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sub_dividedSitting around feeling sorry for myself because I haven't finished any fiction in almost 18 months -- which is backwards, I should be feeling bad about my productivity (and motivated to change) not bad about my reception (and motivated to whine). But the writer's guilt machinery melted down sometime around when I left college. XD;; Best course of action is probably to pick something short and easy and just knock it out without thinking about it too much.
In the meantime I'm gonna take the lazy person's way out and post something ancient. Fanfic WIPs are all on the old (dead) laptop harddrive but here's an academic paper you guys might enjoy:
Maimuna Choge's Song for the Hausa Conference, a praise song with a twist, reflects the complicated nature of class, gender, scholarship and power in Nigeria. Although Beverly Mack, the translator, describes it as "irreverent," a more accurate description might be "playful" -- in her song, Choge simultaneously praises and dismisses the accomplishments of her patrons, Nigeria's University-educated elites. Choge brushes aside "proper" notions of respectable, moral scholarship to focus on common things like money and sex, and her audience laughs; but aren't the best jokes the true ones? Her song is in many ways more honest than the didactic poems of "approved" poets like Hauwa Gwaram, making it valuable as an historic source. At the same time, its main purpose is not to educate, but to entertain; and this makes it a difficult source to evaluate.
The song falls squarely into the Hausa mode of expression, which is more playful than the serious, didactic Arabic literary tradition followed by respectable poets like Hauwa Gwaram. There is a festive quality to it, present both in the entreating, wheedling tone of the singer ("I praise with my begging voice") and in the way she invites the audience to laugh, both at her and at themselves. "All those who hold the pen do useless work," she sings, to an audience of pen-holders. "Let them do the high shake for money!" This song is an excellent example of Hausa humor, which is much more self-abasing than Arabic humor. Choge is backed up by drums and other singers, making her song much more infectious than the serious, solemn recitations that characterize Hauwa Gwaram's work; but the two traditions do not exist apart from each other, as demonstrated by the Islamic elements woven into Choge's Hausa song. The chorus, in particular, is extremely Islamic ("In the name of God, I begin in the name of God").
Choge was hired to sing by University students -- in Nigeria, the future heads of government. She has this to say on the topic of a university education:
According to Maimuna Choge, the reason to be educated is not to improve the mind, or because it is the morally correct thing to do as Hausa Guaram claims, but because educated people make more money and have higher status. She equates education with wealth and wealth with material possessions like lace shirts and, later, a car. After she makes this connection, the chorus changes to include money ("In the name of God, I begin in the name of God...for money"). She's telling the audience, essentially, that although their society pretends that there is some higher purpose to education, its ultimate purpose is to make money, and in that regard she, the uneducated praise singer, is just as successful as them ("And for a long time he has held the pen; and for a long time I have been well off").
Choge also equates education with masculinity: the pen symbolizes the penis, and the man who "holds the pen properly" is also "the one with the light-skinned women." To the women in the audience, she jokingly references didactic poetry exhorting them to behave properly, saying "Let everyone find a useful profession / Mine is to give serious advice repeatedly / If you are faithful to God, ladies / Then each one should have a profession, ladies. The woman without a profession must be given in marriage."
Although the song identifies elements of Nigerian society not discussed in "serious" poetry, using it as an historic source is tricky. Choge might seem to be singing frankly about class, money, and gender in Nigeria, but the truth is that she has been hired as an entertainer by a group of people at the very top of the status quo. Her job is to amuse her patrons, not to expose the faults of their mutual society. "My playing goes where the money is," she sings; and although this doesn't prevent her from good-naturedly playing off her patrons' baser motivations, it also means that she stops short of the kinds of accusations she could be leveling. The man with the lace shirt and nice car, for instance, is probably employed by the government, rich because he takes bribes and cuts deals. Choge doesn't mention this. Similarly, she avoids spending too much time on the wide social gap between herself and her patrons. Although she jokes about class differences, and even says that she is just as good her patrons despite having had no education, the truth is that she is exceptional. "You who have a sponge can wash. As for her with no sponge, what will she do?" she sings, but she doesn't spend any longer on this theme than absolutely necessary, preferring to steer the conversation onto safer topics. "Wait, let me shake my hips to enjoy myself, Let me do the low shake to enjoy myself, Look out!" she sings, over and over; presumably in the original song these lines were accompanied by sexy hip-shaking. In sections like this, Choge is turning the humor away from her patrons and onto herself, by introducing harmless sexual innuendo.
An historian using this song as a primary source gains a more nuanced understanding of Nigerian society than he or she could have obtained from Arabic poetry alone. The song reveals the way in which education both stems from and supports privilege; the masculine character of education; and the gap between education's theoretical purpose (improving morals) and its actual purpose (making money). It is particularly instructive to note where the audience laughs, as these are often the sections of greatest tension -- but this kind of analysis is problematic, because it can be difficult or impossible to separate the jokes based in truth from the jokes based in farce. In other words, it's not always clear which sections were funny because they are true, and which were funny only because they are funny. Furthermore, it is not clear to what extent Choge's opinions are representative, or how many of them she has chosen to leave unsung.
April 10, 2006
Pretty fun paper to write as I recall. The prof did a lot of the analysis in class and Choge's song by itself is very funny.
Here's the book with the translation in it: this came with a CD which I might still have.
