African Public Poet

Of Geography and Poetry: Interview with Yusuf M. Adamu

2011-11-29T20:41:00.001+01:00

Source: http://sentinelnigeria.org/online/issue-8-november-2011-january-2012/interviews/of-geography-and-poetry-an-interview-with-yusuf-m-adamu/

By Ismail Bala

Department of English and French

Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria.

Ismail: How did you start writing?

Yusuf: I started writing very early out of my interest to share stories in written form, stories that I heard from aunties and sisters. Stories that i feel are just good stories to share. But that desire must have been assisted by my father’s habit of asking us to write a report whenever he took us for an excursion. Later, I read a lot of Hausa novels and short stories in addition to the folktales I listen to regularly. I love stories. By the time I was in Primary six, a friend and I wrote a ‘book’ we titled ‘Amina and the Snake’. We illustrated it because we were artists then. I can’t remember what the story is all about, but I always remember the title. By the time I was in form 3, I started writing my own book (Maza Gumbar Dutse) that was on February 13th 1983 and finished it sometimes in September that year. It was an interesting journey indeed.

Ismail: You have written poetry in English, novels and short fiction in Hausa, and you have equally being a literature enthusiast and a cultural activist in the wider sense of the word. Are you more or less at ease in any one form than in others? Or rather do you have a particular liking for one form?

Yusuf: Yes, I write in both Hausa and English. I started writing in Hausa because it is my mother tongue and I am more fluent in it and my early literary influence is in Hausa. I read a lot of stories in Hausa and I was always impressed with the imaginative skills displayed by Hausa writers. It is really amazing to create a story out of imagination. So my earliest writings are all in Hausa and are all fiction. To be frank, I find it easier and more in control writing fiction in Hausa than in English. My interest in writing in English began when I was in form five after being introduced to poetry by our English teacher, a Ghanaian. My first English poem was titled Life. I can only remember one line ‘work and rest’ that’s it. I really find it easier to write poetry in English because English poetry is more flexible than Hausa. I have attempted many a times to compose poems in Hausa and most of the time I failed. I am impatient when it comes to expressing myself. So, rightly, I use two forms. Fiction is mostly in Hausa and Poetry almost entirely in English.

Ismail: Your first collection of poems, Litters is indeed an innovation in publishing in Nigeria. It is printed as a pocket size pamphlet. What promoted that experiment?

Yusuf: I decided to publish a pocket size book because I feel it is handy and costs very small amount of money to publish. The idea was to encourage new poets especially young one to publish while waiting for the big book. In addition to it, I also started poetry card series. I published two of my poems Happiness and Faith just like post cards (actually smaller). The book and the card were popular to readers but I was unable to get any of those targeted to send their manuscripts while the cards I distributed free of charge. I know of a fan who still keeps a copy in the bag.

Ismail: Could it be right to say the poems in Litters: short, epigraphic, and written in a burst of creative frenzy (given the dates appended at the end of the poems); the poems are consciously written to fit the medium in which they are published?

Yusuf: Somehow yes. Most of the poems were written in 1997. It may interest you to note that they were a kind of impulse prompted by Zainab Alkali whom I met and she promised to help me get a book published. My problem at that time was I have no English manuscript at hand and that was what she was referring to. So said to myself, ‘you have some poems especially those you wrote for children, why not try your hands on poetry, may be in a months you can have a collection’

Ismail: You are a Medical Geographer by training, though during your undergraduate days you did some courses in Hausa language and literature. What challenges, if any, did you face switching, so to speak, between different poles, each with its own demands and expectations?

Yusuf: It is an interesting experience. While I was an undergraduate student at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, I decided to take courses from Sociology and Hausa. I found both Sociology and Hausa very engaging and appealing. Sociology was my best because I enjoy it much and I hardly get less than a B score in the examinations, I nearly transferred to Sociology. As for Hausa, my interest in literature makes it very attractive. I found the courses educative. However, my relationship with Hausa lecturers and students was close. I joined the Kungiyar Hausa and rose to become Secretary General. As for Geography, I always love the discipline since my secondary school days. I was among the best students of Geography in my class. Geography gives me the knowledge of places, the understanding of man’s relationship with his environment and fuels my imagination.

Many of my classmates were not aware that I was majoring in Geography, they all thought I was majoring in Hausa. I feel at home among literary circles as well as Geography’s. After my MSc degree at Ibadan, I became closer to Geography because my stay at Ibadan has widened my understanding of the discipline. When I chose to specialized in Medical Geography, all my energy was turned there. I read widely and tried to establish linkages with physicians. It was easier linking with art scholars than with medical scholars. I faced a lot of challenges blending with the medics. They find it difficult to see a Geographer in their midst especially younger academics.

But i switch naturally when I am with physicians or literary circles. Most at times I forget about my literary self when with medics and vice versa. But the experience is really, really rewarding.

Ismail: Many of your poems, especially those in Litters in a way betray your professional calling, since the question of geography, space and how such are mediated by the imagination are central to your poetry. How much, if at all, is your geographical expertise carried over into your writing?

Yusuf: You are right to some extent, but if you look closely, you will find some poems that are geographic in the collections. Poems like Kano, Ancient Egypt, Plea for mother Earth and so on. However, sometimes when I write, I just write as a human being rather than a geographer. When I chose to write as a geographer, you see the influence clearly. Do not forget my strong background in Sociology.

Ismail: All the poems in Litters are dated; their composition time stamped on them; putting them into a specific temporal setting. Don’t you think that would necessarily consign them into a particular time-frame, and force a reading of them within that time-slot?

Yusuf: That is a good observation. I do date my works initially for my personal record. After reading many biographies of English poets, like Keats, Blake, Auden and so on, I realised the difficulty faced by researchers in putting certain poems in context. Secondly i realised that as a poet we sometimes hold a particular view on a subject and latter change. In addition, my poems are usually influenced by events and experiences, dating the poems will give them timeframe but also remove their timelessness. Some of my poems I think are timeless but many are time bound.

Ismail: Each of your three collections depicts a semiotic pictogram and illustrations on the cover: Litters has a picture of the earth as seen from Apollo 17; Landscapes of Reality has a silhouette of a seemingly rowdy scene, with child-like drawings of what could pass for cars at the bottom; and your latest book, They can Speak English, has two juxtaposed pictures: men pushing bicycles in an arid place, and an inverted shot of skyscrapers. Could you talk about these extra textual messages?

Yusuf: I was an artist and still a photographer. I run a photo blog at the internet (www.hausa.aminus3.com). I always try to tell a story from the illustrations I put on the cover of my books. While in Litters I used Apollo 11 picture of the earth to emphasise my Geographic background and portray the Earth as our common home and destiny as human race, I used a two pictures in Landscapes. On the front is a picture of Motorcyclists portraying them in a petrol station and the back cover is a picture of a beggar. All these pictures try to capture the essence of the poems because of their topicality. The drawings were done by my son. He was trying to draw a long queue at the petrol station he saw. I find the drawings very telling and so used it to show a child’s reality of the Nigerian situation. The last one, They Can Speak English, tells another story. The two pictures (that were transformed) and presented upside down are talking about globalisation. While the one at the top was portraying developing countries and their reality, the other represents developed economies. Their reality and ours are different and it us just not comprehensible how they would insists on us seeing things the way we do. We have different realities.

Ismail: You’re also a photographer: how feasible is it to say you approach the poem not just with the poet’s eyes but also with the photographer’s sensitivity to light, texture, colour, shadows and moods?

Yusuf: I love photography. I started photography very early too. I got my first camera (110) from my uncle at the age of eleven. I like photographs because they freeze our time. When you shoot a picture, the image you get is a snapshot of a particular moment in history. It tells a lot. I can say, my interest in photography may have some influence my poetry because i also see a poem as an account of my mind at a time. That timeframe feature is there. May be that is why I date my poems in addition to other reasons I forwarded.

Ismail: You run a poetry column for some time now on the Sunday Trust literary pages devoted entirely to “Poetry of Place”. Is your sense of place necessarily couched in geographical rather than imaginative terms or vice versa?

Yusuf: I think it is both poetic and geographical at the same time. The idea of poetry of places came after I wrote a number of poems on different places, which were inspired by a visit to the places or experiences from certain places. When I realised that I have written a dozen or so poems about places, it became clear to me that the geographer in me is gaining control of the poet. So I deliberately tried to expand and cover more places within the country and beyond. Before you know it I have a good collection. When I started the column, I received many messages and request from people in other places requesting poems on their towns and villages. I tried to obliged. Truly, the geography is more than the poetry in the poems as I have mentioned in my introduction to the column.

Ismail: Does being a bilingual writer come with any problem? How easy or difficult it is to switch over linguistically and imaginatively between different languages, different genres: each with its own requirements?

Yusuf: Well, for me, it is not difficult to switch linguistically even though I find it easier to write certain genres in one language than another. For example, even though I write fiction in English, I find it easier to write it in Hausa than in English. I write poetry only in English. I find it difficult to write poetry in Hausa because of its strict rules.

Ismail: The title of your third collection, They Can Speak English, is rather bland, even unpoetic. What called for that title?

Yusuf: Yes. It is not normal for poetry collections to have titles like this. I chose the title for the collection after the attention it received from German High School students. I know that it sounds unusual but it has that aura of captivating a reader. Many people are eager to read beyond the cover when they see it. It is an experiment. An experiment always looks awkward and even weird but when it succeeds it becomes acceptable and normal. We shall see what critics would say about the title in the next few years to come, but I like the title very much.

Ismail: Your poetry is often said to be simple: the diction uncluttered, the imageries derived, as it were, from what the reader could easily relate to; yet there is, one could argue, a deceptive ingenuity behind the so-called simplicity. Is this something directly related to your conception of poetry as a public form?

Yusuf: Absolutely yes. Poetry is not a popular genre of literature in English because it is shrouded in mystery of its meaning. Students hate poetry because they don’t derive pleasure in what they do not understand. There are many poets that try to hide the joy of their poems behind a difficult word terrain. Some tried to make a forceful use of language in order to display their wordscraftmanship, some use many images as to take away the simplicity of their works. Some write imitating other poets that are successful. One can see how poets force themselves to use language as the primary raw material for poetry. Many see the quality of their writing in the scale of its difficulty. Well, every poet has his choice.

When I started writing poetry, I adapted the same method I use when I write fiction. I give it to someone to read and see if it makes sense. I realised people don’t enjoy poems that are difficult. I made a resolution that I must take my poetry to the street and make it not only enjoyable but also very accessible to everyone. I want to say that I have succeeded in making the street to appreciate poetry at the risk of being dismissed by fellow poets and critics as being too simplistic. I have made it a tradition to present poems at every public gathering I attend. I made poetry presentation at workshops (academic and developmental) conferences, wedding ceremonies, and many more. I have been taking poetry to the public, and I enjoy how people appreciate it. As a poet, I will feel defeated if the reader didn’t understand me because if did not understand me, he/she will not appreciate me. I want to be appreciated by my readers.

Ismail: You have also published books for children; how difficult it is to make a transition between writing for adults; fairly straightforward undertaking compared to the demanding nature of children’s writing?

Yusuf: Writing for children is interesting but challenging. Writing for children requires a lot of patience and skills. One has to put at the back of his mind that he is writing for children and must try to see through their eyes and mind. Whenever I write anything for children, I usually give the draft to kids that I target and ask for their opinions and observations. That is how I understand if I am communicating or not.

Ismail: What can you say about the publishing scene in Nigeria, yourself being a publisher?

Yusuf: It is a difficult terrain. This is so because many Nigerians don’t read and if they don’t read, they won’t buy books. If people don’t buy books publishers can make profit. If publishers can make profit, they can’t stay in business. In the 1970s and 80s when the economy was good and education was sound, government make bulk purchase of books and many people especially students buy books. This kept publishers afloat. When the economy slumps and education was neglected the markets for books declined and that affected the publishing industry. The inability of major publishers especially multi-nationals to publish supplementary books affected creativity in the country. Creative writers found themselves in a difficult situation. One can write as many manuscripts as possible only to find no publisher. Many manuscripts were rejected on the flimsy excuse of being not standard. That gave rise to self publishing, commission publishing and local publishers. Most of us emerged out of these circumstances. We were forced to publish only authors who are able to pay some fees. Those who can’t pay remain unpublished. But the greatest challenge facing local publishers is poor capital base, low capacity, poor marketing system and lack of technical know-how. It is a very rough terrain. But it is encouraging how we use our initiatives to cop up.

