In a few hours I will be setting off for nine months in Nigeria. In opportunistic anticipation of geographic displacement, I have gleefully abandoned many email lists and so taken a giant step in addressing my growing technophobia. My inbox finally lean after many years of too many messages, I have enthusiastically (if cautiously) set up my first blog. Rather than sending mass emails, which for some reason do my head in, this is my chosen way to share my travel stories over the next months. (One of the reasons I don't like mass emails is that I always have the feeling I've forgotten to include someone. If you hear anyone say they haven't heard from me in awhile and would like to, please pass on this url :) Nigeria can have some very inconsistent power and internet supplies, so I don't know how often I will be able to post updates. Whether or not you've heard from me, though, I would love to read your comments either here or by email to the usual address (now emptied and ready to be filled again....)
A note on my blog's address: In college I took two years of Yoruba language study, for which myself and my fellow students were instructed to find a name. With the help of my wonderfully wise and buoyant teacher Frank, I chose the rather uncommon name Eniitan -- 'person of history, person of stories.' Unfortunately, I rarely pronounce it properly -- ah the tragic humour of appropriation! Oyinbo is the word for 'white person.' Its etymology traces back to the early precolonial arrival of Portuguese slave traders -- O (he) yin (fires) bo (boom!). This is the heritage I carry with me -- kin to the people who brought the guns.
I plan to spend my first week or so in Lagos, the city where I lived as a kid. Time to rest, adjust and enjoy being there for a wee while before starting to sniff out the research trail. Now that I'm all grown up, I'm excited to explore the internationally famous club dancing scene in the city. I am fortunate to have a great, longstanding friend in Lagos who just happens to be a musician, actor and dancer! So just picture me pounding away to poppy highlife beats until you hear from me again...
1 comment:
Hallo there -- Harry here. Glad you'll be making posts here; it'll be nice to be updated of your travels! I hope things go wonderfully for you.
Collecting new names is one of the nicest things about real travel. My adoptive family in Vanuatu, where I lived for a year or so, called me Tabiusu, which means, among other things "lookout" and "the person who gets to things first". A zetigeist-chaser, then -- I always found that funny.
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