The amputated memory: mothers Naja and aunts Roz: a song-novel

The Amputated Memory explores the ways in which an African woman’s memory preserves, and strategically forgets, moments in her tumultuous past as well as the cultural past of her country, in the hopes of making a healthier future possible. Pinned between the political ambitions of her philandering father, the colonial and global influences of encroaching and exploitative governments, and the traditions of her Cameroon village, Halla Njokè recalls childhood traumas and reconstructs forgotten experiences to reclaim her sense of self. “.An expansive, eclectic, and innovative novel.”—Women's Review of BooksA modern-day Things Fall Apart, The Amputated Memory explores the ways in which an African woman's memory preserves, and strategically forgets, moments in her tumultuous past as well as the cultural past of her country, in the hopes of making a healthier future possible.Pinned between the political ambitions of her philandering father, the colonial and global influences of encroaching and exploitative governments, and the traditions of her Cameroon village, Halla Njokè recalls childhood traumas and reconstructs forgotten experiences to reclaim her sense of self. Winner of the Noma Award—previous honorees include Mamphela Ramphele, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Ken Saro-Wiwa—The Amputated Memory was called by the Noma jury “a truly remarkable achievement... a deeply felt presentation of the female condition in Africa; and a celebration of women as the country's memory.” .An expansive, eclectic, and innovative novel. Women's Review of Books A modern-day Things Fall Apart , The Amputated Memory explores the ways in which an African womans memory preserves, and strategically forgets, moments in her tumultuous past as well as the cultural past of her country, in the hopes of making a healthier future possible. Pinned between the political ambitions of her philandering father, the colonial and global influences of encroaching and exploitative governments, and the traditions of her Cameroon village, Halla Njok recalls childhood traumas and reconstructs forgotten experiences to reclaim her sense of self. Winner of the Noma Awardprevious honorees include Mamphela Ramphele, Ngugi wa Thiongo, and Ken Saro-Wiwa The Amputated Memory was called by the Noma jury a truly remarkable achievement . . . a deeply felt presentation of the female condition in Africa; and a celebration of women as the countrys memory. Winner of UNESCO's Noma Award for publishing in Africa, this breakthrough novel draws on Liking's personal experience coming-of-age in Cameroon, West Africa, in the late 1950s, caught between tradition and modernity, family and the nationalist independence movement. Growing up in an extended tribal community, Halla is close with her powerful father, and she follows him when he leaves, even though he rapes her, and she gives birth to his baby. Later, supported by her strong grandmother, she breaks free, attends a missionary school, reads about the collaboration made by Cameroon rulers, including her own father, joins the anticolonialist resistance movement, and finds independence as a writer Werewere Liking ; Translated From The French By Marjolijn De Jager ; Afterword By Michelle Mielly. Includes Bibliographical References.