Ismail: You are from the North-west: a region that is seen as a literary desert when compared to other regions (even within Northern Nigeria). What do you think account for paucity of cultural production of English expression from the region?

Yusuf: When few published works come out from this region, is not an indication that very little is being done. To the best of my knowledge, there is a great potential for English literary production in this region. There are many promising writers who need a little push to be great. There are many reasons why this don’t happen. Hausa authors have been successful in creating their own market by creating their own loyal readership. Therefore, when a Hausa author loan some money and publish his work, it sells and he/she makes the money back and sometimes get profit. English authors have not been as ingenious. Secondly, the few that are able to publish have not received the right attention from local critics. No matter how good an author is, he needs to be promoted, unless he is promoted, he is no body. This region lagged behind in that aspect and that has contributed in hiding otherwise great talents. There is also the problem of readership which resulted from poor promotion.

Ismail: There is a constant “carrying forward” of many of your poems from one collection to the other; even when each book may have specific larger concern different from the rest. Don’t you think this gives the book the feeling of being interim collections where poems are harvest for the next book (without such being neither a selected nor collected volume)?

Yusuf: Well, I also wonder why poets do that. Sometimes you can’t explain why but, most often, such things happened because the different collections have some common strings. Sometimes it is done because you want such poems to be read by many. So if a reader got one collection and not the other, he still gets to read those poems.

Ismail: If you are asked about the writers who influenced and inspired you, who would those writers be?

Yusuf: Frankly they are largely Hausa Writers, notably Ahmadu Ingawa (Author of Iliya Dan Mai Karfi) Abubakar Imam (Magana Jari Ce).Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Shehu Umar) As for English authors, I also enjoyed the works of Rider Haggart, George Orwell, Jonathan Swift, Ngugi Wa Thiango and they must have fed my imagination in some ways. As for poetry, I want to say I enjoyed the poems of English poets like William Blake, Keats, Auden and many others I cannot remember. For African poets I like Osundare’s poem and many African poets in anthologies, many I cannot remember their names but they really do influence my writings.

Ismail: You are among the most vocal proponent of the new Hausa novel, the so-called Soyayya (romance) pamphlets which are mass produced mainly in Kano (prompting the sobriquet “Kano Market Literature”, similar to Onitsha Market Literature; yet you also dislike and down play the comparison and the market tag given to those books.

Yusuf: Yes. I have said a lot about this and have giving many interviews and even published a couple of academic articles on this. But for the purpose of this interview I want point out the fact that Hausa Popular Literature has been misunderstood by many especially academics and religious critics. First of all, because it is a new phenomena that was under-rated and not given attention. When the literary movement that created it flourish, it was initially dismissed as mere soyayya novels, market literature and many other names. We are against those labels because they are derogatory and unfair. The literary movement saved Hausa literature from dying and gave Hausa literature an enviable position of being the fastest growing literary language in Africa. .

Ismail: You have professed your penchant for the African-American poet, Dollar Brand, even dedicating one of your poems to him. What is African-American poetry like to you?

Yusuf: I read a few of them and I like them very much. Dollar Brand’s poem influenced or inspired me to write They Can Speak English, a poem that is popular especially in Germany because it is a recommended text for High School students. I communicated a lot with German students over their assignments.

Ismail: And you have lived and wrote in the US; what would you say are the major strengths of American poetry and writing generally compared to Nigerian poetry?

Yusuf: American poetry is a public poetry if I may say so. Nigerian poetry is somehow still shackled by difficulty and dogma (if I may say so). Poetry I think is a personal explosion of thoughts and I want to believe that anything explosive is also visible. In the case of Nigerian poetry, we are somehow constraint to believe that only poetry in the image of Okigbo, Soyinka, Clerk etc are good poems. Poems that, are very difficult to decipher, poems that are too technical. I attended some readings in Alabama and I made presentations. I have published poems in American journals and read many. The power of American poetry is lies in its variety, straightforwardness and wide subject matter. The power of Nigerian poetry lies in its complexity, traditional fusion and powerful language. Somehow, I enjoy American poetry.

Ismail: You have tackled the question of language in They Can Speak English. In the Afterword of that collection you implied rather vaguely that you’d rather write in Hausa.

Yusuf: Yes. I can express myself better in Hausa than in English so, when I write in Hausa I say it better. We write in English because of our colonial past, if there was no colonialism we would probably be writing in Hausa language in West Africa or may be in Arabic. But the desire to have wider audience has also contributed to the desire to write in English. Every author would be pleased with a large audience and English language gives that opportunity. I will like to translate my Hausa works into English at least that would give the world what I see as a Hausa speaker from that perspective.

Ismail: There is something enigmatic; disturbingly unsettling about your title, Landscape of Reality. Aren’t landscapes always about the real: portending reality in its manifest, concrete dimension?

Yusuf: Not necessarily so. Reality is relative but it can be shared. The title was used because it the poems in the collection discuss about our reality, about what we know and experience all the time. Reading it is like walking in the landscape of our lives.

Ismail: You have an abiding interest in Egyptology: one of your Hausa short fictions is about the possibility time travelling within the context of ancient Egypt. What is your take about the relationship between literature and history? Is history always best seen through the prism of textuality?

Yusuf: You are right. I have strong interest on ancient Egypt. I was introduced to Egyptology around 1986 by Professor Muhammadu Hambali Junju at the UDUS. He is a linguist and his interest in Egypt is obsessive. He is a follower of Cheikh Anta Diop and he is of the believe that Hausa people originate from ancient Egypt. His theory of Egyptian origin of Hausa people has been controversial among Hausa scholars. Since 1986, I have been reading about ancient Egypt, I even have a copy of the Book of the Dead. So I am really passionate about Egypt. Literature is part of history or rather a source of history. History is usually written by the victor, so sometimes you only get the version of the writer. Literary text however tells a rather wider story. It gives detail information about daily life of a people you may not find in history books just as it tells us more about places that we are not told in Geography text book. However, I don’t want to believe that history is always best seen through the prism of textuality.

Ismail: If you edited Pregnant Skies, your anthology of 50 Nigerian poets, now would the selection or taste differ?

Yusuf: Certainly yes. There emerge many new poets that are equally good today, yet I am happy with the selection as it were that time. I think, it is the most representative of Nigerian poetry at least geographically than any anthology published in the country.

Ismail: In Litters did you find a voice, or you think you have broken a new territory? How do you see the pamphlet now?

Yusuf: Somehow yes, because it was the first collection that launched me into world of poetry at least for adults. It received some critical attention and allows readers and critics to handle a new kind of poetry that is simple and somewhat unconventional. Despite the views expressed by critics that some of the ‘poems’ are too prosaic or not even poems, the depth of their contents was a food for thought. It shows at least there is a new poet who is not afraid to be called prosaic poet, who is largely independent of the orthodox poetry tradition. I am planning to re-issue it in a standard format to see if the reaction would be different.

Ismail: Though you exchange poems between your books, but in what ways do you think your concerns in each book have evolved since you started writing poetry?

Yusuf: Each collection came up independently, but the selection of what poem to include is largely influenced by the tune of the collection. Many times, there is an overlap. This is on the assumption that the reader of a particular collection might not have read the other, so it give the reader opportunity to read from another collection that may not be available.

Ismail: Is the poem, “Global Village” necessarily a poetic censure of globalization; or is it, in a subtle, distant way, an acknowledgement of its seemingly unstoppable match across the globe?

Yusuf: It is in some way. The way Globalization is viewed varies. Some see it as a positive phenomena others see it otherwise. Some see it as an ultimate necessity created by technology, some see it as a systematically orchestrated phenomena aimed at establishing a single global government. I believe information technology has succeeded in making the world flat, the friction of distance has been removed and people find it easier to interact and communicated but also sell their views with a blink of an eye. Yet, it exposes the less economically developed countries to the dangers of cultural domination by the developed countries, who use their socio-cultural scale to measure others. There is a danger in this and that’s what I was trying to point out. Ultimately, world culture is being shaped by information technology and the outcome may not be unilateral.

Ismail: You have had an academic fellowship in the States, you have read, published and wrote many poems there as well; is there an American Yusuf whose poems are influenced by America, American poetry or American culture in any way?

Yusuf: Obviously yes. I was there when the 911 attacks took place and I have seen how the world changed. I wrote many poems while in the US and if you remember they are all presented at the Creative Writer Forum. I am now thinking of publishing the poems in one collection. My Fulbright fellowship in the at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has influenced my subsequent writing. But I like American poetry because it is like mine, it is simple, straight forward and even prosaic as some use to call it.

Ismail: Finally, what would like to be remembered for?

Yusuf: Well, this is a big one. I am something else. But after my demise I would like to be remembered by academic and literary community. I want to remembered, as a scholar who has contributed to the development of knowledge in my country. I also want to be remembered for my contributions to the development of literature in my country. But in the end, I would remembered by what people feel I deserved to be remembered for. Allah knows best.

GADDAFI

2011-10-21T09:00:00.002+01:00

Now that Libya is fallen

Africa is open for plunder

The hyenas and wolves of this world

Will have their day henceforth

Gaddafi, you are a hero

You stood for your land

For your people and belief

Till the end

The very end….

Adieus! Your life is well spent!

October 21 2011

BLIND HEARTS

2011-08-31T15:00:00.001+01:00

Must the world see through a single eyes?
The eyes of the heartless oppressors
Who think their eyes are purer and sharper
They only see the other in otherness
And see themselves as the Centre of the Universe

If you don't see through their eyes
They labelled you blind!
But who are blind other then those blind to other's views?
Who could not see what the world sees
But what they always want to see.
23/09/09

TEARS FOR NORWAY

2011-08-01T14:42:00.001+01:00

A peaceful country
A peaceful people
And a tragedy!

Cowardice of the highest order
Displayed the human-beast nature
This show of inhumanity is incomprehensible
How on Earth could this happened
In the World’s most peaceful democracy?

Our tears and our sorrow
Our heartfelt sympathy to Norway
To the families who lost loved ones
Whatever bad happens to man
Happens to all mankind!

August 2011

Yusuf Adamu on Northern Nigerian Literature

2011-06-03T21:38:00.001+01:00

Source: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5402598-146/story.csp

By Akintayo Abodunrin

Writing for the environment

The lecturer at the Bayero University, Kano, reflects his training as a geographer in his creative works because he "was trained to see things from the point of view of a social scientist and from the point of view of the environment which I believe is a balanced perspective. I also deliberately sometimes write on geographical issues, like the column I maintain in the Sunday Trust called ‘Places'. Each week, I publish a poem about a particular place and the picture of the place - since 2007," Adamu informs.

A former chairman of the Kano State chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Adamu writes in English and Hausa languages. He writes poetry and children's books in English; but his published prose works - ‘Idan So Cuta Ne', Ummul-Khairi' and ‘Maza Gumabr Dutse', are in Hausa. He writes his poetry in English. "It's harder to write poetry in Hausa because there are so many rules and regulations guiding writing poetry in Hausa, unlike English which is liberal," he says.

Although a number of his prose fiction centre on the environment, Adamu says, "They are not specifically about the physical environment; they are about what we call the social environment. My first published work, for instance, is a love story. The second one is about the challenges facing Hausa Muslim women who go to university, and the last is about ancient times."

Worth of literature

Writers are regarded as agents of change and in spite of the fact that the late Abubakar Imam and Uthman Dan Fodio wrote on the themes of conservation, environmental degradation remains an issue in Nigeria. Does Adamu feel that this genre - and literature generally - are effective?

"It is effective in its own right but it is not functioning because people don't read. Literature will only be useful and influential if those who make policies read. But if they don't read, it won't make any difference. During Utman Dan Fodio's time, they used literature for their revolution, they used their religious writings but particularly, they used poetry to mobilise people and that way, Uthman Dan Fodio, his brother Abdulahi Fodio, his son Mohammed Bello and daughter Nana Asmau, all used poetry to actively bring about revolution in Hausaland. They wrote on the environment and on almost all human endeavours. They did it so well [that] they used it to mobilise society and teach and enlighten. Later on, Hausa writings used poetry in mobilisation, politics, and it worked. But the problem we are having now is when your leaders don't read, there is no way you can address them. This, however, doesn't stop you from writing."

