Introduction

M’baré N’gom is Professor hat is Spanish literature? In many ways this spe- and Chair of Modern Lan- cial issue of the Arizona Journal of Hispanic guages at Morgan State Uni- Cultural Studies begs the question. But it is not versity-Baltimore. An expert W rhetorical. We do not necessarily insist that Spanish litera- on African Francophone and ture is much broader than supposed, or that it may include Afro-Spanish literature, he some or all of Latin American literature, or that it may en- has written extensively on Equatorial Guinean litera- compass literature written in Catalan, Galician or Euskera ture and culture. Among his along with literature written in Spanish from northern Af- many publications are Diá- rica (Ceuta, Melilla, the Rif) or a growing body of works logos con (1996). written from (or in exile from) , the only African Spanish speaking country south of the Sahara and Michael Ugarte is Professor the focus of this volume. Nor do we necessarily put forth the of Spanish Literature at the notion that literature includes cultural artifacts along with University of Missouri-Co- “great works.” Indeed, the opposite of all these positions may lumbia. Ugarte is the author be argued eloquently: that we muddy already murky waters of books and articles dealing when we force these categories into the realm of Spanish with modern Spanish litera- ture and culture, among literature. It may be true that what we need is not more far- which is Shifting Ground: fetched connections and comparisons, but specificity, limi- Exile. He tations, the honesty to say, “That particular text or issue falls is currently working on a out of my realm of understanding.” book on ’s cultural re- Our intention in putting together this issue is not to lations with Africa in the answer the above question, but simply to reflect on it. And twentieth century. this reflection will, we hope, come to the fore as our readers begin to peruse the contents of the volume and perhaps stop to read an essay, interview, or discussion. To us, more impor- tant than that nagging question—What is Spanish litera- ture?—is the need to disseminate information on a tiny Span- ish speaking spot on the globe and in passing to expose cer- tain realities (imagined and otherwise) that do not receive

Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies Volume 8, 2004 108 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies

enough attention. As one of the contribu- square miles with a population of less than tors to the pedagogy piece points out, Africa a million. Located on the west coast of cen- is only dark because of the West’s ignorance tral Africa, the nation is comprised of two of it. Indeed, to fill the need for specificity geographic and cultural entities. The island concerning the realities of Africa and Equa- of (formerly Fernando Poo) in the torial Guinea along with their complex re- is inhabited by the Bubi. The lations with Europe may be this volume’s area called Rio Muni south of primary intention, a goal more difficult to and northwest of French speaking Gabon realize than may be imagined. Access to and is inhabited by the Fang. Spanish has been dissemination of Equatoguinean culture is the official language of Equatorial Guinea not easy. The publishing outlets are not only from 1778, through independence (1968), poorly funded but the distribution of their to the present, yet indigenous languages have also prevailed. The most widely spo- ken is Fang, the predominant ethnic group of continental Rio Muni extending into Gabon and Cameroon. The area’s first European arrivals were the Portuguese whose interest in Fernando Poo had to do with the exploitation of slaves, fruits, and minerals. In 1778 this island passed to Spanish sovereignty. In the eigh- teenth and nineteenth centuries, the Span- iards paid little attention to it other than as a possession providing free labor, coffee, and other fruits. There were, however, expedi- tions into continental Africa, and in 1900 the area of Rio Muni became a Spanish possession through a treaty with France. In the twentieth century, Spain began taking greater political interest. During the products is severely limited. When one adds dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera to this that the mere act of producing a cre- (1923-1930) and Francisco Franco (1936- ative work of dissent in Equatorial Guinea 1975), colonial administrative units were may land an author or artist in jail—the established to regulate activities in Morocco horrific jail (both real and imagined) of and the areas on the African central west Playa Negra described in Donato Ndongo’s coast whose duties would be to “foment the Los poderes de la tempestad—to say nothing culture, morals, and well-being of the in- of the shortages of electricity and clean wa- digenous people of the and ter, one begins to acquire a first-hand un- to insure their adhesion to