Latest update November 10th, 2024 1:00 AM
Jul 29, 2018 Countryman, Features / Columnists
By Dennis Nichols
Someone wrote a great rebuttal article to the New York Times Exxon-Guyana story recently penned by Mr. Clifford Krauss. In the article, and in response to a tweet from one of Mr. Krauss’ colleagues, the writer made reference to a TED (Technology Entertainment Design) talk in the United States by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie on ‘The danger of a single story’.
In her talk, Ms. Adichie observes and implies that people risk a critical misunderstanding of a foreign culture by stereotyping it based on the repetition of one story. (It could be with one main idea, or related themes that disparage a group or a nation)
Much has already been said and written by miffed Guyanese who sharply criticized certain parts of Mr. Krauss’ ‘revealing’ piece which, however, his fellow NYT reporter described as a ‘well-told, multilayered story’. I wonder just what image that colleague, Eric Lipton, now has of this country which he probably never visited.
Ms. Adichie used her own experiences as a student at an American university to underscore the main thrust of her presentation. She spoke of an American room-mate who was shocked at her command of English and disappointed that the ‘tribal music’ she expected turned out to be a Mariah Carey tape.
Adichie, who says she came from a conventional, middle-class Nigerian family, said the room-mate also assumed that she couldn’t use a stove, and felt sorry for her even before she saw her. She reasoned that her room-mate’s default position towards her as an African was ‘a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity’ based on a single story of Africa – a single story of catastrophe.
Well maybe from such a perspective, Mr. Krauss’ story could be digested with a little less vitriol, except that the man was actually here. But then again if he had hitherto read certain articles by one of our more popular and respected commentators, he may have been convinced that he was coming to the kind of place his president described as a putrid receptacle for human waste.
The single story syndrome – the stereotyping on an entire demographic – is a huge problem, because it is so easy to use popular history, conventional wisdom, and colourful tidbits to subtly paint and present a picture of a group or country to suit a particular narrative. To this day, starting more than six decades ago, the ‘Red’ ghosts conjured by American and British authors still haunt our politics.
Mr. Krauss’ story carried me back to another take on Guyana, this time by a less professional, and seemingly likeable young Mormon missionary a few years ago. (On YouTube) Like the NY Times guy, this young man mixed undeniable truth with hyperbole, generalization, and disarming subjectivity (He smiles continuously) to make his tale ridiculously believable, and to some, a bit disturbing.
Titled ‘Interesting facts about living in Guyana’ it starts with the quite understandable issue of the mosquito nuisance, noting that at night you either take the bites or suffocate under tightly-wrapped sheets, hopefully with the breeze from a fan blowing most of the critters off you. But then of course there’s the blackout whammy, during which, he admits, he never prays harder, as he battles the bugs, and the heat. Our mosquitoes seem to find Americans tasty, so I’m sympathetic there.
But then he gets carried away when he takes to the streets. He sees our people buying their vegetables from carts pulled by donkeys which ‘they’ll just ride through the street’ navigating the roads with ‘every single animal you could think of ’including dogs that ‘all look like they have rabies … They’re some Third World dogs for sure’, he laughs. He notes bicycles are ‘a big source of transportation’ and seems amazed by the idea of towing. With the crammed minibuses he’s on spot, but he could have compared them to some New York subway trains.
Then he gets watery, and smelly. “There’s trenches, like on both sides of the street … just full of water, … and they don’t smell good, at all, just because everyone throws their trash in the trenches – and that’s another thing to get used to, is that they don’t have public garbage; their garbage is the street, and the way they get rid of it is they burn it and so there’s just burning piles of garbage, just up and down the streets, and there’s like goats and cows and donkeys just like eating it … the smell was really interesting …” Now how does one respond to that?
He appears mildly perturbed by Guyanese associating white Americans dressed in white shirts, black pants and tie, with Jonestown, the CIA, and the FBI, and being referred to as ‘White Boy’, even as he continues to smile amiably. “Just because we’re white, they’ll associate us with Jim Jones and his followers, and we just kinda have to, as Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism) said, disabuse the public mind.” Interesting, since that’s what Guyanese are doing right now concerning these stories.
In another video he talks about our food. Roti-and-curry is ‘just glorified tortillas’ (Who knows if tortillas aren’t wannabe roti & curry) Other Guyana foods he mentioned, and ate, are egg ball, cassava ball, chicken foot, alligator and iguana. Where was this guy living, and how long was he here? No mention of cook-up rice, pepperpot, metemgee, fried rice, dhal and saltfish choka; no fruits or fruit beverages; no greens or ground provisions…?
Oh, but he makes a point of saying that while here, it was against the rule to eat with the Guyana members (of the church I presume) because ‘the sanitation level wasn’t very good … and we had been told that we could eat the food if we, like, cooked it, like with them.” What? He adds that they had to be tactful about it so as not to offend members, and often ended up buying cookies and sodas from the store, like, you know, the American way. (Forgive me if I sound ‘single-storyish’)
What’s amazing too is that where both Mr. Krauss and the young missionary are concerned, several Guyanese tend to agree with their perception of our country. Some said what the missionary reported was 100% true while others empathized with his travails. In this day of global information exchange, millions of people could read, and believe, their accounts as gospel truth.
Maybe we should invite them back and take them on a tour blitz to see the ‘other’ Guyana, including say, the Marriott, the Convention Centre, the National museums, the Botanical and Promenade Gardens, Thirst Park, Iwokrama, Kaieteur, Orinduik, a Rupununi rodeo and an Essequibo boat ride. They could extend the visit to experience Mashramani, Easter kite-flying, Phagwah, Diwali, a Providence cricket match, Christmas shopping, pepperpot, a duck curry competition, coconut water, and some passion fruit drink. Should we allow them to eat labba and drink creek-water? Maybe not!
Nov 10, 2024
Republic Bank U18 School’s Football League… Kaieteur Sports- The Petra Organization’s Republic Bank Under-18 School’s Football League completed its third round yesterday at the Ministry of...…Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- In politics, it’s the quiet signals—those unmistakable nudges and gestures—that... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]