Writing for children

Adamu writes for children because "I realised that in Nigeria and Africa, we don't write for children most of the time. We only write for adults because we feel if you write for children, other writers will perceive you as an unserious writer. But writing for children is even more important than writing for adults because writing for children is likely to have more influence on the future of society than writing for adults who are already grown and who have made up their minds.

"That's why I feel it is more important to write for children but in particular teach them about our environment so they know more about it. That's why I wrote ‘Animals in the Neighbourhood'. I did that because some children don't know certain domestic animals when they see them."

Southern writers' dominance of literature

The author of ‘Landscapes of Reality', a poetry collection, has his own take on the dominance of Southern writers in Nigerian literature. "I think it is luck. What is happening is that Nigerian literature in English is dominated by Southerners but if you talk about Nigerian literature, I'm sure there are more published people in the North. More people in the North write in Hausa rather than in English because they find it easier to express themselves in their own language. One interesting thing is that they have a very large market because I can assure you my Hausa books sell more copies than my English books.

When you write English books, people don't read but there is an established market within Nigeria and West Africa, even up to Central Africa, for Hausa books. So, they are making lots of impact. That is the real situation; it's just that there are more Southerners writing in English.

Adamu agrees, though, that Northern writers should be concerned that works from the South are being taken as representative of Nigerian literature when there is also a vibrant literary tradition in the North:

"Well, it should give them concern because it's good to have a representation of Nigeria and I think Northern branches of ANA are now making deliberate efforts to see that they train people. As you can see in the last two, five years, there have been more writers coming out from the North. But I think they are making deliberate efforts to promote writings in English", he says.

Censorship in Kano
The crisis between writers in Kano and the Kano State Censors Board last year generated a lot of controversy. This led Rabo Mohammed, chairman of the board, to explain the government's position to writers during their convention in Zamfara. Adamu, the first person to raise the alarm on the censorship, sets out the current position.

"If anything, we have signed a ceasefire. Things are better now because we now have an understanding with the Censorship Board and they have also changed their tactics. What they intended to do was to suppress us and we showed them that we are not filmmakers; they ridiculed the filmmakers and thought they could do that with writers but I think it is good that we actually showed them that writers are not like other categories of people."

On why the writers resolved to fight the board, Adamu says, "They were being unjust because we are working with what Uthman Dan Fodio said. He said that a society can endure unbelief but it cannot endure injustice and we felt that was injustice. Saying that you are going to censor what we are going to write? In fact, they want us even to get licence! As a writer, I cannot write in Kano until I have a licence to write and when I write I have to take it to them to censor and both the publisher and distributor also have to obtain licences. So we said no, this won't work. That's why we said this time around, we are not going to respect the constituted authority because it had also gone beyond its bounds."

On younger writers
The author of Pregnant Skies and My First Book of Rhymes is happy with the ascendancy of a new generation of writers in Nigeria. "I'm very happy with it. The only thing I'm not happy with is that the critics are still worshipping the first generation writers. That's my only worry," he says with a laugh.

Women hold the ace in Northern Nigeria literature
Adamu says the Soyaya (romantic story) trend in Hausa literature has been exhausted. "Soyaya is gone. People now mostly write about what I may call family life.

For example women, they are no longer writing about a boy falling in love with a girl. They are focussing on what is happening in the home, how women are treated. What is happening in the family is what people are writing about now in Hausa. And there is no name for it because even the Soyaya is a stereotype. What we feel we should call it is Hausa Popular Fiction."

The men are happy about this trend, he informs. "We have no option; the women have taken over, at least in Hausa literature now. The women have taken over, to be sincere. If a woman writes a book and publishes 5,000 copies, she will be out of stock soon but it's not the same with men. Maybe they write what the readers want."

Adamu agrees that women writers' decision to focus on the family is a reaction against cultural and religious practices in the North.

As for the men, "We are not [angry] because if you are a family man and you read the works, you will see what is true and what is exaggerated. I think women see this as a medium to express themselves and I think it is working because a lot of women are writing.

When you read, you will hear a lot of things which ordinarily you will not know are happening in the family and in the larger society."

Is the World United?

2011-03-01T21:25:00.002+01:00

Today the world is united
Against the horrors in Libya
So said the prime minister
But is the world only united
When the oppressor is not a Super Power
Or its allies and friends?

Its allies in the Middle East are above the law
Whatever harm they cause or are causing
No matter how many thousands they killed
Or how many UN resolutions they ignore
The world refused to be united
What a shame and cowardice!

1/3/2011

WE ARE ALL EGYPTIANS TODAY

2011-02-02T17:06:00.000+01:00

Mubarak Just Go, it is time
That’s what Egyptians are saying
But you don’t seem to understand

You can’t be like the sphinx
Whose term is timeless and endless
For like them, you are not a god

Let Egypt be! Please leave
It is time to walk off!
Today we are all Egyptians.

1/2/2011

11:05pm

LITTERS: A Review

2011-01-29T23:44:00.000+01:00

By

Ismail Bala

Department of English and French

Bayero University, Kano

NOTE: This is a review of one of my earliest poetry collections Litters.
LITTERS IS A collection of about twenty-seven poems by a Geography lecturer and also a poet from Bayero University, Kano. Most of the poems are written between 1997 and 1999. They are not grouped into any discernible (thematic) parts, as such the collection as a whole reads as short excerpts of a fairly long poem written over a period of time; which assures us that there is a common thread to them all.

The poems are not only short, but are, as it were essentially “epigraphic”, in the sense that they are couched not only with an obvious awareness of `every day speech`, but also in their effort to re-energise the genre of poetry once more as a medium of public utterance that lends immediacy and accessibility to contemporary issues.

And perhaps it is this poetic immediacy that, apart from informing the poems also calls for the innovative way in which the collection is published. The poet- it is important to note- started an exciting experiment: what he called “Card Poetry Series”, whereby some selected (shorter) poems are printed in pocket-size glossy cards; which were later collected and published in the same format; (only that the book is a pocket size `pamphlet`).

The size, however, does not in any way belittle the collection’s bold attempt in giving a comprehensive, new picture of life in present day Nigeria. The political, the personal and the religious are uniquely taken on in a lucid style typical of the poet.

The opening poem “faith” tries to mirror faith in a variety of ways: as both a religious concept, and more importantly as a secularized, albeit psychologically and socially determined state of mind of an individual, and by extension the state of the country whose citizens are somewhat `irreligious`, having lost their faith and its ability to redeem their lives as it ought to do.

To the poet, faith is not necessarily a belief in the conventional context; rather it is the “smoothness of affairs/ freedom from want and worries”. It is no more than the “promises [sic] of the daybreak/ [which] gives us peace of mind”(6). When both the individual and the state reach this level of secular faith, a certain measure of spirituality is also reached, which is a realization: “the conviction that/ god exists/ gives us permanent peace” (ibid). The poem (may) only succeed in piling up images that are unconnected by any process of causality, or rationality; but just an arrangement in space- the page- and not as a successful narrative sequence. But this has benefited the reader in the sense that it forces one to explore it carefully, and in depth rather than just read it off quickly and supposedly gets the message.

Being a Geographer by training, the poet throughout the collection seeks to explore the intrinsic, often neglected relationship between literature and the environment. With verve and vigour, we are made to see what lies beneath this, and what it has to offer towards a fresh understanding of life.

With the rapid internationalization and the attendant globalization in the world there is an ever-increasing distortion and dis-orientation in the people’s (Nigerian) sense of place and/or belonging. One such consequence of this is the question often asked: “to what space/ place do we really belong? Am I a citizen of the world, the nation or the locality?

It is in this that the poem “geography” achieves significance as subsumed in its effort to offer a stable representation or what Edward Said would call maps of meaning with which making sense of the world becomes possible. The poem therefore tries to, in a subtle way, through what can be called `geographical imagination`, as Said would say, captures the dilemma of belonging, by attempting to answer the questions raised, and by so doing extends them. And it does so through the presentation of geography – not as a word which is a natural image of what it may means – but as a somewhat fixed and stable representation that would allow making sense of the world. The poet asks:

what is where?

here, there

somewhere

elsewhere

east, west

north, south

erosion, deposition

highland, lowland

mountains

plains

seas, rivers

ridges, valleys

forests, deserts

cities, villages (13).

And later affirms “where shall we be / if there is no geography?” Despite the overt emphasis on the physical and spatial entities, the poet’s imagined geography seeks to underscore the interdependence and intermingling of both people and places. And it is in this that his geography emerges as perhaps `an account` designed to immerse us both in space and time. But it fails to establish the fact often raised under the influence of post-structuralists and post-modern theory that the language we use to represent geography among other has not truthfully, (whatever that may mean) reflects that geography. Here the poet is also a Geographer who attempts to reveal or uncover the truth of the world, without shifting attention to ways in which language is used to construct and constitute the world. In “Geography” the concept and the discipline are after all construction with all the attendants’ rhetorical features.

From such poems as “ancient egypt”, “history”, “truth” to “litters” (the title poem), “fuel scarcity” and “hope”, the poet restricts himself to the free verse style, as indeed in the rest of the collection for an effect. This is seen in his marked simplicity, which at the same time does not betray his calling as a poet very much conscious of his art and its possible effect.

Litters is not only about geographical meaning mapping, it is also about what I would call excessive poeticism: there is no capitalization throughout the book; not even in the titles of the poems for no clear reason. This practice appears poetic somehow, but apparently it serves no clear function, stylistic or otherwise: it makes no change to the poems other than to make them look different and probably draw attention to themselves.

Yet Litters is surely going to – if not anything- litters the Nigerian literary landscape with new leaves, the blooming of which would perhaps be enough evidence to show the level to which exciting new trends of both poetry writing and publishing are taking shape. It is indeed a compendium of various leaves whose variety and virtuousness call for attention.

Building Bridges

2010-11-22T23:31:00.000+01:00

So J William Fulbright had a vision
Friendship of nations shall be based on knowledge
Bright students and scholars of other nations to America come
Bright American students and scholars to other nations go
Move freely to share your knowledge and ideals
Share the fruits of human learning over the centuries

Thus we found ourselves here in the US
From all nations, cultures, races and creeds
Sharing the Fulbright badge, sharing humanity
We came to Houston and housed friendship
We discussed, listened to one another and learnt
At Rodeo we even produced Cowboys

Knowledge and ideas exchanged
Friendships evolved and matured within hours
New bridges of understanding constructed
Strong pillars of friendship and trusts erected
We are diverse yet united for common good

This Fulbright microcosm epitomized friendship
Symbolizes the best humanity could offer
God bless Fulbright for his visions
God bless Fulbrighters for implementing the vision
God bless us all

Houston
March 2 2002
This poem was read by six Fulbrghters at the Houston conference of March 2002,
each from the six inhabited continents, it was a memorable experience I still cherish.

Writer’s block? I had it the day my computer crashed

2010-11-20T23:33:00.003+01:00

This interview was published in Nigeria's newspaper THE SUN on Tuesday, April 3, 2007
It was conducted by SEGUN AJAYI

Dr. Yusuf Adamu is a geographer cum writer. According to the immediate past Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Writers (ANA), Kano State Chapter, there exists a strong link between Literature and Geography that cannot be wished away.

The university lecturer is also a culture activist having kick-started his writing career in Hausa language before returning to English. Although the poet realises that it is more lucrative to write in Hausa than English, in Kano, Adamu believes it is time writers of northern extraction are exposed to modern ways of writing.

In his candid assessment of the standard of literature in Kano particularly, the writer reveals that women are having an upper hand because they write in vernacular and in the process turn out larger volumes than their male counterparts. He speaks on the challenges of creative writing in northern Nigeria, his works, publishing and how he once lied that he had writer’s block the day his computer crashed.

Background

I have two identities. My father hails from Zamfara State, while my mother is from Katsina. I was born in Katsina but grew up in Kano. Officially, I claim Zamfara State.

I had my first degree in Geography, in 1990 from Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto. In 1994, I bagged a Masters degree from the University of Ibadan and a PhD from Bayero University, Kano in 2003. I am a medical geographer and I wrote my PhD desertation on maternal mortality. I have been teaching in the Department of Geography at the Bayero University since 1995.

Between Geography and Literature

On account of my interest in writing, I have introduced a course in my department called Cultural Geography which addresses the issue of literature, popular culture, and how they relate to Geography. There are connections between the two subjects. In literature, you write about people, yet the people do not exist in vaccum. There are people in places and in Literature, we write about places.