Spain” (Ndongo, derstanding of the materiality of cultural España en Guinea 166). After the Spanish canons.1 Civil War, Franco extended his predecessor’s As we fill in the basic “social-studies” policy with the expansion of the Bureau of data, we point out that Equatorial Guinea Moroccan and Colonial Affairs. Ironically, is a former Spanish colony of some 19,000 due to Franco’s paternalistic policies, there M’baré N’gom and Michael Ugarte 109 was an economic amelioration: an increased We hope this volume will participate budget for health, education, and agricul- in a timely discussion among Hispanists and ture which bolstered the production of cof- non-Hispanists on the tensions between the fee, cocoa, and lumber. so-called developed cultures and those un- Equatorial Guinean independence in der imperial domination less than a cen- 1968 was followed by the dictatorship of tury ago. As is the case with the founders of Francisco Macías (1970-1979), which gave this journal, the contributors understand the rise to a coup plotted by his nephew, Teodoro culture of a given area to be multi-faceted: Obiang. The latter promised democracy, yet the high along with the low, literary texts Obiang’s rule (1979-present) has turned as not only embodiments of an aesthetic into an autocracy in which critics have been construction but also as telling indicators imprisoned, tortured, or executed. The eco- of cultural conflicts and tensions, images nomic decline, collapse of the infrastruc- including those in the communications in- ture and increased poverty bring us to the dustries, music, cultural representations and discovery of oil in the eighties and its de- manifestations of space. velopment in the nineties which has made Thus our first section, “Culture,” for the new arrival of the “first world” as we comprises a series of three essays on “ex- begin the twenty-first century—this time tra-literary” phenomena: the first is per- in the form of energy conglomerates such haps the most basic and provides a wealth as Exxon-Mobil, Triton Oil, and other of necessary information. “The -based companies. Today Equatorial Language of Equatorial Guinea” by John Guinea is among the poorest countries in Lipski (an earlier version of which appeared Africa despite the oil boom: the infant mor- in Afro-Hispanic Review 2000) deals with tality rate is 95 per every thousand births. the labyrinthine connections and relations Some Guineans have addressed these issues, among the variety of languages spoken in but many dissidents have been sent into Equatorial Guinea and thereby treats a exile or jailed (Silverstein, Liniger-Goumaz, great deal of related issues (anthropologi- Klitgaard, Nerín). cal, political, social, historical, ethnic) Some say that we humanists are ex- some of which will be addressed in the rest periencing an intellectual crisis due to the of the essays. Igor Cusack’s work on “Equa- erosion of foundational knowledge and val- torial Guinea’s Cuisine” and the politics ues. This issue of AJHCS represents not as of nutrition is anything but a guide for a much a refutation that we are in crisis, but prospective tourist searching for that an affirmation of the intellectual excitement country’s best and most authentic restau- (a renewed rigor) that can emerge as a re- rants; it is a fascinating study on how the sult of the questioning of old knowledge. nation’s eating habits are revealed to the Indeed, a series of interrogations are being world community. One might say that posed today by a group of social critics and eating as a cultural practice along with its theorists concerning perceptions and reali- representations reveal a variety of political ties of formerly colonial nations as well as tensions, especially in an area of Africa in the relationships between those postcolonial which many citizens are malnourished. cultures and their past colonizers (Bhabha, They also add complexities to the notion Spivak, Said, Appiah, Ngugi, Ashcroft). of national identity. 110 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies

Concluding this section on culture, Equatoguineans. The book is at once an Dosinda García Alvite discusses one of introduction to the culture and literature Spanish Guinea’s most popular cultural of this land as well as a collection of works products, the musical duo from Equatorial (poetry, stories, fragments of novels, essays). Guinea now living in Spain, Las Hijas del Given that Literatura de Guinea Ecuatorial Sol. Perhaps as much of a contemporary is by no means exhaustive, it gives the reader Spanish (peninsu- the impression lar) phenomenon that for such a as a “native” or ex- tiny country with otic one, Las Hijas a relatively small del Sol seems to population, ev- be Spain’s main eryone seems to source of knowl- aspire to being a edge of its former writer—compari- colony. Exotic, sons with Anda- sensual, and at the lusia or the U.S. same time socially American