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piqer for: Global finds
Ciku Kimeria is a Kenyan author "Of goats and poisoned oranges" - (https://www.amazon.com/goats-poisoned-oranges-Ciku-Kimeria-ebook/dp/B00HBBWPI6), development consultant, adventurer and travel blogger (www.thekenyanexplorer.com). She writes both fiction and non-fiction focusing on African stories that need telling. She has worked on diverse pieces for various international and local publications including Quartz, Ozy, The East African etc. She has travelled to 45 countries – 16 of them in Africa. 153 countries to go and 63 territories!
"Of goats and poisoned oranges" has been extremely well received in Kenya and beyond. It tells the story of a Kenyan middle aged power couple and their complicated marriage. The novel explores issues of greed, revenge, betrayal and murder. It runs from the 1960s to 2013. It has been described as “Wicked, funny, poignant, wacky, human, a big ball of fun and danger”, “A unique and captivating book”, “Fun and intriguing”, “Impossible to put down once you start reading.”
She recently moved to Dakar, Senegal from Kenya to work on her second novel. She also works at as the Africa Communication Manager at a leading global strategy consulting firm.
She holds a B.S. in Management Science from MIT with minors in Urban Planning and International development studies.
A New South African Movie On Anti-Apartheid Struggle That Actually Has A South African Cast
It might not seem that revolutionary, but the fact that a new South African film on the anti-apartheid struggle has a South African cast, producer, director and author is no small feat.
The discussions around "gaze" when it comes to portrayal of different populations is an extremely important one. Who exactly is telling our stories, how are they being told and what gets lost when the story is told by outsiders? Sometimes even films with the best intentions struggle to tell stories in their full richness and dignity as the "gaze" they are being told through is that of an outsider.
I have suffered through countless films with words in Kiswahili that are so butchered as to no longer be identifiable. I have watched foreign films on my country, Kenya, which depict my people as two-dimensional simpletons who love to dance and jump, and whose speech is limited to grunts or mono-syllabic words. Our different cultures have been simplified to one or two anecdotes.
Perhaps I was never the intended audience of such films, but they remind me of how easy it is to misrepresent others and to make this misrepresentation the only story that foreigners have on unknown places and people. I am therefore always curious when I watch films of countries I don't know much about, or read books on such countries. I want to know who wrote the book, who directed the film, because this will obviously have an effect on the story told.
I haven't yet watched the film, but its rave reviews have fascinated me. Hopefully the reader will also look out for the film or, at the bare minimum, reflect on gaze when consuming media on foreign places.
