Nwando achebe biography template

She earned a master's in African area studies, and then her Ph. The work centers around a year period in Igboland and the gender dynamics in the Nsukka Division. Achebe's historical narrative points to female kings and warriors that held positions of power, and challenges conventional global beliefs that men alone are societal leaders. As historians, our job is to tell stories.

We tell stories that actually happened," said Achebe. So, there's no university on the face of this planet that could fit my needs any better than MSU," said Achebe. When I came here inthe African History program was not ranked. A few years later we rebuilt the program, and moved up in rank to number three, and then just last year we became number one.

It is such a fabulous feeling," said Achebe. If my American students are saying 'oh I get that, they're not so different, I see why Africans do A, B or C—I can relate to that,' then my job has been done. Nwando Achebe often discusses her father's book, Things Fall Apartincorporating discussion about gender: "I'm a historian, therefore I teach the novel as history.

The work began during her dissertation years. Igbo women are some of the most important African women on the continent. One can argue that it is Igbo women, because of their ogu umunwanyi or women's war, that put African women on the intellectual map," said Achebe.

Nwando achebe biography template

Igbos consider themselves more of a democracy, so discovering a female king, not even a queen, was fascinating for Achebe. After reading an anthropologist's description, she was intrigued by this unusual nwando achebe biography template in that community and decided to pursue it. According to Achebe, sex and gender are not the same thing, and they don't coincide.

You can be born biologically female but become a man. This is how a female king was not a queen, she became a king. I was working in a society that was a gerontocracy. You don't just walk in and start asking questions. That is considered rude. So, you have to go to the oldest man and the oldest woman and introduce yourself, tell them what it is that you're doing, and hope they grant you permission to do your research.

That's what I have done in all of the communities I've worked in," said Achebe. Different communities call for different approaches to fieldwork. In these systems, men take care of what's important to men, and women take care of what's important to women. But in a centralized society, you seek audience with the king or queen. During my actual conversations with my oral history collaborators, I ask for interpretations of their lives, I ask them to share their life histories with me, without interruption.

I only interrupt if I don't understand something that they have said. At times like those, I ask, 'what did you mean by what you just said? As a people's historian, it is important to me that my oral historian collaborators know that I will represent them the way that they represent themselves," said Achebe. How does a 12 or year-old just get lost, I would ask?

They had no answer. They simply repeated this telling of history. But then, years into my research, the truth finally came out, when I met up with one of the most powerful medicine men in the community. When I asked him the same question that I had asked all my other oral history collaborators, his answer was different. He said, "Really—is that what they're telling you?

Of course they're not going to tell you the truth,'" said Achebe. This practice is called igo mma ogo —becoming the in-law of a deity; and it is a form of indigenous slavery. Achebe asks oral history collaborators to share their life stories without interruption: "I only interrupt if I don't understand something they have said. As an oral historian working to "get it right," Achebe acknowledges that scholars come into the research field with their own preconceived perceptions.

One of Achebe's field experiences involved a woman who insisted that Achebe represent her in the right way. What she said totally went against everything I had studied, and everything I knew. I'm sitting there thinking, I'm not going to use this interview because it just doesn't fit with my analysis. However, Madam Obayi forced my hand when she instructed me to turn the tape recorder off and repeat back to her what she had just said.

I did just that—parroting back to her all the information that I had heard, but did not believe. Then the most remarkable thing happened: Lady Obayi asked me to turn the tape recorder back on because I had shown her that I would represent her in the book that I was going to write, the way that she represented herself. But, what we do as feminist oral historians is to acknowledge that bias, and say 'this is who I am, and this is my baggage—good or bad—and the way that I see the world affects—for better or worse—the way that I understand the world.

I have also written an article on my field experience in the Journal of Women's History ," said Achebe. It took her about a year to write the second book. Achebe has a great deal in the pipeline. In addition to her faculty responsibilities and research, she devotes time to speaking to young people who study Things Fall Apart in school. And I have had a remarkable relationship with several high schools.

In some instances, regularly scheduled classes are cancelled, so that all students and faculty can listen to my presentation," said Achebe. One of my very favorite things to do with the students is to talk about gender in Things Fall Apart. As you know, I'm not a literature person, I'm a historian. October A major contributor to this article appears to have a nwando achebe biography template connection with its subject.

It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. October Learn how and when to remove this message. Background [ edit ]. Education and career [ edit ]. Scholarship [ edit ]. Grants and awards [ edit ]. Publications [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Retrieved 11 May Retrieved 13 May Retrieved 15 August Retrieved 5 September All Africa.

Nwando Achebe". African Studies Association. Archived from the original on 31 March Heinemann Books. Leeds African Studies Bulletin. Retrieved 27 May The Washington Post. Authority control databases. Wikiquote has quotations related to Nwando Achebe. Categories : Living people Nigerian women writers Feminist studies scholars Igbo writers American people of Igbo descent Nigerian feminists Nigerian emigrants to the United States 21st-century American women academics 21st-century American academics Nigerian women academics Nigerian women historians 21st-century Nigerian historians Historians of Africa American gender studies academics Michigan State University faculty Nigerian expatriate academics in the United States Feminist historians 21st-century American historians Achebe family American women historians University of California, Los Angeles alumni History journal editors births.

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Nwando Achebe. Chinua Achebe father.