Joseph Conrad, the author of books such as “Lord Jim” is originally a writer from Poland who emigrated to Great Britain when he was forty years old and produced so many classical workers of literature in English such as “Heart of Darkness”, whose setting is ship cruising on the Congo River. Salman Rushdie is originally from India but achieved fame and success as a British writer whose classic “Children of Midnight” has won the highest literary prize in the form of “the Booker of all Bookers”. Ben Okri, a Nigerian writer who lived and studied in Britain has also won the Booker Prize for his novel entitled, “The Famished Road”. Kenyan author Ngugi wa Tiongo can be put in the same category although he is from the older crops of African writers who have won international fame.
America being a land of immigrant accounts for a larger number of Diaspora writers who have made an impact on its literature. We can perhaps consider Africans as the largest “immigrant group in America”, as they were historically transported to America aboard the slave ships to be employed in the cotton plantations of the southern states. They are the largest ethnic group that has produced notable artists. Many famous musicians and writers have emerged from this ethnic group and impacted or shaped American society in a significant way. Among the most famous novelists are such as Ralph Ellison, author of “Invisible Man” a modern classic of American literature that depicted the life the black man as forgotten (i.e. invisible) by white society.
There are also young and older African writers straddling two or more worlds by making the journey between Africa and the new world. Young Nigerian authoress Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s works such as “Americanah” use dual identity as the fate of the new generation of young immigrants from Africa whose stories are set in both continents. Adichie’s novel has earned many praises. As one of the words of praise says, the novel is about, “A warm, digressive and wholly achieved sense of how African lives are lived in Nigeria, in America and in the places between.”
Nega Mzlekia from Ethiopia immigrated to Canada and published his highly acclaimed “Notes from the Hyena’s Belly” and other works that attracted international attention and were published by prestigious publishing companies like Penguin Canada. Nega is an Ethiopian Diaspora writer who works in English although his first language is Amharic. He immigrated to Canada in the 1980s and since then he lives there and writes in English.
He has so far produced three novels, namely “Notes from the Hyena’s Belly” in 2000, “The God who Begat a Jackal” 2001 and the “Unfortunate” 2006. In Notes from the Hyena’s Belly” Nega wrote about his experiences about Ethiopia while he was growing up in the town of Jigjiga, Somali regional state at a time of turmoil during the Derg regime. He describes the fate of his family and his other compatriots struggling to survival in the then prevailing climate of political chaos and inter-ethnic conflicts
Then comes Dinaw Mengistu, a young Ethiopian writer in the United States who wrote about the Ethiopian immigrant experience in some of his novels that have enjoyed critical acclaims. Dinaw Mengistu was born in Ethiopia and his family took him to the US as a child.
A more recent addition to this crop of young Ethiopian Diaspora writers is Meaza Mengiste whose, “The Shadow King” was shortlisted for last year’s Booker Prize and was almost there for the win. Her debut novel is entitled “Beneath the Lion’s Gaze” a novel about the Ethiopian revolution and the fate of ordinary as well as former officials. Meaza has also edited a collection of 14 short stories entitled “Addis Noir”, a book of important writings of life in the darkest moments of the Ethiopian capital back in the 1970s and 1980s.
These are some of the established Ethiopian writers in the Western world while there are less known authors such as Hama Tuma with his short stories and essays entitled “African Absurdities”, a collection of essays critical of African dictators and their oppressive rules.
We can perhaps classify Ethiopian Diaspora writers into two categories as more successful and less successful ones in terms of recognition by the international literary establishment. Nevertheless, those who enjoy critical acclaim for their works or enjoy financial success can be counted on the fingers of a single hand. These writers may also be categorized according to the themes they tackle in their novels. For instance, Nega Mezlekia addresses issues that are near and dear to his birthplace Ethiopia, while Dinaw Mengistu, although born in Ethiopia, tackles issues dealing with the complexity of immigration as he is also the son of an immigrant Ethiopia who ran away from the Red Terror after the Derg took power.
There is an estimated more than one million Ethiopians in the US Diaspora alone. However, the number of writers who are engaged in the business of producing books, fiction or non-fiction, is insignificant. Those who have made real breakthrough in the publishing world in the West may even be a smaller group of elite writers who were born or grew up in Western societies or went there while they were still children and studied in Western universities.
This is a privilege some of them have effectively made use of while a great number of Diaspora Ethiopians are engaged in other fields of endeavors that require less grey matter and more hard physical work. These are the less privileged immigrants who spend most of their times struggling to make ends meet in highly competitive economic environments where success is not easy to come by, and when it comes, it can only be maintained at high physical and mental costs.
The Ethiopian Diaspora is not a homogeneous demographic entity but rather consisting of an assortment of diversified groups of people engaged in various economic, social, educational and scientific pursuits. Many educated Ethiopians abroad serve as lecturers and researchers at many American and European universities. Many Western hospitals are staffed with Ethiopian doctors and nurses who have distinguished themselves in the medical profession.
As indicated above, the number of Ethiopian Diaspora writers who have distinguished themselves in Western societies is comparatively small. Artists in general are less successful in making an impact on society than their compatriots engaged in other fields of endeavors. What is more interesting about these writers is however the themes and issues they raise in their works of fiction than the degree of success they enjoy.
The problem with these Ethiopian Diaspora writers is that they are hardly known or recognized in their country of origin where English is a language of instruction but not a national language. Their works may be studied in universities but they are now known outside the campuses as the level of literacy in English is very low compared to other African countries that enjoy wider readership and recognition. The second problem is that the works of Ethiopian Diaspora writers are not translated in one of the Ethiopian languages and this might be the basic reason why the writers remain unknown and their works unread.
The third problem is that Ethiopian Diaspora writers do not write in Amharic although they were born in Ethiopia and speak one of its languages. Neither are they keen to translate their works into one of the local languages. This may have something to do with the financial advantages involved in writing in English or other European languages. You cannot of course reach the international audience through the local languages.
Writing in the local languages is not only a financial issue. It is also an issue of identity and cultural pride that has been undermined by colonialism and Western culture. Kenyan author Ngugi wa Tiongo started to write in his native Gikuyu only recently after spending almost his entire career producing books in English. However Ngugi’s leap of faith in his native language is something that can and should be imitated by Ethiopian Diaspora writers; if not now in the future. This may probably be one way of ending the cultural split personality that may be the case with Ethiopian Diaspora writers who may feel they are half Ethiopian and half ferenji, as far as writing is concerned.
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
The Ethiopian Herald 15 July 2021
