ktravula - a travelogue!

Hoarding School

Kola — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:29:15 +0000

There were about six recent past issues of The Economist outside my door when I opened the door this evening. My supervisor and mentor had left them there. And although I’d read many of the stories in them online already, holding the glossy prints still left a mixed feeling of the times. As with books I had bought (and been given) sometimes reluctantly, one big problem will be where to put all of these when it’s time again to move.

For Maurice Sendak

Kola — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:40:45 +0000

My editorial commentary in the current issue of Nigerianstalk Litmag briefly touched on the passing of children’s writer Maurice Sendak. Like Dr. Seus, I didn’t know much about Mr. Sendak until I came to the United States, and one of my most remarkable contact with him was through Stephen Colbert in a very recent, every affecting interview (as if either of them knew how short a time the writer had left. He died at 83 on Tuesday). Maurice is the author of the popular children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. He admitted to Colbert that he didn’t see himself much as a “children’s” writer but as someone whose work has been accepted as appealing to children. The second part of that interview is here.

Listening to his other very remarkable, emotional interview with Terry Gross of NPR, it is hard to see him as anything but remarkable a human being – much more than the brilliant writer and illustrator that he was. Ending the interview with an advice to “live your life, live your life,” it appears that one of his most enduring legacy will be his ability to defy all odds of negativity and skepticism in order to achieve immortality. As Colbert himself will now acknowledge after receiving the boost of approval from Mr. Sendak for his own new book for children I’m a Pole (and So Can You), genius loves company.

These are some of the last words on that NPR interview, a commentary on his life: ”I have nothing now but praise for my life. I’m not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can’t stop them. They leave me and I love them more. … What I dread is the isolation. … There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready.”

RIP Maurice (Obituary in the NY Times).

Understanding Techman 2012

Kola — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:50:43 +0000

One of the biggest victories for the new media is the relegation of language as performance to language purely as thought, purely as an abstract medium. Maybe it’s not a total progress if we look at where we came from (in fact, it could be a form of regression), but the result is a total transformation of old systems into even older ones (in the garb of new shiny ones) where language becomes relevant only as a tool, and no longer as an activity.

I’ll break it down.

Prehistoric man as I imagine him lived only on grunts, brute behaviour, and the subliminal expectation that those around him understood every of his actions as relating to certain demands or requests, as many who ended up on the blunt side of his club found out. Language however brought clarity, and thus sophistication, and a need for a more active set of rules with which everyone negotiated the rote of existence. Our tongues adapted to the needs of our mind, and the mouth became not just a hole for food consumption but for actual articulation of speech. It has been a long time since then.

Justine Bieber and his girlfriend, on vacation

I’ve been thinking about the benefits of new media – technology, mostly – if you could call them benefits, and how it has returned us to silence and the rote of hand movements. The image here is of a couch in a public park on which two teenagers sit, each using an iPhone and texting (either each other, or others. It doesn’t matter). An alien looking at them might – if s/he is aware of our earlier methods of communication – conclude that humans have finally given up on talking to each other, in favour of more effortless means of interaction: sitting side-by-side. A more discerning alien may however find out that our new means of communication includes hand gestures – not of the usual, traditional kind that you’d find between two deaf humans, but those between the thumb and a mobile touchscreen. All around the globe as I convey these thoughts to you using the same means of mute finger-based thought transmission processes, millions of other people are doing the same, some – like me – while also staring at a live picture of another human being located thousands of miles away in another continent. None of us is “talking”, at least not to each other at the moment, yet our fingers keep moving, and thoughts move between us.

It is not inconceivable that when man discovered language and found that it was much easier to talk one’s way out of a threatening gesture of a spiked club pointed by a bigger man with a menacing eye than simply running away or bending in obeisance, he never thought that evolving into more sophisticated means of communication will one day lead back to a different culture of silence. On the bright side, the process evolved through a fascinating period that showed us (from Alexander Bell’s telephone to the telex, fax and then email), the many creative ways of staying far away from each other and still get our points across. As for the fallout of our evolution, we may not end up being physically fitter for it – not needing to move our jaws as much anymore except for eating – but we can at least fool all earth-bound aliens that we’re not communicating to each other whenever we sit idly at our desks and stare at the screens.

Maybe that’s how ants and other lower animals have managed to fool us all these years.

Fucked!

Kola — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:38:51 +0000

In the summer of 2010 when I made a trip to parts of Northern Nigeria, I did first to re-acquaint myself with the security situation of Jos where I had lived for one year and which had descended into chaos where northern hegemons with the backing of shadowy political powers have taken laws into their hands, killing residents of the town to make it ungovernable. I also visited Kaduna – for the very first time – and found, in spite of a normalized environment that reminded me of some parts of Ibadan where I grew up, a certain sense of unease. After all, the whole of the northern section of the country had a notorious reputation of being a flashpoint for ethnic and religious crises that disproportionately targets “non-indigenes” and Christians.

The situation in Northern Nigeria has greatly deteriorated since that time. (It also sadly seems that the last time I talked about Nigeria on this blog, was also to complain of another series of crises based in that part of the country, and the threat it posed to the future of the nation). In the last couple of days, the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has graduated from small sporadic attacks on police stations to more sinister strategic attacks on other parts of the country’s civil society. They have attacked the UN building, and churches, markets, and as at last weekend, a national newspaper house, and a University. They have promised more attacks on many more media houses around the country and other symbols of pro-government or pro-Western ideas. Beyond depraved, this is despicable, and sad.

It’s important for context that westerners watching the situation now realize how worse this has become over the years. I remember in December 2009 when the news of the underwear bomber socialized in that same extremist environment in Katsina (and later London) almost blew up a plane all over Detroit. We all agreed that although it was a lone case of international terrorism never before associated with Nigeria, it was also worth watching. I can’t make that same case of “lone wolf” anymore. From the extent of alien infiltration of the Northern part of the country from larger terrorist networks from Yemen, Niger, and other places as evidenced in the sophistication of a hitherto local amateur extremist group that now makes car bombs and are able to detonate them in cities, it is clear that it has clearly got out of hand. Where next would we see them? In airplanes making local flights? Obviously, the federal government’s security forces can’t handle it either.

I don’t know what to think or what to say now that is new, but news from my home country now only makes me sad and depressed. Am I really going back to that place? And what will the value of my life be while I’m there, watching my back every time I walk out of my house into the larger world. The roads are not safe due to robbers and accidents. Now, neither are buildings and religious worship places. I only have two questions: 1. How do I file for asylum anywhere else in the world now that I’m done with school? And 2. Why is the world (especially the other Islamic nations of the world who have claimed all along that their religion is peaceful and should not be unfairly targeted for discrimination) now remarkably silent at this evil turn of events?

One year ago, the leader of Al-Qaeda was killed in Pakistan. From the look of things in these other little corners of the world as Northern Nigeria, it is clear that the terrible seeds of his hateful reign has grown to be equally pernicious, and will only get worse without adequate attention.

On Reclaiming Indigenous Languages

Kola — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:34:57 +0000

An insightful talk from Australia featuring Professor Leanne Hinton on language documentation and revitalization workshops.

h/t Laila & http://australianlanguages.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/professor-leanne-hinton-at-anu-on-reclaiming-indigenous-languages/

Another Short Digression on Tone

Kola — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:19:37 +0000

Whenever I’ve told people that my thesis is on L2 tonal acquisition, except for folks with sufficient familiarity with the field, the first question usually is – “what is tone?” or “what is a tone language?”, followed by “so what exactly are you trying to find?” I therefore spend the first five minutes explaining to them what tone languages are (and that about 70% of all world languages are tone languages), and then tell them a few more details of the direction of my work. I found myself in this direction by chance – though I don’t tell them that – but after taking the patience to explain why in the absence of sufficient research materials on the process of L2 tonal acquisition I find it fascinating to be involved in discovering all that can be found there, they usually look enlightened suddenly, and then give me a look of “well done.” I feel better, although I know that a good number of them are just happy to be done with the conversation.

