From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Apr 15 2010 - 10:36:50 EDT
See pics here
http://republicanherald.com/news/eritrean-author-visits-psu-schuylkill-classes-1.730847
Eritrean author visits PSU Schuylkill classes
BY DUSTIN PANGONIS (STAFF WRITER dpangonis@republicanherald.com)
Published: April 15, 2010
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Jacqueline Dormer/Staff Photos Alemseged Tesfai, a writer from the African
nation of Eritrea, spoke to creative writing students in Dr. Charles
Cantalupo's class Tuesday at Penn State Schuylkill in Schuylkill Haven.
Tesfai encourages students during his guest lecture.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Eritrean author Alemseged Tesfai said a lack of language
helped make his country vulnerable to Ethiopian rule, but now he wants to
use his writing to correct the historical record.
Dr. Charles Cantalupo invited Tesfai to speak to his introduction to African
literature and introduction to creative writing classes at Penn State
Schuylkill on Tuesday.
Tesfai, who is primarily a historical writer but has also done works of
fiction including plays and short stories, spoke about his experience as a
writer and contemporary African issues with both classes, which are
comprised mostly of freshman and sophomores.
After World War II, the United Nations federated Eritrea - which had been
under Italian rule since 1890 - with neighboring Ethiopia.
Tesfai said the Italians had made it a point to suppress Eritrean education
as much as possible, capping education at the fourth grade. Ethiopians
claimed Eritrea as a "long-lost province," Tesfai said, and his country
found it difficult to make a case for independence.
"Eritreans didn't have the capacity to express themselves," Tesfai said.
"The written language had not been developed enough."
The limited history Eritreans were taught consisted mainly of the names of
Italian historical figures, Tesfai said, and Eritreans relied on oral
traditions to learn their country's history.
Eritrea formally declared independence in the early '90s, after a 30-year
war, but Tesfai said the lack of a comprehensive written history of his
country means today's Eritreans take their independence for granted.
After many years of academic writing in English, Tesfai began to focus more
on writing in Tigrinya, one of Eritrea's official languages.
Tesfai is working on the final book of a three-volume Eritrean history
project. The first two volumes have already been completed.
"The reception has been positive and widespread, because this would be the
first time that such a coherent and comprehensive history of a section of
Eritrean history, written in Eritrea's language, has been accessible to
people who would otherwise not be able to read it previously," Tesfai said.
Existing histories of Eritrea, written from British, Italian and other
foreign perspectives, give the rest of the world an inaccurate view of his
nation, Tesfai said, catering to a perception of Africa as a continent of
"jungles, giraffes and monkeys." Tesfai said one common question he gets
from American audiences is whether lions walk around in city streets.
"You can't have a lion walking around on the streets of Reading or
Bethlehem," Tesfai said, drawing laughs from the students.
Tesfai said he would also like his history project to be translated into
English, either as the same three volumes or one summarized work.
"If these three books were condensed and then translated to one book, it
would change the course of Western understanding of not only Eritrea, but
the Horn of Africa," Cantalupo, distinguished professor of English,
comparative literature and African studies, said.
Tesfai said he had a visit planned for Penn State Berks on Wednesday, and
will travel to Ohio University next week. A few other trips are also in the
works.
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