Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Dangers of a Single Book Cover: The Acacia Tree Meme and “African literature”

“Like so many (wildly varying) writers on Africa, Chimamanda Adichie gets the acacia tree sunset treatment. Whether Wilbur Smith or Wole Soyinka, Rider Haggard or Bessie Head, apparently you get the same cover imagery.”
We’re obliged to Simon Stevens, a reader who put together the picture above and pointed out that whoever you are, wherever you’re from, whatever kind of writing you do, if you write a novel “about Africa,” chances are you’re going to get the acacia tree treatment. And the orange sky.
As Jeremy Weate tweeted icily: “Funny that. Nigeria is not known for its acacia trees.”

Edna Mohamed wrote on our Facebook page: “I hope one day we can finally upgrade to baobab trees or something.”
In short, the covers of most novels “about Africa” seem to have been designed by someone whose principal idea of the continent comes from The Lion King. All together now (h/t @meowmusiq):

Another reader, Alice Kewellhampton, added that when it comes to Chimamanda Adichie, she also gets a special meme for her UK editions, the “soulful-black-woman-with-colourful-smudges” look.
Three years ago, Tom Devriendt pointed out a similar issue. Here’s what he wrote back then:
I received my copy of this year’s Commonwealth Prize winner Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love in the mail the other day.
Not that I don’t like its cover (or the book), but this is just silly.
And here’s why:
Some of us (in Canada, Great Britain, South Africa and India) also know 2008 Commonwealth Prize winner Lawrence Hill’s novel as The Book of Negroes and sure, this is the Australian edition’s cover, but still…
And finally:
Fiction “about Africa” is not alone in getting this treatment. M. Lynx Qualey over at ArabLit pointed out the obsession with veils in a great post “Translating for Bigots.” She quotes Adam Talib, and we’ll give him the last word too:
“Publishers can sometimes package books for bigots.”
coveredcovers
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Original Article
Source: africasacountry.com/
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