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Subject:
From:
Madiba Saidy <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 8 Nov 1999 14:43:41 -0800
Content-Type:
TEXT/PLAIN
Parts/Attachments:
TEXT/PLAIN (65 lines)
ALI MAZRUI AND SKIP GATES'  AFRICA SERIES

Ali Mazrui's "preliminary" critique of Henry-Louis' Gates Africa series
has been pounding cyber-space with an energy that I have not
experienced since I became its reluctant and fitful tennant. I am not
on the iasa-list - to which this is addressed -  nor on any other
circulation list, yet I have had  this critique copied to me from over
two dozen directions, sometimes culled from other lists of whose
existence I was not even aware - not surprisingly, since, as already
admitted, I am not really into Internet. I find it odd, very odd. There
appears to be a driving mechanism behind this, quite outside the normal
exchange of opinions on a work that is admittedly, by its very nature,
bound to raise controversy. I find it odd also that, even more than
Charles Johnson's fair summary of various critiques, Ali Mazrui's
text appears to have surfaced with the greatest frequency. Of course,
we must assume that this have to do with his stature as the undisputed
African specialist of our time.

I see also that Ali Mazrui is pressing his assiduous pursuit of a rival
by accepting to engage in a further discussion on these series on WLIB
radio on the night of Sunday 7th November. I have been invited to
participate but I cannot, as I have not watched the entire series and
unfortunately cannot do so before the live broadcast which is tomorrow.
Moreover, I prefer to watch (or read) any kind of creative or
intellectual product at my own pace, and to avoid succumbing to a pace
dictated by a demand for critical interjection or the prospect of
polemics.

It is a pity that Ali Mazrui failed to be guided by his own commencing
caveat which concedes: "Since I have myself done a television series
about Africa, perhaps I should keep quiet about Skip Gates'  WONDERS OF
AFRICA" This of course is understating Ali Mazrui's own place in the
Africa project.  His happens to be the only other television series  of
this dimension by a black scholar on the subject of Africa's past and
present. In short, Ali Mazrui has a fifty per cent stake - at least -
in the reception that may be accorded to a work that, in effect,
constitutes a challenge to a long-held monopoly. Every
knowledgable critique of Skip Gates' work evokes,  unquestionably, an
implicit referential from the only preceding series of its kind. Yes
indeed, Ali Mazrui should have kept quiet. As Charles Johnson's summary
has shown, there are other equally competent - both scholarly and
creative - minds that can pass valuable commentaries on this new
contribution to perspectives on Africa.

However Ali Mazrui may present himself, he is being a covert plaintiff
in his own cause, and it is my deeply held conviction that the delights
of objective criticism and intellectual enlargement have been sullied
by his energetic, propulsive voice in this exercise. It crosses the
ethical bounds of intellectualism and deserves the condemnation of all
who believe that the virtues of criticism transcend self-interest.
Ali Mazrui and I, let me frankly acknowledge, are ancient adversaries.
With this level of indecorous conduct, I am reconciled to the fact that
we are likely to remain so for a long time to come.

Wole Soyinka
Woodruff Professor of the Arts
Emory University, Atlanta

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