Yoruba Girl Dancing
Yoruba Girl Dancing is the debut novel of Nigerian author Simi Bedford, which "tackles the weighty and painful issue of the extent to which Africans, even those who are members of the privileged classes, can gain social acceptance in 'the West.
[2][3] The novel is about Remi Foster, an intelligent Yoruba girl who, at the age of six, journeys from her home and privileged life in Lagos, Nigeria, to receive an education in England.
After years of living abroad, Remi begins to consider herself an Englishwoman rather than a Nigerian, despite facing considerable discrimination in English private schools.
During her stay in England, she grapples with cultural indoctrination and racial bigotry, as well as her peers’ views of stereotypes of black Africans.
[1] Bigmama, who married a Nigerian man, has experienced at first hand the racial and cultural conflict present in post-colonial England.
Knowing full well that a Nigerian child will face racial discrimination in London, Bigmama does her best to groom young Remi for English society.
He shows Remi around the ship and its crew quarters, remarking that only the two of them can "move freely" between the cargo liner's dual worlds.
As head of an upper class Nigerian family, Remi's father's behaviour in public is a frequent source of shock for English strangers.
While Remi has decided, by this point in the narrative, that excessive flattery and charm is the best method by which to deal with new English families, Aduke refuses to assume such false identities.
When her parents return home from a wedding reception, they bring surprising news: she is being sent to live in an all-girls boarding-school in England.
Bigmama insists that Remi's hair be cut short, as she believes English hairdressers won't know how to style it properly.
She also purchases an oversized raincoat and matching hat for Remi to wear, both of which are large enough to conceal her skin colour from prying eyes.
Remi feigns illness to escape Miss Smith, sneaks out of her cabin, and stumbles into the crew quarters, where she meets Mr Lowther.
Though initially shunned because of her skin colour, which one girl claims will "rub off" on anyone who brushes against her, Remi manages to gain the trust of her schoolmates, by fabricating exotic, stereotypical tales of Africa, and pretending that her father is a chieftain.
During the novel Remi never returns to Nigeria, where she would no longer be a strange outsider to be shunned, but an intriguing and cultured individual among her peers.
Furthermore, the school uniform is referred to as being "nigger" brown, and the girls she must share living quarters with are under the assumption that her blackness is contagious.
Her maids, close to her in age but so different in their means and class, are the nearest things she has to friends, yet there is always a level of disconnect among them, made even more evident when Remi takes a trip to the marketplace with one of the servants who works in her grandparents' home.
She is never among those who are like her, and in order to adapt to the rifts caused by her race and socio-economic class, she must develop into a strong and somewhat cynical young woman.
The story in Yoruba Girl Dancing of Remi Foster's eventful journey to London from Nigeria closely relates to the life of author Simi Bedford, who experienced a similar childhood.
[7] In addition to being partially autobiographical, the novel also alludes to other books, singers, and aspects of culture that proved to have an influence on the writing of Yoruba Girl Dancing.
When talking to her friend Phoebe, Remi notes of her teacher: "I’m sure he thinks I’m using some kind of voodoo to woo the language to me in the same way Brabantio accused Othello of using spells on Desdemona" (172).
The author of the novel relates the issues of colonialism, class, and race to the main character's life and as well as their key role in Nigerian society.
Represented in this novel is the rich and complex history of Nigeria interacting with foreign influences, and the many underlying issues this brings about.
"[15]In October 1991, a five-part abridgement of Yoruba Girl Dancing (by Margaret Busby, read by Adjoa Andoh and produced by David Hunter) was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.
