In the United States of Africa (French Voices (Bison Paperback)) [Paperback]

Abdourahman A. Waberi (Author), David Ball (Translator), Nicole Ball (Translator), Percival Everett (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: French Voices (Bison Paperback) | Publication Date: March 1, 2009

In a literary reversal as deadly serious as it is wickedly satiric, this novel by the acclaimed French-speaking African writer Abdourahman A. Waberi turns the fortunes of the world upside down. On this reimagined globe a stream of sorry humanity flows from the West, from the slums of America and the squalor of Europe, to escape poverty and desperation in the prosperous United States of Africa. It is in this world that an African doctor on a humanitarian mission to France adopts a child. Now a young artist, this girl, Malaïka, travels to the troubled land of her birth in hope of finding her mother—and perhaps something of her lost self. Her search, at times funny and strange, is also deeply poignant, reminding us at every moment of the turns of fate we call truth.

(20090717)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Djibouti-born Waberi's brief and concentrated tale—part satire, part fable, part fever-dream—imagines the world turned upside down: a war rages between Quebec and the American Midwest, and all of Euramerica is a dark, barbaric hellhole. In the United States of Africa, however—land of Africola and Sarr Mbock coffeehouses—peace and prosperity reign, even if tinged with xenophobia (White Trash, Back Home! a headline blares). And it's there that a dreamy, restless young artist named Maya ponders her history. Adopted as a child by a doctor on a humanitarian mission in Paris, Maya longs to find her birth mother, even as her beloved adoptive one lies dying. She travels to France, a country moldering at the roots, smelling of urine and need, to find out, and though there's no bliss-filled reunion, Waberi manages to convince of the power of art and love to heal very real rifts. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

http://www.institut-francais.org.uk/talks/conference/paris-and-london-in-postcolonial-imagery.html

(institut francais 20090305)

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/blogosphere/16101-lalami-waberi.html

(World Literature Today 20090227)

http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2009/07/speaking-of-summer-reading-lists.html

(Cara Pesek UNP blog 20090715)

http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2009/03/new-march-books-available-now-plus-a-nice-waberi-review-and-some-ereader-news.html

(Cara Pesek UNP blog 20100105)

http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2009/02/index.html

(Cara Pesek UNP blog 20090216)

http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=2081

(Chad W. Post Three Percent 20090302)

http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=2081

(James Crossley Review of Contemporary Fiction 20090217)

http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=2081

(Chad W. Post Three Percent 20090611)

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/client/pagesdetails.asp?nid=39053&ccid=13

(Arab Times 20080922)

"Djibouti-born Waberi''s brief and concentrated tale—part satire, part fable, part fever-dream—imagines the world turned upside down: a war rages between Quebec and the American Midwest, and all of "Euramerica" is a dark, barbaric hellhole. In the United States of Africa, however. . . peace and prosperity reign. . . . It''s there that a dreamy, restless young artist named Maya ponders her history. . . . Waberi manages to convince of the power of art and love to heal very real rifts."—Publishers Weekly

(Publishers Weekly 20081001)

"Writing in French, Waberi—born in Djibouti, but a longtime resident of France—satirizes commonly-held assumptions about the global political and economic order by imagining what things might be like if Africa were to swap places with the West. . . . In David and Nicole Ball''s translation, Waberi''s prose reads as both riotously funny and lyrically lush, offering big laughs as well as multifaceted subtleties of expression."—Ryan Michael Williams, PopMatters.com

(Ryan Michael Williams PopMatters.com 20081001)

"In the United States of Africa is not a simple book. It''s not a fun-filled romp in an imagined world turned on its head. It is a very accomplished novel though, one that definitely deserves to be part of the "French Voices" series, and that the University of Nebraska should be admired for bringing out."—Chad W. Post, Three Percent

(Chad W. Post Three Percent 20081001)

"In the United States of Africa, winner of the French Voices Award, is a splendid learning opportunity for readers in the US and Europe. . . . This winning, witty novel will help turn a flat globe, on which some people believe only the northern hemisphere is of any importance, into a round world where north and south are equally beautiful, heroic, and historic."—Barbara Ardinger, ForeWord Magazine

(Barbara Ardinger ForeWord Magazine 20081001)

"The world Waberi creates in his new novel may be entirely driven by the question of "what if", but it has the natural and wonderful effect of making the reader re-examine what is. Waberi''s keen powers of empathy, his sharp wisdom and his beautiful prose make him one of the most exciting and original African writers working today."—Laila Lalami, www.TheNational.ae

(Laila Lalami www.TheNational.ae 20081001)

"This brief, sternly loving book is by turns troubling, exhilarating, frustrating and oddly satisfying. Recommended to all those concerned with the world we live in—and ones we might otherwise live in, as well as people inhabiting both."—Jim Lee, Tales of the Talisman

