Ms. Adichie and husband
While speaking with a journalist from the Sunnewsonline last week, renowned writer, Chimamanda Adichie used the opportunity to correct the notion that she is a Miss and not Mrs, even though she is still married to her US based Doctor husband, Dr. Ivara Esegee. Here’s whta happened;
While speaking with a journalist from the Sunnewsonline last week, renowned writer, Chimamanda Adichie used the opportunity to correct the notion that she is a Miss and not Mrs, even though she is still married to her US based Doctor husband, Dr. Ivara Esegee. Here’s whta happened;
Before we start, please, I just want to say that my name is
Chimamanda Adichie. That’s how I want it; that’s how I’m ad-dressed, and it is
not Mrs but Miss. Ms: that’s how I want
it. I am saying this, because I just got a mail from my manager this morning.
It seems that there are people who attended the church service, and they wrote
about it, addressing me as Mrs. Chimamanda (Esega). I didn’t like that at all.
So my name is Chimamanda Adichie, full stop! Continue after the cut.
You mean?
This is because it is also responsible that people be called
what they want to be called.
In one of your interview published in the some newspapers,
(including an interview in Sunday Sun with
Akubuiro in 2007), you said you’re a
feminist. Can you throw more light on that?
Oooh! Is that when I said that, because that quote has
followed me everywhere in the world? That’s why I don’t like granting
interviews, because whatever you say, in 20 years, you’ll still be quoted. Oh I
said I’m a feminist? You know, what I meant was that: you know when people hear
feminism, many things come into their head. What I wanted him to understand is
that feminism doesn’t mean that you want to be a man. I’m a feminist, I’m a
female; a feminist meaning that I want to look like a woman, but I want the
equal respect that a man has. I think that human being should be respected
based on their achievements and not based on whether you’re a man or woman.
But, since I said that, everywhere I go, people are asking about that. I went
to Australia, and they had read that; they knew about that. I was on stage in a
hall full of people. They said they had a special present for me, and they
brought in purse. I just started laughing. It was hilarious. But this is why
you should be careful what you say. It was so funny. All the way in Australia!
You started by telling me that you’re not “Mrs.”…
(cuts in) My name is Chimamada Adichie. If you want to put
label for me, put Ms.
But people know that you’re married. As an Igbo girl, you
know our culture…
(Cuts in again) What does our culture do? Let me tell you
about our culture. This thing that you are calling our culture –that when you
marry somebody, you’ll start call-ing her Mrs. Somebody –is not our culture; it
is Western culture. If you want to talk about our culture, you need to go to
people in real Igbo land. But it is true. My grandfather’s name is David. His
name is also Nwoye. They call him Nwoye Omeni. Omeni was his mother. You know
why? It is to help distinguish him, because there are often many wives. So, it
was his mother that they used to identify him. They know that all of these
people came from the same compound, but whose child is this one. You may go and
ask people who is Nwoye Omeni, and they’ll tell you it is my grandfather. So,
conversation about culture is a long one. I don’t even want to have it.
But, at what point would you change your name?
Yes; because it’s all fused. You cannot then come and impose
something on somebody. Nobody should come and impose something on somebody,
because, if you come and tell me it is our culture, I’ll tell you it is not our
culture. Where do you want to start counting? Do you want to start counting in
1920, or do you want us to start counting from 1870?
But culture is dynamic…
Exactly my point, which is why this is new. If culture is
dynamic, you cannot use it as conservative tool. We can-not then say it has to be
this because it is our culture. My point
is that it is a new thing. Things are changing. We live in a world now where
women have a right to bear the name they want. So, we cannot say this is how we
do it. If some women want to do it that way, that’s fine! God bless them. Some
women won’t do it. I am one of those women, and nobody will come to use culture
to tell me that I should do what I don’t want to do.
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