Rainbow Nation and perfectionism are not welcome at author Adichie’s table
Nigerians were envious that SA had Nelson Mandela, writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said at the Nelson Mandela Tribute night
There was envy, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said at the Nelson Mandela Tribute night in Johannesburg. “We wanted a Nigerian Nelson Mandela!” Adichie was the keynote speaker at the event hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation on December 6 as part of the centenary Living the Legend celebrations. Fresh from her talk with former US first lady Michelle Obama, who reinforced the Nelson Mandela legacy by telling Adichie that Mandela made Barack Obama possible, she spoke about the inaccuracies of history and memory, turned to women who need to fight back and dwelled on being African and the pride that had to be reclaimed. “But I don’t trust this Rainbow Nation thing,” she said to loud cheers from her predominantly young audience. “I am fiercely pan-African. My visceral sense of protection is high. We haven’t talked it through,” she said, pointing out that we cannot just forget the past, as is so often suggested. Can the process of remembering be scrubbed clean? “They might su...
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