Another U of M Essay from Eric

Thank you to Eric Walter for recognizing that, "One factor allows understanding of any people – humanity." With this idea in mind, Eric goes on to comment that , "...when I am shown the photographs of the people of Nigeria and read a passage in their voice, I can build up at least a basic relation to their lives. It is this relation which gives the text and images their power."

Eric: "...thirteen oil pipes running through a Delta neighborhood. ...children standing outside all staring at Ed Kashi, except for one girl running across the pipes and a boy playing on top of them. ...so many implications. How could these oil companies be affecting the Niger Delta society? What is the boy thinking as he plays on the pipes? The image alone sparks emotion and imagination, but it invokes as many questions as answers."

In reference to the photo, Eric remarks on "Dark Through the Delta", a poem by Uche Peter Umez, "...[which] can be summarized by the last 7 lines: 'I see the fat of the land / being eaten out by the burgeoning pollution, / by the intricate machinery of oil greed– / behold, it is the fortune / of my hapless kin / being eroded, stealthily erode...' ...[T]his poem eloquently says that a great fortune, th[r]ough greed and wastefulness is being harvested with nothing returned to its owners. The poem is a beautiful irony in a despicable situation, a valuable look at one native man’s insight expressed in an emotional, intellectual and artful level."

Eric presents another perspective on an image Sara Winker remarked on in her essay. "A particularly striking image is...the photo...of MEND members deep in the swampland giving a show of arms for fallen comrades. Most the members have adorned themselves with red ribbons, a symbol that the Ijaw god of war, Egbesu, is protecting them. It is an interesting combination of ancient custom with a modern fight."

Eric leaves us all with this thought, "Imagine a scenario as General Motors aspires to a last-ditch effort to save itself, where a CEO viewing photos/text such as those in Curse of the Black Gold exclaims, 'We finally get it. Our plan for car production has global implications.'”

We all need to reflect on the impact our actions have on humanity and our planet. Thank you Eric for inspiring the thought.

To read all of Eric's contribution, click below.

Eric Walter
4/7/09
Hist 247

An Introspection of Humanity: Pictures and Text in Curse of the Black Gold

In order to fully understand any culture I believe that one must not only be part of that culture but must experience other cultures beyond the one he lives in. It is hard to define what is a “full understanding,” but if someone can say, “I am truly an American” then that person should inherently be on the road to this full understanding. Thus, one may be live in a place, even for years, but never truly grasp the culture unless he was born and raised there. For one example, I have studied Irish culture for many years and lived in County Cork for a summer. Beyond what I knew about the Irish from their music and literature was multiplied a hundred-fold by living as part of the culture. With that accomplished, I realized that the longer I stayed there I would understand more and more, but never could I say that I fully understand what it means to be Irish. However, by taking in others’ such styles I have a new perspective of what it means to be an American. In another way, I have studied Latin for five years, but as I read more and more Roman literature and study Roman archeology, how could I ever understand fully even some of their most common colloquialisms. And indeed, Irish and Latin cultures are understood as Western mentalities, so to completely comprehend a culture so different from mine is surely unattainable.

But full understanding must not need to be the goal. One factor allows understanding of any people – humanity. Any person has the same needs and desires – family, friendship, food, comfort, art. Thus to empathize with any man requires only an open mind to the most basic needs and wants. So when I am shown the photographs of the people of Nigeria and read a passage in their voice, I can build up at least a basic relation to their lives. It is this relation which gives the text and images their power. Indeed I am referring to the opus of Ed Kashi and Michael Watts. Truly (as ignorant as it may be), before I opened Curse of the Black Gold, I had no idea that the U.S. was even taking oil out the Niger Delta area. Quickly I learned that out of the Billions of dollars worth of oil per year (even per month) taken from the Delta, the U.S. is the consumer of about fifty percent. Now if I had read such unknown media as the New York Times, I may have gathered as much. To derive such an intensive understanding that I now have is due to attending to such a book. I just could not have done it without seeing the pictures, reading the text, and most especially listening to Ed Kashi and Michael Watts give their first hand (second hand?) impressions (aside from the daunting task of visiting myself no doubt).