But, most of the information we gather about places are not even contained in the atlas or regional geography textbooks. Rather they are contained in novels. So that’s how Geography is closely related to Literature.

Writing career

I had my first contact with Literature when I was in the secondary school. I started writing short stories even when I was in the primary school. Actually, I started serious writing in 1983 when I wrote my first Hausa novel. The book is yet to be published because when I read it over, I realised that I needed to re-write it. Later, I wrote a number of novels like Dukan Ruwa which won the northern Nigerian Literary Prize in 1990. It is the story of a family which endured the normal family and economic problems. Essentially, the story teaches patience and perseverance.

After that, I wrote another novel in Hausa in 1989. It was after that experience that I ventured into writing in English. I’ve written two collection of poems for children. The first one is entitled Butterfly and Other Poems, and My First Book of Rhymes. After that, I published another collection of poems after which I returned to writing in Hausa. I published Ummul Khairi. The book is about the challenges of education. I realised that whether we like it or not, the Hausa muslims have to be educated in the modern way.

However, the book is a kind of compromise between tradition and modernity. The next book I published was an anthology of poems. I ensured that I covered the entire country in my choice of poets. I hope to release another collection which I wrote in 1997 entitled Landscape of Reality, and a collection of political poems. These are the works I hope to release soon. I’m also working on another collection which will be a link between my literary interest and my training as a geographer. It is expected to be a collection of poems about places, towns and cities in Nigeria and other areas of the world. The book will be entitled Places and would be accompanied with photographs and maps.

Why I write in Hausa

I started writing in Hausa because the books that inspired me to write were written in Hausa. A lot of people in the Northern part of the country read Hausa. So it was a good medium to put my messages across.

Inspiration

Normally, I write when something happens. Each poem I wrote has a story behind it.

Messages

The most important of my messages is the accessibility of my poems. Considering the fact that poetry is not a popular genre, I have tried to make it accessible. For instance, I have written about happiness, mathematics, globalsation, politics and so on.

When I write

I don’t have a particular time for writing. Even if I am going to write an examination and the inspiration comes, I will write. But when the inspiration is not forthcoming, I will not be able to do it.

Process of writing

It begins with an idea; then the presentation of the idea in the best way. Whenever an idea comes, I’ll put it down on paper.

Challenges of writing

The first challenge is that Nigerians hardly read. When I started writing for children, I was so excited because I was contributing something new. In Northern Nigeria, there are few poets that write in English. So, I told myself that I wanted to write something that will be relevant to the environment. But when I took the books to the education ministry, there ensued a long drama. When I took the works to schools, they would either tell me that the books are too expensive or give me the excuse that the schools were on mid-term break. Eventually, I gave copies of the book free-of-charge to the schools and that gave me some satisfaction.

Publishing

The solution to the problem is involving members of our generation in publishing. I run a small publishing outfit and I published my works through that medium.

Writer’s block

I suffer from it. In fact, I wrote a poem on that. In ANA, Kano chapter, we hold our monthly readings. On one of such days, my computer crashed and I had all my materials stocked in the system. I then told my fellow writers at the reading that I could not remember any of the poems that I had to present at the reading off-hand. But because I had to present something, I came up with the excuse that I had writer’s block. There is a book that I have almost completed work on, but I am no longer interested in the work. That is another manifestation of writer’s block.

Advice to upcoming writers

As most people advise, upcoming writers should be patient and be willing to get their works criticised by others before rushing to the press. For example, when I write, the first people that will read them are my younger brothers and sisters. After that, I’ll give it to others. Secondly, they should write stories that are relevant to the society. I don’t subscribe to writing-for-writing-sake. People should treat topical issues that will be relevant to the development of the society.

Feedback

I have published a few poems on the internet and I received responses from people. One of my poems was published in Germany. There is also a book titled Cultures which is a high school English textbook. I posted it on a website called globalisation. Later the book was published and the publisher contacted me and sent me one hundred euros. Unfortunately, the money got stocked in a distressed bank.

Reward for writing

There is no financial reward for writing in this part of the world. For instance, most of my works have been broadcast on radio and I know that they have made great impact. My books in Hausa have sold up to 20,000 copies, but for the English books, I have not sold up to 100 copies.

Self-publishing

This can be good if there are good editors. If you take your works to a printer, the printer will reproduce them the way you gave them to him. Whoever must do self-publishing must have good editors. Manuscripts can’t wait for ever at Heineman, Longman, Spectrum and others but the books must be well edited.

Literature in Kano

To do that, you have to consider literature at two levels; Hausa and English. Literature in Hausa has gone far in Kano because of the dominance of writers who write in Hausa. In Kano for instance, there are more literary works being published by women. And it has become a phenomenon. The significance of this is that, women buy more books than men in Kano.

The only problem is that the quality is not as good as we expect it to be. But because we have a monthly writers’ forum in Hausa, and workshops, the quality is improving and the volumes are increasing. People come from far and near to buy Hausa books. But as for English texts, people write more of poetry. However, the major problem we face here is that people are not able to publish their works.

Source: http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/how/2007/apr/how-03-04-2007-001.htm

A New Poetry Book

2010-10-01T13:12:00.003+01:00

They Can Speak English (my new poetry collection) has just been published in Nigeria. The blurp on the back cover is hereby reproduced below:

Yusuf Adamu’s third collection of poems, his first since Landscapes of Reality (2008), shows him working on a new territory that extends from the politics of language to the question of geography in poetic imagination. Grand, great, as graceful as they are grounded, these poems seem intent on evincing a take on everything: from the veracity and virtue of English language to geopolitics and gender. At the centre of the book’s concern is a kind of a displaced and subtle “elegy” for Nigeria’s miscarried dream and hope, and that elegiac tone permeates the whole book. As W. H. Auden would say: a born poet always looks absolutely natural.

“Yusuf Adamu is indeed a true poet in the mould of Wordsworth and Walcott. Poem after poem, he has an identifying personal tone, a sort of Muse-tainted uniqueness which, in a way, is almost independent of what it portends. The magnitude of his achievement in this collection appears more stunning. They can Speak English quite easily proves why Yusuf Adamu may well have been the most original poet of his generation. Every discerning reader who reads the poems collected here will be delighted by his linguistic subtleties, for he follows the lead of both Brand and Brutus, dazzling in many of the display of imageries that they partake in”.

Ismail Bala
Poet, Critic and Lecturer
Department of English and French, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria

Independence Day Celebrations

2010-10-01T00:42:00.000+01:00

As a kid in the years gone by

The nation and we are eager for that day

October first of every year

For our nation is moving forward

Progress is sprawling everywhere

Suddenly the boys stroke and took over

That we move backwards backsliding

Everything in the land made a commodity

Corruption laid sway on the land

Inequality ascends into supremacy

The national purse pauperized by rats

Should my children celebrate October 1^st?

Of course yes, I reasoned

It is our nation’s birthday

But looking at where we are today

How our lives are frozen by inaction

How backward we moved over the years

Love for country is questioned

My loyalty too is being questioned

Has my nation done enough…

To deserve my congratulations on its birthday?

September 30, 1999

WHEN THEY BURN THE KORAN

2010-09-14T22:20:00.000+01:00

America of the brave and the just

America of the free and the independent

And oh dear! America of the Koran burners

When the ashes of hatred are dusted

The wave of Islamaphobia will drain out

Majority American rather read the Koran

From among them shall raise believers

Who will bring America from darkness

And free it from the shackles of ignorance

There shall be a new community

Who shall discover true Islam

Not the Islam of media ranting

But that practiced by Muhammad (PBUH)

The world shall be watered by love

The true spirit of Islam is descending

On the God’s own country in God’s own time

Islam has come to America

America will accept Islam whole heartedly

America shall read the Qur’an.

September 14 2010

WHICH HUMANITY?

2010-07-29T01:14:00.000+01:00

Which of your humanity are better than mine?

Or which of my humanity is better than yours?

Is the planet you inhabit not same as mine?

Is it the air you breathe different from mine?

Is your sky red or bluer than the sky I watch each morning?

Is your mother star and its satellite not the Sun and the moon?

Which of your humanity is better than mine?

Do you smile and laugh when you are happy just as I do?

Do you sneeze, cough and yawn just as I do?

Do you get angry, shed tears and weep just as I do?

Are you ever hungry?

Are you ever emotional?

Then which of your humanity is superior to mine?

In this sphere called Earth within the Milky Way

From far in the vastness of the universe

Our tiny planet earth is but a speck

All that is in it is our collective humanity

So your humanity is just like my own

My humanity is same as yours

My humanness is the same as yours

Madina 7/11/09

HOPE

2010-07-29T01:12:00.000+01:00

For Abubakar Dandogo

Hope drives our wishes with whirl wheels

It keeps human spirit active and alive

It flies our dreams on its wings

Hope keeps us alive despite all odds

It rekindles our heart when its flames are dim

Hope keeps us going when we could have stopped

Hope gives us strength and reason to pursue dreams

Hope keeps us afloat and always anticipating the best.

Jiddah (11:10pm)

9/12/09

DOUBLE STANDARDS

2010-06-07T22:51:00.000+01:00

For Richard Tellinghast

They shout of existential threat

Of their right to exist all the time

Yet, they are an existential threat

Denying others that right to exist

What kind of people are these?

Who see other people as not fit to live

They stole others' land and continue to steal

They occupy others' territories and continue to do so

They keep them under murderous siege

Denying them every basic necessity of life

No medicines. no schools not even clean water

No electricity, no building materials not even cherries

Yet, they shamelessly shout the song of freedom

They beat the drums of high moral values and standards

Where is freedom and where is morality?

Only Uncle Sam and his cronies could tell

They attack with full force at slightest provocation

They care not killing and maiming women and children

Not even the United Nations is spared of their madness

Yet the most powerful democracies world over are mute

Oh great powers, bear witness to the senseless killings

Bear witness to the arrogance of this murderous State

Bear witness to the flight of the innocent and powerless

And shall also bear witness to what injustice and inaction leads.

Kaduna, June 7 2010

Unceremonious Walk outs

2010-05-03T23:36:00.000+01:00

When they walked out, they worked out their chances

That their action would bring other nations to their side

Instead, their walk out expose their utter helplessness

Telling the world that they are indeed not in control

It exposes their sorry state and puppet status

They walked out shamelessly because they are cowards

If not cowardice what else explain their action?

03/05/2010

LIST OF ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

2010-01-22T23:58:00.001+01:00

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

Peer reviewed journal articles and chapters in books and conference proceedings

Adamu, Y.M. (1996) ‘Distribution of Health Facilities in Urban Kano’ in Mala, M.M. Issues in Environmental Monitoring. Proceedings of the 39^th annual conference of the Nigerian Geographical Association held at the University of Maiduguri. (1996)

Adamu, Y.M. (2000) ‘The New Hausa Literary Movement’ West African Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, Volume 1 Number 2 (2000)

Adamu, Y.M. (2002) ‘The Development of Hausa Neologisms: The role of Urban Spaces’ Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference of Hausa Language, Literature and Culture. Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages, Bayero University, Kano. (2002)

Adamu, Y.M. (1996) ‘Between the word and the screen: a historical perspective on HausA literary movement and home video invation’ Joural of African Cultural Studies, Vol. 15, No 2 December 2002, 203-213

Adamu, Y.M. (2003) ‘Health Place and Inequality: Distribution of Health facilities in Kano State’in Shitu M.B and Adamu, Y.M. (Ed) (2003) Studies on Inequality in Nigeria: A multi-disciplinary perspective. New Academia, Kano.

Adamu, Y.M. (2004) ‘Town and Gown: Bayero University and Its Environs’ in Jega, AM, Abba, IA, Wakili, H (Ed) (2004) Consolidating the Citadel, Bayero University Kano 1994-2004. Center for Democratic Research and Training, Kano

Adamu, Y.M. (2005) ‘Patterns of Maternal Mortality and Morbidity in Kano State, A Geographical Analysis’. Journal of Social and Management Science, Volume : Special Edition 2005 pp. 196-221

Adamu, Y.M. (2003) Bulungudu: Space and Coinage in the Hausa Home Video Industry’ in Adamu,AU, Adamu, YM and Jibril, UF (ed) 2003 Hausa Home Video: Society Economy and Society. Centre for Hausa Cultural Studies, Kano.

