Married But Available

B. Nyamnjoh

Description

Married But Available ventures into a theme about which people say as much as they withhold. It explores intersections between sex, money and power, challenging orthodoxies, revealing complexities and providing insights into the politics and economics of relationships. During six months of fieldwork in Mimboland, Lilly Loveless, a Muzungulander doctoral student in Social Geography, researches how sex shapes and is shaped by power and consumerism in Africa. The bulk of her research takes place on the outskirts of the University of Mimbo, an institution where nothing is what it seems. Through her astounding harvest of encounters, interviews, conversations and observations, the reader gets a captivating glimpse into the frailty and resilience of human beings and society. Lilly Loveless comes out of it all well and truly baptized. And so does the reader!

Sujets

• Fiction
• Sexualité

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9789956715831
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

MARRIED BUT AVAILABLE FRANCIS B. NYAMNJOH
“T is is perhaps Francis Nyamnjoh’s boldest and most ambitious novel
yet…. His writings are pushing the boundaries of discourse in literary
and scholarly fi elds.”
- Dr Wangui wa Goro, Critic and Translator
Married But Available ventures into a theme about which people say as much
as they withhold. It explores intersections between sex, money and power,
challenging orthodoxies, revealing complexities and providing insights into
the politics and economics of relationships. During six months of fi eldwork
in Mimboland, Lilly Loveless, a Muzungulander doctoral student in Social
Geography, researches how sex shapes and is shaped by power and consumerism
in Africa. T e bulk of her research takes place on the outskirts of the University of
Mimbo, an institution where nothing is what it seems. T rough her astounding
harvest of encounters, interviews, conversations and observations, the reader gets
a captivating glimpse into the frailty and resilience of human beings and society.
Lilly Loveless comes out of it all well and truly baptized. And so does the reader!
Francis B. Nyamnjoh has taught Sociology, Anthropology and Communication
Studies at universities in Cameroon, Botswana and South Africa. He is currently
Head of Publications with the Council for the Development of Social Science
Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar, Senegal.
Cover Design: Abidemi Olowonira
Langaa Research and Publishing
Common Initiative Group
P.O. Box 902 Mankon
Bamenda
North West Province
Cameroon
6.00 x 9.00 6.00 x 9.00.837TitlesbyLangaa RPCIG
FrancisBNyamnjoh SusanNkwentieNde
StoriesfromAbakwa Precipice
MindSearching
TheDisillusionedAfrican FrancisBNyamnjoh&RichardFonteh
TheConvert Akum
SoulsForgotten TheCameroonGCECrisis:ATestof
MarriedButAvailable AnglophoneSolidarity
DibussiTande JoyceAshuntantang&DibussiTande
NoTurningBack.PoemsofFreedom1990-1993 TheirChampagnePartyWillEnd!Poemsin
HonorofBateBesong
KangsenFekaWakai
FragmentedMelodies RosemaryEkosso
TheHouseofFallingWomen
NtemfacOfege
Namondo.ChildoftheWaterSpirits PeterkinsManyong
HotWaterfortheFamousSeven GodthePolitician
EmmanuelFruDoh JohnPercival
NotYetDamascus The1961CameroonPlebiscite:Choiceor
TheFireWithin Betrayal
ThomasJing Albert Azeyeh
TaleofanAfricanWoman ReussiteScolaire,FailliteSociale:Généalogie
mentaledelacrisedel’AfriqueNoire
PeterWutehVakunta Francophone
GrassfieldsStoriesfromCameroon
GreenRape:PoetryfortheEnvironment AloysiusAjabAmin&Jean-LucDubois
MajungaTok:PoemsinPidginEnglish CroissanceetDeveloppementAuCameroun:
CryMyBelovedAfrica D`unecroissanceéquilibréeàundeveloppement
éequitable
Ba'bilaMutia
CoilsofMortalFlesh LukeEnendu&BabsonAjibade
MasqueradeTraditions
KehbumaLangmia
TitabetandtheTakumbeng CarlsonAnyangwe
ImperialisticPoliticsinCameroun:
VictorElameMusinga&RoselyneM.Jua Resistance&theInceptionoftheRestorationof
TheBarn theStatehoodofSouthernCameroons
TheTragedyofMr.NoBalance
BillF.Ndi
NgessimoMatheMutaka K`Cracy,TreesintheStormandOtherPoems
BuildingCapacity:UsingTEFLandAfrican
languagesasdevelopment-orientedliteracytools KathrynToure,ThereseMungahShalo
Tchombe&ThierryKarsenti
MiltonKrieger ICT&ChangingMindsetsinEducation
Cameroon'sSocialDemocraticFront:ItsHistory
andProspectsasanOppositionPoliticalparty, ExcelTseChinepoh&NtemfacA.N.Ofege
1990-2011 TheAdventuresofChimangwe
SammyOkeAkombi Alobwed’Epie
TheRapedAmulet TheDayGodBlinked
TheWomanWhoAtePython&OtherStories
BewaretheDrives:BookofVerseMarried But Available
FrancisB.Nyamnjoh
LangaaResearch&PublishingCIG
Mankon, BamendaPublisher:
LangaaRPCIG
(LangaaResearch&PublishingCommonInitiativeGroup)
P.O.Box902Mankon
Bamenda
NorthWestProvince
Cameroon
[e-mail]
www.langaapublisher.com
DistributedoutsideN.AmericabyAfricanBooksCollective
[e-mail]
www.africacollective.com
DistributedinN.AmericabyMichiganStateUniversityPress
[e-mail]
