MY PEOPLE, MY AFRICA

by Credo Vusa'mazulu Mutwa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 1969

Credo Mutwa is a witchdoctor who gave up Christianity (his current ""faithless spouse"" did not) who contends that the black man knows nothing about the white man or for that matter little about his own heritage and here fulfills the ""Chief's Great Blood Oath"" to tell the truth about the Bantu people. However difficult it may be to evaluate since at times he seems given to hyperbolic imprecations and accusations. In the early section he gives the Bantu variant of the Book of Genesis which stems from their first deity, the Tree of Life, and descends through the only survivors of the first people, Odu and Amarava. From religious myths and legends to wars ancient and more current, he also gives the particulars of his people's beliefs in symbolism, marital ritual and sexuality, medicine, etc. Since his former fiancee was killed by the South African police, bitterness against the white man (who thinks the black man is a ""born liar"" or a ""Kaffir"" -- i.e. soulless) streaks these pages; he repudiates the white man's ""sacrileges"" and his interpretations of their legends (particularly as manifest in their cave paintings); he also is militantly pro-apartheid (his designation) and ends with a threatening prefiguration -- ""All soon to be written in blood permanently on the highway of human history, all soon to be written in bleached bones on the desert of time."" All, along with this book, to be substantiated?

Pub Date: Sept. 19, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: John Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION