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Martin Banham & the Scandalous Leeds-Ibadan Connection

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Martin Banham & the Scandalous Leeds-Ibadan Connection The African e-Journals Project has digitized full text of articles of eleven social science and humanities journals. This item is from the digital archive maintained by Michigan State University Library. Find more at: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/africanjournals/ Available through a partnership with Scroll down to read the article. decades since Chinua Achebe played his part in exposing the James inadequacy of the colonialist Gibbs narrative by the way in which he recorded the decision of the Dis- Ibadan trict Commissioner in Things fall Apart to devote 'a reasonable Africa and played a decisive role in the paragraph' to the 'story of a 'inculcation of Euromodernism in Nige- man (Okonkwo) who had killed rian poetry.' Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa a messenger and hanged him- Jemei and Ihechukwu Madubuike, the self/ British writers, some of authors of the influential study, incorpo- them district officers, had writ- rate imagery and biographical details ten too many 'reasonable para- into their analysis so as to suggest graphs' about Africa, distorting Banham was a British agent working the continent's history for too against the evolution of a confident, many for too long. By the Fifties, positive and progressive African tradi- a shift was long overdue and tion of writing. The University of Leeds Achebe'5 voice was among the and University College, Ibadan, of the most eloquent of those raised to late Fifties and early Sixties are pre- write the new history. However, sented as institutions promulgating it is now appropriate to look at narrow, reactionary ideological dog- some examples of the anti-colo- mas, with students at the latter as nial narratives, and the cultural intellectual infants. nationalist narratives that occa- While it must be recognised that sionally accompanied them, to Wole Soyinka is the real target of the see how adequately they pre- three Nigerian critics, Banham (the focus sented events. This is a vast of my attention} comes under intense fire. topic, but my concern is very Chinweizu etal., 'out' him as an agent of narrow. It involves, as my title neo-colonialism and 'other him' as a indicates, Martin Banham and reactionary force. They regard the kind the links between Leeds and of work he encouraged as a 'poison', Ebadan. The intention is to as- and write: semble a variety of voices in A search for the fountainhead order to challenge some of the of this poison leads to an examination of over-simplification and mis-rep- the Leeds-lbadan connection, personi- resentation that has affected the fied in the roles of Martin Banham and writing of literary history in Ni- WoleSoyinka. (Chinweizu, etal.: 1980, geria. 196,} According to the book which I want to use the points made in prompted my title, Toward The Decolonisation as awayintopresenting Decolonization ofAfrican Literature (here- a quick sketch of Banham from the mid- after Decolonisation), Martin Banham Fifties to the early Sixties. In the process, was a reactionary influence in West I shall challenge several of the African Quaru on the Arts Vol 2/No 3 assumptions made by Chinweizu and his collaborators, and draw attention to some of the problems involved in writing literary history. I hope to setthe assertions made in Decolonisation against the evidence provided by Banham's writing and against statements made by African writers. First, more about the 'fountainhead of the poison'. The triumvirate of authors of Decolonisation continue from the sentence quoted above with information and images that repay examination. A lengthy quote but an important In 1954 Soyinka left Ibadan and proceeded to the University of Leeds to complete his undergraduate studies. There he was a contemporary of Martin Banham who was then working for his MA. in October, }956, Martin Banham joined the English Department at the University of Ibadan, and during the following schoolyearhe, in his own words, 'persuaded (the undergraduates) to start a smallcydostyled verse Professor Martin Banham of Leeds University magazine,' The Horn, under the founding editorship of j.P. (middle) at the Theatre for Development Clark. workshop in Ibadan For the next several years, the pages of The Horn would These, however, are relatively minor points. Of greater serve as the weaning ground forthe mostprominent members interest is the unjustified and tendentious tone of the passage. of the Ibadan-Nsukka school of poetry. Soyinka on his return I object, for example, to 'weaningground,' and'indoctrinating from Leeds in I 960 used the pages of The Horn to publish both pilgrimages.' And I note the way in which the ideas embodied poetry and assorted pieces of cultural propaganda. Several in these inaccurate expressions reappear. For instance, we lesser members of the Ibadan-Nsukka school would make their encounter references to'(weaning) the poets away from,' to appearance in The Horn and also make their indoctrinating 