(28): Reflection on The Phobia Against Native Literature

MA Iliasu

Learning the way of the world is one of the most important goals of reading. And within that context, books that follow the theme of fantasy are hardly topical, unless the reader possesses very high applicable intelligence. Likewise profound non-fiction themes like autobiographies, historical analysis or even historical fiction, for all the divergent information they equip the reader with, are not as easy to decipher without context as the fictional themes that cover drama, politics, crime, romance and other genres that accentuate with the normal topical fluctuations. Therefore it's only natural that most readers find books that depict people and society in their absolute cultural form more relatable, and hence, more appealing. Because they subtly, sometimes bluntly, define them. It's absolutely not a coincidence that when Jenni Calder aimed to write about Hero and his role in the society, she included fictional characters who were at forefront of influencing popular behaviour.

Along the same curve, the role fictional works play in shaping the cultural and behavioral dynamics of society can't be more clear. It forms the basics of the assertion that says consuming books that were derived from the dynamics of alien society expose our experiences to those very dynamics. Literary sociologist relate infatuation with learning new language, alien ideas and way of life as two among other reasons that inspire such preference. And when the preference turns into obsession, consumption of alien works of fiction and non-fiction do subtly elevate our reception for alien culture, boost the chances of merging it with our own, with the circle ending with people downgrading the relevance of domestic literature that's usually written in native languages, which need not to be said, that if the goal of reading is learning the way of the world, they are teaching the same thing. Reading, as Margaret Atwood would agree, is a determining factor in norm reconstruction. So when one segment of literature is held constant in favor of the other, it'll be only natural for the norms behind the preferred literature to triumph over the other. A radical preference towards western literature while ignoring the domestic put the society at risk of adopting western norms, and reconstructing domestic philosophy into pro-western simplicity. And that's far from ideal. 

To be more blunt, the current reading order seems to respect and regard only those books bearing complex names, written in alien languages, authored by fancy authors, with rigid storylines, etc. And while such has boosted our intimacy with the alien way of doing things, it has reduced our domestic methods and values into the nothingness our elders always feared about. For if we can only learn the essence of our sociology on streets rather than a written literature, the custody of culture falls into invisible hands. The philosophy of our way of life, the richness of our language, the depth of our norms, etc. have all been left to the mercy of street exuberance. And that's why we're growing so inept in understanding the core essence of our norms and values. 

It traces down to the point where domestic books are meant for inferior, local class readers who have poor taste or mainly academics with keen interest in their relevance. And little its to say that'll mean shooting ourselves in the leg. To be more specific,  Hausa novels, with all their inconsistencies, are remarkable if the goal is teaching the way of the world. The authors may be backward when it comes to acquaintance with modern science and technology, knowledge of military dynamics, intimacy with politics of identity, employment of shrewd propagandism, encouraging ideological romanticism and skill to engrave adequate historical relevance or significance in their works, but they're far greater in their own merits than what people care to understand. Their stories, no person with in-depth knowledge of society can say don't blend with their own side of the world. And if teaching young and mature people the way of their own world to boost their development is the goal, then more people should be encouraged to consume domestic literature, not necessarily as a substitute to western but as a close complimentary.

It's a statement of fact that the more one navigates the book pages the more it can be understood that literaries are the custodians of communal imagination. And imagination travels long distance in leveraging the development of teaching and learning by buttressing theoretical complexities in further enquiries. With the help of literature-conscious authors like Margaret Atwood, American novels like Mario Puzo's the "Godfather" were used to help dissect the rigidities of "Payback". We learnt how literature-conscious economists like Varoufakis apply Greek mythologies that involved Dr. Faustus and Mephistopheles to dissect the complexities of debt, explain Game Theory, and how the pessimism of king Oedipus becomes a textbook definition of self-fulfilling nature of prophecy, psychological constraints and the effect of collective cohesion on the sustainability of the entire social platform.

In our contemporary Hausa society, passing information in such manner is very rare. And not because the mannerism doesn't exist in Hausa literature rather because we ignore our very own in favor of the western ones which is very alien to Hausa people. And that even put young learners at disadvantage. In my experience, if you takeaway learned professors with mind-blowing communication skills like Shehu Rano from department of Economics BUK, who use Igbo proverbs and Hausa mythology to dissect econometrics theories, you'll struggle to attach value to what the imaginations of our authors try to pass. And we can do so much better than that.

To mention few, Bala Anas Babinlata's phenomenal novel, "Sihirtacce", introduced Hausa readers to their own version of Time Travel through the prism of technologically-dormant African society using sorcery and black magic, which used to be the order of the day. Its arguably one of my favorite novels ever, and I still think Time Travel more possible from the method of Bala than even the iconic Dianna Gabbaldon's Outlander series. Nazir Adam Salih's "Linzamin Shaiɗan" warned about the consequences of exam malpractice and what becomes of the life of an outlaw, a rising reader may learn quicker in the book than the complex Don Juan. And in Salih's book, no prospects of romanticism was lent to the character to hinder readers from falling in love with crime as oppose to what Mario Puzo was notorious for. "Cuta-ta-ɗau-cuta" from the same author is a topical storytelling that disentangled lying and liars to a point that should be nominated for Grammy. Jamila Umar Tanko's "Duk kyan Takalmi" educate readers on the how there's more to beauty than physical elegance, more to love than aesthetics and more to seduction than what nature distribute unequally. While "Adon Dawa" from the same author is one of the most revealing accounts on the fallacies associated to illegal immigration and the sufferings that awaits its fantasizers. Hadiza Adamu Shitu's "Ɗinkin Kwalba" portrayed the dynamics of gambling and the dark potentials of gamblers better than any western literature I read when I was a teenager. Abdul'aziz Sani Madakin Gini's "Idaniyar Ruwa" was an example of people's tendency to like what they're obsessed with, even if the obsession was meant for something totally otherwise.

So much would be missed if I omit the wisdom of our classical literaries. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Ɓalewa's "Shehu Umar" educate, among others, the glaring possible difference between a feminine guardian and a biological mother in the sight of a child, defending on who he grows with. The tale of Anunu in Abubakar Imam's "Magana Jari ce" tells enough of what becomes of people who underestimate villagers. Even today if I want to explain properly about the dynamics of nominal rigidity to a layman I employ the tale of Telu fari and Telu baƙi from the same book and author to make point on how individuals can create scarcity or abundance by lending relevance or irrelevance to any commodity that strikes them as valuable or useless. And by doing that, I realize that the mythologies of the societies where Varoufakis, Margaret Attwood and Calder come from do not ownthe monopoly of unlocking complex theories. Hausa mythologies too are as much rich if not better. If only we can pay attention.

From several angles, the reasons to expose our emerging generation to our domestic literature are uncountable. And regardless of the field of studies they want to focus upon. It'll teach them about the way of the world, sharpen their understandings and communication skills, stretches their logic and refine their philosophy from the domestic perception of our authors that was groomed by cultural and religious values.

Reading books, both fiction and nonfiction, is not for the literaries or aspiring writers alone. Its for an engineer that wishes to have superior imagination, for where credit is due, the idea of robot was largely credited to the wild imagination showcased in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and other quixotic fictional works. Its for the Economist and sociologist that wish to bend theories and understand their dynamics from topical and mainstream viewpoints. For where it needs to be told, so much of the economic philosophy is largely credited to the mythologies. Its for the historian that wishes to keep pace with the order of the day. Among others. The way I see it, if more authors keep writing from the linguistic wealth of Hausa, it'll only be a matter of when before gigantic breakthrough begin to be derived from their core essence. If only we'll restore their former relevance.

21st March, 2021