“The insects of our country are neglected sources of protein and vitamins, and they're delicious. Papa threw a worm in his mouth, while I munched on a handful of boiled caterpillars.”

—from Emmanuel Dongala's “Ouagadougou”

 

TRANSITION 86: Table of Contents

 

DISPATCH____________________

The Names of Their Villages
She was raised in America, but her father was Nigerian. And when she arrived in Lagos, long-lost relatives danced, strangers acted like old friends, even the television personalities seemed to welcome her home. Nigeria was a dream come trues—she just had to get over the beatings. Faith Adiele goes back to Africa.

MEMOIR____________________

Punishments
The sisters of Loreto taught faith, discipline, and submission. But at one convent school in postcolonial Kenya, the articles of faith were pickled fetuses, mutilated children, morbid nuns. Muhonjia Khaminwa summons up memories of a Catholic girlhood.

POSITION____________________

Men of the Century
They say that history is written by the victors. So who will write the history of Africa's independence generation? Forty years after it all began, it's hard to tell the heroes from the hucksters. Russell Warren Howe—political paparazzo, doyen of decolonization, and speechwriter to the stars—submits his scorecard.

UNDER REVIEW____________________

Souvenirs
Time was, anthropologists explored the secret life of savages, collecting skulls from skull-collectors and calling it primitive art. These days they're rounding up Third World trinkets from back street bazaars and calling it postmodernism. Kai Friese charts the progress of “progress.”

FICTION____________________

Ouagadougou
Edible insects, mouthwatering Muslims, and other mysteries.
By Emmanuel Dongala

The Astrologer
An African dictator consults his horoscope.
By Moses Isegawa

Down by the River
New clothes, fresh graves: Haiti.
By Marilene Phipps

CONVERSATION____________________

A Tricky Situation
The world's most important African leader has no government to direct, no military to deploy, and no populace to mobilize. In an age of corporate synergy and ethnic slaughter, his only weapon is diplomacy. Henry Louis Gates Jr. talks about power, plutocracy, and peacemaking with Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations.

Hearts in Exile
There's no place like home—or is there? For two Ugandan writers, becoming African meant leaving Africa behind. They succeeded abroad; so why did they find themselves nostalgic for Idi Amin? Novelist Moses Isegawa and political scientist Mahmood Mamdani talk about cities, citizens, and the color of Africa.

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