'assorted pieces of cultural propaganda,'and'to indoctrinate pilgrimages to Leeds at various points in their careers. Thus, them/The impression created is that African poets were both the ieeds-lbadan conduit of ideas, and the magazine babies who came under the sway of propaganda agents through which its influence was most sharply brought to bear skilled in the arts of waging a war for cultural domination. This upon a coterie of nascent poets and critics, deserves serious is patronising towards the African writers, and the passage examination. creates a mischievously inaccurate portrait of Banham, the The two principal impacts of tutelage on The Horn are University he attended, the University College he was easily traced in the records. They are (1) the dominant employed to teach, and his colleagues. cultivation of England's poetic tradition, especially the In the pages that follow, I want, while dallying on anglomodernist sensibility and mannerism; (2) a determined occasions to point out career developments, to look at fight to wean the poets away from any stirring of African Banham at Leeds, and to examine the young lecturer's nationalist consciousness and to indoctrinate them with a research interests while in his first teaching post. I will go over universaiist-individualist outlook (Chinweizu etai: 1980, 196- his involvement with The Horn, and examine the charges 7} levelled against him. Thisdiscussion will take me through some There are statements in this passage that might eight pages of Decolonisation, and will continue up to the confuse: at Leeds, Soyinka did a full undergraduate degree reference to Wole Soyinka being parachuted in (I960) from - he did not'complete' a degree already embarked on, and Leeds and the Royal Court Theatre... and (going) into action Banham did not take up a post at 'the University of Ibadan' to flush out and swat the remnant of the native resistance to since the institution did not exist. He was employed by Anglo-Saxon pseudo-universalism. 'University College, Ibadan1 that only subsequently became a I have already engaged in a controversy with fully-fledged university. Chinweizu over those lines and the paragraphs that follow. African Quarterly on the Arts Vol 2/No. 3 GLENDORA.V (Union News, 4 March 1955, p. 1) The interest of this paragon were not con- fined to student politics, and the following month found him reviewing'A Mighty Othello,'(Union News, 29 April 1955, p. 2) This provoked a rejoinder by Roderick Knight, and the follow- ing month Banham waded back ('calm and unruffled') into the con- troversy with 'Othello Discords'. (Union News, 13 May 1955, p. 6) He was clearly a man of ideas with an interest in The famous West Yorkshire Playhouse, Quarry the theatre, and a critic Hill, Leeds with opinions he was prepared to defend. Banham was a member of the Rag Committee and, not (Chinweizu: 1 986 a, b; Gibbs: 1 986 a, b) Here my concern is surprisingly given his theatrical interests, part of the 'admi- with the presentation of Martin Banham. rable team' that was responsible for the 1 955 Rag Revue, a 'Magnificent Production.' (Union News, 20 September 1955, Martin Banham at Leeds, p2.) Incidentally, the full production line-up consisted of 'the some glimpses Misses Buckle, Bear, Goldring and Statman and Messers Banham was a student of English at Leeds during a Banham, Cryer, Gill, Green, Robinson andTate. 'Cryer', Barry period of considerable excitement. The staff of the English Cryer, made distinctive contributions to Leeds Rag Revues for Department was particularly stimulating, the presence of several years and his wit has been enjoyed, mostly thanks to Bonamy Dobree, Arnold Kettle and George Wilson Knight radio programmes, by generations of listeners. A photograph ensuring lively controversy rather than comfortable orthodoxy. taken during Rag Week 1955 show Banham collecting Undergraduate life offered variety and creativity: student money for rag with a member of an earlier generation of elections were hard fought, the Theatre Group pioneered broadcasters, Wilfred Pickles. (Union News, 4 October productions of adventurous continental work, during Ragg 1955, p. 1) Week the carnivalesque annually erupted into the streets of the During the Autumn of 1955, Banham was part of a post-war city, and the debating society ensured that every different kind of team, one that defeated a Hull University idea was dissected-before being voted on. In this community, debating squad that included Roy Hattersley, (Union News, Martin Banham was a busy, prominent, and appreciated 11 November 1955.) Two months later an item entitled student. 'Debaters win again' indicated the future professor's move When, at the beginning of 1 955, he stood for the post from the local derby towards national competition. The of 'Junior Vice-President', Alan Smith a notable debater, student paper reported that: confidently and eloquently recommended him to the student Mr. Alan Smith and Mr. Martin Banham, well-known electorate: figures in the Union and regular speakers for the Debating Martin Banham is the embodiment of reliability.
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