Chinweizu Ibekwe (born 26 March 1943), known mononymously as Chinweizu,R. Victoria Arana
"Chinweizu (1943–)"
''The Facts on File Companion to World Poetry: 1900 to the Present'', Facts On File, Inc., 2008, p. 102. and also by the pen-name Maazi Chinweizu, is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. While studying in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

during the Black Power movement, Chinweizu became influenced by the philosophy of the

Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African Americans, African-American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The mov ...

Simon Gikandi Simon E. Gikandi (born 30 September 1960) is a Kenyan Literature Professor and Postcolonial scholar. He is the Class of 1943 University Professor of English and Chair, Department of English at Princeton University. He is perhaps best known for h ...

,
"Chinweizu"
''Encyclopedia of African Literature'', Routledge, 2002, p. 146. He is commonly associated with Black orientalism and emerged as one of the leading figures in contemporary Nigerian journalism, writing a highly influential column in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' of

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

. Masculists

Background and education

Chinweizu was born in 1943 in the town of

Eluoma Eluoma (or Eluama) is a town in Amawu, Isuikwuato, Abia State of Nigeria. It is the largest town in Isuikwuato, having more than 10 distinct villages. It also occupies the largest geographical space in the whole of Isuikwuato, and has the most var ...

, in

Isuikwuato Isuikwuato is a local government area in Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. This local government area falls under the Abia North senatorial district in Abia State, Nigeria. The name Isu-Ikwu-Ato translates from Igbo as 'three Isu families or l ...

, in the part of Eastern Region of Nigeria that is known today as

Abia State Abia is a state in the Southeastern region of Nigeria. The state's capital is Umuahia and its most populous city is Aba. Abia is bordered the west by Imo, east by Cross River, south by Rivers, northwest by Anambra and northeast by Enug ...

, located in the southeastern region of Nigeria. He was educated at Government Secondary School, Afikpo in

Ebonyi State Ebonyi () is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north and northeast by Benue State, Enugu State to the west, Cross River State to the east and southeast, and Abia Stat ...

, and later attended college at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT), where he studied philosophy and mathematics, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, the year of the outbreak of civil war in Nigeria, which lasted two and a half years. At the time living in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, Chinweizu founded and edited the ''Biafra Review'' (1969–70). He enrolled for a Ph.D. at the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public research university in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. The university was founded in 1846 a ...

, under the supervision of political scientist Claude E. Welch Jr. Chinweizu apparently had a disagreement with his dissertation committee and walked away with his manuscript, which he got published as ''The West and the Rest of Us: White Predators, Black Slavers, and the African Elite'' by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in 1975. He took the book to SUNY, Buffalo, where he demanded, and was promptly awarded, his Ph.D. in 1976, one year after he had published the dissertation. Thus, the publication settled his disagreement with his advisers in his favour.

Teaching and themes

Chinweizu started teaching overseas, at MIT and

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

. He had returned to Nigeria by the early 1980s, working over the years as a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

for various newspapers in the country and also working to promote Black orientalism in Pan-Africanism. In Nigeria, he became a literary critic, attacking what he saw as the elitism of some Nigerian authors, particularly

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

, and he was editor of the Nigerian literary magazine, ''Okike''. Chinweizu's notable intervention on this theme came in the essay "The Decolonization of African Literature" (later expanded into the 1983 book ''Toward the Decolonization of African Literature''), to which Soyinka responded in an essay entitled "Neo-Tarzanism: The Poetics of Pseudo-Transition". Among Chinweizu's other works is ''Anatomy of Female Power'', in which he discusses

gender roles A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gende ...

masculinity Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there i ...

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. Chinweizu has argued that the Arab colonization and Islamization of Africa is no different from European imperialism. The violent conquests, forced conversions and slavery perpetrated by European Christians were also perpetrated by Arab Muslims. In fact, the

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

and enslavement of Africa by Arabs began before the Europeans and continues to this day in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

and other countries in the

Sahel The Sahel region (; ), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a Biogeography, biogeographical region in Africa. It is the Ecotone, transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a ...

region. Recently he published a comparative digest that shows the parallel history of European and Arab atrocities against indigenous Africans. He has been critical of the popular illusion that Islam is free of slavery and racism.

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and Arabian culture are just as much foreign invasive forces as

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and European culture.Chinweizu
"Black Enslavement:Arab and European Compared"
, 2007.

Selected bibliography

Books * ''The West and the Rest of Us: White Predators, Black Slavers, and the African Elite'', Random House, 1975. * ''Energy Crisis and other poems'', Nok Publishers, 1978 * ''Toward the Decolonization of African Literature, Vol. 1: African Fiction and Poetry and Their Critics'' (with Onwuchekwa Jemie and Ihechukwu Madubuike), Howard University Press, 1983. * ''Invocations and Admonitions: 49 poems and a triptych of parables'', Pero Press, 1986. * ''Decolonising the African Mind'', Sundoor, 1987. * Editor, ''Voices from Twentieth Century Africa: Griots and Towncriers'', Faber and Faber, 1989. * ''Anatomy of Female Power: A Masculinist Dissection of Matriarchy'', Pero, 1990. * ''The Reconstituted Virgin and Other Satires,'' Serujtabooks, 2022
ASIN B0BN4Q1FNL
(As Maazi Chinweizu) * ''432 Centuries of Recorded Science and Technology in Black Africa'', Serujtabooks, 2023
B0BWYB96K2
(As Maazi Chinweizu) Essays * "Prodigals, Come Home!" (1973), in

Tejumola Olaniyan Tejumola Olaniyan (April 3, 1959 – November 30, 2019) was a Nigerian academic. He was the Louise Durham Mead Professor of English and African Cultural Studies, and the Wole Soyinka Professor of the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin–Madi ...

and

Ato Quayson Ato Quayson is a Ghanaian-Canadian literary critic and the Jean G. and Morris M. Dolye Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and English at Stanford University, where he is the inaugural chair of the Department of African and African American S ...

, eds, ''African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory'', Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. .

References

External links

"Chinweizu corner"
House of Knowledge.
"Afrocentric Scholar Chinweizu Dishes Some Hard Truths About Nigeria And Africa"
- Chinweizu in Conversation with James Eze. Nairaland Forum, 29 March 2012. {{Authority control 1943 births Living people 20th-century Nigerian essayists 20th-century Nigerian poets African and Black nationalists Igbo poets Male critics of feminism Masculism Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Nigerian critics Nigerian literary critics Nigerian male poets Nigerian pan-Africanists People from Abia State San Jose State University faculty University at Buffalo alumni

Background and education

Teaching and themes

Selected bibliography

See also

References

External links