In the meantime I'm gonna take the lazy person's way out and post something ancient. Fanfic WIPs are all on the old (dead) laptop harddrive but here's an academic paper you guys might enjoy:
Maimuna Choge's Song for the Hausa Conference, a praise song with a twist, reflects the complicated nature of class, gender, scholarship and power in Nigeria. Although Beverly Mack, the translator, describes it as "irreverent," a more accurate description might be "playful" -- in her song, Choge simultaneously praises and dismisses the accomplishments of her patrons, Nigeria's University-educated elites. Choge brushes aside "proper" notions of respectable, moral scholarship to focus on common things like money and sex, and her audience laughs; but aren't the best jokes the true ones? Her song is in many ways more honest than the didactic poems of "approved" poets like Hauwa Gwaram, making it valuable as an historic source. At the same time, its main purpose is not to educate, but to entertain; and this makes it a difficult source to evaluate.
The song falls squarely into the Hausa mode of expression, which is more playful than the serious, didactic Arabic literary tradition followed by respectable poets like Hauwa Gwaram. There is a festive quality to it, present both in the entreating, wheedling tone of the singer ("I praise with my begging voice") and in the way she invites the audience to laugh, both at her and at themselves. "All those who hold the pen do useless work," she sings, to an audience of pen-holders. "Let them do the high shake for money!" This song is an excellent example of Hausa humor, which is much more self-abasing than Arabic humor. Choge is backed up by drums and other singers, making her song much more infectious than the serious, solemn recitations that characterize Hauwa Gwaram's work; but the two traditions do not exist apart from each other, as demonstrated by the Islamic elements woven into Choge's Hausa song. The chorus, in particular, is extremely Islamic ("In the name of God, I begin in the name of God").
Choge was hired to sing by University students -- in Nigeria, the future heads of government. She has this to say on the topic of a university education:
[May] God increase [your] intelligence / And advance the way to enlightenment / And advance the way to higher status / And advance the way to promotion...Let's consider modern times / He's put on a lace shirt / Moreover, on his wrist he wears a watch / Moreover, on his eyes he wears glasses / Moreover, on his feet he wears shoes / And he holds the pen properly
According to Maimuna Choge, the reason to be educated is not to improve the mind, or because it is the morally correct thing to do as Hausa Guaram claims, but because educated people make more money and have higher status. She equates education with wealth and wealth with material possessions like lace shirts and, later, a car. After she makes this connection, the chorus changes to include money ("In the name of God, I begin in the name of God...for money"). She's telling the audience, essentially, that although their society pretends that there is some higher purpose to education, its ultimate purpose is to make money, and in that regard she, the uneducated praise singer, is just as successful as them ("And for a long time he has held the pen; and for a long time I have been well off").
Choge also equates education with masculinity: the pen symbolizes the penis, and the man who "holds the pen properly" is also "the one with the light-skinned women." To the women in the audience, she jokingly references didactic poetry exhorting them to behave properly, saying "Let everyone find a useful profession / Mine is to give serious advice repeatedly / If you are faithful to God, ladies / Then each one should have a profession, ladies. The woman without a profession must be given in marriage."
Although the song identifies elements of Nigerian society not discussed in "serious" poetry, using it as an historic source is tricky. Choge might seem to be singing frankly about class, money, and gender in Nigeria, but the truth is that she has been hired as an entertainer by a group of people at the very top of the status quo. Her job is to amuse her patrons, not to expose the faults of their mutual society. "My playing goes where the money is," she sings; and although this doesn't prevent her from good-naturedly playing off her patrons' baser motivations, it also means that she stops short of the kinds of accusations she could be leveling. The man with the lace shirt and nice car, for instance, is probably employed by the government, rich because he takes bribes and cuts deals. Choge doesn't mention this. Similarly, she avoids spending too much time on the wide social gap between herself and her patrons. Although she jokes about class differences, and even says that she is just as good her patrons despite having had no education, the truth is that she is exceptional. "You who have a sponge can wash. As for her with no sponge, what will she do?" she sings, but she doesn't spend any longer on this theme than absolutely necessary, preferring to steer the conversation onto safer topics. "Wait, let me shake my hips to enjoy myself, Let me do the low shake to enjoy myself, Look out!" she sings, over and over; presumably in the original song these lines were accompanied by sexy hip-shaking. In sections like this, Choge is turning the humor away from her patrons and onto herself, by introducing harmless sexual innuendo.
An historian using this song as a primary source gains a more nuanced understanding of Nigerian society than he or she could have obtained from Arabic poetry alone. The song reveals the way in which education both stems from and supports privilege; the masculine character of education; and the gap between education's theoretical purpose (improving morals) and its actual purpose (making money). It is particularly instructive to note where the audience laughs, as these are often the sections of greatest tension -- but this kind of analysis is problematic, because it can be difficult or impossible to separate the jokes based in truth from the jokes based in farce. In other words, it's not always clear which sections were funny because they are true, and which were funny only because they are funny. Furthermore, it is not clear to what extent Choge's opinions are representative, or how many of them she has chosen to leave unsung.
April 10, 2006
Pretty fun paper to write as I recall. The prof did a lot of the analysis in class and Choge's song by itself is very funny.
Here's the book with the translation in it: this came with a CD which I might still have.