From: Aaron Barnhart <barnhart@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Date: 02 Sep 92 06:14 PDT
Subject: IPS:AFRICA: Novelist writes 'to de
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1471700098:000:4911
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!barnhart    Sep  2 06:14:00 1992


Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: AFRICA: Novelist writes 'to defend a continent'


an inter press service feature

by barbara borst

paris, aug 31 (ips) -- calixthe beyala has recently published her
fourth novel -- to critical acclaim -- but fame is not the
objective of this 30-year-old writer from the west african country
of cameroon.

''the ultimate goal is to defend a continent,'' she said.  ''it's
a testimony i try to give on a people who have little means of
self-expression.

''i'm speaking of african women who don't have much voice --
political or intellectual. that's still reserved for men. of the
millions of children who die every year, of the suffering women. i
try to do what i can.''

she hopes that the process of bearing witness will help africans
to transform their continent politically and economically, to
restore its self-reliance, its honour, ''to believe they are
capable''.

beyala's new work 'the little prince of belleville' is her first
novel set in paris, where she has lived since age 17, rather than
in africa.

the 10-year-old narrator, mamadou traore, tells of his initiation
into the french school system and the complexities of his home,
where he learns that neither of his father's two wives is his
mother.

mamadou's often humorous recounting of adult behaviour and
conversation contrast with the anguished passages at the start of
each chapter signed abdou traore, the father who struggles to
reconcile his islamic faith and malian culture with his new
society and its feminism.

although these two males tell the story, it is very much an
examination of the lives of the women involved, including two of
the father's girlfriends, and a celebration of their resilience.

''women have always occupied the first place,'' beyala said.
''they have always been in commerce, always nourished the family.
women carry the continent on their backs.''

while westerners condemn polygamy, a major theme of this book,
she critiques it but sees it as less harmful to mother and child
than the single parent families of industrialised countries. she
recently took her son, now 11, and daughter, three, to africa for
a year to immerse them in the family and culture to which they
belong. (more/ips)

africa: novelist writes 'to defend a continent'(2-e)

africa: novelist (2)

beyala published her first novel, 'it the sun that burned me', at
age 23, the year she completed her studies in literature at the
university of paris at the top of her class. 'you will call
yourself tanga' and 'only the devil knows' soon followed. her work
has been published in german and is being translated into english.

'the little prince' is the first with an optimistic tone, she
says, because she had been pessimistic over the future of the
continent. now she finds reason for hope in the ideas of the
younger generation of africans, born since independence, educated,
out of work, and insistent on profound change in their societies.

''africa must get out of international commerce. it must withdraw
and bandage its wounds,'' she said. the global economy, she
believes, ''is going to kill the continent.''

producing cocoa, coffee, cotton, rubber and minerals for world
markets at low prices set in foreign capitals has drained africa's
wealth and made it unable to feed its people.

grassroots change is beginning, she says, not because of imported
political theories but because peasant farmers are turning their
fields from export crops they cannot eat to food production for
african markets.

the will to change also builds on the work of an earlier
generation of african intellectuals. ''a prosperous country is not
necessarily industrialised. prosperity is the good health of the
people, honour regained, not a mercedes.''

what africa needs, she says, is not the ''free market'' which
generally means each country is open to industrialised states but
closed to its neighbours, but trade among african regions.

beyala also challenges the argument that the continent's
population growth is strangling its development. africa is
underpopulated, she said.

for example, her native cameroon is nearly the size of france and
yet has just 11 million people, compared with france's 56 million.
the central african republic, bigger than france, has three
million.

''one can't create an industrialised society with so few
inhabitants,'' she said, noting that europe's population explosion
preceded its industrialisation.

beyala says such revolutionary ideas will meet strong opposition
from african politicians and international institutions.

''there are thousands who think this way, where there were only a
few two years ago,'' she said. ''there is a movement. it's not
strong yet, but it's much stronger than one thinks. it's going to
work.''(end/ips/cw/rp/bb/cdm/92)