(Jim Lee Tales of the Talisman )

“Humor and derision are weapons not often used in African literature. Abdourahman Waberi proves to be a master of the art which adds a cutting edge to his magnificent narrative.”—Maryse Condé, author of The Story of the Cannibal Woman

(Maryse Conde )

“It reads like a tale by Voltaire, but darker and more striking. . . . The polemicist’s weapons give way to the ironist’s verve and the sparkling grace of the futuristic tale.”—Le Nouvel Observateur

(La Nouvel Observateur )

“Along with the impertinent funny stuff that peppers the text, this book is above all a philosophical tale that gives a caustic critique of contemporary civilization through a distorting mirror.”—Le Devoir

(Le Devoir )

“Waberi wittily destroys a whole series of clichés and prejudices about Africa—questionable views about immigration as well as the unhealthy side of humanitarian aid organizations draped in arrogance. . . . But this novel is also full of hope.”—Le Monde Diplomatique

(Le Monde Diplomatique )

“Exhilarating and instructive. . . . This is a powerful, courageous, inventive novel.”—Le Matricule des Anges

(Le Matricule des Anges )

“[Waberi’s] hilarious parable makes Africa the main world power, suffering from a plague of immigration [from “Euramerica”] that makes it think of closing its borders. . . . The world upside down? Reality seen from the other side of the mirror sometimes gives us the shivers.”—Le Point

(Le Point )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (March 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803222629
• ISBN-13: 978-0803222625
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #381,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TABLES TURNED, November 23, 2010

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Vakunta - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the United States of Africa (French Voices (Bison Paperback)) (Paperback)

In the United States of Africa is the first translation of Abdourahman's fiction by David and Nicole Ball, both seasoned literary translators. His Pays sans ombre: Nouvelles (1994) was translated as Land without Shadows (2005) by Jeanne Garane. Abdourahman is author of several other fictional works written single-handedly and as co-author. His masterpiece is undoubtedly In the United States of Africa, a novel in which the Djiboutian writer resident in France avails himself of the literary technique of reverse psychology to invert the accepted prism through which we seem to perceive the world. He does so with apparent ease. Abdourahman proves to be a master of the written word. He wields humor, irony, sarcasm, and satire adeptly in his attempt to debunk the often unquestionable clichés and stereotypes that have become the lot of Africa--a continent described severally as: "a continent for the taking", "the lost continent", "and the Dark Continent", "a continent at risk", and more. The novel recounts the trajectory of Malaïka, a French child adopted by an African, Doctor Papa, on a humanitarian mission to Asmara. Now a young artist, Malaïka returns to the land of her birth to trace the whereabouts of her biological mother, and perhaps find her lost identity. Her search, laden with unknowns, is portrayed as tortuous and revealing. She is described as an `angel' on account of her decent upbringing in France: "She is graceful as an angel, and that's why she is called Malaïka."(9)

