The Powers of Genre: Interpreting Haya Oral Literature Book

Language can be a bridge from one way of thinking to another person's culture, which is what this book provides. It isn't about clever puns, riveting plot twists, or flowing descriptions, it's about a culture that you've most likely never seen, told through the eyes of a man who is watching it crumble into dust. The language is basic English, probably 6th grade or middle school level, but it provides a fascinating glimpse into an Africa that doesn't exist anymore. It doesn't romanticize it either. People are killed in ways that modern Western views still find barbaric, but it's just a fact of life for this tribe, a sacred law. The white men that come later do things that are just as barbaric, and some try to enforce civilization in a way that doesn't seem so bad. The point-of-view turn at the very end of the book makes it for me... I won't spoil it, but it made me want to scream with indignity for a culture that was squandered. This book will make you see Africa in a different way, and you'll be better for it.