Nativity Book Report

The book “Nativity”: ISBN 9780913441978, published in 2010, proves to be an engaging, yet informative piece. Written by, a Caribbean author, Lasana M. Sekou, the narrative of the poem is perfectly represented by its title. Sekou’s piece is concerned with the emergence, or birth, of a new culture through the oppression and enslavement of African people and the destruction of their civilisation, by the white Europeans. While the Europeans successfully managed to suppress the culture through their dominance, they were unable to foresee the new culture that was directly developed through their “intervention”.

The poem is a contemporary work, though the setting dates back to the 18th Century. The poet’s position is as one of the enslaved Africans. It seeks to put the reader into the position of the enslaved Africans, thus allowing the reader the ability to identify with them. Nativity accurately presents the birth of a new culture, through the vivid details and descriptive nature of the poem. This book report will look at the book’s attention to the detail and the role that each part of the enslavement played in aiding the development of this new diverse culture that we are a part of today.

Sekou helps us to understand that culture cannot necessarily be destroyed. The poet goes to lengths to show the attempted destruction of African civilisation through enslavement (“bitter work brought us here...” “...and pain from whipping, devilish white drunk us blood and sweat from the hueman slaves” ), but contrasts that idea with the introduction of hope for African civilisation. “Culture born here”, shows that culture can be developed through the most problematic circumstances.

The aspect of culture rejuvenation is also put forward by the poet as well as he compares culture with marooning. As the poet describes the maroons, he allows us to understand the non-violent resistance that we were taught in the course. Culture retention and escaping plantations served as root causes by which attempts of suppression of the culture by white Europeans were futile. This shows a development of a culture fuelled by resistance and resilience. “Shango” (a warrior deity of the Yoruba religion) is even mentioned in the poem and they would pray to him.

Sekou’s literary style goes on to place a special emphasis on unity and solidarity. There is the continual use of the pronoun ‘we’ throughout the poem. (“We are the GiftSoul of Black folks/ we are In the Tradition” ... “We the Black Book...” ). It is this sense of solidarity comes down to the individual realising that he is part of a whole, rather than on his own. The poet would go on to demonstrate that for the survival of their culture, the African people would begin by loving themselves as well as “embracing as lovers” .
Sekou uses the various aspects of culture such as food, religion, dance, language and music as huge factors that portray the renewed hope of African people; with music and religion being the most influential.
He uses onomatopoeias to bring forth to bring forth the sounds of melody (“BRAGADANDBAM! Boom si kai si ka boom di la”4) that would stir up the hearts of the Africans (“indedance, indesong, independence”... “innadecultureself” ). Though the excessive use of this technique can become a distraction at certain points of the poem, still, Sekou relates the sense of importance of music to the people, to us.

Various aspects of religion are brought to the forefront as oppression underdeveloped “Africa in the rageful Destruction of Black CIVILIZATION” . “Legba” and “Shango” are both deities of Yoruba religion mentioned in the poem representing the existent spirituality of the people. Since Africans were not allowed to practise their religion, the enslaved were forced to adapt and thus joined both the new European culture (being forced unto them) with their innate African belief thus forming new religious aspects of culture. This syncretism is represented fully by the poet describing culture as “all over”.

The poem clearly relates to various topics taught within the Caribbean Civilisation class. The ideas of culture retention and well as culture identity are strong components of the poem. The poem also established that Caribbean people have developed religions through syncretism that we can see being practised even today. The diversity of our culture today is represented by the unity of the people who endured oppression together despite their differences geographically or even spiritually. This fosters the sense of resilience and resistance within the culture of the people.

In conclusion, we see how culture is a product of various different factors which explains why our Caribbean culture is so diverse. I believe a significant amount of research went into subject matter in order to write this piece. The poet accomplishes the task of putting the reader in the shoes of the enslaved, through the use of dramatic details throughout and expressive nature of the poem itself, allowing us to fully understand the suffering endured. The poet is very knowledgeable about the plights of the enslaved Africans as well as the various unfavourable circumstances that ultimately became the push factors behind the emergence of a new culture. Though, at times, the reader could be distracted from the main points, or even confused due to the seemingly random breaks and non-sequiturs, the piece provides a wealth of information on the topic of Caribbean culture, making “Nativity” worth the price; so much so, that the Nativity is even used in universities of Canada and the United Kingdom for Caribbean studies.