That was an excruciating read! I can't imagine why other reviewers are so enamoured of this book! Admittedly, Kingsley was a remarkable woman for her That was an excruciating read! I can't imagine why other reviewers are so enamoured of this book! Admittedly, Kingsley was a remarkable woman for her time, but she is also a remarkable idiot when it comes to her so-called theories about "the African". By the end of the book, I had completely lost any admiration for this woman who did so many incredible things, but couldn't think an original thought to save her life.
So here are a few gems:
I own I regard not only the African, but all coloured races, as inferior - inferior in kind not in degree - to the white races ...
Both polygamy and slavery are, for divers reasons, essential to the well-being of Africa - at any rate for those vast regions of it which are agricultural ...
It is not necessary to treat them brutally, in fact it does not pay to do so, but it is necessary to treat them severely, to keep a steady hand over them. Never let them become familiar, never let them see you have made a mistake. When you make a mistake in giving them an order let it be understood that that way of doing a thing is a peculiarly artful dodge of your own, and if it fails, that it is their fault.
And as if the racism were not enough, she also brings forth this gem for our edification. I feel certain that a black man is no more an undeveloped white man than a rabbit is an undeveloped hare; and the mental difference between the two races is very similar to that between men and women among ourselves. A great woman, either mentally or physically, will excel an indifferent man, but no woman ever equals a really great man. What a moron!
Going in, I was quite prepared to deal with a lot of racism, and even quite a bit of sexism in the course of the narrative. I was prepared to overlook this. But I was not prepared to get hit over the head with blanket statements on the inferiority of non-white people and females. Nor was I prepared to sit and read for pages and pages of theorising about how exactly the different tribes are inferior to white people and who is better than whom. I wonder who died and made Kingsley god?
The problem with this book, unlike with many other authors of this period, is that Kingsley set herself out as an expert and dedicated almost half of the book to racist theorising, interjected with some choice bits of sexism and nationalism. Kingsley proses on about how best to exploit the area in white people's interests, more specifically British interests. She specifically advocates landgrabbing from the locals because really, what's the harm in it?
English Government officials have very little and very poor encouragement given them if they push inland and attempt to enlarge the sphere of influence, which their knowledge of local conditions teaches them requires enlarging, because the authorities at home are afraid other nations will say we are rapacious landgrabbers. Well, we always have been, and they will say it anyhow; and where after all is the harm in it?
What a fucking joke of a human being! By the end of the book, I thoroughly disliked this woman and wouldn't have hesitated to push her in a river full of crocodiles if I ever met her. But all this apart, the book itself is dry and hard to read.
One main problem is that there is no clarification of terms and concepts that are unclear to us in modern times. For example, the use of the word "Negro" is not clear at all. She uses it in a pretty non-racist sense (I know, shocking!) as a tribe name but it is unclear which tribe it actually refers to. Similarly, she talks about conflicts between European governments that are now merely a footnote in history. An annotated edition would make this book far more comprehensible.
Another problem is that the woman lies to make her stories appear more fun. One example is how she found cannibal remains among the Fan tribe. The Fans were never cannibals but the white people had spread these rumours in order to make it easier to enslave them. This made me question her every story and I couldn't really believe most of her "black people are so funny!" tales anymore after that.
The author's so-called humour began to grate after a while as it was incessant and necessarily included more stereotyping. The narrative also got pretty repetitive as she described the scenery endlessly as well as her adventures of falling and getting up. There is only so much interest in reading about someone falling into a swamp for the nth time. It didn't help that Kingsley believed in verbosity. I don't believe I am saying this but she should have been condemned to tell her stories on Twitter. That would work exceedingly well with her racism anyway!
I am very underwhelmed with this shit. But what do I know? I am neither white nor male nor English. I am just a coloured female dumbo....more
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