David Sedaris

In Abina and the Important Men, lies a portrayal of daily life and operations of the area of Asante and its relations with British jurisdiction, on the Gold Coast of West Africa in 1876. Specifically, it is a story about a girl from Asante named Asina who is sold into slavery at a very young age and her journey to achieve justice. While Abina’s story was not well documented and well known, it’s brief mention in archived stories arose attention for the powerless and the silenced. Through Abina’s narrative and her fight for justice, and the contextual history of African and British relations, the depiction of “important men” their roles and how they impact her life and people like her are displayed.

I think what David Sedaris was trying to tell us was that when he was in fifth grade he didn't really recognize that his mother was an alcoholic. He didn't even find it weird that his mother locked him and his sisters out of the house. I believe David Sedaris found his relationship strained between himself and his parents, he said that he would call his dad but he doubted his dad would do something about the situation. I also believe that he had a strain with his siblings, he was willing to let his younger sister get hit by a car so they could have more space and then their parents would realize how valuable their children are. But Sedaris also felt guilty for his actions he said "Poor Tiffany. She’d do just about anything in return for

Throughout literature, the slave narrative has become quite commonplace, and while there are only so many ways for an author to distinguish their work from the rest of these narratives Yaa Gyasi does just this with “Homegoing”. “Homegoing” is a narrative with intense emotional depth geared toward depicting the strong cultural roots of differing tribes in the African continent and the many tribulations they face through the family lineage of two sisters separated at birth. Over the span of the narrative, this family tree allows for the story to traverse through time in an attempt to showcase the numerous accounts and degrees of struggle that each descendant faces, which is factored in by the time period they live in. Furthermore, while

John Sutter's 2012 report on slavery in Mauritania is the piece of writing that I am going to discuss in this paper. Some of the power of this piece derives from factors unrelated to the writing. The report is multimedia, so there are visuals that accompany the writing. In addition, the concepts are powerful on their own slavery is powerful in particular, but the wild, desert setting is also quite evocative. The writing itself, however, also holds a lot of power.

Samuel Momodu attended both Nashville State Community College for his Associate of Arts Degree in History, as well as Tennessee State University for his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History. Momodu now is a historian working for blackpast.org which is an independent, non-profit organization. He studies African History around the world. Momodu wrote this article in 2007 to inform those who are reading A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, or anyone who is curious about the civil war that occured in Sierra Leone. When writing his article, Momodu’s goal was to educate people about what the actual causes of the Sierra Leone Civil War were, as well as

For my first semester HAE, I read the book Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, throughout the week of December 4th, 2017. The book takes place in Africa, as well as the United states for a portion of it, over the course of 200 years, beginning around 1775 and ending around 1990.

Gyasi’s novel “illustrates the ways in which history can act as a powerful determinant in people’s lives” (Yaa 2). In the novel, the characters face the struggle in attempting to make a life when surrounded by racial disparity, poverty, lack of jobs, the availability of drugs, and injustice. This demonstrates how social conflicts affect society and how it can cause an individual's life to be a certain way. Along with this, the novel indicates it takes place between the 1750s to the 21st century by coursing through the various problems in Ghana and the United States during those time periods. It expresses the Anglo-Ashanti wars, colonialism, the rise of Christianity, and the struggle for independence which were the adversities prevalent in Ghana during this specific time period.

Throughout his diary entries, Sedaris reveals his journey to becoming the person he is today. In his 20s, he began to realize that he was homosexual. In the first years of Theft by Finding, Sedaris does not explicitly state that, though there are clues to this fact scattered throughout his entries. For Sedaris growing up in the Southern United States during the 1970s, he was likely afraid of admitting and writing down that he was attracted to men.

The novel Kaffir boy written by Mark Mathabane takes place in Alexandria ( a city located in South Africa ) during the 1960’s. Throughout this novel we gain knowledge about three major elements of African culture such as the economic issues, social problems, and religious beliefs. All of these elements are utilized to illustrate the culture of South Africa during the 1960’s.