In the United States of Africa is a futuristic novel in which the writer turns the fortunes of the world upside down, and invites his readers to re-imagine a world where economic refugees and victims of social oppression escape from the squalor of America and the slums of Europe in desperation to seek freedom and prosperity in the United States of Africa. As he puts it: "This is what attracts the hundreds of thousands of wretched Euramericans subjected to a host of calamities and a deprivation of hope." (5) It goes without the saying that acerbic irony is a powerful deconstructionist tool in the hands of Abdourahman as the following statement shows: "This individual, poor as Job on his dung heap, has never seen a trace of soap, cannot imagine the flavor of yogurt, has no conception of the sweetness of a fruit salad. He is a thousand miles from our most basic Sahelian conveniences." (4) Or this other telling one: "After an insipid soap opera, a professor from the Kenyatta School of European and American Studies, an eminent specialist in Africanization--the latest fad in our universities, now setting the tone for the whole world--claims that the United States of Africa can no longer accommodate all the world's poor."(6)
Abdourahman's ambivalent use of language is evident throughout the narrative. In a bid to translate anger and despondency into the written word, he has no compunction about resorting to vulgarity for the purpose of effective communication: "In short, they are introducing the Third World right up the anus of the United States of Africa."(8) This novel is a poignant depiction of the plight of the proletariat of the First World whose very survival depends on government bailouts, referred to as `food stamps' in the United States of America. "It is a tale that can make a family forget the absent father, always wandering off or between odd jobs...who holds the house together by means of federal welfare checks and various sacrifices" (9-10) This text is a satiric derision of the fallacy of the American dream: "Two men in quest of the African dream, seeking manioc and fresh water. Sheriff Ouedraogo promises to spare the life of the one who kills the other at sunset."(19). Tongue in cheek, the novelist laments the fate of African immigrants subjected to all forms of ignominies in the Western world: "Not a day goes by without new cases of disappearances, illegal immigrants arrested and neutralized for good, illegal workers sent to meet their maker in less time than it takes to light a cigarette."(20)
In the United States of Africa is captivating in several respects but the quality that captures the reader's attention the most is the novelist recourse to the theme of exile as a thread that holds his narrative together: "The tiny elite was the first to clear out, and every youngster's dream is to leave and go into exile." (14).The problematic strife with double exile (physical and psychological) seems to be a leitmotif in Abdourahman's text. In this novel, psychological exile is seen to be as deleterious as physical displacement: "He's gone on a journey inside himself, you think... He's really gone. Where? He doesn't know..." (23) Abdourahman employs sagacious words to adumbrate on this haunting theme: "One's birthplace is only an accident; you choose your true homeland with your body and heart. You love it all your life or you leave it alone."(10) It is hard to ignore the novelist's attempt to fictionalize his own existential travails in the world of exile. In writing his tale of exile, Abdourahman turns the tables topsy-turvy as this statement clearly indicates: "Today even more than yesterday, our African lands attract all kinds of people crushed by poverty: trollops with their feet powdered by the dust of exodus; opponents of their regimes with a ruined conscience; mangy kids with pulmonary diseases; bony, shriveled old people. "(15) Abdourahman's text is a double-edged trenchant weapon; it chides the predator and the prey with the same breath. It decries the tribulations engendered by xenophobic tendencies: "They begin by setting up security perimeters in big cities, investigate at length before tackling lawless zones, shady hotels, guerilla camps, bordellos, and shebeens for illegal immigrants."(46)
In the United States of Africa is a tale of the underdevelopment of Africa by Western powers. It is a laudation of the material and intellectual wealth of pre-colonial Africa: "Ever since Emperor Kankan Moussa, the ruler of the ancient Empire of Mali, one of the most prestigious empires of our federation, made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 scattering gold along the way, all the wretched of the earth have their eyes fixed on our felicity."(15) The writer underscores the fact that Africa was not a tabula rasa devoid of prosperity before the advent of colonialists. Intertextuality is another sharp tool that this novelist uses for the purpose of protest. Reference to the `wretched of the earth' is undoubtedly an allusion to Frantz Fanon's masterpiece of the same title. Abdourahman does not stop at mere allusions, he refers to the "neurologists in the Frantz Fanon Institute of Blida" (27) who have "come up with a dream-making machine that brings you whatever dreams you want while you sleep."(28) In a rather veiled manner, he refers to the legendary Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o as follows: "Following Nzila Kongolo Wa Th'iongo (1786-1852), once so popular in the course of the unpredictable monarch Kodjo Aemjoro, author of the classic An Evening on the Danube..." (32) He pays tribute to Africa's illustrious musical virtuosos such as Miriam Makeba (38).
The distinctive characteristic of Abdourahman's style is his constant recourse to code-switching as a narrative technique. Purposeful linguistic miscegenation serves as an effective tool for the depiction of the socio-cultural specificities of the context in which his novel is written: "You hesitate between a bowl of kinkeliba and a glass of bissap."(29) Or this other interesting one: "Maya! Pleated bubus, draped djellabas, wraparound haiks, majestic gandouras, raffia straw, ivory and amber, muslin and cotton, cowries and tortoise shells--vanished all gone!"(45) The domestication of the ex-colonizer's language is evident here.
Abdourahman uses figurative language for communicative expediency as this example shows: "... his constant encouragements to the mother, who is flapping her lips like a fish yanked out of water."(114) Metaphors come in handy in the narrative as this statement illustrates: "Every one submits to the tick-tock of daily life, the order of life that pulses with each passing second..." (30). Or this very powerful one:" Outside, this small corner of the jungle is curling up in the arms of the rising dawn."(31) He employs similes for comparative pungency: "Her great camel eyes are almost lifeless."(27).
Proverbs enable him to drive home messages pregnant with meaning: "Never speak ill of the dead is the ancient rule execrated by the hard of heart who resent those who have just passed over to the other side." (109) All in all, figurative language is the palm oil with which words are eaten in In the United States of Africa, to paraphrase another illustrious son of Africa, Chinua Achebe .
In sum, In the United States of Africa is the handiwork of a literary virtuoso. Abdourahman distinguishes himself from the mainstream of Francophone African writers through the depth of his thought processes, adroit use of language, and skilful re-writing of history. This is a novel steeped in innovative ideas. It is strikingly impressionistic and didactic. The excellent translation of this fine work into English by David and Nicole Ball cannot escape encomium.