Having taught Yoruba at the university level for a while here in the States, it was natural to be interested in phonological and pedagogical dimensions of the language acquisition. Then I took a course on Second Language Acquisition with all its arguments on the critical period hypothesis that implies that language learning becomes difficult or impossible after a certain age. It all coalesced at some point in my head, and here I am. The data gathering part of the work itself is almost done, and the writing is halfway done already. I have discovered very many fascinating things, and encountered enough data to advance into a few more research directions in the future. One of the main things, of course, is that nothing at all prevents anyone from learning and acquiring tone or any language at any age whatsoever. There are influences of first language, to be sure, but they don’t pose enough challenge to prevent a subject (even those above the so-called critical period) from acquiring the form.

Just last week, I helped another colleague conduct a shorter research than mine on the questions of tonal perception among American English speakers. The results were equally interesting regarding which tones were easier to learn in isolation and in context, and whether tones are generally easier to learn in context or in isolation. I have been busy. In a few weeks, all of this should be over, and I should have some time off to myself. What to do with that time is another matter. There seems to always be something. What I will take away from this research (and the whole Masters experience) would be the fascinating unpredictability of results, along with a few frustrations of disobedient subjects and other constraints of time, space, and materials. Somewhere in there will also be an appreciation for the Graduate School here – along with my ever patient supervisors – for the small research grant that has made the whole exercise worthwhile and less exacting, and my supportive family and friends.

The commencement is on May the 5th. I shall have become a master in something (else).

Tumblr Me.

Kola — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:13:07 +0000

I have taken the tumblr bug (on the same day when Facebook acquired Instagram – if this means anything). I will now share more of my favourite photographs there, so follow if you have a tumblr account, or not. Prints of photographs (with frames, if requested) will be available on request at reasonable price. They make for good wallpaper art.

Kitengela Nights

Kola — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:13:58 +0000

(Kenya, 2005)

Kitengela nights, a freedom flight.

Dry wisps of grass fly by, breaking

with the cold wind of a pregnant night

as harmattan singes the flesh and mind,

lungs dotted with dust and rust.

Nairobi evening. Lights, cold,

And love – ugali and roasted meat,

Nyama choma, in the walled hub

Of a distant home from home:

Then, warmth in the eastern country.

April winds break across my face

in the bust of a fast-moving beast.

We were four – and a few more,

Strangers in a foreign land, alone.

Only love moved, hosted, filled us.

Now, the mind journeys back

In soft bytes of soothing moods:

dark, homely evening, Kenyan tropics.

Rain and home in a distant place.

Kitengela, you live across from me.

On Word Predestinations

Kola — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:19:20 +0000

One of the premises of linguistic determinism is that “the structures, hierarchies, and hidden associations of our individual human languages determine the conclusions that we reach in our logic, the aspirations of our lived lives, and all our emotional content.” (Wiki). As opposed to linguistic relativity – a flip side of the debate which allows for more latitude as relates to the purpose and limits of language and thought, determinism suggests that all events are caused by all previous events, and – similar to predestination – that they were meant only for a particular purpose.

My fascination with words and poetry stems from a similar line of thought – at least as it relates to those still benign implications of the school of thought. One of my favourite parts of Czeslaw Milosz’s Visions from San Francisco Bay was where he was contemplating the source of words, and whether somewhere on a mere conceptual plane they had been predestined to fulfill the roles they do in poetry, jokes and fiction. A song by Rihanna titled “We found love in a hopeless place” was recently satirized as “We found Dove in a soapless place”, successfully replicating the rhyme and rhythm, and yet providing sufficient absurdity to make it a joke. Last week, a host on Fox news joked about the Sandra Fluke contraception controversy and its tv coverage, saying, “You don’t judge a Fluke by its coverage.” Boom.

