translation that accorded equal respect to the languages I did have." Indeed, he is considered by many to be one of the best novelists writing in the English language today, with his works studied at countless academic institutions around the world -- recently, Things Fall Apart was selected for the Class of 2006 Freshman Reading Project at Penn. After discussing the book for the project, "several of us dared to dream the author would come," said Center for Africana Studies Director Tukufu Zuberi, who helped bring Achebe to campus. Steve Tsui, an Engineering freshman who was required to read Things Fall Apart, said that the event "gave me a fresh perspective on Africa." At the conclusion of Achebe's speech, several students in the audience honored the writer by singing a Nigerian folk song. "We came as a class to greet him in his own language," said Chidi Ukazim, who organized the hymn and who teaches a class on the Igbo tribe of Nigeria at Penn's Center for Africana Studies. The song, Ukazim said, is about "brotherhood and endearment." "The Igbo people are not well known," she added. "We have just as much humanity. We all have equal rights, and it's time to be one with humanity." Overall reaction to Achebe's talk was positive. "I was struck by his humility," College sophomore Nana Mensah said. "He never wanted to speak for the whole, just himself." College sophomore Leconie Archer added, "It's good that Penn is taking the initiative to address other parts of the world."

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