How I Publish Books That Might Not Sell

http://dlvr.it/T0nBVv

Writing Books That Don’t Sell

http://dlvr.it/T0Ywkj

African Americans and the Right to Return to Africa

http://dlvr.it/T0PWxQ

Speaking Gigs

http://dlvr.it/T0GvN8

Do African Americans Have the Right to Return to Africa?

http://dlvr.it/T06G1V

The Complex Relationship Between Africans and African Americans in Africa

http://dlvr.it/Szx7hX

New Perspectives on African Americans Moving to Africa

http://dlvr.it/Szd6Sp

Diversity Fatigue

http://dlvr.it/Sz3Ftv

Diversity Fatigue

http://dlvr.it/Sz34dZ

For Black Americans Reconnecting With African Roots

http://dlvr.it/Sz34Sr

Ununio Beach, Tanzania

http://dlvr.it/Sz34Mh

Invitation From SOMFAM

Fatoun Ali, founder and director of the Somali Youth and Family Development Center (SOMFAM), has invited me to a dinner fundraiser she is hosting on November 11, 2023, in Minneapolis. We met for the first time on September 30 at Maple Grove Library, when I gave a cultural diversity talk based on my “Chickens in the Bus.”

After that meeting, Fatoun Ali read my “Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences" and "Chickens in the Bus: More Thoughts on Cultural Differences.” She told me how much she liked them, and she wants me to bring them to the fundraiser and give a talk on African Time a topic I address in both books.

I welcome the opportunity to be involved with SOMFAM, an organization that helps immigrants settle and thrive in their new environment, as stated on its website:

You are an immigrant in a new country with a culture that is completely different from what you’ve known before. You struggle to find a path to success in America, but language and cultural differences create barriers to success. You aren’t sure what resources are available to help make success possible.

SOMFAM guides Somali men, women and youth in their efforts to build healthy, successful lives in Minnesota. Whether you have recently arrived or have been here for many years, SOMFAM can help. Our programs and resource center can help break down cultural and educational barriers while providing mentoring and support.

“Chickens in the Bus” Book Talk

 

For African Americans Moving to Africa

http://dlvr.it/StSjQP

On the Outskirts of Dar es Salaam

http://dlvr.it/StM9Mc

Reading Hemingway’s “The Garden of Eden” in Tanzania

On this summer trip to Tanzania, my beloved motherland, I brought with me Ernest Hemingway’s “The Garden of Eden.” I have carried it everywhere I have gone, including the  Ngorongoro Crater, where the photo you see was taken.

I am a great Hemingway fan, but I had not read “The Garden of Eden,” even though I have had a copy of it for more than ten years. Now I am enjoying this tale of David, a young American writer, and his wife Catherine on a honeymoon in France and Spain. 

It is pleasant to encounter, again, features of Hemingway’s writing that I have come to anticipate and adore in his novels, such as striking descriptions of landscapes and reflections on writing. 

Reading the “Garden of Eden,” I have been struck, for example, by how David elaborates on the idea of writing simply, which is a key feature of Hemingway’s own style. Here is the relevant passage: 

“Catherine had gone out in a raincoat after breakfast and had left him to work in the room. It had gone so simply and easily that he thought it was probably worthless. Be careful, he said to himself, it is all very well for you to write simply and the simplar the better. But do not start to think so damned simply. Know how complicated it is and then state it simply.” (p. 37)

IN THE NGORONGORO CRATER, TANZANIA

http://dlvr.it/Sstg9G

In the Fabulous Ngorongoro Crater

http://dlvr.it/SsjFWV

A Rural Place in Northern Tanzania

http://dlvr.it/SsXr0s

A Place for You in Tanzania

http://dlvr.it/SsQBWX

Mafunzo Kwa waMarekani Weusi Wanaoenda Afrika

http://dlvr.it/SrXr4d

A New Online Course for African Americans Moving to Africa

http://dlvr.it/SrV59k

A Course for African Americans Moving to Africa

Make Africa Great Again

http://dlvr.it/SqlDjK

My Culture is Weird, And So Is Yours

http://dlvr.it/Sq65H2

A Zambian Review of "Chickens in the Bus: More Thoughts on Cultural Differences"

Book Reviews with Marjorie Moono Simuyuni

2h  · 

BOOK: CHICKENS IN THE BUS: MORE THOUGHTS ON CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

AUTHOR: Prof. Joseph Mbele

GENRE: CREATIVE NON-FICTION

Chickens in the Bus is a sequel to Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences. It recapitulates and gives additional insight into the major topics of its prequel. Some of the new topics addressed herein are ‘Spare the Rod, Spoil the child’ and ‘Culture and Business Between Africans and Americans.’

This book expressly critiques cultural imperialism. In nearly every chapter, the author vividly illustrates how the western culture deems itself superior to other cultures, and how that does so little in helping establish inter-cultural understanding. The book gives practical suggestions on how to handle cultural clashes. For instance, in the chapter ‘Cultural Difference in the Global Village’, there is an account of how the author defused a misunderstanding between the American people and Somali immigrants in Faribault, Minnesota. What seemed like imminent danger to the locals turned out to be nothing. Cultural shock is common but sometimes its solution lies in amicable dialogue between parties involved or the intervention of a mediator. That simple act could bridge the gap between the two cultures, thereby establishing understanding.

