Africa Is a Country

"The Somali Neurosis"

"The Somali Neurosis"

By
Sean Jacobs

Just watched this 14-minute clip from a recent TV profile by Norwegian television of a visit by Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah to the country of his birth. I never imagined book TV could look this good and informative.  Tradition, immigration, colonialism, exile, etcetera, gets an airing. We especially love how Farah steers the Norwegian interviewer’s questions about war, corruption and sadness towards the personal or familial.

The clip also includes an interview with Brit-Somali novelist Nadifa Mohamed.

 Here’s a link to a second part on Youtube (there’s some repetition though).

Further Reading

Writing while black

The film adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel ‘Erasure’ leaves little room to explore Black middle-class complicity in commodifying the traumas of Black working-class lives.

The Mogadishu analogy

In Gaza and Haiti, the specter of another Mogadishu is being raised to alert on-lookers and policymakers of unfolding tragedies. But we have to be careful when making comparisons.

Kwame Nkrumah today

New documents looking at British and American involvement in overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah give us pause to reflect on his legacy, and its resonances today.