Jumping across to Equatorial Guinea in Nov & Dec

[Muphyn]

It's this time again when we think about our next stopover on our long Tour d'Afrique journey! Next stop is Equatorial Guinea, a small country wedged between Cameroon and Gabon.

Well, as for literature, I've managed to find a book on economic development (or apparently its failure to produce any development): Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience With Development and Decadence in Deepest Africa by Robert Klitgaard.

One review says: "Readers interested in economic development will appreciate the author's insights into the thinking and planning behind one ill-fated plan for economic revival. But the book is loaded with local colour that even those with no interest in economics will enjoy it for its portrait of a little-known corner of Africa."

Post your suggestions here!!

[Muphyn]

Ok, I've also found a novel (suspense thriller) Chromosome 6 by Robin Cook that's set in Equatorial Guinea - possibly not quite what people will want to read but I thought I'd post it anyway.

There are also a few academic texts on the political situation, economics, dictatorship, etc. Some examples are Ibrahim K. Sundiata's Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for Stability , Max Liniger-Goumaz' Small Is Not Always Beautiful , Randall Fegley's Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy or Michael Ugarte's Africans in Europe . They might be a bit dry and technical though, and probably hard to get your hands on.

[Marieke]

oh gosh! i thought we were going to eritrea next...boy am i glad YOU are the tour operator, muphyn!

that tropical gangsters book looks interesting...and might tie in nicely with our dormant foreign aid thread.

[[deleted user]]

I enjoyed Donato Ndongo's novel Shadows of Your Black Memory. His Wikipedia entry is here.

ETA: Easy to get ahold of, too.

[[deleted user]]

Marieke:

List of Countries In Africa

* Algeria (People's Democratic Republic of Algeria)
* Angola (Republic of Angola)
* Benin (Republic of Benin)
* Botswana (Republic of Botswana)
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi (Republic of Burundi)
* Cameroon (Republic of Cameroon)
* Cape Verde (Republic of Cape Verde)
* Central African Republic (Central African Republic)
* Chad (Republic of Chad)
* Comoros (Union of the Comoros)
* Côte d'Ivoire (Republic of Côte d'Ivoire)
* Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti)
* Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt)
* Equatorial Guinea (Republic of Equatorial Guinea)
* Eritrea (State of Eritrea)
* Ethiopia (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia)
* Gabon (Gabonese Republic)
* Gambia (Republic of The Gambia)
* Ghana (Republic of Ghana)
* Guinea (Republic of Guinea)
* Guinea-Bissau (Republic of Guinea-Bissau)
* Kenya (Republic of Kenya)
* Lesotho (Kingdom of Lesotho)
* Liberia (Republic of Liberia)
* Libya (Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)
* Madagascar (Republic of Madagascar)
* Malawi (Republic of Malawi)
* Mali (Republic of Mali)
* Mauritania (Islamic Republic of Mauritania)
* Mauritius (Republic of Mauritius)
* Morocco (Kingdom of Morocco)
* Mozambique (Republic of Mozambique)
* Namibia (Republic of Namibia)
* Niger (Republic of Niger)
* Nigeria (Federal Republic of Nigeria)
* Republic of the Congo (Republic of the Congo)
* Rwanda (Republic of Rwanda)
* Sao Tome and Principe
* Senegal (Republic of Senegal)
* Seychelles (Republic of Seychelles)
* Sierra Leone (Republic of Sierra Leone)
* Somalia (Somali Republic)
* South Africa (Republic of South Africa)
* Sudan (Republic of Sudan)
* Swaziland (Kingdom of Swaziland)
* Tanzania (United Republic of Tanzania)
* Togo (Togolese Republic)
* Tunisia (Tunisian Republic)
* Uganda (Republic of Uganda)
* Western Sahara (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic)
* Zambia (Republic of Zambia)
* Zimbabwe (Republic of Zimbabwe)

Arguably if Western Sahara is on the list, one should consider adding French Guiana as well.

[Marieke]

Shoshanapnw wrote: "Marieke:

List of Countries In Africa

* Algeria (People's Democratic Republic of Algeria)
* Angola (Republic of Angola)
* Benin (Republic of Benin)
* Botswana (Republic of Botswana..."

Thanks...I actually know all the countries of Africa; it's the alphabet I have trouble with! Lol.
We can do French Guiana when we do a diaspora tour, since it borders brazil. :D

[Andrea]

I'd rather do a non-fiction book than the Robin Cook book myself. We have lots of countries coming up with fiction choices.

[[deleted user]]

since it borders brazil. :D
:) I wasn't at all clear, was I? I meant in the context of the general reading of "countries" that aren't sovereign, but late at night I leave out all those connecting thoughts that demonstrate that I know that you can't read my mind.

[Marieke]

Shoshanapnw wrote: "since it borders brazil. :D
:) I wasn't at all clear, was I? I meant in the context of the general reading of "countries" that aren't sovereign, but late at night I leave out all those connecting ..."
lol that's even funnier. I figure with all the guinea's and guyana's and whatnot it's easy to mix them up. I double checked because I thought I was nuts. Makes perfect sense now! A diaspora tour might be fun, too, though... :D

[Chrissie]

What bothers me is that Equatorial Guinea is not on the equator, just near it. I remember that Guyana and French Guiana are in Sout America because they both end with ANA. Although Ghana IS in Africa. I have to make up all these stupid little rules to keep things straight in my head. But I love looking at maps..... and when I can't sleep at night I start placing out different states/provinces in a country or countries on the continents, instead of counting sheep.

[Laura]

Shoshanapnw wrote: "Marieke:

List of Countries In Africa

* Algeria (People's Democratic Republic of Algeria)
* Angola (Republic of Angola)
* Benin (Republic of Benin)
* Botswana (Republic of Botswana..."

Hey - Looks like one of the stops we actually made got left off - Congo (both Congos, actually)! Looking at this list, I hadn't realized how many stops on the tour I had missed - I joined when we were visiting the Congo (DRC).

[Andrea]

REpublic of Congo is on the list. Although, if we were actually going to use official names of the countries, it could get pretty dicey. I mean, Kenya is actually the Republic of Kenya and Tanzania is United Republic of Tanzania etc. Of course, we definitely don't want to go down that road:)

[Marieke]

Yeah...maybe we can do a bonus stop at Zanzibar, apart from Tanzania...
:)

[[deleted user]]

1. Oy! That's what I get for using other people's lists!

2. Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar, by Emily Ruete [Sayyida Salme], available free at http://digital.library.upenn.edu/wome...

[Petra X]

Shoshanapnw wrote: "1. Oy! That's what I get for using other people's lists!

2. Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar, by Emily Ruete [Sayyida Salme], available free at http://digital.library.up..."

That book was quite enlightening written as it was in a non-pc era.

[Muphyn]

If you have any other ideas for books to do with Equatorial Guinea that everybody might enjoy, let me know in the next few days - by Tuesday, Oct 5, would be great!

[Beverly]

I am also interested in reading Tropical Gangsters as it seems to discuss the geography and culture as the author travelled around as an economic advisor.

[Muphyn]

I've set up a poll for voting for the Nov & Dec bookclub read. I'll leave it open until Sunday, October 17! Be sure to vote and have your say!!

[Muphyn]

Alright... so, here's the announcement for the November & December winner! In fact, we have a tie so let's have two reads and people can either read both or one or the other!

Winner 1
"Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience With Development and Decadence in Deepest Africa" by Robert Klitgaard

Winner 2
"Shadows of Your Black Memory" by Donato Ndongo

Happy reading!!

[Marieke]

Awesome. I had trouble choosing between the two!

[Marieke]

Also, i wanted to confess some ignorance on my part. Until i read the blurb for Ndongo's book, I had no idea that Spain colonized Equatorial Guinea. I already have his book in hand...it looks like i'll have to order a copy of Tropical Gangsters; no library that I have access to has it in their collection...well, my workplace does but it's not available to me yet--still being processed. :(

[Muphyn]

*laugh* I'm glad you confessed your ignorance about Spain having colonised Equatorial Guinea - I had no idea either, so makes me feel a bit better! ;)

I suspect that most people will have trouble with sourcing either book; I'm lucky this time, my uni library has "Tropical Gangsters" so I'm hoping to get a chance to read it.

[Marieke]

Hi guys! I have Ndongo's book in hand but I have to order the other one. I was wondering which book others of you have started reading or which you plan to read first. Should I set up threads for both books right away? I'm also going to set up a news thread and a food thread. I'm super curious about this country since I know nothing about it. Do we have any members from this country or anyone who has visited it at any point in time?

Oh, and a reminder to those of you who won't be able to get either of the books--there is no requirement to actually read the book in order to participate in the discussions. In other words, if you want to post thoughts and questions, feel free to do so!

[[deleted user]]

I've previously read Ndongo.

[Muphyn]

I was going to read "Tropical Gangster" since I can't get hold of the other one. But I keep forgetting to get it out from the library... :( Hopefully I'll remember some time this week.

[Marieke]

I noticed that Ndongo lists tropical gangster in his "further reading" at the end of the book. Should we do just one thread and discuss everything there or two separate threads?

[Muphyn]

Yeah, that sounds like an excellent idea!! Let's do that.

[Andrea]

I've requested both books from the library, but may have to wait awhile to get them.