Whose influence spans the entire world, that's
the idea behind the symposium tomorrow which
is being organized Syracuse University Department
of African American studies.
SU Professor Micere Mugo joins us on more
with the significance of the book "Arrow of
God" and its author.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you for being here.
Oh, of course.
Thank you for inviting me.
Well, tell us about this book and why it's
important to showcase it this weekend.
Absolutely.
"Arrow of God" is Achebe's third novel, after
"Thing Fall Apart" and "No Longer at Ease."
And "Arrow of God" is about colonization,
resistance to colonization, the clash of cultures.
With the Igbo people of Nigeria resisting
British colonial education.
And then we have their leader who is the high
priest, Ezeulu, who is the major character
in the novel.
And who is also used by Achebe not only to
just critique colonialism but also to show
that power can be abused.
And if that happens and you alienate the community,
then there's problem.
So it's significant this year because a lot
of African nations are celebrating their 50-year
anniversary of independence and this work
has got a whole lot to teach us about what
went wrong, what went right and that kind
of thing.
So I guess the significance is that the book
came out at the same time that there was all
this change that was going on in Africa, right?
Absolutely.
It records that in an artistic, beautiful
way, as a novel, as a story.
But, right, yes that is what it is talking
about.
It won a number of awards as well, it was
kind of groundbreaking in a sense.
Absolutely.
In fact, a lot of critics regarded the finest
work by Chinua Achebe.
In terms of just artistic achievement, as
well as just the message.
And just the way that he is able to blend
the fuse so beautifully.
Issues of form and content.
And he himself was asked, "Which of your books
is your favorite?"
And he said, "Oh that's unfair.
It's like asking me which of my children."
So he said, "I can only say I've gone back
again and again to read 'Arrow of God' and
that shows there is something special there,
as there is something special in every child."
Now, talk a little bit about the symposium
that's happening, you know, what people can
expect, and why you're doing it.
Yes.
We're doing it first to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of "Arrow of God" and of course,
help the legacy of this great man and writer
Chinua Achebe live on, as you know, he passed
away last year in March.
And the second thing is that this really fit
into what we do in the curriculum - covering
sites of knowledge that are very often either
marginalized or not so much taught in the
academy.
And highlighting that this is very important
work.
Thirdly, it's a part of global celebrations.
These celebrations for the 50th anniversary
of the "Arrow of God" happening in Britain,
Australia, in Germany, in France, in Africa,
everywhere.
So we are a part of that picture and we're
very proud to be a part of it.
And then, fourthly, we believe in having intellectual
forum that involves both the campus and the
community to come into dialogue with each
other.
And we are providing that platform for that
kind of thing.
Now, who's going to be coming into town to
be a part of this symposium?
Yes, good question.
Very prominent scholars of Achebe, coming
from universities such as Harvard, and Rutgers,
Cornell, Michigan, and a whole lot of others.
And there are some two guests coming from
Britain, London, including one of the leading
publishers of Chinua Achebe, Ayebia Clarke.
So it's an international audience, but also
a national audience.
And we also want the local people to be a
part of it.
Wonderful.
Well, we want to remind you about the event.
The symposium is tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 6
p.m. at the Crowne Plaza in Syracuse on 701
East Genesee Street.
It's free and open to the public and it's
made possible by the department of African
studies at Syracuse University's college of
Fine Arts and Sciences.
And for more information, you can visit the
website aas.syr.edu.
Micere, thanks for being with us.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
And we'll be right back.
