Get A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt: An African Memoir PDF

By Toyin Omoyeni Falola

ISBN-10: 0472031325

ISBN-13: 9780472031320

ISBN-10: 0472114018

ISBN-13: 9780472114016

"A ideal coming-of-age tale so packed with shiny colour and emotion, the phrases appear to dance off the web page. yet this isn't simply Falola's memoir; it truly is an account of a brand new kingdom entering being and the tensions and negotiations that continuously ensue among urban and state, culture and modernity, women and men, wealthy and bad. a very attractive book."-Robin D. G. Kelley "More than a private memoir, this ebook is a wealthy minihistory of up to date Nigeria recorded in scrumptious aspect by means of a perceptive eyewitness who grew up on the crossroads of many cultures."-Bernth LindforsA Mouth Sweeter Than Salt gathers the tales and reflections of the early years of Toyin Falola, the grand historian of Africa and one of many maximum sons of Ibadan, the striking Yoruba city-state in Nigeria.Redefining the autobiographical style altogether, Falola miraculously weaves jointly own, ancient, and communal tales, in addition to political and cultural advancements within the interval instantly previous and following Nigeria's independence, to provide us a distinct and enduring photo of the Yoruba within the mid-twentieth century. this is often really a literary memoir, informed in language wealthy with proverbs, poetry, track, and humor.Falola's memoir is way greater than the tale of 1 man's adolescence reports; quite, he provides us with the riches of a complete tradition and community-its historical past, traditions, pleasures, mysteries, loved ones preparations, varieties of strength, struggles, and modifications.

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A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt: An African Memoir by Toyin Omoyeni Falola PDF

"A superb coming-of-age tale so packed with vibrant colour and emotion, the phrases appear to dance off the web page. yet this isn't merely Falola's memoir; it really is an account of a brand new kingdom getting into being and the tensions and negotiations that consistently ensue among urban and nation, culture and modernity, women and men, wealthy and negative.

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Nobody had warned them about what to expect on the streets of Ibadan. Perhaps no one ever told them that a marriage tree can be killed by its own fruits. The argument was now turning bigger, no more three separate points by three small boys, but two points made by two opposing forces. Toyin and Philip on the one hand, in alliance with their point, and Yusuf on the other. There should never have been such serious issues for ten year olds to argue over, but they found them. A fight ensued; Toyin looked on expecting Philip to win.

Then he remembers that he can use magic, but in panic he forgets the incantations. Before reaching the snake, he jumps, clever enough not to lose everything. The gourd breaks, the snake disappears. No one needs to tell me that E ku ise is not enough for this tapper or for others who toil in other occupations. Before the end of my first decade, I knew how to greet a tapper, a hunter, and a farmer, as one was regarded as uncultured for confusing them. A few years later, to be uncultured in the new circle of urbanites was to hold a fork with the right hand—the mechanics of moving food from the table to the throat became more important than moving the yam from the forest to the home.

Memory can be short; where death does not kill the man and his wisdom, old age will terminate the memory, incapacitate the brain, mangle the words. The ancestors came to life too early to be able to communicate in writing, as only their successors could write in Yoruba or English. They could have sought another medium if they had fully understood the importance of Arabic when it was introduced to them. With many of them running away from Islam in order to protect their ancient gods, it never occurred to them that they could take Arabic, together with the Time & Season 21 mullah’s long beard, and avoid the preaching of the Prophet and the sayings of those who tried, in various guises, to present and interpret the message, to use the Prophet from the desert to construct a new vision for themselves and others.

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A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt: An African Memoir by Toyin Omoyeni Falola


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