A foremost African literary critic, scholar and theorist, Nigerian-born Professor Malam Al-Bishak (MON) has challenged Africans to brace up in propounding and using African knowledge and theories to justify their works in the literary realm, asserting that formal education was birthed in Africa by black Africans.
In this exclusive interview with Nasarawa Newsline’s General Editor, Shuaibu Usman, the Professor of African literature who is having his pathfinding theory “leoparditude” featured prominently in the Lagos-England African Conference, says Africans have taught world geniuses including Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. Excerpts:
NN: The theory you propounded twenty-four years ago is featuring as the first paper to be presented at an African conference organized by the University of Lagos and University of Exeter, England, in Lagos, Nigeria. What prompted the theory, and how exciting is it to find your work blossoming in the literary world?
Al-Bishak: It is quite exciting because I came up with the theory in 2000 via my book entitled Leoparditude and African Drama: Professor Iorwuese Haghers Plays Explained. The book was sold in some Nigerian universities, and has been re-issued in the United States of America (USA).
The theory has remained silent except at the University of Jos where Hagher taught, and some students have made references to it in their projects or theses when analyzing Haghers plays.
So, it is not well-known or publicized even though I have introduced it to my students at the universities where I taught. Anyway, I don’t think it is my responsibility to ask universities or scholars to use it.
The excitement here is in the fact that somebody read it, found it interesting, and wrote about it, which the conference organizers found it interesting, and chose it as the first paper to be presented.
In all of this, I had no hand or influence in writing about it or accepting it for the conference. In a way, the theory seems to have found validation by external factors beyond my control.
Leoparditude as a literary theory uses the leopard as a symbol of Africa because it exists in the African forest. Its content (theme) and form (style) are African-centred in terms of ideology or philosophy based on authentic Afrocentric history and socio-economic and cultural conditions expressed through the African language or domesticated foreign language laced with African imagery, folklore and idioms.
It is a progressive ideology that was built on Negritude and Tigritude. It came as a child of necessity whereby Africans are challenged to look inwards for a common ideology or theory that will explain their literary works and justify the language and style, they use in expressing themselves.
So far, all the literary theories used in African universities to explain African literature are foreign-based except in feminism when the ladies have tried to bring some varieties in the theory like Motherism, Stiwanism, Snail-sense feminism, etc. Literary theories like Realism, Feminism, Structuralism, Deconstruction, Reader-Response Criticism, Modernism, Psychoanalysis, Ecocriticism, Queer Theory, Marxism, Formalism, Postcolonialism, Magical Realism, Historicism, etc. are all foreign-based.
They were created by foreign intellectuals to analyze foreign literatures, which we imported and imposed on ourselves as the perfect standard or parametres to judge our own African literary works. I am not saying that the foreign theories are bad, and should not be used.
But they are inadequate to effectively capture the reality of the African mind and language of expression. Nor am I pretending that my theory is the best, and should be the only one to be used for African literature.
Rather, it is a challenge to African scholars and critics to come up with appropriate theories to explain African literary works.
To the best of my knowledge, there’s no African literary theory to analyze African literature even though Professor Shamsudeen O. O. Amali came up with his own Amalian Two Theories of Cultural Creativity and Change, which is a mega-theory with universal application not a micro-theory for literature.
The Leoparditudinist liberates self from the supposed or imposed White superiority that leads to his inevitable inferiority complex. It consequently leads to the dependency syndrome on the Whiteman as the pathfinder and fabled civilizer of the blackman.
Africans look up to the Whites as their saviors because they are seen as stark illiterates, ignorant. Africans are encouraged to go abroad in search of the proverbial “golden fleece”. If you want to be well-knowledgeable or very educated you have to go abroad. Our leaders go there to find solutions to developmental issues of Africa.
They dont have home-grown solutions to their developmental problems based on their own creativity and sense of independence. We believe can’t invent or discover anything. If we do, they are despised or scoffed at by our people in preference for the ones done by the whiteman.
To address the overdependence on the literary theories of the Whites I came up with the concept of Leoparditude because the leopard is essentially an African animal. We should write in such a way that is neither Negritudinist nor Tigritudinist. We should not say that the Whiteman is everything when he is not. We should reject being inferior.
However, it should be realized that Leoparditudinism is NOT black racism that discriminates or rejects the Whites. The Whites are good but so also are the blacks. They are equals. Neither is superior nor inferior to the other because they are both human.
The contribution of the blacks to human civilization must be recognized and appreciated. After all, the whole concept of formal education is traceable to Africa if you read my latest book, BLACK PAPYRUS: Global Origins of Writing and Written Literature Traced To Black Africa.
Leoparditude can be looked at in two ways because literature is a function of content (theme) and form (style). In terms of content or theme, Leoparditude harps on the destiny of Africa and her people by first and foremost recognizing its self-worth and potentials that must be fully tapped.
The Blackman must be liberated from the stranglehold of imperialism and projected to the forefront of global civilization. At the same time, the Blackman must acknowledge his weaknesses or of the African continent, and seek to remedy them.