www.msupress.msu.edu
ISBN:9956-558-27-3
©FrancisB.Nyamnjoh2009
Firstpublished2009
DISCLAIMER
Allviewsexpressedin thispublicationarethoseoftheauthoranddonotnecessarily
reflecttheviewsofLangaaRPCIG.Toallthosewhocontributeknowinglyandunknowingly…1
illyLovelesssatstaringatherGmailinbox,onacoldwintermorningin
Muzunguland. Unlike other days, she had come in earliest of all theLpostgraduate studentsattheMuzunguland AfricanStudies Institute at
Bruhlville, because she was expecting an urgent email. Her co-supervisor in
LivingstonetownhadpromisedherthecontactdetailsofanAfricancolleague
attheUniversityofMimbowhereshewasseekingaffiliationtodofieldwork
forherPhDon‘Sex,PowerandConsumerisminAfrica.’Shewasexcitedand
relieved,nowthatherresearchproposalhadbeensuccessfullydefendedand
the way cleared for her to undertake her second African visit. The Ethics
Committeehadgivenheratoughtimeandaskedgrillingquestionsaboutthe
dangersofvoyeurismposedbyherproposedstudy,butsheeventuallysailed
throughreassuringly.
Funding had been secured from the Ministry of Cooperation, the
Royal Aids Foundation and the Michel Foucault Institute for the Study of
SexualityandPower.Ridinghighonheraccomplishmentsandbubblingwith
prospects,LillyLovelesswassettogo.
Allsheneededwasaletterofaffiliation:thesefamousletterswithout
which, so shehadbeen told,Muzungulandersfinditimpossible topenetrate
the bureaucracies of African ministries of research. ‘Nopermit, noresearch’,
that’sthemaxim.Withoutaletterofaffiliationshecouldn’tevenaspiretoget
avisafromtheEmbassyofMimboland,thecountrytiedtothegrantsshehad
received. She had tried persuading the consular officer. This might have
worked,hadshenot,mostregrettably,boastedthatshewasafterallinjecting
millionsofMimdollarsintothe strugglingMimboeconomy, so“Whyallthe
fuss?” Her attitude seemed to have toughened the resolve of the consular
officer, who came short of screaming: “Forget your bloody money,
arrogant…!” Now she knew only a letter of affiliation from Dustbin’s
collaborator at the University of Mimbo, bearing all the stamps and seals of
approval,coulddeliverhervisa.
She recalled reading, in Nigel Barley’s Innocent Anthropologist,of
similar experiences the author had had with the embassy of another African
country, not too dissimilar to Mimboland. She stood up and looked through
her bookshelf for the book, opened the relevant page, which she had
dogearedfromherundergraduateAnthropologyyearsandread.
How similar in their indifference to progress African countries are!
And how insensitive to the need to protect even their own self-interest! To
discourage potential visitors with such attitudes of callous indifference was
worse than shooting oneself in the foot. Little had changed for the better,
muchfortheworse.
Her experience of Africa was limited though, very limited. Apart
from the masses of books she had read, books written mostly by
Muzungulanders and by Africans whose knowledge of their continent was
like a river humbled by the dry season, Lilly Loveless had had only a short
two-weekholidayexperienceofthelovelybeachesofSunsandland,oneofthe
mostexotic,excitingwondersofthetropics,dreamsofwhichhavekeptmany
aMuzungulandergoing.
Theemaileventuallycamethrough.LillyLovelessclickedandread:
1Dear Lilly, the contact details of my Mimboland colleague whom I
insistyoumeetashehassimilarresearchinteresttoyoursare:
DrWisemanLovemore
DepartmentofSocialWork
UniversityofMimbo,Mimboland
Email:[e-mail]
DrWisemanLovemore isa fascinatingandaccommodating fellowwhomIam
sureyouwilllike.Heisn’texactlyinternationalin termsofGoogle,buthe isan
intelligent man with solid convictions. I cannot locate his cell number, but his
emailaddressshould suffice.Justemailhimyour traveldetails,andifyou are
lucky and he checks his mail, which unfortunately he doesn’t do often, he
would most certainly go to fetch you at the airport. If you miss him for
whateverreason,simply makeyourway to the universitycampusuponarrival
– some 40 to 50 minutes away by taxi, in Puttkamerstown. Ask the first
person you meet, and you should be taken to the Department of Social Work
whereLovemoreisassolidasanoakandtheeasiestpersontofind.
Safetripandenjoyyourfieldwork.
Best
Dustbin
LillyLovelessstartedtypingimmediately.
DearDrWisemanLovemore,
My name is Lilly Loveless. I am a student reading Social Geography
at the Muzunguland African Studies Institute, Bruhlville. I am writing to you
aboutthe research I’d like to carry outfor my PhD over the nextsix months in
Mimboland. I am writing courtesy of Professor Dustbin Olala, who has
pressed me to contact you. Given your expertise on the subject I’d like to
work on, I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts now and once I am on
the ground. In a nutshell, I shall be investigating changing sexuality and
power relations occasioned by growing obsession with material possessions
and the desire to consume Muzungu products in a context of screaming
poverty.
I