Things Fall Apart by Chineua Achebe gives readers a quick insight as to the culture, traditions, and general lifestyle of the Ibo people in Nigeria. In order to get a better idea of the influence of Nigeria to the rest of the world, as well as how it's changed to become the nation it is today, I did some research on the most influential people with Nigerian backgrounds and left a little bit about them below:
I. Contemporary Nigeria Today
A. Nigeria got its independence from Great Britain in 1960 and adopted a new constitution in 1999.
B. The country's economy is almost entirely petroleum-based, however the revenues are often misused, leading to continuous poverty and national economic hardships.
C. The government structure is technically a federal republic, however both the 2003 and 2007 elections were certainly less than peaceful; they were plagued with scandals and violence.
D. They are ranked first in the world for HIV/AIDS related deaths, measured by total fatalities.
E. It has the largest population of all African countries and is the home of nearly 250 ethnic groups.
II. Wole Soyinka
A. He studied and earned his doctorate degree at the University of Leeds.
B. Before his main writing career, he worked as a dramturgist at the Loyal Court Theatre for a year in London.
C. He was a political prisoner for 22 months for appealing in an article a ceasefire during the Nigerian Civil War.
D. More than 20 works were published by him; they were mostly dramas, novels, and poetry.
E. He sometimes worked at Cambridge, Yale, and Sheffield as a visiting professor.
III. Chineau Achebe
A. Things Fall Apart was his first and only novel.
B. His career spanned fifty years and comprised of essays, poems, a short story, and a novel.
C. He himself grew up in an Ibo town with Christian parents in Southeast Nigeria.
D. Before his big break, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service.
E. He was a political activist when Biafra tried to break away from Nigerian and served as an ambassador for the people.
IV. Fela Kutti
A. He is considered to be the father of a new genre of music "Afrobeat".
B. He created his music originally to try to "solve" newly- independent Africa of its newfound social, economic, and political problems.
C. We found Western society corrupt and sought to eradicate imperialism and colonialism.
D. He had multiple wives.
E. His new music genre is a cross of many current ones- Funk, Jass, Salsa, and Calypso.
"Chinua Achebe." Goodreads. Goodreads, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Jays, Julius-Adeoye R. "NIGERIAN ECONOMY, SOCIAL UNREST AND THE NATION'S POPULAR DRAMA." Academia.edu. Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences, 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
NVS/AGENCY REPORTS. "TIME Magazine Heroes List Honors Professor Chinua Achebe, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Mandela." NVS. NVS/AGENCY REPORTS, 11 Nov. 2006. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
"Partisan Records." Knitting Factory Records. N.p., 05 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1986". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 29 Apr 2014.
"The World Factbook: Nigeria." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
African Map Game High Score: 66 seconds
Here we can see the essay that Chinua Achebe wrote, showing the great struggle and fight that Africa has made and continues to make, piecing itself after the European imperialism that seemed to have ripped it apart.
His thesis is expressed in the first paragraph of the essay and outlines his points throughout the rest of the paper, mentioning Africa's history of "tortured history of political instability and religious, racial and ethnic strife."
His main pieces of supporting evidence come mainly in three parts: his connections of Nigeria's history, especially the Berlin conference and how the European powers left Nigeria broken, the progression of Nigeria's politic, which still require improvements to become the optimal democracy it should be, and how Nigeria struggles and always has with making lucrative profits and learning how to spend them from their natural resources, especially oil. The first one is expressed here: "And what is happening in Africa today is a result of what has been going on for 400 or 500 years, from the “discovery” of Africa by Europe, through the period of darkness that engulfed the continent during the trans-Atlantic slave trade and through the Berlin Conference of 1885." We can see the frustration that he feels about how the Europeans broke up Africa and neglected to essentially put it back together. The next piece examines the less-than-perfect political situation following independence and leading up even into today's society. " The political situation deteriorated rapidly and Nigeria was quickly consumed by civil war. The belligerents were an aggrieved people in the southeast of the nation, the Biafrans, who found themselves fleeing pogroms and persecution at the hands of the determined government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which had been armed to the teeth by some of the major international powers." The smallest ethnic groups often would hold the most power, leading to somewhat of an upside-down society. Lastly, he emphasizes the economic trenches the nation so often finds itself because of the disability of the corrupt government to mange its profits, saying, "ONE initial step is to change the nation’s Official Secrets Act. Incredible as it may seem, it is illegal in Nigeria to publish official government data and statistics — including accounts spent by or accruing to the government." This, he states, is somewhat the opposite of what a democracy should be. Because the government should directly represent the people, the citizens should be able to know how the nation's funds are being spent.
