Kasimma: 'Because I’m writing fiction, I can get away with anything'

About this episode

Kasimma discusses her short story set in the 16th century and the impact of colonization on Igbo culture and women's rights.

We've already heard from Helon Habila and Caroline Clark in this Autumn series of podcasts, and we'll be rounding out the set with Ephameron in the next couple of weeks. But this time we welcome Kasimma and her short story Mama Taught Me That. This story is set in the 16th century. "We are not really sure what life was like then," Kasimma explains. "After colonisation, a lot of our culture was destroyed or merged with the beliefs of the colonisers, so that we don't really – in my opinion – have the original culture and beliefs that we had then, before European intrusion." Some of the most important differences in Igboland – the homeland of the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria – were around women's rights, she continues. "Everybody was equal. Both male and female owned land, both male and female could do the same kind of jobs. There was no 'A man is better than a woman,' or 'A male child is preferred.' All these things are just debris of colonisation." Many of the details of life five hundred years ago are lost, so there was a lot of freedom in trying to capture that world view. "It's mostly just fiction," she says. Our ancestors may have been more connected with the natural…

People in this episode

Guest: Kasimma

Topics covered

• fiction
• colonization
• women's rights
• Igbo culture
• historical narrative

Keywords

• Kasimma
• fiction
• Igbo culture
• colonization
• women's rights
• 16th century
• historical fiction

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Igboland, Nigeria

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