Adamu, Y.M. (2006) ‘Presentation of Literature Review’ in Adamu, YM, Mohammed, H and Dandago KI (2006) Readings in Social Science Research, Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Bayero University Kano. (Chapter 11)

Adamu, Y.M. (2006) ‘Learning and Scholarship in the Sokoto Caliphate: Legacies and Challenges’ Bobboyi, H and Yakubu AM (2006) The Sokoto Caliphate: History and Legacies 1804-2004, Arewa House, Ahmadu Bello University Kaduna (Volume Two, Chapter 23: pp.369-395)

Adamu, Y.M. (2007) ‘Attractions and Barriers to the Utilisation of Antenatal Care services in Urban Kano‘ Kano Studies, New Series 2007

Adamu, Y.M. (2008) ‘Maternal Health Issues in Kano Region” in Olofin E.A. et al (2008) Wudil in Kano Region: A Geographical Synthesis, Department of Geography, KUST, Wudil.

Adamu Y.M. Hamisu M. Salihu, Nalini Sathiakumar, Greg R. Alexander‘ Maternal mortality in Northern Nigeria: a population-based study’ European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Reproductive Biology 109 (2003) 153-159

Adamu, YM and Salihu H.,‘Barriers to antenatal care and obstetric services in rural Kano State, Nigeria’. Obstetric and Gynaecology November 2002 Vol 22, No 6, 600-603

Adamu Y.M. and Liman, M.A (2003) ‘Kano in Time and Space: From a city to a metropolis’ in Hambolu M (ed) (2003) Perspectives on Kano-British Relations. Gidan Makama Museum, Kano.

Adamu, Y.M. and Dantata, U (2003)‘Hausa Oral and Written Expressions: The British Colonial Influence’ in Hambolu M (ed) (2003) Perspectives on Kano-British Relations. Gidan Makama Museum, Kano.

Adamu, Y.M. and Awaisu S, (2003) ‘Distribution of Health Facilities in Jigawa State’in Shitu M.B and Adamu, Y.M. (Ed) Studies on Inequality in Nigeria: A multi-disciplinary perspective. New Academia, Kano.

Adamu Y.M., Salihu, H, Aliyu, M.H and Aliyu Z.Y ‘Pregnancy-associated morbidity in Northern Nigeria. Journal of Obstetric and Gynaecology. Volume 24, Number 4, 367-371 June 2004

Adamu Y.M and Tanko A.I. ‘What is Where? Near or Far, Primary Geographer, October 2004, pp 18-21, The Geographical Association, UK

Adamu Y.M. and Liman, M.A (2005)‘Urbansation and Spatial Development of Urban Centres in Yakubu AM, Jumare IM, Saeed A.G. (ed) (2005) Northern Nigeria, a century of transformation, Arewa House, pp. 90- 99

Adamu Y.M and Radda, S.I. (2006) ‘Conceptual Framework in Social Scineces’ in Adamu, YM, Mohammed, H and Dandago KI Readings in Social Science Research, Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Bayero University Kano. (Chapter 10)

Adamu Y.M and Umar Y.A (IN PRESS) ‘Riding Youths: A Preliminary Analysis of the Acaba Motorcyclists in Metropolitan Kano in Umar, B.A (forthcoming) (Ed) Issues on Youth.

Adamu, Y.M. (IN PRESS) ‘Youth in Informal Petroleum Distribution In Urban Kano: The Cuwa-Cuwa Phenomena, Umar, B.A (forthcoming) (Ed) Issues on Youth.

Academic books co-edited

Inequality in Nigeria: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (2003) New Academia, Bayero University, Kano. (With M.B Shitu)

Hausa Home Video: Technology, Economy and Society (2003) Center for Hausa Cultural Studies, Kano (With Adamu, A.U and Jibril, U.F)

Corporate Survival, Competitiveness and Consumer Satisfaction in Nigerian Industries (2005) Department of Business Administration, Bayero University, Kano (with Sagagi, MS)

Readings in Social Science Research, (2006) Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Bayero University Kano (With Mohammed, H and Dandago K.I)

Introduction to Social Sciences (2008) Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Bayero University Kano (with A.A. Adepoju & M.A. Yusuf)

Issues in Youth Development in Nigeria (forth coming) with Aliyu, BU and Dandago KI

Creative Works

Prose Fiction

Idan So Cuta Ne (1989) AJ Publishers, Kano, (Hausa novel)

Ummul-Khairi (2000) AJ Publishers, Kano (Hausa novella)

Kowaggyara (2005) A Daidaita Sahu, Kano (with Magaji Shitu & Yusuf Shehu) Collection of Hausa Short Stories

Maza Gumbar Dutse (2007) Gidan Dabino International (with UNESCO & Francaphonie)

Poetry

Litters (2000) AJ Publishers, Kano, (Collection of poems)

Pregnant Skies: Anthology of 50 Nigerian Poets (2003) AJ Publishers, Kano (Editor)

Landscapes of Reality (2007) AJ Publishers, Kano

Mazan Fara: ANA Zamfara Anthology of Poems and Short Stories, (2008) AJ Publishers, (Editor)

Children Literature

Butterfly and other poems (1995) AJ Publishers, Kano, (Children rhymes)

My first book of rhymes (1998) AJ Publishers, Kano, (Children rhymes)

Animals in the Neighbourhood (2007) AJ Publishers, Kano (Children’s book)

My Brief Biography

2009-11-16T15:16:00.000+01:00

I recieved many emails from German students asking about my biography, I put a brief below.

Briefly, I was born on March 9 1968 in Katsina city northern Nigeria. My primary education was at Giginyu Primary school (in Kano State) and Secondary schools were at Government Secondary Schools Koko and Zuru (Kebbi State) upt 1985. My University education is a the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, (BSc Geography: 1990), The University of Ibadan (MSc Geography: 1994) and the Bayero University Kano (PhD Geography: 2004). I specialized in Medical Geography with special interest on Maternal health and I am currently an Associate Professor of Geography at the Bayero University Kano. My other research interests include cultural geography, spatial patterns of phenomena, socio-linguistics, and healthcare delivery. Find also above a list of some of my academic and literary publications.

MADINAH

2009-11-14T14:56:00.000+01:00

Here I am in the living city of light
The city of the holy Prophet
On whom beAllah’s peace and blessings
Here I am watching a bright moon
Yet, the moon brightness was dimmed by his holiness

Oh my dear indescribable Madinah!
You have given me a rare opportunity
To meet all races of mankind
All colours of homo sapiens species
All professing one faith in one God
All longing the presence of Muhammad

I witness pilgrims weeping in reverence
For his presence is worth more than anything earthly
The benefector of mankind I salute you
No one has achieved as much as you in a mere
Two decades and three years!

Madinah (4/11/09)

MARRAKECH

2009-10-06T15:06:00.000+01:00

For Judith Ann Walker

The gracious brick coloured city
Of traditional eminence and status
The grand city of dual splendour
Oriental golden enticement of tourists
Mid terrain between Africa and Europe

Marrakech! The red minaret of the Maghreb
Bride of the Mediterranean
And Atlas protected summer camp
Where horse cart battle engine wheels

Visitor’s fascination by your magnificence
Eternally startles me Marrakech
Marrakech, you are purely splendid!

Amani Hotel, Marrakech
September 25-26, 2009

KANO

2009-08-07T01:23:00.000+01:00

Tradition and modernity
Inseparable like a mixture
Buy and sell
The city offers more
To engage in and more to marvel at
For saints
For sinners
For the active
For the dormant
It has a place for every one.

March 1998

BAMAKO

2009-08-07T01:21:00.000+01:00

FOR MARTINE CHRISTIN

On one side stands the hill of power
On the other the light of learning
In between is a valley so they said
So calm and serene is the valley
That bears beautiful traditional face
And wears an elaborate colonial dress
A dual city of tradition and modernity
A duality that works perfectly that
One walks across space and time
As one walk through the streets of Bamako!
Grand Hotel September 29, 2006

GLOBAL VILLAGE

2009-03-22T00:02:00.000+01:00

though we are all human
we are made to be different
by forces beyond our clout

yet they want remake us
in a new image of their choice
in a village too big to be safe

the world they now call
a single village in the globe
with a big brother to match

as long as we are second class
within that large village fashioned
we should not be subjected to
someone’s standards
someone’s culture
someone’s technology
someone’s understanding
someone’s world view
someone’s theories and concepts

they try hard in harder ways
to make us part of that village
but we know we are different
and shall strive to live outside
that fashioned unsafe village

May 7, 2001

GAZA*

2009-01-08T20:16:00.000+01:00

What befall humanity that it keeps silent?
Gaza strip is turned into a concentration camp
Israelis are committing another Holocaust
A massacre and genocide is going on
Gruesome murder is being committed by Zionists
And world leaders are afraid to take action

In Gaza, human life is made so cheap by Zionism
The mighty American and European Empires
Are under the siege of global Zionism
Arab world leaders, gutlessly keep silence
More afraid to lose their political power than their brothers

The Israelis shamelessly justify their atrocities
They cowardly defend the killing of children
The murder of women and unarmed civilians
As if their lives are worth more than other lives
They are exposing their cruelty and inhumanity
Telling the world that saves them from Auschwitz to go hell
The world must stand against global Zionism
It is a monster that humanity must confront

But after all the hypocrisy life will go on in Gaza
The will of the people is tested but also strengthened
The Zionists are afraid of what tomorrow holds
They want to change the future with violence
But the future belongs to those who resist occupation
For Zionists are destined to fail for they are unjust

They will eventually leave Gaza, empty handed

January 8, 2009

Source: http://www.monde-magouilles.com/photos_guerre/gaza3.jpg

* Thanking Aljazeera International for keeping the free world informed

THE HOLOCAUST CARD

2009-01-04T23:31:00.000+01:00

So Nazi Germany was cruel
Yes, the Nazis were brutal
They were barbaric and inhuman
Auschwitz camp was horrific
Men were reduced to numbers
Not only Jews were victims of Nazism
But anyone not Aryan in origin

For years since Auschwitz
The world became Semitic haven
The Jew is honoured by the human spirit
Spirit of rationality and brotherhood
No one dare say a word or act
That is capable of hurting the Jew
Or be labeled anti-Semitic
The West is at the forefront
The Jew is sacred, not profane.

Soon Zionists realized their strength
The Holocaust card can always be used
To do anything human or otherwise
Thus, Israel was born on borrowed land
Palestine was robed of its precious land
Let the Jews flood from all over earth
A new home for them is already secured
The Zionists are not satisfied anyway
The State of Israel must grow big and bigger

Then the Jews became “Chosen People”
Superior to the gentiles they met on the land
They became the Aryans of the Middle East
With a license to do whatever they want
Backed by a government with military might
The media they already control
The mighty dollar is under their guard
Even security agencies are in their hands

They have an open check to terrorize
They kill and maim the goyim
They steal their land and demolish their homes
They kill the goyim’s women and children
They imprisoned their able-bodied men
Their leaders are put under house arrest

They amass Weapons of Mass Destructions
That no other Middle East country can possess
Any attempt is met with the anger of their slaves
Yes, American sons are ready to fight their war
They can lay down their lives and honour for Israel
For if you dare speak against Israel you are doomed
The Holocaust card is potent with smear and label
The mark of Cain is the label of anti-Semitism
Zionists have conditioned the West to believe the myth

How I pitied the citizens of the mighty empire
Whose name is used to commit murder and theft
Whose taxes are used to protect criminals of war
Whose military might is used to justify unjust acts
Shamelessly in the name of freedom and democracy
Woe unto you the citizens of the empire
Your government's every act negates your creed
Transitory is military might in the history of man
Human spirit for freedom and justice cannot fail
Superpower status can even tomorrow be gone

Tell your emperor my dear citizens of the empire
The world is full of fear of his might
Yet, allow their resource and name be used for crimes
Tell your people it is time to stop the emperor
He is mad and his madness is too grave
He will destroy the empire or set its downfall
All the founding fathers toil will go without a fight
Tell your emperor the empire is at a brink
Of becoming a neo-Nazi of our time
Let him tell you the truth and stop telling lies
His wars are not for your protection but doom
His wars are for Zionists, the enemies of peace

And please tell Israel that the God of Abraham never sleeps
Let the good citizens of the empire rise up
Discard the Holocaust card or accept its crimes
Tell the emperor your son's lives are worth to live
You can fight for yourselves with every joy

But not for others who never appreciate your worth
Who spy on your home security and sell your secrets
Whose lobby hides under the Holocaust card
And your lads to die for their cause
And for you Israel, the land of the Jews
Remember how God has honoured you among men
Pay back with love and kindness and not with crimes
The Lord that dispersed you for your sins
Watches you committing them again and again
He does not sleep.

