A review by thatothernigeriangirl
The Education of a British-Protected Child: Essays by Chinua Achebe

5.0

The Education of a British-Protected Child is a collection of 16 essays that Achebe wrote and delivered during his lifetime and the first thing I took away from this collection is that Achebe had RANGE!!!
He wrote like an African elder (rightfully so) by imbibing lots of adages and relatable/everyday examples to drive home his points.

Although each essay was delivered at different events/ instances, you can pick out similar themes: one, Achebe was in a love-hate relationship with Nigeria ( he was its biggest cheerleader and critic); two, Achebe embodied Igbo/Nigerian/African pride in his life and writings; three, Achebe really REALLY disliked Joseph Conrad (largely because Conrad was the quintessence of how the typical problematic white man saw Africa).

Achebe also brought a lot of receipts in these essays. He didn’t shoot down biases and racism with mere sentiments, instead, he used their own words, people and history books, again, to thoroughly drive home his points. That’s another additional lesson I learnt from this book— to unlearn a lot of biases ingrained in the African history written by the white man. One account that stood out to me in “Spelling Our Proper Names” and “Africa is People”, is one found in the Portuguese history where a Bukongo king, Dom Afonso, who learnt to speak and write Portuguese in a very short period and forged an alliance with King John III of Portugal.

King Afonso then used these tools to try and stop the kidnapping and enslavement of his people by Portuguese sailor. I was shocked when I read this because for the longest time, all we’ve read in books is how “greedy Africans” sold their own people into slavery and this narrative continues to drive a wedge between Africans and the diaspora.
It is a classic case of blaming the victim for their victimization. If a remarkable king like Afonso strove to prevent the enslavement of his people, imagine how many other leaders across the continent did the same.

I highly — with emphasis— recommend this collection, especially if you’re African. May I just reiterate that Achebe really dragged Conrad for writing his ridiculous novel, Heart of Darkness?