On Thursday, acclaimed feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichietook part in an event for France’s annual Night of Ideas — during which she had to answer a question about whether there are any bookstores in her home country of Nigeria.
Caroline Broué, the French journalist conducting the interview, initially asked Adichie if people in Nigeria read her work, to which the writer replied, “They do shockingly.” From there, she decided to ask “Are there bookshops in Nigeria?”
When the audience responded with audible shock, she doubled down on her question. “You were talking about single stories, now when you talk about Nigeria, in France, unfortunately, there is not much said about Nigeria. But when people talk about Nigeria it’s about Boko Haram, it’s about violence, it’s about security,” Broué pressed. “I should like you to tell us something about Nigeria which is different, talk about it differently, and that’s why I am saying, ‘are there bookshops?’ Of course, I imagine there are.”
“I think it reflects very poorly on French people that you have to ask me that question,” Adiche responded. “Because I think surely it’s 2018, you know, I mean c’mon. My books are read in Nigeria. They are studied in schools, actually not just Nigeria, across the continent of Africa.”
And to think the journalist doubled down on this ridiculous question with: Oh in France, we don’t know very much about Nigeria. When we hear Nigeria we think about boko haram and violence and security. Tell us something different.
Girl really? #Bye
Of course, that was not a question. It was a lazy and prejudiced insinuation.
But then, even though we have libraries, the culture around the use of library here is a lot different from that of Europe. And it’s not because we do not like to read.
Demander à Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie si il y’a des librairies au Nigeria: Check!
Ce cocktail racisme et médiocrité et très journalisme Fr #lanuitdesidees https://twitter.com/ymscientist/status/956596166774444032 …