So to put in some concrete examples, let me refer to the photograph on pages 2-3. The image shows thirteen oil pipes running through a Delta neighborhood. There is a group of children standing outside all staring at Ed Kashi, except for one girl running across the pipes and a boy playing on top of them. The scene immediately strikes the viewer with so many implications. How could these oil companies be affecting the Niger Delta society? What is the boy thinking as he plays on the pipes? The image alone sparks emotion and imagination, but it invokes as many questions as answers. This is where the power of images defers to words. Since the image draws me in, I am compelled to read the first text entry, Shadows and Light in the Niger Delta by Ed Kashi (25-27). This passage is essential to the book because it explains the context of the book. The book’s creation was no tourist trip: both the government and the oil companies do not want him there, and he allied with a upstart militant group, MEND in order to move inside these restricted areas of the Delta. Reading about MEND and seeing pictures of their members, I have found one native perspective on the crisis. I gain a key understanding from seeing and reading how one particular, powerful group of “bitter men” intend to work towards a solution with radical means. A particularly striking image is that on pages 214-215. The photo is of MEND members deep in the swampland giving a show of arms for fallen comrades. Most the members have adorned themselves with red ribbons, a symbol that the Ijaw god of war, Egbesu, is protecting them. It is an interesting combination of ancient custom with a modern fight.

As I see more images of the Delta and more faces of the people, I can further understand and empathize with their feelings and mentalities. It is multiplied by the eloquence of Michael Watts, particularly during a discussion with him, when he said in a cathartic moment I can only long to create here: The Niger Delta continues to fuel the Modern World by being exploited. First, their people were stolen, then their palm-oil and now their black gold. His article explains how in 1956 oil was discovered in the Delta, a pipeline was in action by 1957 and by 1958 Nigerian oil was fueling British vehicles. By the ‘70s the output was comparable to today, 2.4 million barrels per day. Now, due to groups like MEND, 800,000 million barrels per day are kept from being exported. Other notable statistics: oil made up 87% of government revenue in 2007, an estimated 70% of that was stolen or wasted in 2003 and “only” 40% wasted in 2005. There is this small region of the world with a billion dollar export, but its government fails and the people that live literally where the oil is extracted stay there with nothing. These are disturbing facts that must be disseminated no matter what the medium.

At this point I have talked about some of the history of the Delta, the value and secrecy of its export, its unacceptable governmental waste and some of its exceptionally upset citizens. This is all crucial to understanding the state and proving that there is a crisis, but what is all important is going back to that photo on pages 2-3 of the pipes running through the neighborhood. It is about the families that were there before anyone knew there was oil, and how oil has changed their culture and landscape. One Delta poet, Uche Peter Umez has a poem, Dark Through the Delta on page 69. It can be summarized by the last 7 lines: “I see the fat of the land / being eaten out by the burgeoning pollution, / by the intricate machinery of oil greed– / behold, it is the fortune / of my hapless kin / being eroded, stealthily eroded….” Another whole paper could be written about this poem, and the thesis would express that this poem eloquently says that a great fortune, though greed and wastefulness is being harvested with nothing returned to its owners. The poem is a beautiful irony in a despicable situation, a valuable look at one native man’s insight expressed in an emotional, intellectual and artful level.

By reading some text, it is easy to understand how corrupt it is in the Delta. But what a news article may not fully explain is why we should care, why we should do something about it. This is where we need to find a thoroughfare– namely the juxtaposition of text and photography– to elicit empathy. By seeing a community’s habitat and seeing the people’s conditions and expressions on their faces, it then becomes easier to feel what they are thinking. Hopefully then it becomes clear that we shouldn’t take our energy for granted. Our oil is a limited resource and somewhere there are men losing their lives to keep us from getting it without anything in return. If the pictures and text in Curse of the Black Gold don’t directly influence the United Nations or U.S. government at least it should inspire its readers to stop blindly using Nigerian oil.

Imagine a scenario as General Motors aspires to a last-ditch effort to save itself, where a CEO viewing photos/text such as those in Curse of the Black Gold exclaims, “We finally get it. Our plan for car production has global implications.”

I imagine Kashi and Watts have similar fantasies on the impact their work could have on the United Nations, World Bank or even Wall Street. Or the impact on an individual American. It could happen.