February 8, 2005

BLOODBATH IN JOS

2008-12-13T22:12:00.000+01:00

Your natural landscapes are painted red again
Your cool and fresh weather heated by hatred
Your once open hands of brotherhood amputated
Your loving heart for love mutilated
Only hatred is sprouting from your once green soil
You have massacred women and children
As your leaders shamelessly watch with an approval nod
Their hands are full of blood of the innocents
Oh Jos! Oh Jos!! What befell you?

I heard that you hate settlers
But if I may ask the older settlers of the Plateau
Where were they when the settlers came?
Where were they when they settled?
Where were they when the settled toiled robustly at the mines?
Where were they when they built your so-called capital?
Were indigenes on the hills busy drinking burkutu?

I heard that you are becoming puritanical
I heard that what you want is a purely Christian State
Where no other creed or belief shall flourish
Could you be self sufficient in a nation of multiple faiths?
Can you afford to be isolated by other Nigerians who share other faiths?

The nation is sensing the shadow of puritanical paganism looming
The professed faith is loosing its clasp of your hearts
The love preached by Christ is gradually being battered by hatred

Oh Jos! You cannot go on like this
Those heartless butchers must be brought to book
And the spirit of those murdered shall keep them awake for eternity
Never again! The settlers have spoken!

December 13, 2008

THE WORLD AFTER BUSH

2008-11-18T23:51:00.000+01:00

So the Bush era is ending
The chapters of his world order are closing
The Bush gospel is being discarded
The world under Emperor Bush has never been a green one
It was red, horrific, bloody
It is closing… closing for ever
Let the greenish lush of this brittle world return!

Kaduna
November 18, 2008

PALESTINE

2008-10-12T00:00:00.000+01:00

Like the destruction of a tsunami
Like the devastation of a hurricane
So the world watches your occupation and destruction
So the world lives in denial and hypocrisy
That what happens in Palestine does not happen

But for how long would the world be suppressed?
For how long would the world practice denial?
Righting what it wronged all along?
No injustice thrive forever, no matter its might
The Holocaust and Nabka are sides of the same coin

Occupation shall certainly end
Your land is your land
Forceful occupation did not change that
Land grab remains land snatch
World powers’ cowardice cannot change that

Palestine is Palestine!
Your vine and olive shall grow again
Never allow Zionism to break your spirit
Never allow Uncle Sam’s criminal support
Kill your rainbow of dreams

Just as the world liberated the Jews from Auschwitz
So shall it liberate Palestine from global Zionism
It is just a matter of time!

Kano
September 30 2008

BARKA DA SALLAH

2008-09-29T00:04:00.000+01:00

Barka da

Sallah

Eid

Mubarak

Happy

Sallah

Happy

Eid
Allah ya maimaita mana amin.

WMD & WMD

2008-09-27T22:50:00.000+01:00

For GWB & TB

It is not about Weapons of Mass Destruction
It is about an emperor
Inflicted by War Mongering Disorder
It is about show of strength
Arrogance of power
It is about greed and
Postmodern neocolonialism

It is about misleading the public
“We must disarm him to douse our thirst”
At the expense the lives of women and children
They are expendable and not human enough
After all the High Priests have approved of it

The Emperor’s greed and arrogance
Is exposing the vision of his nation
The desire of your people
Who, though proclaimed freedom & democracy
In reality it is a tyranny it means
They have betrayed their call

My dear Emperor
Watch carefully where you put your step
Look back at the map of history
Many examples abound
Where injustice and greed
Destroys the fabric of civilization

My dear Monarch
The world is tired of your madness
Better understand bluntly
No power lasts forever,
All empires are destined to is to crumble
It is from the ashes and debris of old kingdoms
New ones will emerge

You are leading your people to madness
Proving your cowardice and racism
The world watches with interest
We shall see how the drama will unfold
You will not write the next history
History will write about you in blood
It is also watching and writing.

Kano
February 15, 2003

NEW FREEDOM

2008-09-27T22:38:00.000+01:00

today’s world is enveloped
by the air of techo-aggression
shadows of hegemony are growing
freedom is being re-christened
the world techno-bullies are casting their nets
to catch the golden fishes planet-wide
in the dream of fashioning a new river in their image
to the high priests of new world order
freedoms means
abandoning all identities and creed
accepting new ‘fatwas’ from materialist priests
it means
agreeing with rednecks’ imperial hegemony
accommodating and legalizing acts of terror
by guns-and-money politics
destroying all resistance to self determination
new freedom means
believing in uncle sam’s wisdom
practicing big brother’s econometrics
but
it also means
the foolish is still dreaming

Birmingham AL
February 8, 2002

NEW IMPERIALISM

2008-09-27T22:34:00.000+01:00

New economic models
+
Loans and debt servicing
+
Military coalitions
+
Hollywood stereotyping
+
Academic brainwashing
+
Mass media tyrant’s extravaganza
+
Psychological subjugation
+
Cultural redefinition
+
New conceptual paradigms
+
Labeling monopolisation
+
Covert this & that
=
New world order
~
N e w I m p e r i a l i s m
Birmingham AL
2001

THEY CAN SPEAK ENGLISH!

2008-09-24T23:46:00.000+01:00

This article is a response to Corinna and subsequently many other German Students who want to know more about one of my poems titled THEY CAN SPEAK ENGLISH. It was Corinna who first ask some questions and I simply send the same response to all of them.

Corinna's email reads:

Hello Dr. Yusuf M.Adamu,
I'm from Germany and I'm 17 years old. In school we talk about your poem ,, They can speak English '' !
I have to do a presentation about it.
So I'have got some questions :
1. Why did you write this poem? What were your personal reasons ?
2.What do you think about English and England ?
3. Are you proud of your mothertongue and what is your mothertongue ?

I really hope you will answer my questions because it would help me alot !!!

Nice greetings from Germany !!!

Yours, sincery Corinna

My response:

1. Why did you write this poem? What were your personal reasons?

I wrote the poem in 1999 after reading another poem by Dollar Brand another African poet. Now I can’t remember what he wrote, but I can clearly remember why I wrote mine.

You see, in some parts of Nigeria, some people have taking English language to be a symbol of civilization and beyond that what makes one a full human being or a literate person or both. This opinion I did not share. But because of that perception, it becomes possible to stereotype some Nigerians whose pronunciation of certain English letters, seem to be wrong. For example, Hausa people in the north don’t have P , V and X in their letters, so most at times when they want to pronounce P, they actually pronounce F, for instance the word PEOPLE would be pronounced FEOFLE. This, makes Hausa speakers of English in Nigeria a laughing stoke by other Nigerians especially in the South. But, this does not mean that other Nigerians in the South, notably Yoruba and Ibo are any better. The Yorubas for example have problem when pronouncing A and H, somehow, the interchange them naturally. A Yoruba man will pronounce the word HEAD as EAD and the word HAND as AND, and so on and so forth. Our Ibo brothers have problem with pronunciation of the word THE, so they say DE instead of THE and the word MOTHER for example they pronounce it as MODA and so on and so forth.

Despite this, any person who cannot speak in English or read and write in English is seen by some as backward and illiterate, this is even if he can read and write in any other language. This is very annoying that some times I personally have to protest. For example, when people meet to celebrate weddings, at times English language is used as the language of communication, that prevents many from expressing their minds, so when I attend such gatherings I speak in Hausa language because that’s my language. That action always encourage other people to speak in the language without feeling bad.
In 1998, I went to the UK for an academic exchange program between my department (Geography) at the Bayero University Kano Nigeria and the School of African Studies at the University of Sussex , at Brighton . That was my first time of visiting Europe . It was during this visit that I realised that the English people are not worried about how I speak, whatever accent I have as long as I communicate, I also met other nationals who speak English in their accents, so I concluded that there is no English language, rather Englishes. So, why should any non native English speaker be more proud of the language than the native speakers. It therefore makes no sense to me that we take English language as a measure of success or civilization. My poem is therefore a reflection of these experiences.

It may surprise you to hear how my colleague and I suffered in a West African City of Abidjan from fellow Africans simply because we could not speak their colonial language of French. It was very annoying that I was coming from Kano in West Africa to Abidjan in the same region but my own brothers and sisters see me as different simply because I could not speak French. I have to tell them when they ask why that even the English language I was speaking was out of necessity, if I had chance, I would rather speak to them in Hausa which is the most widely spoken language in West Africa . It was shocking to see how the people of Abidjan takes the French language. That encounter led to the poem below.

ABIDJAN

Instead of staying for a while as transit
We were dumped by Bell view and rejected by Air Ivoire
In a land of elephants and lagoons
Of bare postcard breasts and fabulous women
A city where French language is sacred
And English could be seen as profane
Yet, Koumassi was pleasant with its baked chickens
And delicious Kef at Khamadi’s restaurant
The worshipers and the faithful abound
If not for those arrogant Air Ivoire women at the airport
Abidjan could have been a marvellous place

Grand Hotel, Bamako
(3:34pm) September 28, 2006.

2. What do you think about English and England ?

English language is today a global language. What was responsible for that include colonialism and neo-colonialism, imperialism and media. It dominates most languages in the world also because it is able to borrow and adapt new words and also because it is a language of business. But this does not make English the best language in the world, rather a powerful second language to millions. If I have choice, I would rather use my language in anything. Unfortunately, Nigeria was colonised by Britain and English is our official language, we were taught in it and we teach and do formal work in English at the detriment of our local languages. Still, English people and English speaking peoples have promoted their language through peaceful means and also through none peaceful means.

As for England , while there I visited London , Liverpool, Sven Sisters, Abury and the Stonehenge . So, I have seen their cities and country side, it is a beautiful country. I only feel that, Great Britain has not been fear to Africa , looking at what happened in the past and how things are happening today.
3. Are you proud of your mother tongue and what is your mother tongue ?

Of course yes Corinna. I am very proud of my mother tongue. Before I tell you more, I think I should first answer the other question attached to this. My mother tongue is Hausa. Hausa is a term used to describe a people and their language. A conservative estimate shows that there are over 40 million speakers of the language. It is the lingua franca of northern Nigeria and Southern Niger and is widely spoken in Benin , Burkina Faso , Ghana , Cameroon , Central Africa Republic , Chad , Sudan , Togo and Eritrea . It is the fastest growing literary language in Africa with over 200 women writing and publishing in the language. You can learn more about Hausa on the internet by searching through google.com and also from Deutsche Welle, where Hausa is one of the languages broadcast.

Now to my relationship with my mother tongue, I take my mother tongue so seriously that I was the only Social Science student learning Hausa language and literature at my first and second year during my undergraduate studies at the University. I was a member of the Hausa Cultural Society and rose to the rank of Secretary General. I ensure that I not only write in the language, but also promote its use. I have so far published 3 novels in Hausa language namely Idan So Cuta Ne, 1989 (literal: if love is a disease), Ummul-khairi, 1995 (mother of goodness) and Maza Gumbar Dutse, 2007 (Men are a cake of stone) and have finished the following which are now awaiting publishing Dukan Ruwa, 1988, Gumakan Zamani, 1992 and Son Zuciya Bacinta, 1987 (Hausa play). I personally teach my children to read and write in Hausa language and have been a leading Hausa author and promoter of Hausa literature. Very soon I would dedicate a blog to the teaching of Hausa language.

Well Corinna, this is what I am able to get for you. I hope it would be useful and hope you won’t mind if I share this with others on my blog in the near future. I wish you success and hope that we would keep in touch.
The poem, They can speak English is reproduced below:

They Can Speak English
(After Reading Dollar Brand's Western Influence)
red-eared mentogether brought us
to live as nations
their languageto us they introduced
with it we communicate officially
later we even think in it
mother tongues second classed
stereotyped
back benched
if you speak english
you are civilized
praised, recognizedand respected
but in england
my pronunciation they bother not
my grammar they care not
if only they could understand me
i communicated well
but why should a black-eared red-ear one
be so proud to speak english
even at the expense of mother tongue
be proud not because you speak english
be proud only if in your mother tongue
be it hausa ashante or berber
swahili masai or kwa zulu
sango ashante or arabic
you can think and
express your thought

July 23, 1999

GLOBAL VILLAGE: What I mean!

2008-09-04T04:09:00.000+01:00

What follows was a correspondence between me and a German High School Teacher over a poem of mine titled Global Village which was published in Across Cultures, a German High School English Text. Enjoy

Arne’s email

Dear Mister Adamu.

My name is Arne Opitz, I'm an English-teacher at an private school in germany. I'm very impressed by your poems especially by the "global village". If it is possible, I would use this poem in a class test next month. But there's a problem: there are several interpretations and several/different thoughts about the meaning of the poem by teachers of our school. I would be very pleased, if you are able to send me your interpretation of the poem so I could use this in the classtest. Many greetings Arne Opitz

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My response

Dear Arne,

I am so sorry to have taken this long to send you my interpretation of “Global Village” I was involved in organizing an annual convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors in my State, where I happen to be the Branch chairman, it is over now and here is my response.

I wrote Global Village in May 1999, as a result of a sudden realization that globalization is not just about making the world an easier place to communicate and interact, it is not about making nations to relate more closely or harmonizing world affairs in such a way that mankind would begin to feel a sense of belonging wherever he may be on the planet. I came to understand that Globalization is about other things that would in the end not necessarily be beneficial to the whole of mankind, but to some.
Now to the basics:

GLOBAL VILLAGE
though we are all humanwe are made to be differentby forces beyond our clout
Here, what I am trying to argue is the fact that although every human being on the planet is here not by choice but by design, we are created differently, what I mean here is the fact that we were created into different races and sexes. None of us decides of what race he or she was to be created, therefore, our making into different races and nations is a fate we all have to share as we do not have control over that. This is in the understanding that I belief in the existence of God the creator. Most importantly, we became also different based on where we are created and how our culture evolved. It then means that different people have different cultures and beliefs thus different world views. Despite all the differences we as humans and inhabitants of the planet earth share one common thing: Humanity!
yet they want remake usin a new image of their choicein a village too big to be safe
Despite the diversity in our world view, beliefs, culture and social backgrounds, some people (nations/countries/races/class) are now trying hard through various means (media, economy, politics, intimidation) to make everybody think and act like them. Everyone is now being influenced by some ideas and concepts, by decision made by some cliques and indeed every human being is becoming vulnerable to the decision of some countries (these countries are the economically and technologically more advanced). In this way, the whole world would one day become a super-state and countries may end up as local councils as any decision taken is binding on all nations and peoples.
the world they now calla single village in the globewith a big brother to match
The world as argued elsewhere is becoming a super State. I used Gorge Orwell’s concept of Big Brother used in his 1948 novel titled 1984. The idea here is countries like the United States is assuming a position of policing other countries, by so doing having a say on how countries are run politically. With their economic tools; The IMF and The World Bank, they dictate to countries (especially developing) how to manage their economies (whether the dictation is good to them or bad) as long as that in the end would benefit them (US & its allies). America has therefore become the Big Brother of the Global Village and as you know “The Big Brother is watching” always.
as long as we are second classwithin that large village fashionedwe should not be subjected tosomeone’s standardssomeone’s culturesomeone’s technologysomeone’s understandingsomeone’s world viewsomeone’s theories and concepts
Once developing countries accept the ideology of Globalization, they would definitely become susceptible to the ideas of these nations in such a way that their lives would be entirely dependent on whatever is decided for them. Developing countries would become second class citizens of the global village. Granted, developing nations may have to be within this village, if so, they should be allowed to be what they are or want to be, and must not be subjected to certain parameters set by others. For example, Developed countries should not imposed on the rest of the world what they things is good for them MUST also be good to others. They should not say for example their human rights standards must be so everywhere. They must not feel that their way of life is superior to that of other people and whosoever live contrary to their way is backwards. They must not insist that developing countries must modernize to be relevant, modernization comes in phases and developing countries should be allowed to follow those phases. Our world view and understanding may be related to our backgrounds, cultural and religious beliefs. Because of that, it is very impolite and unfair for someone born and bred in the occidental to begin to assess the way of life of some one in the oriental vis-visa. This is what bred intolerance and unnecessary labeling. Why should someone in the US for example tell a Muslim in Iran to be moderate, in essence, trying to re-interpret Islam to Muslims. Why should Israel refuse to abide by many UN resolutions and left unchallenged by the UN veto powers at the same time insisting that Iraq must abide by same UN resolutions and disarm or be face the consequences and insisting that the world must agree with this view as politically correct and civilized view. Finally concepts and theories may not necessarily have universal application, developing countries should not be “forced” to use theories conceived and develop elsewhere.
they try hard in harder waysto make us part of that villagebut we know we are differentand shall strive to leave outsidethat fashioned unsafe villageThe media is constantly being used to propagate to the world, the new worldview; the High Priests of this global village want to impose. People who resist this worldview are label as conservatives, terrorists, fundamentalists, racists, backward, dictators, enemies, and so on and so forth. People who accept the new worldview are seen and propagated as civilized, progressives, moderates, allies, friends, and so on.
Despite all the labeling, some principled peoples continue to resist any new world view or idea that is judged to deprive them of their identity. For example while some Muslim societies are viewed as Fundamentalists and uncivilized by some, an Egyptian intellectual Syed Qubt (now late) in his seminal book Milestones argued that any society that an Ignorant society takes the “form of a society in which belief in God is denied and human history explained in terms of `dialectical materialism’ and `scientific socialism’ becomes its system. Sometimes it appears in the form of a society, in which God’s existence is not denied, but His domain is restricted to the heavens and His rule on earth is suspended”. Qutb’s view is an alternative not a sole view, that is how other views must be weighted.

Finally, the poem is a protest against a single worldview and a hope that as diverse as human cultures are, so are their worldviews and understanding that is what would make the global village safe for everyone not its re-making in someone’s point of view.

Mr. Arne, this is a brief interpretation of the poem as I conceived it, however as I earlier wrote to you, the poem may have more meanings some of which I may agree with some of which I may not, but the final meaning rests with the reader as argued Robert Penn Warren “Every poem is in one sense a symbol, Its meaning is always more than it says to you-the writer, and more than it specifies directly to a reader”.

I hope you would be satisfied with the little explanation I am able to make, and as earlier requested, I would be pleased if you may wish to share with me the views and interpretations of the poem by other English teachers and your students, I would be glad. I look forward to hearing from you soonest.
Keep in touch.
Best wishes,

Dr. Yusuf Adamu

Note: Mr Arne had a ghastly motor accident, I am not sure if he survived it, but someone wrote to tell me so in 2005. I pray he made it. -Yusuf

A Review of Landscapes of Realities

2008-08-26T00:06:00.001+01:00

By
Richard Ali
www.richardali.blogspot.com

Not being a cricket, this piece should not be considered a work of cricketism; it is rather a sanarwa, news, a review, and an acclamation of a newly published poet. Once every few years a collection of poems comes along that so definitive it can only be reviewed on its own terms. Dr Yusuf Adamu has provided us with just such a collection with the publication of his 2008 Poems, Landscapes of Realities. This review is meant to offer lovers of verse everywhere a studied opinion of this latest offering from the generally considered literary-arid northern Nigeria.The poet is a football aficionado and geographer, he lectures at the Department of Geography, Bayero University, Kano. This background proves important in considering his poems. His literary grounding is in the Hausa language where he has published three novels; Idan So Cuta Ne {If Love Is a Crime}, Ummul Khairi and Maza Gumabr Dutse. He is also a blogger of note; {http://www.africanpublicpoet.blogspot.com/}, {http://www.tagarduniniya.blogspot.com/}.

Landscapes of Realities is a very slim volume of fifty six pages comprising forty three poems written entirely in free verse. The poet has conveniently divided them into three thematic hubs; “Innocence”, “Places” and “Realities”, comprising five, seven and thirty-one poems respectively. The poems included in Landscapes were written during the years 1997 and 2000 and perhaps their being published in 2008 is an acknowledgement by the writer that the content and context of his poems have remained relevant over the last decade.The arresting individual characteristic of each poem in Landscapes is leanness – an almost anorexic control of diction such that each poem renders a chosen reality starkly, without the confusion of ambiguous words or an obscurantist style. The collection, taken as a whole, betrays an acute social conscience that is prescient but not overly sentimental in its comment, exhortation and, more often, denunciation.

The bareness of geography, where a hill is a hill and a plain is a plain, have been transposed successfully into the poems of Dr. Yusuf Adamu, where Nigerian realities – the motorcyclist, eclipsed dreams, the corruptions of power and time – are rendered in severe relief.The five poems comprising “Innocence” – “The Child”, “Truth”, “Childhood Dreams”, “Almajiri” and “Happiness” adequately reflect the bare template of each Nigerian, before experience ups and happens to them. The innocence of childhood and truth, the beauty of a child’s dreams are captured in their fragile ephemeralty. This nostalgia is punctured by the poem “Almajiri”, about the agonizingly human fodder, child-scholar-beggars, that have become an embarrassing fixture in the cities of Northern Nigeria. The blight of Innocence, occurring in “Childhood Dreams” –. . .they wake up growinginto a world full of malicefalsehooddiminishing glory and shame. . .guilt replaces innocenceancient dreamsbarely materialized-is given a context in the lines from “Almajiri” below –he is very young an frailthe economy is biting hardthe Mallam cannot sustain him. . .he must hunt for himself.The second part of the collection, “Places”, comprising seven poems, are poetic descriptions of Kano City, Jos City, the Plateau, Kura falls, Wembley Stadium and the town of Sussex. They are simple poems. However, a poignant question is sneaked in which forms the prelude to the next part of Dr. Adamu’s poems, the poet asks –Where shall we beIf there is no geography?“Realities”, comprising thirty-one poems, provides a rich mine for critical exploration. The poet-persona in these poems is above the fray of the realities being described yet we can feel the organic, umbilical relationship between the two. “Realities” probes maternal mortality and poverty, germane issues in the North, with the poems “Child Birth” and “Malnourished Child”. “Fuel Scarcity” and “Motor Cyclist” critique the nature of government insensitivity vis a vis the devious and oftentimes, dangerous, “survival” activities of the Nigerian citizen. Beggary, another social problem in Northern Nigeria is given the treatment of clinical satire in “Professional Beggars”; “Career Beggars” on the other hand denounces the beggars for their ignorance, however, it doesn’t stop there, the poem ends –their minds are enslavedby false beliefs and ignorancechained by lazinesstheir minds may never be freeuntil the society decides to set them free.

On the late General Mamman Vatsa, he says –His sprit shall forever beNourishment for his memory never ceasesAs the living drink from his linesIn the same spirit of the Ecclesiasticus, of paying respect to “great men and their fathers who begat them”, he honors the “Ancient Revolutionary”, Akhenaten {1338-1358 BC} and a “Brave Captian”, Sultan Attahiru of Sokoto who defeated by the British, was subsequently killed at Burmi, on his way to join forces with El-Kanemi or Rabih in the Sudan –Maxim gun he hasn’t gotCan he remain on the throne?. . .our glory has fallen and broken.Perhaps in correcting the conservative and reactionary stereotype of Northern Nigeria, Dr Adamu has in a series of poems affirmed that the radical, revolutionary streak has been in the north long before the south knew of cause and anti-cause, I speak of men like Muhammad Rumfa, Shehu dan Fodio, Sa’ad Zungur, Aminu kano, Hamza Abubakar. In the poems “Strike”, “Rebellion”, “Smash Them” and “Speak Out”, he idolizes revolt in the face of malevolent power. Says he –But if they are unjustIf they oppress youDay and nightIf they mismanage your fundsIf they deny your rightsThen rebelFight in the openAnd in the closeDo not fear their mightFor God is not on their side.However, even judging this collection by its standard, there are shortcomings. On the ground of “leanness”, there are poems laden with prosaic fat so much so that the poetry of the poem is lost. Examples of this are the poems “Problem” and “Kindness” which read too much like penny motivational tracts. Secondly, the poet’s style involves the breaking of sentence syntax and while this stylistic preference has in the main worked superbly, it has not so worked all though. An example of the jarring and unaesthetic effect of this is the line “His colleagues he betrayed” from “Driver’s View”, “For, truth they represent” from “Kayan Sarki” and the first stanza of the poem “Frankenstein”.Another critical charge, this time of complacency may be laid against the poet.