In terms of form, Leoparditude acknowledges the competency of the African language as a medium of first choice to express oneself fully. And where confronted with the inevitable choice of using a foreign language, it must be domesticated laced with African idioms to suit ones Africanist goal. Africa must compete with the rest of the world.
Historically, we taught the Whites the concept of formal education. We started formal education via schools with learning materials such as paper, pen and ink, and exported them to the rest of the world. The Whites came to Africa especially Egypt to gain knowledge. We taught Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Homer, Pythagoras, etc. We are their intellectual masters.
The principle of Leoparditude is to know your history as a great product of Africa. We should forget about slave trade. We were enslaved for about 300 years but along the Mediterranean, the African Pharaohs enslaved the Whites for over 3000 years. We have always been kings and queens.
NN: Literature is a reflection of the society. However, there is a seeming dearth of African literature in the African society. As a seasoned scholar, what is your candid opinion on this?
Al-Bishak: The answer can be seen at both the macro and micro levels. At the macro level, it is a developmental issue. The African governments are confronted with imperialism of the international economic system, which cripples the African economy, and affects all strata of the economy including the education system. Consequently, African literature is affected too. Whatever affects African literature affects other disciplines too.
Within the Nigerian context, you know what ASUU has been facing with the Nigerian government. A professor is earning between three hundred and four hundred thousand Naira monthly whereas his counterpart abroad earns six thousand pounds or dollars monthly. In advanced countries, teachers are well paid.
If you go to Malaysia or Germany, and you are a professor, they treat you well because they celebrate intellectuals. Here in Nigeria, you teach your student, he graduates and becomes a big man, riding big cars. You that taught him, are treated like a beggar because of low pay. To me, the most critical thing for ASUU is to fight more for the welfare of lecturers. Revitalization of the university with poor welfare is nothing. You don’t live well.
The society laughs at you. How can they teach? How can they do research? To become a professor, you have to attend conferences and publish in international journals among others. All of these require money. And most of the time, we fund them ourselves with our meagre resources. If you are well paid, you can teach and live well without stress. Poor welfare of lecturers has to stop.
NN: You came up with a collection of poems entitled, Save Dunama!, a blockbuster that drew the attention of the Lafia Emirate to make Dunama’s tomb a museum for scholarship and historical record-keeping. Would you say African literature is a veritable tool for societal change?
Al-Bishak: Well, this question can be tied to the preceding one. Of course, literature is a tool for societal change. Traditionally, oral poets are popular singers who use their lyrics accompanied by music to mobilize the people towards a social goal.
So, literature makes things happen. If I had my way, I would turn my poems into songs accompanied by music to reach out to a very large audience because of the social message embedded in the poems. To go on advocacy with my poems is something I am giving serious thoughts to.
After I wrote Save Dunama! and other poems, I took my students to the Emir of Lafia, His Royal Highness, Muhammadu Sidi Bage I, to render it to him at his palace and present him with a copy, and he was quite happy. Unfortunately, in the last few years, I have not been teaching undergraduate students but postgraduate students.
Working with undergraduate students is very exciting because of their youthful energy and bristle of creative ideas. I am looking forward to reconnecting with them on creative projects. Government has to support the arts especially literature.
People must know their history. Save Dunama! is a celebration of history. The celebration of the founding of Lafia and its emirate by its founding monarch, Mai Muhammadu Dunama.
As a senior academic, it is part of my community service to reach out to members of the community through the arts. As a resident of Lafia and bearer of the traditional title of Dan Masanin Gamji of Nasarawa State, I share the positive sentiments of the good people of Lafia and the entire state.
NN: Would you say your Leoparditude theory has strengths and weaknesses like others?
Al-Bishak: I think I am not in the position to assess my theory. However, a theory is usually not a one-man show. It is a curious bird owned by a community though initiated by a person who nurtures it as it develops wings and flies to a global audience.
If it were in Europe that somebody thought of a theory, nobody would dismiss it. Colleagues and students would take interest in it, challenge it and broaden it. Nobody sits down and says who is this man to bring up a theory?
For instance, when you talk about the theory of Structuralism, many scholars took interest in it, and developed it into many variants or movements hence you have Structuralism, Post-Structuralism and others.
Similarly, were Leoparditude created in Europe scholars would deliberate on it and come up with varieties of Leoparditude such as Conservative Leoparditude, Progressive Leoparditude, Middle-road Leoparditude, Post-Leoparditude, etc.
Creating a theory is an intellectual exercise that constantly engages literary critics. The theories keep coming. I thank God the person to present my theory at the Lagos-England African Conference, didn’t seek my permission or inform me about it till he was about presenting it to the conference. I had no control over the organizers either.
They independently saw the theory and found it expedient to use. The theory cannot be static. As it is used, it will keep dynamizing with the times. I challenge African scholars to be creative. Let’s not depend on foreign scholars or their theories. Let’s find our literary solutions by ourselves not depend on foreigners.
This interview was conducted by Nasarawa Newsline and is reproduced verbatim.