My English professor and David Sedaris professor had similarities. I noticed that my professor did. During the first week of class I experienced different emotions because I would be able to show him my English skills. He gave us a project based on Greek philosophers. Learning about Greek mythology has always been something I loved so I knew I did not have anything to worry about. In my presentation I discussed Plato’s and Aristotle’s English Literature. This had to be one of my best presentations that I have ever done. After my presentation, he rudely explains that my presentation did not meet his criteria. From this day forward I continued to work hard to change his

Robert B. Edgerton is an author, professor of anthropology and psychiatry, and researcher of African society and history (and their correlations). Knowing this, the great amount of humanity and realism that he manages to exhibit in his distinctive writing style should come as no surprise. Edgerton’s background in various studies allows him to unravel the mystery shrouding the culture and psychology of both sides of the war.

Dominant media produces films using generalized, and distorted images of Africa to create the idea of a dark continent in need colonial help, due to native civilization’s inability to live in a functional society. Mountains of the Moon, follows Richard Burton and John Speke, two explorers in search of the Nile. Set in pre-colonial times, this movie constructs images of Africa, perpetuating African’s inability to live in developed societies, and shows their natural inclination to appease British explorers. The Kitchen Toto, tells the story of Mwangi, who becomes a British officer’s kitchen Toto after his father is killed for opposing the clandestine independence movement. This movie shapes inaccurate images of African independence movements, showing those who are not under colonial rule as threatening, malicious, problematic, and incompetent of leadership. A Good Man in Africa tells the story of a British Diplomat, Morgan Leafy, who lives in Kinjanja, a nation recently freed from British rule. This film portrays Africa’s dependence on neocolonial rule through the Kinjanja’s fait, which rests in the hands of Dr Alex Murray, the man who is in the way of Adekunle’s exploitive building project. These three films represent ho western cultures imagination has evoked stock narratives, creating artificial Africas, in dominant media and films, leading to falsified images expanding from pre-colonialism to twentieth century neocolonialism.

Winner of multiple awards, nationally taught, and influential in many ways, The Book of Negroes is a novel which has been used to educate on and question history though it is possible it has not done as well a job as it may seem. It is apparent that several aspects of the story through The Book of Negroes was not focused on nearly enough and in turn has made several aspects of the story lacklustre. The story follows Aminata and her journey through the slave trade while using her skills of language and being a midwife to her advantage through her life, the book cleverly goes through several aspects of history and addresses many of the issues of the times. Though history is told well and the life of Aminata is gripping throughout The Book of Negroes, the characters, tone, and diction were neglected leaving the literacy side of the story subpar and unimpressive.

Our book described a dreadful scene that occurred in 1999 when two 14-year-old boys from Conakry, Guinea frozen bodies were found in the landing gear at Brussels International Airport. Found with the boys was also a letter they had written. The letter entailed a deep plea for help for the children of Africa and particularly the children of Guinea. They stated in the letter, “Therefore, if you see that we have sacrificed ourselves and risked our lives, this is because we suffer too much in Africa and that we need you to fight against poverty and to put an end to the war in Africa. Nevertheless, we want to learn, and we ask you to help us in Africa learn to be like you.” Many can take much away from this letter as one can see the global gap between the rich and the poor; and also see the desire of migration from a poor to rich county.

When it comes to the realty of violence, Thiong’o’s novel tells a political satire of newly Independent Kenya – the unnamed newly independent state- that helps us to examine the unexpected reality of decolonization within Africa. The Satire is strikingly familiar to the Political satire of George Orwell who wrote the legendary political satire about the Russian revolution, The Animal Farm. Matigari tells the story of a young liberation fighter who believed in the freedom he fought for, but instead the reality of the end result was that he had only assisted in replacing the colonialist oppressors who he describes as the old non- sower, with a new breed of unprepared capitalist imperialists as their ambition to rule is not fueled by the love of the people but rather by the benefits afforded to them once in power.