Let’s weave a story, beginning with a writer. Let’s call this writer Nyasha Hatendi.
Nyasha Hatendi is a Zimbabwean-British-American multi-hyphenate director, actor, producer, and writer. He is renowned for his role as Andre in Benjamin Cleary’s Swan Song (2021), his tenure as Scott in Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s Replicas (2018) starring Keanu Reeves, and as the author of the Audible Original series Sacrilege: The Curse of the Mbirwi, a horrific, speculative fictional account of a Black American family who travels to Zimbabwe in search of connection and belonging. Carrying with them secrets and family trauma, the Wallace family misconstrue the alignment of their intentions with their actions; therefore, leading them to a most gruesome demise.
Dashon hates his family; he says it himself! How is a trip to ‘Africa’ going to repair the discord and infidelity transpiring between his parents, and why should he be involved? He’s resentful, angry, and lashing out because there’s a pound of unsorted trauma weighing down his heart. Confused and annoyed by his little sister and the resort staff’s arrogant side eyes, while simultaneously intrigued and frightened by mysterious occurrences in the neighboring town, he begins spiraling as he attempts to confront the objects of his rage. At his age, resistance is normal, a desire for independence is normal, but this… isn’t normal. Once in Zimbabwe, he takes the opportunity to release his anger towards his parents, himself, and unfortunately, the sacred burial grounds that host a nearby village’s ancestors. He’d been warned by Solomon, his family’s Zimbabwean resort guide, not to desecrate the land, citing folklore of the Mbirwi, a vengeful spirit known for feeding on pain and grief, a caution he and his family throw to the wind mockingly. The events that ensued following his grave mistake are best described as violent, insatiable bloodlust.
While many understand Hatendi’s account to be a cautionary tale, I underscore the message as a social critique of the severed relationship between Black Americans and Africans as a result of chattel slavery. One of colonialism’s many goals was to sever the connection enslaved Black people felt towards their homelands, erasing them of identity through the criminalization of African traditions, languages, and personhood; thus, creating a new identity relative to western society and destroying kinship with their native heritage. This was in pursuit of a nationalist identity that would find Black Americans disconnected from their ancestry and loyal to the country of displacement. In the same vein, exploiting and advertising African countries as cesspools of poverty serve to encourage a desire for white proximity and the rejection of propinquity to Africa.
In his audio series Hatendi highlights the invisible effects of colonialism through the Wallace family’s actions. From ignorance and unfound stereotypes to blatant disregard and desecration of sacred ancestral grounds, it is abundantly lost on the protagonists that the onus of their folly has been placed on themselves, just as the blame is cast on Black Americans in reality when responsibility has been gravely misdirected. With reference to Carter G. Woodson’s The Miseducation of the Negro analysis, in which he discusses the modus operandi used to academically disenfranchise Black Americans and further distance them from communion with their ancestry, I found it necessary to discuss how instrumental these methods were in intentionally omitting African history from American curriculum.
If you’ve read last week’s Read, Rinse, Repeat entry on Foluso Agbaje’s The Parlour Wife, I made mention of the disparity I discovered while reading the novel. Set in Lagos during World War II, the story sheds light on the war’s impact on countries directly bruised by its fallout. American curriculum covers wide facets of the war from the German invasion of Poland to D Day to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which initiated America’s involvement, but it fails to mention that African countries played a huge part in the triumph over the Nazi Regime. The British empire employed taxation without representation on Nigerian women and ratified forced conscription laws in its occupant countries to supplement front line numbers. In conversation with my parents, who were born and raised in Nigeria, I learned of families from my grandfather’s generation who succumbed to poverty and of men who never returned home, never to be heard from again, much like the protagonist’s brother in Agbaje’s gripping historical fiction. Africa is omitted from the academic canon in many more ways than just this to defraud the continent and its natives of their abundant roles in the shaping of history. To engage with a broader analysis of this phenomenon, download and read my complete essay below.
Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin does amazing work of portraying Dashon coming of age in this audio series only on Audible. I wholeheartedly suggest that you make space in your literary queue to listen to this work of art. Listening to it is as if you’re transported into a reality as sound effects and imagery surge your imagination, taking you to the grassy safari of Zimbabwe.
If you’ve already had a listen, and perhaps even read my comprehensive essay, share your thoughts and ideas below. Otherwise, go take a listen then return with your bright illuminations! Like, share, and subscribe to expand our conversation. Thank you for reading!
P.S., if you’re interested in perusing Carter G. Woodson’s The Mis-education of the Negro, after which this analysis is inspired, please download and read below.
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