On April 21st, the Center for African Studies and the Institute of European Studies welcomed Akua Banful. In addition to her position as an assistant English professor at the University of California, Davis, her scholarship has been featured in a range of publications and she is currently working on a book titled Constructing the Tropics: Literature, Climate and the Afterlives of Empires. The lecture entitled “Savage Landscaping: The Cultural Work of the African Interior in an Age of Empire” was presented to twenty-six guests. Banful examined two distinct fiction books – H. Rider Haggard’s She (1887) and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899)-- with a focus on how each respective authors’ lived and imagined experience contributed to an obscured and fabricated vision of Africa.
Banful contextualized these Victorian adventure fiction with the popularity of travel narratives. Publications from explorers such as James Cook and Charles Darwin captured the attention of a broad audience, with tales of new landscapes. Soon, these travel narratives fell out of fashion, and adventure narratives took a hold of imaginations. These newer works of fiction granted an inexhaustible world of adventure, appealing to the masses as a relief from the restrictive and troublesome qualities of metropolitan life. In adventure plots readers could fantasize about their innate heroic qualities, defy modern order and exert a moral authority over an ‘uncivilized’ Africa.
The story of "She" by H. Rider Haggard follows Leo, the principal character, in his journey to discover a hidden African city. There they meet Ayesha, a sorceress who has lived thousands of years. After identifying Leo as the reincarnation of a past lover, she demands marriage, but disintegrates into dust after attempting to make Leo immortal with magical fire. The descriptions of Ayeesha as a seductive and obsessive woman alongside local cannibals helped to produce a ‘savage Africa’ in contrast to the moral authority displayed by the European explorers. Additionally, big game hunting also helped to reinforce these narratives. Banful specifically highlighted its role in popularizing Africa, not as an unoccupied or unclaimed continent, but as a region overrun by fauna, flora and savage natives. Big game hunting ultimately developed as a way to exert dominance over the ‘wild bodies’ of Africa which needed to be claimed. This was evident in the spectacle of the hunt, as the thirst for the blood of big game was satisfied based on the rarity of the specimen. This led to wild expeditions that situated imperial masculinity on its accessibility of foreign places.
Heart of Darkness continues with imperialism as an additional component to the adventure narrative. As Charlie Marlow, the protagonist, explores the Congo river on his mission to retrieve Kurtz, a gifted ivory agent deep in the Congo. Kurtz chases power without moderation and spirituality, embodying the immoral qualities of imperialism. Kurtz’s insanity towards methodology allows for the highest ivory output, but creates fears for the company's stability. Banful gives insightful analysis on how Conrad perpetuates European moral influence as needed, but that morality can break down with men surrendering to the wild and becoming brutal figures, ultimately succumbing to Africa’s savageness.
Banful concluded the presentation by highlighting how both books are considered classic pieces of literature and that despite being works of fiction perpetuates a fabricated reality that misrepresents Africa obscuring geopolitical responsibility and promoting a seemingly boundless capacity for violence. The event finished with an enthusiastic sequence of questions which allowed Banful to expand upon contemporary cultural implications, morality, and the mechanisms of imperialism.