There are a thousand and one instances of lexical serendipity to support a theory for “poetic determinism” (my coinage). Like Milosz, I find more than just co-incidences in the abundant evidence of the hand of the mystic in our communication patterns. I noted it when Obama killed Osama, or when the most remarkable election in America’s recent history just happened to feature a man with a middle name “Hussein” right during a war in Iraq. Mitt Romney’s last name has been occasionally anagrammed as “R-Money”, for good reason, and poetic justice. And just two days ago, a video surfaced that successfully arranged all his public gaffes into a rap song scored by – wait for it: another Michigan native – Eminem. Watch below:

Of course, due credit must go to the genius of the people patient enough to arrange such a brilliant collection of sound bites into a meaningful piece of poetic art. A bigger credit – for those convinced of such a thing as the predestination of words – must go to the mischief-making lexical muses of the realm. And then sometime last year, a congressman who tweeted pictures of his genitals just happened to have been named “Wiener”. Don’t even get me started on the endless tonal possibilities of ambiguity in the Yoruba language. Well, here’s one more:

In Defense of Language

Kola — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:24:05 +0000

Free time and chance found me on twitter in the last week, in the middle of a fiery storm about the need or influence of local language education. Apparently, there is a new initiative among political leaders of South Western Nigeria to re-instate Yoruba language education in primary and I think university education (among other pan-Yoruba political and socio-cultural initiatives). Social media reaction to Nigerian politics (as I believe politics of every country) has usually oscillated between the derision of any concrete plan as a waste of public time and funds, and a strong condemnation of most of them as wasteful spending. Good policy decisions rarely make waves. In this case, the part of the discussion about language use caught my attention, and I jumped in.

I’m not fiercely Yoruban (to use an Americanized adjective), and evidence to the inevitability of hybridity are overwhelming enough to silence any hegemonic crusade. None of the efforts by the inviolate French Academy over the course of its life has stopped the evolution of French in places where it is spoken by non-native speakers. Speakers of that same language from Congo, Rwanda, Ivory Coast and Cameroon will probably find themselves using “pardon?” more times than necessary within the course of a usual informal conversation due to the influence of slangs and vernaculars not common to all of them. The Arabic language spoken in Morocco is not the same as the one in Egypt. Ask an Iraqi and a Saudi to converse in that common language and watch them stutter and lean into each other to be sure that they are picking up the same intention from words that used to mean the same things hundreds of years ago. It is the same for the Portuguese in Portugal as compared to the one in Brazil, or the French in France as compared to Canada, or to the Spanish of Spain as compared to Mexico, Venezuela or Argentina. The common fact to all of them is the dynamic nature of language in transition. Yet children are taught in Zulu today in South Africa, and Kenya has adopted Swahili as a national language and a medium of instruction.

The public debate that stoked the ire focused not on the fact of language change, but on the complete needlessness of language education that is not based solely on the colonial tongue. (I’ve hosted a similar debate on this blog once before. Today in Nigeria, English is as much a local language as it is a foreign one). It is a medium of instruction in all private schools and in most public schools. By the end of university education, one is expected to have acquired the sufficient proficiency of a native English speaker capable of conducting future life activities in any English-speaking environment. This is the ideal, but it is very far from the reality. Universities in Nigeria today send out hundreds of graduates many of who are not only incapable of communicating in English, but are also incompetent in their areas of supposed expertise. An experimentconducted in Nigeria in the 90s seeking to find a correlation between native language instruction and good education came down strongly on the side of native language education in the first three years of primary education as the best way to start children up; and native language along with English in the following three years of primary school as a perfect transition for them into the world of schooling. The result from the subjects show an overall positive trend in academics for those who learned first in their native language. The rationale is/was that the most crucial stage of learning is best dealt with in the language that the children are most familiar. In Nigeria today for most families from north to south, it is the mother tongue. This hypothesis, I should add, has been tested, verified, and supported by linguists and language policy makers from all around the world. Read this.

The use/purity of English, being already accepted as a Nigerian language, is under threat not by the presence of about 521 other languages in the country, but precisely because of inadequate attention to the use of those other languages. I have looked around the world – as even the creative writing field proves it over and over again – those who perform best in their native languages (reading and writing) are usually those who write best in any other language they acquire. It is no coincidence that the only (and best, of course) English translation of the most famous, most poetic, Yoruba literary offering of all time (Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale) was also done by the man now acclaimed as the best English writer to come out of Nigeria (and the winner of Africa’s first Nobel Prize for Literature). Salman Rushdie speaks (and from what we know, writes) Hindi with the proficiency of great Indian greats, but he is known in the world today mostly because of his contribution to the world of literature in English. None of this is an argument against English education as it is a strong defense of the need to equip children with the means of expressing themselves first in their native tongue to the best of their ability before a transition into any other language, including English.

One of the other recurring arguments is that English is the language of success. It’s an oft-repeated falsehood. And while spending valuable time disputing the charge is easily dismissed by someone pointing to the fact that I’m writing this in that same language, the real response stares us in the face: that inventions made in the corners of Berlin in German, or Osaka in Japanese, or Nnewi in Igbo are not thus undermined by their creator’s inability to communicate in English. Lamidi Fakeye - one of Nigeria’s best and most famous sculptor (died in 2009) wasn’t proficient in English, but he spent the better part of his old age being feted for the breath of his works. J.M.G Le Clezio who won the 2008 Nobel Prize for literature wrote in French. Dante was Italian, and Freud spoke German. When Israel was founded in 1948, its Hebrew language that had already become “diluted” from use in different European countries became standardized and taught at different levels of education. The result has not been the extinction of English in Israel today, but a more robust upbringing for its citizens who have to participate in global dialogue. Language is an embodiment of our ways of life, and imbibing it in children at an early age has never done any harm to anyone.

As far as Nigeria is concerned, besides the worry about deepening ethnic divisions (a charge that falls down in the face of continued crises in spite of the use of English – the supposed “unifying” language and continued crises even in places of homogeneous language use), the only argument left is that English is the most superior language known to man, and that we (different from other culture in the world) lose from non-assimilation. This stems from a pervasive inferiority complex, and it fails too. (There’s no other way to explain why the US government spends its taxpayer monies providing Yoruba as a course for its university students, and why students so enthusiastically sign up for the class to learn the language, while supposed educated citizens of the country of the language’s birth spend their energy denigrating the teaching of said language to improve proficiency among primary users even when it has been shown to contribute to better academic development).

The only thing left to say then is the obvious: that this is not even a rejection of English – far from it – but a strong defense of the benefits of indigenous language teaching at the early age of life as a strong foundation for academic and literary success. Today’s NY Times makes a good defense of bilingualism as providing more than just literary access. The effects on the brain are equally encouraging. The competing forces of socialization will eventually modify each person’s upbringing along certain lines into adulthood. We have no control over that. Those who choose not to learn/speak English (or find themselves not learning or speaking it, for whatever reason) will evolve along their own chosen lines as well. But we owe those who go through the educational system to learn in their native language when possible (usually for the first six years of school). What will withstand the test of time is a strong foundation rooted in an upbringing that is tested and trusted. There is no dictionary in the world today in which literacy is defined in terms of one particular language. Every one of us has a grandfather or relative who, though unable to speak or write in English can do so perfectly in their first language. I do. He is a smart man, and he is a very successful man by all standards.

“One does not inhabit a country,” Emile M. Cioran says. “One inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland – and no other.”

ktravula - a travelogue!

Hoarding School

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