One subject that was not explained at length in ‘Africans and Americans’ was given more depth in ‘Chickens in the Bus’. Sometimes it seems African-Americans assume they are the same as Africans. This is evident in some social spaces where they clash with Africans, when Africans assert that Afro-Americans practice cultural appropriation when they write about Africa as if they were Africans. While the former may call Africa home, because of their roots as it were, it could never be overemphasized that their experiences out there may have altered the nature of their Africanness, hence the difference between them and African-Africans. It is a subject that is well-explored in this book.

My favourite chapter is ‘Chickens in the Bus.’ The day I stumbled upon the book, I laughed at the title. It reminded me of a few encounters I have had with chickens on the bus. One particular occasion came to mind. The day I registered for voting in 2020, I did it at Turn Pike. Then I jumped on a bus to head to Lusaka. I had a class to attend at the University of Zambia.

As the bus sped on, I felt something tickle my calf. We were a little too squeezed so I assumed it’s just another passenger. I moved my legs without checking. It wasn’t long before the tickle came again. All I needed to do was peep below my seat to see that there was a goat and chickens there. My heart almost popped out of my head from terror. I lifted my feet at once, screaming, ‘Goat! Chickens!

The bus must have come from Mazabuka or beyond. There is no missing a villager when you see them and I think I was the only passenger from town on the bus. Some passengers were amused and others, you could see the offence they took. The lady sitting next to me literally rolled her eyes as she asked me if I was afraid of chickens.

See, I love goat meat and chicken, especially village chicken itself but no, I am not unafraid of them when they are alive and licking or pecking my calf on the bus.

‘I am terrified,’ I told the lady.

‘You don’t eat chicken?’

‘I do,’ I said, lifting my legs even higher. I placed my laptop bag where my feet should have been and placed my feet on it.

I sat that way for the rest of the trip and God knows it was very uncomfortable. I have seen chickens on buses but none of them had been so close nor had any pecked on me until that day so it left an impression on me. To find a book with this title piqued my curiosity, especially that it was written by a Tanzanian.

‘Even in Tanzania chickens are carried on passenger buses?’ I thought to myself. ‘Are goats too?’

It instantly became a must-read book and I was happy to receive it all the way from the United States, mailed to me by the author himself. I am happy I read it and I love it.

However, I am not very comfortable with how in this particular book, the author spoke of Africans as if they are homogenous through and through. In its prequel, there was a disclaimer that Africa was not homogenous and he laboured to give specific examples for his arguments. When he spoke of perception of skin colour in the previous book, he brought it home to his home country, and his ethnic group in particular. However, in this book, he generalized it to the entirety of Africa and asserted that Africans are not alive to their skin colour or race until they come in contact with the western world. This is not the narrative of my country, at least from my perspective.

Many Zambians are very alive to their skin colour, body size and shape, race and the commonest; tribe. While in this booklet, Africa is depicted as this haven where we all live and let live, it is an overstatement to claim it’s all over the continent or at least not specify (again) the context. Skin-bleaching is a common issue in Zambia, especially among the very people who haven’t lived outside the country. Some politicians even ride on tribalism for political mileage. This is the case even in some other African countries, so to paint the entire Africa innocent on this matter feels a little like an exaggeration.

The quality of the paper used for the book is okay but its white pages tend to hurt the eyes. Off-white or brown would have done the book better justice.

All in all, ‘Chickens in the Bus’ and its prelude, “Africans and Americans’, are amazing books that are worth recommending first to institutions of learning where Culture is taught, like the University of Zambia itself, and also to people who wish to go abroad, whether it’s between Africa and America or elsewhere. I also recommend it to anybody who enjoys a good read as much as I do!

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Are you a Zambian writer or writer from any other African country and would like a review of your book? You can reach out to me.

 

Laiti Ningesoma Kitabu Hiki Kabla ya Kuja Marekani

http://dlvr.it/SnG1kC

Samba Around Town-Chickens In The Bus Part 1

Orientation for African Americans Moving to Africa

http://dlvr.it/Smt72q

Gender Issues in Africa Before LGBTQ+

http://dlvr.it/SmjJ4R

A Message About the Maasai

http://dlvr.it/SmNkgP

Cultural Consulting for African Americans Moving to Africa

http://dlvr.it/Sm0s3v

Chickens In The Bus | Story Time | Cultural Understanding | Joseph MBele

Ujumbe kwa Swahilichurch, Minneapolis

http://dlvr.it/SlZGf9

Chickens In The Bus | Story Time | Cultural Understanding | Joseph Mbele

Another Cross-Cultural Conversation Between an American and Tanzanian

http://dlvr.it/Sl8Rw7

When Africans Call African Americans White People

http://dlvr.it/Sl4NvQ

Embracing Cultural Differences: A Book Review

My book just got reviewed in Insight News, a major Minnesota African American community newspaper

To African Americans Moving to Africa

http://dlvr.it/SkXLf5

Problems of Diversity in the World and the Workplace