South critical, this musi- come to mind. cal group, accord- The names of ing to García Al- both established vite, has raised and young writers Spanish post-co- eager to make lonial conscious- their mark are ness despite cer- plentiful. One of tain criticisms. All the most impor- of these essays tant of these writ- signal the neces- ers was Leoncio sity to inspect Evita (1929-1996), manifestations of Self-portrait of Leoncio Evita Enoy, author of what a pioneer of the popular culture is considered Equatorial Guinea’s first novel, Ecuatoguinean from within that Cuando los combes luchaban (1953). novel with his culture. Cusack’s Cuando los combes pointed study suggests, as does that of luchaban (1953), a work that inspired other García Alvite, the necessary global connec- novelists of the same nationality to tell sto- tions with the politics of the international ries set in their land (Donato Ndongo, community. Beware, suggest Lipski, María Nsue, Tomás Avila Laurel, Joaquín Cusack, and García Alvite, of the knowl- Mbomio among others). Spanish Guinean edge we in the “west” are receiving, espe- poets also abound: Franciso Zamora Lo- cially in the age of cyber-information. boch, Tomás Avila Laurel, Ciriako Bokesa, In 2000 an anthology compiled by Gerardo Behori Sipi, Raquel Ilonbé. one of this volume’s guest editors, M’baré Drama, while not published or staged with N’gom (with Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo), the same intensity as poetry is not without Literatura de Guinea Ecuatorial revealed an its Guinean proponents such as Tomás Avila extensive body of literature written by Laurel and Trinidad Morgades.2 That the M’baré N’gom and Michael Ugarte 111 work of these artists and intellectuals is well telling indicator of the importance of the gaze disseminated or even recognized is another in Spanish Guinean writing both from the matter entirely. As we have pointed out (and point of view of the Spanish colonizers as cannot stress enough) postcolonial realities, well as that of the colonized. the machinations of the culture market, From colonial texts to the contempo- material hardship, and neglect on the part rary age, we continue our literary analyses of Spanish literary/cultural elites all contrib- by including two studies of the novels of ute to the “unknown quantity” (and qual- Donato Ndongo, arguably the most impor- ity) of Equatoguinean literature. tant writer of Equatorial Guinea today. The In the three essays of our section on essay by one of the editors of this volume “Literature” it is implicit that to speak of (Ugarte), “Postcolonial Exile,” serves as literature in the conventional sense when something of an introduction to Ndongo’s dealing with Equatorial Guinea (as with works, from his celebrated novel Las tinieblas that of virtually all African countries) is de tu memoria negra,4 set during the last problematic. Also important to consider in years of Spanish control, to Los poderes de these discussions are the definitive colonial la tempestad, the second work in a trilogy and post-colonial realities out of which that Ndongo is completing as we put this Guinean literature arises; thus if we view collection together. Poderes is the subject of the published creative texts of Equatorial the next essay by Clarence Mengue. An in- Guinea in purely aesthetic terms, we will tricate analysis of the language and themes almost necessarily miss a crucial component of this difficult novel, Mengue begs yet an- of the texts in question. (See both the sec- other question: was Equatorial Guinea bet- tion on pedagogy and the interview with ter off under Spanish rule—a question not Donato Ndongo). Indeed, this issue of as “politically incorrect” as it might sound. AJHCS merely scratches the surface of the It may be argued that the entire thrust of complex interrelationships among orality, post-colonial studies assumes that colonial- literature, and , but it’s a start.3 ism gives rise to a series of new problems in The first essay of our “Literature” sec- the aftermath of independence, and that tion deals with Equatorial Guinea’s colo- these newer global dilemmas are in as much nial literature and manifests many of the need of world attention as those prevalent tensions inherent in the interrelationships under colonialism. To end this section we mentioned above. This essay deals with the have concluded a meticulous analysis of figure of the mirror, “in all its permuta- Tomás Avila Laurel’s 1999 novel, La carga. tions,” as Montserrat Alás-Brun writes in Eliza Rizo, the author of this essay, raises her essay, “The Shattered Mirror.” Colonial questions about the ex-colony’s ongoing ne- writing must absorb the dominating culture’s gotiation with the colonizer on the very is- construction of the colonized and make use sue of representation of its own culture— of this construction in order to deconstruct that is, “who speaks for the object of colo- or in some cases perpetuate it. An essay that nization?” Rizo reads Avila Laurel’s novel takes postmodern literary theory into con- as an interrogation of a colonial ideology sideration, Alás-Brun’s is not only informa- that continues to represent the colonized tive as it makes us aware of texts on few lists subject, now under the disguise of the writ- of canonical “western” literature, it is also a ing of history and anthropology. 112 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies

Since our volume’s intention is to ing in their warehouses. See the addendum to spark thought and discussion on this seem- our interview with Ndongo in this volume of ingly marginal aspect of the Hispanic world, AJHCS. 2 we have included three items not in the tra- See both the Ndongo anthologies—the ditional category of essays: a round table one he edited with M’bare N’gom is more ex- tensive and more recent—for more informa- discussion held at the University of Mis- tion about these writers. Of all the novelists souri on the attempts (real and hypotheti- mentioned, perhaps María Nsue is the most cal) to incorporate African issues into the well known woman writer from Equatorial language and literature classroom. For this Guinea after the publication of her Ekomo. we included specialists in both Anglophone 3 Prof. Celine Magneché Ndé of the Uni- and Francophone Africa as well as experts versity of Zaragoza is now in the process of in Afro-Hispanic culture so as to initiate an dealing with Equatoguinean literature from a interdisciplinary dialogue through which theoretical perspective which concentrates on those of us in “Hispanism” might gain some orality. 4 pedagogical insights. A lengthy interview Michael Ugarte’s translation of the first chapter of Tinieblas appeared in Raritan, XXIII with Donato Ndongo follows, and finally a (2004), no. 5. remarkable dramatic text by Trinidad Mor- 5 We would like to thank Tracy Barnett, gades Besari with an informative introduc- Shalisa Collins, and Toni Rahman for invalu- tion by Kathleen McNerney and Gabriel able editorial expertise. Quirós Alpera, which manifests a unique recasting of the Antigone story from a Works Cited Guinean woman’s post-colonial perspective. Appiah, Kwame Anthony. In My Father’s House: All of the essays are followed by what Africa in the Philosophy of Culture. Oxford: we hope are useful works cited as well as Oxford UP, 1992. consulted lists and websites that incorpo- Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Hellen rate much cultural material necessary to Tiffen. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Con- engage in further research on this fascinat- cepts. New York: Routledge, 2000. ing area of the world. Again we hope that Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. Lon- the readers of AJHCS will be stimulated by don: Routledge, 1994. these discussions and perhaps even use the Evita, Leoncio. Cuando los combes luchaban: Novela de costumbres de la Guinea Española. material either in a future course or in 5 Madrid: CSIC, 1953 and 2nd ed. : present or future research. Centro Cultural Hispano-Guineano, 1996. Notes Klitgaard, Robert E. Tropical Gangsters: One 1 At the moment of this writing, Donato Man’s Experience with Development and Ndongo, Equatorial Guinea’s foremost exile Decadence in Deepest Africa. New York: novelist, has the advantage of being able to work Basic Books, 1990. in Spain. Yet he now finds himself without a Liniger-Goumaz, Max. Small Is Not Always job due to the closing of the Centro de Estudios Beautiful: The Story of Equatorial Guinea. Africanos in Murcia. The “personal computer” Trans. John Wood. Totowa: Barnes and he must use now to complete his work in Noble, 1989. progress is a model that most universities in Lipski, John. “The Spanish of Equatorial the U.S. would not even deem worthy of stor- Guinea: Research on la hispanidad’s Best- M’baré N’gom and Michael Ugarte 113

Kept Secret.” Afro-Hispanic Review 19.1 Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. Writers in Politics: A Re- (2000): 11-38. engagement with Issues of Literature and So- Ndongo-Bidyogo, Donato, ed. Antología de la ciety. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1981. literatura guineana. Madrid: Editora Na- Nsue, María. Ekomo. Madrid: UNED, 1985. cional, 1984. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage, ———. Historia y tragedia de Guinea Ecua- 1979. torial. Madrid: Cambio 16, 1977. Silverstein, Ken. “U.S. Oil Politics in the ‘Ku- Ndongo-Bidyogo, Donato, and M’baré N’gom, wait of Africa.’” The Nation 22 April 2002. eds. Literatura de Guinea Ecuatorial (Anto- 11-20. logía). Madrid: Casa de Africa, 2000. Spivak, Gayatri. “Can the Subaltern Speak?: Nerín, Gustau. Guinea Ecuatorial, historia en Speculations on Widow Sacrifice.” Wedge blanco y negro. Barcelona: Atalaya, 1998. 7 (1985): 120-30. 114 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies