Author: Tade Oyebode

The “spirit” in Camara Laye’s “The African Child”

Tade Oyebode

I once blogged on the spirituality of the Yoruba people of South West of Nigeria (read here). As I read again The African Child by Camara Laye, it is very clear the same statement was true of the people of Guinea of his time. In this post I do a quick sweep of the the… Continue reading The “spirit” in Camara Laye’s “The African Child”

JE NG LO GBA TEMI by TAA Ladele and the Girl Child of South Western Nigeria, circa 1971

Tade Oyebode

This short post is about the first page of JE NG LO GBA TEMI by TAA Ladele, a book written in 1971. A work of fiction but I believe fictions always have some basis in reality. JE NG LO GBA TEMI can be translated "Let me have fun", "I want to enjoy this season of… Continue reading JE NG LO GBA TEMI by TAA Ladele and the Girl Child of South Western Nigeria, circa 1971

“The African Child” By Camara Laye: West African Spirituality

Tade Oyebode

The African Child was first published in 1954. The author was Camara Laye, an African immigrant from Guinea. who lived in France at the time of publication. The author was born in 1928. The first chapter of the book, the focus of this essay, was set at a time when he was very young, he… Continue reading “The African Child” By Camara Laye: West African Spirituality

An Incident at Bere Farm in Adebayo Faleti’s Omo Olokun Esin (Son of the King’s Horseman)

Tade Oyebode

In the Wikipedia entry for Kwasi Kwarteng, there is a quote about Black Lives Matter attributed to him that caught my attention: So within that time and geography there's a huge amount of variety, different cultures and different time periods and getting a sensitivity to that is hugely important and I think a lot of… Continue reading An Incident at Bere Farm in Adebayo Faleti’s Omo Olokun Esin (Son of the King’s Horseman)