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Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, The (GA) January 21, 2004
Elaine Neil Orr was born in
Nigeria in 1954. Her parents were medical missionaries. She attended ninth
grade at Decatur High School from 1968-69, when her parents, Southern
Baptists, were on furlough. In 1997, failing health -- she needed kidney
and pancreas transplants -- pushed her to write her memoirs. In the book,
she writes about growing up in Nigeria and intersperses it with tales of
her medical treatment. In 2000, Orr received her transplants. Writing
about the land of her birth as she was being treated, she said, also
helped her heal.
Now a professor of contemporary literature and women's studies at
North Carolina State University, Orr spoke recently with
Journal-Constitution reporter Yolanda Rodriguez (yrodriguez@ajc.com) about
her book. Here are excerpts:
Q: You write: "What if outsiders had entered Africa with a true
interest in Africa instead of out of Africa? Ah, what a difference it
would have made." Talk about what that means.
A: The sentence is an allusion to the book "Out of Africa" [by Isak
Dinesen]. I am pointing to the pattern of foreign interest in Africa,
which is less focused on learning about Africa than it should be. There's
an impatience. Often because the focus is perhaps on natural resources or
human labor and not enough on what Africa itself already has and what we
can learn from Africa.
Q: What can we learn from Africa?
A: A primary thing is about the human community and relationships,
the land, our relationships with the land. That these core values --
history, connections to ancestors and tradition -- these are our abiding
sources of power. Not money, not individual gain. Not even progress, if it
means destroying or if it comes at the expense of the river, the forest,
the sacred grove or the family.
Q: We see so much strife in Africa. Do you see these core values
still coming through?
A: I visited Nigeria last January. It was a country experiencing
tensions between the Muslims in the north and the Christians in the south.
And there have been violent outbreaks, and people have been killed. It is
a country very much trying to recover from years of military dictatorship.
What I saw was both worlds. I still saw the world of tradition, where
members of the clan meet under an umbrella tree and try to work out
conflicts in the town. They try to do this by negotiation and consensus.
And at the same time, I also saw ravaged towns, cities [and] roads, where
people don't have the infrastructure for water, electricity, education,
jobs, hospitals. So the system is broken. At the same time, I think there
are very few people in Nigeria who want war in their country.
Q: Are oral traditions still intact?
A: Absolutely. There is great emphasis on art, literature, theater
and dance. It's not separated from life. You don't pay to go to the
theater as in New York. You have the theater right there. All those parts
of life are integrated. That is something we can learn. We have to get in
a car to go to any kind of artistic event. We have separated the arenas of
our life -- aesthetics, politics, economics, religion. In Nigeria, you can
have religious rites, weddings, dance, theater in the same space. In the
U.S., we build neighborhoods that don't even have sidewalks.
Q: What does the title "Gods of Noonday" refer to?
A: It's in response to "Heart of Darkness," [by novelist Joseph
Conrad] that conveys the idea of Africa as a place full of evil that has
been abandoned by the gods. My experience of Nigeria is a place where God
dwells and a place full of light. It's "gods" because the Yoruba believe
in one God, but they believe in many faces of God.
Q: Talk about your experiences when you were a student at Decatur
High School.
A: When I was growing up, I thought most of the world was Nigerian
and a small group were missionaries. But racial identifications were not
what shaped my imagination. I never heard a racial slur until I came to
the U.S. Decatur was a wealthy community. The white girls at Decatur High
School wore very nice clothes, and there were the African-American
children who were being bused in. I was outside any circle. The [racial]
tension was palpable. I had never experienced whites and blacks occupying
the same space as antagonists.
Q: Your parents were Southern Baptist medical missionaries in
Nigeria, yet your book is filled with references to the Yoruba gods. Those
gods seem to inspire you, heal you. What kind of reaction have you had
from your family?
A: My family has loved the book, including my mother-in-law, who I
would say is a conservative Southern Baptist. I have spoken to a lot of
Southern Baptists, including former missionaries, and I haven't gotten any
negative reaction. I'm not sure what that means. I think they like the
evocation of Nigeria. I think many missionaries who have been in Nigeria
know what I'm talking about is true. Nigerians who become Christians
maintain many of their own beliefs.
Q: Do you feel displaced now?
A: I really feel some days there is no place for me, that my tribe
is scattered across the globe and that I can't go back to life in Nigeria
because of family and because of my transplants. There is no location in
this country that will be as familiar as Nigeria.
Q: Are you a Southern Baptist?
A: I am a Nigerian Baptist. I have been touched by many gods or
divinities, and yet I believe in one God.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Elaine Neil Orr will discuss her book "Gods of Noonday: A White
Girl's African Life" at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Decatur Library, 215 Sycamore
St.
For more information, call 404-370-8450, Ext. 2225, or go to
www.dekalb.public.lib.ga.us/new/jan_auth.htm.
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