Instances abound where the non-printing of a single letter, “s” or “’s”, have discontextualised poems and hurt the flow of their line. One inevitably pauses at such a point. An example is the first stanza of the otherwise correct “The Sun”. On another limb, “The Poet Died” is rendered unwieldy for its sheer and abrupt vacillation between past and present, sample –The power of the gun/He knew quite well/Yet it is the power/Of the written word/He believes in/I have no doubt that General Vatsa for whom this poem is in memoriam “believed”; but he cannot “believe” {L4 excerpt above} because that would imply living contemporaneity and Vatsa, we know, has been dead for decades.These shortcomings can easily be overcome during the expected reprint of this Poems. They do not much hurt the beauty of the collection or derogate the sincerity of the poet behind the lines. Among the emerging voices in Nigerian poetry, Dr. Yusuf Adamu’s Landscapes of Realities would definitely find a niche for itself

REVIEW OF Yusuf Adamu’s Landscapes of Reality.

2008-08-25T23:35:00.000+01:00

By
Alkasim Abdulkadir

Only few people posses the kind rich of vistas like the picturesque thoughts inherent in the mind of geographer, this is made more poignant when the said explorer of landscapes is a poet.
To share in the wealth, anguish, hopelessness, beauty, heroism and sometimes the commonness of this land, one needs to transverse the pages of his new oeuvre, Landscapes of Reality published by Adamu Joji Publishers to measure the temperament and pulse of the poet in relation to his immediate environment.

He is a scenic writer, but one couldn’t have expected less from one who is a scholar of the rather unusual sector of Medical Geography, and at the same time a creative writer and columnist of varying experiences. Aside being a part of the new fad of tribesmen called bloggers who maintain a diary on internet blog sites, he is also a children’s writer, an editor and publisher. Most importantly his capacities to write in his indigenous Hausa language, has marked him out as contemporary bilingual writer of reckon.

The book Landscape of Realities opens with the section titled Innocence; the poet takes us on a reflective trip back to what sages call the age of Innocence. The section contains poems like The Child, Truth, Childhood dreams, Almajiri and Happiness. In the latter on page 12, he compares the joys extracted from the mundane aspects of life to the worldliness we attach too much significance toD. He begs us to reflect and engage him on which of the comparisons can give one more fulfilment. In Almajiri on page 11, he takes a swipe at the migrant Almajiri scholar who ekes out a living far from his abode through begging for morsels of leftovers, the poet describes him as young and frail, in another line he writes that he must hunt for himself. The poet ends the poem by posing a question at the Ulama by the rhetoric how could he learn with a empty stomach?

In the section titled places the Poet pays a tribute to his love for explorations, first he pays obeisance to his profession as the seeker of mountains, plains, deserts, and winds, cities, and villages and he ends by the declaration Where shall we be if there is no geography? The poem ‘Kano’ continues the tradition by poets to pay tributes to the spaces they inhabit; he singles out Kano and its centennial old histories of commerce, he proclaims its renowned religiosity and share of decadence -when he says it’s a place for saints and sinners. He denies its exclusivity to any shade of paradigm, when he writes finally -it’s a place for everyone. Other Poems in this section are The Jos Plateau, Kurra Falls dedicated to Geography students, Wembley Stadium, Seven Sisters dedicated to a certain Cherith. This section goes to prove the point, that writers can not be separated from the spaces they live in for the places provide the breeding ground for their ideas and the stimulation of their minds. Someone once said that each poet must adopt a City to love, and truthfully don’t all of us have places we are married to in our hearts?

The must poignant section of the book is the one where the writer goes on a reality check. The section is aptly named Realities. Yusuf Adamu takes us on a trip through our collective failures as a nation, he reminds us of our deep sea of inadequacies. The poems provide a vista of how we failed yesterday, and are failing today, and alas not ready to remedy the situation tomorrow. From Page 22, where he writes about the needless death of women through maternal mortality in the poem Child Birth, he proceeds by reminding us that even when the child is born his suffering begins for he lives a life exemplified by being Poverty-Stricken to being Malnourished with feeble bones in the poem Malnourished Child on Page 23. Other poems are Fuel Scarcity, Motor Cyclist, Career Beggars, Professional Beggars, Government Hospital, Government School, Poetry, The Poet Died dedicated to Mamman J. Vatsa, where he remembers the late Soldier-Poet –The power of the Gun/He knew quite well, yet it is the power of the written word/he believed in. He also confirms the immortality of every writer when he says nourishment of memory never ceases/as the living drink from his lines.

Poets have often be referred to renegades, rebels with a cause, most at times a cause for the common good of all, the following can be glimpsed from Driver’s View, Strike, Kayan Sarki, Rebellion, Smash Them, Military Chemistry, Military Coups, Power and Speak Out.
Yusuf Adamu’s like other poets of his generation is a social crusader, at odds with the limitation of the potentialities of his vast country riddled by several years of systemic malaise. He has done his bit; the lessons are left for us to take away.

alKasim Abdulkadir is the Head of Programs Zuma 88.5 FM Radio Abuja.
+234-805-2858345 +234-703-6684411 alkasim.abdulkadir@yahoo.com

Poetry Books

2008-08-22T11:00:00.000+01:00

Pleased to announce Landscapes of Reality, one of my poetry collections. Others would be uploaded soon.

BAGHDAD

2008-07-31T22:12:00.000+01:00

You were first among equals
A golden nest of learning
A navel of diversity and tolerance
A living book of history
A cradle of human civilization

If not for the vultures
The inglorious invaders
If not for their greed
The shameless subjugators
If not for their cowardice
The looters of people’s peace
If not for embarrassing the free world
By technological bullies
Baghdad would have still been serene

Despite all the senseless killings
The rapes and tortures
The certain uncertainties
Your air and glorious past
Your Tigris and Euphrates
Still keeps your citizens attached to you
They continue to stand by you with their blood

These hard days would not last forever
Baghdad rejoice while in tears
For the killings and rapes would cease
The vultures would ultimately leave
Their cowardice would betray them
Their hypocrisy would expose them
And they would leave unceremoniously

Baghdad!
Bleed only for a little while
Your glory is just beginning
Your moon is yet to be full
When I cry and shade tears for you
God would relieve you from the Hyenas

23/3/2007

GITMO!

2008-07-28T21:42:00.001+01:00

A spaghetti flash of shame
In a naked dance of sham
What happened to freedom and liberty
In the land of the brave?

July 27 2008

THE MIGRANTS

2008-07-24T00:31:00.000+01:00

For Sally

In a world that is continuously flattened
Frontiers are being more tightened
Opportunities become unequally spread
Earthlings ride on the ray of wheels
Riding to find the end of the rainbow
Greener pastures are found in the otherness

When an earthling is displaced or moves
The flat world turns into a round Earth
Its palms though wide open becomes closed
He or she that moves out sometimes made it
He or she that moves out most times lose out

In the otherness of the other and in our otherness
Humanity must find a common ground
For our Earth is also our World

September 20, 2007 Accra , Ghana

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

2007-10-10T12:38:00.000+01:00

A community of nations of the world
Where every member is a family member
Where every member is a stakeholder
A community where we are all humans
As if telling the extra-terrestrials to keep off
We are the most advance civilization in the Cosmos
That’s the community that’s truly international

Not an International Community of the Neocons
A community of wolves and vultures
A stage for vampires and scavengers
Where only the Big dance the music of policy
With brutal insensitivity and disgusting arrogance
And weaker nations are only spectators
Who must applaud very wretched choreography.

Instead of the contemptuous scripted drama
Let the Big declare ‘we are the international community’
So that when the Neocons and their apologists
Say ‘International Community’ we know
They are talking of only the ‘Big’
And the rest of us can have appropriate label
‘International commoners’

June 24, 2007/ 11:23 p.m.

Bushnization

2007-07-26T17:18:00.000+01:00

While the international community
Talks of the dangers of Talibanization
Of the so-called moderate Islam
The peaceful and rational world
Is full of fear of Bushnization of the free world

July 22, 2007

NO MORE HEROES IN THE FREEWORLD

2007-07-03T16:39:00.001+01:00

Where are the brave? Where are the heroes?
If justice is crushed by iron fist
Freedom is caged and democracy hanged
Yet celebrating brutality with fanfare
Turning liars into saints overnight

There are no more heroes
In the heart of the free world
There are no more brave men
In the land of the free
There are no more great men
In the land of the great

They have all gone wayward
They have all become accomplices
By looking the other way
While the killings of children and women is on
A people’s wealth is squandered without shame
Yet shamelessly propagating freedom and democracy!

KANO
May 18, 2007

IMMIGRATION LAWS

2007-07-03T16:36:00.000+01:00

Why do you insist on crossing the rim?
Only to work on jobs they could not do?
Yet they don’t want you in their terrain
Why can’t you be contented and stay
Where God created you in the first place?
Let every one remain in his poverty or affluence
In his backwardness or forwardness
And see who blinks first!

KANO
April 22, 2006

HAPPINESS

2007-07-02T17:15:00.000+01:00

Happiness is embedded
In what we believe
In the very little we have
In the people we trust
In the people we love truly
In jobs we enjoy doing
In doing good to others

Not in what we see in others
Nor in the corridors of power
Neither in the hands of wealthy merchants
But in the frontiers of our heart
That we alone know its worth

KANO
May 20, 1999

MATHEMATICS

2007-07-02T17:07:00.000+01:00

Mathematics tends to be tick
Although it makes me sick
Even when I study it for a week
Figures do make me weak
Numbers always make me meek

KANO,
May 19, 1999

ARROGANCE

2007-07-02T17:04:00.000+01:00

Like the Pharaoh of the flood
Who once upon a phase
See himself above all
In economic wit and military might
Arrogate unto himself, the status of God

The twenty first century emperors
Display too much arrogance of power
But God brush pharaoh’s face on the ground
So shall the nose of today’s arrogant emperors
For God never like arrogance
Though power makes mockery of human weakness

Birmingham AL
September 26, 2001

WHERE IS THE FIRE?

2007-07-02T17:01:00.000+01:00

For Baffa
This is still summer, winter is yet
Although a season and another have elapsed
In this new season I saw you
But I could not sense the fire
Where has the fire gone?

KANO
June 25, 2006

THIS WORLD

2007-07-02T17:00:00.000+01:00

From non existence to existence
A meeting space
From existence to non existence
A parting space

Wudil
April 13, 2006

DO YOU CARE?

2007-07-02T16:57:00.001+01:00

I value my way of life
It is the best life can give
I eat what I want
Wear what I chose
Go to where I wish
Sleep in a nice house
Do whatever I want
Without fear of anyone
For I’m secured

I am rich and beautiful
I am powerful and proud
Tall I stand among others
Why should I care about any one
So long my way of life is protected

I waste a lot no doubt
I consume too much I am sure
But that is because I’m powerful
That’s why others envy me always
That is why I’m the best

Why should I worry about others
It is not my business to care
The way of the rich is not the way of the poor
The lifestyle of the strong does not look the weak’s
Civilization is what I think it is
I should care only about me

Who cares if you are hungry
Or have no roof above your head
Who mind that you are diseased
Or insecure poverty-stricken
Why should I be concerned
If you are oppressed and cheated
I care only about myself
I always feel I’m more civilized
I am a human being but not like you

Shhhhh!
It is a matter of time
The day shall come when
Everyone must care
About every other one
By the dare need to be truly human

Birmingham AL
January 20, 2002

I HATE GOODBYES

2007-07-02T16:56:00.000+01:00

In memory of Ruqayya

I hate goodbyes, for long goodbyes
Are painful and they hurt
They take away from one
A pint of his blood or pound of his flesh
For it takes a part of ones being away

I hate goodbyes they make me weak and meek
They detach me from someone so dear
And turn the other’s existence into memory
In the hard disk of our busy brains

A goodbye may be for a while
But even if it is ephemeral
I hate short goodbyes, they too
Hurt and are painful

But a long goodbye is too hard
To bear but a must to endure
Yet sometimes in life we must say
A long goodbye sometimes too soon

The longest goodbyes are inevitable
Each one of the mortals gets
A long goodbye and gives one!
At a time appointed to get and give it.

Kano
September 19, 2006

WHOSE REFLECTION?

2007-07-02T16:55:00.000+01:00

If you look at the mirror
What you see is your image not mine
If I look at the mirror
What I see is my image not yours
If they look at the mirror
What they see is their images not yours or mine
Your image cannot be mine
Neither mine could be yours
Nor theirs ours
Why then must you insist in seeing your image
When I look at the mirror?

Birmingham, AL
October 13, 2001