African, African & Middle Eastern 

During his lifetime, Okot p'Bitek was concerned that African nations, including his native Uganda, be built on African and not European foundations. Traditional African songs became a regular feature in his work, including this pair of poems, originally written in Acholi and translated into English. Lawino's words in the first poem are not fancy, but their creative patterns convey compelling images that reveal her dismay over encroaching Western traditions and her Westernized husband's behavior. Ocol's poem underlines Lawino's points and confirms her view of him as a demeaning and arrogant person whose political energies and obsession with wasting time are destructive to his family and his community. The gripping poems of Lawino and Ocol capture two opposing approaches to the cultural future of Africa at the time and paint a picture that belongs in every modern reader's cognitive gallery. Other titles by African writers from Waveland Press: Ba, So Long a Letter (ISBN 9781577668060) Beti, The Poor Christ of Bomba (ISBN 9781577664185) Emecheta, Kehinde (ISBN 9781577664192) Equiano, Equiano's Travels (ISBN 9781577664871) Head, The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (ISBN 9781478607601) Head, Maru (ISBN 9781478607618) Head, When Rain Clouds Gather (ISBN 9781478607595) La Guma, In the Fog of the Seasons' End (ISBN 9781478600251) Marechera, The House of Hunger (ISBN 9781478604730) Mofolo, Chaka (ISBN 9781478607151) Ngugi-Mugo, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (ISBN 9781478611318) Nwapa, Efuru (ISBN 9781478611011) Oyono, Houseboy (ISBN 9781577669883) Oyono, The Old Man and the Medal (ISBN 9781478609582) Plaatje, Mhudi (ISBN 9781478609575) Rifaat, Distant Views of a Minaret and Other Short Stories (ISBN 9781478611288) - from Amzon