I. Contemporary Nigeria Today
A. Nigeria got its independence from Great Britain in 1960 and adopted a new constitution in 1999.
B. The country's economy is almost entirely petroleum-based, however the revenues are often misused, leading to continuous poverty and national economic hardships.
C. The government structure is technically a federal republic, however both the 2003 and 2007 elections were certainly less than peaceful; they were plagued with scandals and violence.
D. They are ranked first in the world for HIV/AIDS related deaths, measured by total fatalities.
E. It has the largest population of all African countries and is the home of nearly 250 ethnic groups.
II. Wole Soyinka
A. He studied and earned his doctorate degree at the University of Leeds.
B. Before his main writing career, he worked as a dramturgist at the Loyal Court Theatre for a year in London.
C. He was a political prisoner for 22 months for appealing in an article a ceasefire during the Nigerian Civil War.
D. More than 20 works were published by him; they were mostly dramas, novels, and poetry.
E. He sometimes worked at Cambridge, Yale, and Sheffield as a visiting professor.
III. Chineau Achebe
A. Things Fall Apart was his first and only novel.
B. His career spanned fifty years and comprised of essays, poems, a short story, and a novel.
C. He himself grew up in an Ibo town with Christian parents in Southeast Nigeria.
D. Before his big break, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service.
E. He was a political activist when Biafra tried to break away from Nigerian and served as an ambassador for the people.
IV. Fela Kutti
A. He is considered to be the father of a new genre of music "Afrobeat".
B. He created his music originally to try to "solve" newly- independent Africa of its newfound social, economic, and political problems.
C. We found Western society corrupt and sought to eradicate imperialism and colonialism.
D. He had multiple wives.
E. His new music genre is a cross of many current ones- Funk, Jass, Salsa, and Calypso.
"Chinua Achebe." Goodreads. Goodreads, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Jays, Julius-Adeoye R. "NIGERIAN ECONOMY, SOCIAL UNREST AND THE NATION'S POPULAR DRAMA." Academia.edu. Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences, 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
NVS/AGENCY REPORTS. "TIME Magazine Heroes List Honors Professor Chinua Achebe, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Mandela." NVS. NVS/AGENCY REPORTS, 11 Nov. 2006. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
"Partisan Records." Knitting Factory Records. N.p., 05 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1986". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 29 Apr 2014.
"The World Factbook: Nigeria." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
African Map Game High Score: 66 seconds
Here we can see the essay that Chinua Achebe wrote, showing the great struggle and fight that Africa has made and continues to make, piecing itself after the European imperialism that seemed to have ripped it apart.
His thesis is expressed in the first paragraph of the essay and outlines his points throughout the rest of the paper, mentioning Africa's history of "tortured history of political instability and religious, racial and ethnic strife."
His main pieces of supporting evidence come mainly in three parts: his connections of Nigeria's history, especially the Berlin conference and how the European powers left Nigeria broken, the progression of Nigeria's politic, which still require improvements to become the optimal democracy it should be, and how Nigeria struggles and always has with making lucrative profits and learning how to spend them from their natural resources, especially oil. The first one is expressed here: "And what is happening in Africa today is a result of what has been going on for 400 or 500 years, from the “discovery” of Africa by Europe, through the period of darkness that engulfed the continent during the trans-Atlantic slave trade and through the Berlin Conference of 1885." We can see the frustration that he feels about how the Europeans broke up Africa and neglected to essentially put it back together. The next piece examines the less-than-perfect political situation following independence and leading up even into today's society. " The political situation deteriorated rapidly and Nigeria was quickly consumed by civil war. The belligerents were an aggrieved people in the southeast of the nation, the Biafrans, who found themselves fleeing pogroms and persecution at the hands of the determined government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which had been armed to the teeth by some of the major international powers." The smallest ethnic groups often would hold the most power, leading to somewhat of an upside-down society. Lastly, he emphasizes the economic trenches the nation so often finds itself because of the disability of the corrupt government to mange its profits, saying, "ONE initial step is to change the nation’s Official Secrets Act. Incredible as it may seem, it is illegal in Nigeria to publish official government data and statistics — including accounts spent by or accruing to the government." This, he states, is somewhat the opposite of what a democracy should be. Because the government should directly represent the people, the citizens should be able to know how the nation's funds are being spent.