From permanent resident to visitor: Soyinka goes to Trump’s America

Professor Wole Soyinka is going back to Donald Trump’s America,
less than a year after he tore his Green Card following the
election of Donald Trump as president.

He will be delivering from 14-16 November the Richard D. Cohen
Lectures at Harvard University Centre for African Studies.

“I’ll go in as an alien, an alien from outer space. I love that
designation,” Soyinka said in an interview with Financial Times of
London published on Friday.

The lectures will be in three parts, under the theme: ‘Beyond
Aesthetics: Use, Abuse and Dissonance in African Art
Traditions.’

The first part, “The Acquisitive Eye: Oga, I swear it’s Original
Fake” will be delivered on 14 November.

On 15 November, Soyinka will speak on: “Heirs to the Procreative
Deities – the Yoruba at Large.”

He ends the talks on Thursday 16 November with the third
lecture: “From Aso Ebi to N****ywood.”

The venue for the three lectures is Thompson Room, Barker
Centre, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA. Richard Cohen
Lectures.

Before the emergence of Trump, Soyinka had spent much time in
the US, where he taught at a number of universities and lived in
California with his wife, Folake.

“My life has been involved with the Diaspora on a very personal
and visceral level,” he said of his interaction with prominent
African-Americans.

Donald Trump’s election marked an end to his US sojourn. In what
has become known among Nigerians as “Wolexit,” he cut up his Green
Card.

“To have some redneck ride into power on the steed of racism
was, for me, too much,” he told the Financial Times.

In a statement in 2016, he detailed why he chose to drop the
Green Card: “I was in New York during the run-up to elections. I
watched this face, its body language, listened to his uncouth,
racist language, his imbecillic harangues, the insults to other
peoples, other races, especially the Hispanics, Africans and
Afro-Americans, even citing once – I was told – Nigeria as an
instance of the burdensome occupation of global space.

“I watched and listened, disbelievingly, since this was America,
supposedly now freed to a large extent – as we like to believe and
have a right to expect – from its lamentable history of racism.”
(NAN)

Professor Wole Soyinka is going back to Donald Trump’s America,
less than a year after he tore his Green Card following the
election of Donald Trump as president.

He will be delivering from 14-16 November the Richard D. Cohen
Lectures at Harvard University Centre for African Studies.

“I’ll go in as an alien, an alien from outer space. I love that
designation,” Soyinka said in an interview with Financial Times of
London published on Friday.

The lectures will be in three parts, under the theme: ‘Beyond
Aesthetics: Use, Abuse and Dissonance in African Art
Traditions.’

The first part, “The Acquisitive Eye: Oga, I swear it’s Original
Fake” will be delivered on 14 November.

On 15 November, Soyinka will speak on: “Heirs to the Procreative
Deities – the Yoruba at Large.”

He ends the talks on Thursday 16 November with the third
lecture: “From Aso Ebi to N****ywood.”

The venue for the three lectures is Thompson Room, Barker
Centre, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA. Richard Cohen
Lectures.

Before the emergence of Trump, Soyinka had spent much time in
the US, where he taught at a number of universities and lived in
California with his wife, Folake.

“My life has been involved with the Diaspora on a very personal
and visceral level,” he said of his interaction with prominent
African-Americans.

Donald Trump’s election marked an end to his US sojourn. In what
has become known among Nigerians as “Wolexit,” he cut up his Green
Card.

“To have some redneck ride into power on the steed of racism
was, for me, too much,” he told the Financial Times.

In a statement in 2016, he detailed why he chose to drop the
Green Card: “I was in New York during the run-up to elections. I
watched this face, its body language, listened to his uncouth,
racist language, his imbecillic harangues, the insults to other
peoples, other races, especially the Hispanics, Africans and
Afro-Americans, even citing once – I was told – Nigeria as an
instance of the burdensome occupation of global space.

“I watched and listened, disbelievingly, since this was America,
supposedly now freed to a large extent – as we like to believe and
have a right to expect – from its lamentable history of racism.”
(NAN)