Your Chance to Review my Extra-curricular Work

In the world outside the college classroom and academic conferences, I am a cultural consultant, under the auspices of Africonexion. If you have attended any of my presentations, talked with me at a cultural festival, or used my books, especially Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, I invite you to share your experience at Public Reputation.

A Reader's Comments

Two days ago, I saw comments on Amazon.com by a reader of my book Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences. The reader, Ruth Ann Baker, wrote:

Learned some things I don't think I could find elsewhere. There is Lots of info on relationships and social etiquette.

I have cited the words verbatim. I wanted to acknowledge this reader and express my gratitude, as is my habit. I value the fact that someone took the trouble to obtain and read my book, and then to write about it in such a public forum accessible to the whole world.

As usual, I am gratified that this reader considers the money and the time she spent on my book worthwhile. I would have been crestfallen otherwise.

I have noted that this reader used the Kindle edition of the book, the publication of which I announced on this blog. I have been following, at both Kindle and lulu.com, how buyers are responding to this development in publishing technology.

Book Reviewed in "The Zumbro Current"

My book, Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, has just been reviewed in the "The Zumbro Current," the newsletter of the Zumbro Lutheran Church, located in Zumbrota, south eastern Minnesota:

Book Review: Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences

The Abner Haugen Library at Zumbro Lutheran Church has a copy of this extremely helpful book on cultural differences between Americans and Africans. It is written by Joseph L. Mbele, a Tanzanian scholar who currently is a professor of English at St. Olaf College. Anyone traveling to another country or continent would find this short book well worth reading. A few of the topics covered are: eye contact, personal space, gender issues, gifts, how “time flies, but not in Africa.” Both my wife Ann and I recommend this 98-page book.
-Duane Charles Hoven. "The Zumbro Current," October 2014, p. 7

More Good News About My "Africans and Americans" Book

I wrote Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences to facilitate my work of advising American students going to study in Africa. I was painfully aware that there was no book I could rely on for the kind of orientation I wanted for these students. I therefore decided to write my own book.

I am grateful that other people like this book. Lately, Elizabeth M. Cannon and Carmen Heider, professors at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, have written about their experience of using this book. In a recently published article, they discuss their experience of leading a study abroad program in Tanzania, including the challenges of motivating students and providing them socio-cultural orientation. They led the program several times, learning from each experience in order to improve the program. Here is what they did during the third year:

We also thought carefully about how to design our on-site class sessions to reflect our commitment to active, student-centered learning, and provide general guidance to our students. We decided to focus these classes on Mbele’s Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, one of our readings from 2008, because this Tanzanian author challenges stereotypes through the presentation of his cultural experiences. Before we left the United States, we divided students into four groups and assigned each a section of this text on which they would lead one of four on-site class sessions. On-site discussions focused on comparisons between Mbele’s views of Tanzanian life and students’ interactions with the people they met and the places they visited. Frustration was replaced with excited conversations. These classes shifted from tense obligations where learning was stifled to an exciting component of the trip where insights flourished (p. 68).

I am happy and grateful that the book is such a helpful resource for others.

My African American Readers

Writing Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, I faced many challenges. After publishing it, I wondered how readers would respond.

I was anxious, for example, about African Americans, because I talk and warn about differences between them and Africans. I even claim that African Americans are not African but American.

In due course, Shannon Gibney, a gifted African American journalist, called, seeking to interview me about my book. We did a phone interview, and she had sharp questions. Her review appeared in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. I was touched by Shannon's honesty when she disagreed with me, and both relieved and gratified by her endorsement of the book.

Another high-profile African American response came from the Minnesota Black Pages, whose 2009/10 edition featured a colourful, full-page endorsement of "this ground-breaking book that addresses the sometimes frustrating disconnects between African Americans and African Immigrants," noting that the book's "concise and easy style will provide the reader--no matter their heritage--the knowledge to overcome a great deal of miscommunication and embarrassment" (page 47).

Needless to say, these responses have lessened my anxieties, and I thank these African Americans for sharing their opinions so generously.