An African in Greenland

Posted on 07 December 2018 by Tété-Michel Kpomassie

T t Michel Kpomassie was a teenager in Togo when he discovered a book about Greenland and knew that he must go there Working his way north over nearly a decade, Kpomassie finally arrived in the country of his dreams This brilliantly observed and superbly entertaining record of his adventures among the Inuit is a testament both to the wonderful strangeness of the human species and to the surprising sympathies that bind us all. Read An African in Greenland – kino-fada.fr This is the book that made me think there was some worth to following the NYRB Classics imprint, least until the usual inundation of names that don t appear quite as often on lists like the Modern Library 100 as others started up Sure, some of them were new to me, but you can t expect to hook me through an ethnography written by a Togo traveler journeying to near the farthest north of indigenous Greenland and have the latest less than obscenely famous Frenchy boy scribble go down just as This is the book that made me think there was some worth to following the NYRB Classics imprint, least until the usual inundation of names that do...Good bananas, I learned a lot from this book, which is the memoir of a man from a small African village who spends the better part of a decade getting to Greenland and then several years in Greenland, just generally be a badass and being 100% down for whatever adventures come his way Like, I learned that if you go to Gree...Tete Michek Kpomassi stepped outside his tradition He would not stay with his Watyi tribe in Togo and revere his elders, swelter in the heat or do any further penance to reptiles After seeing a book on the Eskimos of Greenland in a mission bookstore he set his sights on going to their cold, snake less island It took 8 years to reach his goal, but he got there.Kpomassi had quite an adventure In the Greenland of the 1960 s he could knock on a door, say he was a traveler and then be given a Tete Michek Kpomassi stepped outside his tradition He would not stay with his Watyi tribe in Togo and revere his elders, s... An African in Greenland made me rethink travel literature Most travel writers seem to want to sound as if they re especially clever and removed They amplify each experience for dramatic effect I don t know there s anything wrong with that But An African in Greenland takes a different route Tete Michel Kpomassie rambles, judges, exclaims, and wonders about Greenland s landscape and inhabitants He s not writing a National Geographic article He s writing a muchfun and honest book An African in Greenland made me rethink travel literature Most travel writers seem to want to sound as if they re especially clever and removed They amplify each experience for dramatic effect I don t know there s anything wrong with that But An African in Greenland takes a different route Tete Michel Kpomassie rambles, judges, exclaims, and wonders about Greenland s landscape and inhabitants He s not writing a National Geographic article He s writing a muchfun and honest book.While I guess the author s early life in Africa and dogged path toward his goal provide necessary context, the fun starts after the author boards a boat and heads west on the Atlantic When Kpomassie lands in Greenland the script transforms away from a simple feel good story about a black guy in Eskimo country didn t ...This was a 3.5 read for me.My thoughts I enjoy armchair travelling and a good travelogue especially to places I have not yet visited This was an intriguing read as I learned about Togo and Greenland Written with charm and wit, the author s personality shines through and as your reader you understand Kpomassie s charisma and ability to easily integrate himself into a society culture to his own While the author does not spend much time talking about Togo except for the events that led to This was a 3.5 read for me.My thoughts ...3.5 starsThis is the travelogue of a young man from Togo who determined at age 16 that he would go to Greenland, then spent the next 8 years working his way there A quarter of the way through the book, he arrives, and spends the next 15 months traveling gradually further and further north, living with the Inuit, learning their methods of hunting and fishing, and adopting their way of life His time in Greenland apparently took place in 1965 66, and the culture he found certainly bore the stamp 3.5 starsThis is the travelogue of a young man from Togo who determined at age 16 that he would go to Greenland, then spent the next 8 years working his way there A quarter of the way through the book, he arrives, and spends the next 15 months traveling gradually further and further north, living with the Inuit, learning their methods of hunting and fishing, and adopting their way of life His time in Greenland apparently took place in 1965 66, and the culture he found certainly bore the stamp of Danish colonial rulers well insulated turf dwellings almost entirely replaced with inferior wooden houses people living in southern cities had largely given up hunting and depended on...Breezy, well written, straightforward narrative about an African lad who sees a book about Greenland, develops an interest, and, as a young man, follows through on his dream Kpomassie stands out inways than one once he arrives a black man in a green land is most unusual but he also stands out for his height Punch line and statement about Greenlanders He s only 5 10.Kpomassie is a good storyteller The opening chapters take place in his native Togo One particularly entertaining Breezy, well written, straightforward narrative about an African lad who sees a book about Greenland, develops an interest, and, as a young man, follows through on his dream Kpomassie stands out inways than one once he arrives a black man in a green land is most unusual but he also stands out for his height Punch line and statement about Greenlanders He s ...I feel pretty confident that anyone who s capable of experiencing joy would love An African in Greenland by Tete Michel Kpomassie As the title implies, it is the story of an African man who travels to Greenland Until his travels begin, he lives a pretty sheltered life within an African village where the men have numerous wives and everyon...This wasthan I expected I wasn t expecting the author to be so diligent learning the languages of the people he visited, studying historical records to see how customs in Greenland had changed, etc He didn t do a lot of comparing Togolese customs to Inuit, but there was some.At the same time, while I knew there was going to be plenty to disgust a vegan I m not judging the Inuit for that, they live the way they need to live, it s just gross to read about there was SO MUCH eating of This wasthan I expected I wasn t expecting the author to be so diligent learning the languages of the people he visited, studying historical records to see how customs in Greenland had changed, etc He didn t do a lot of comparing Togolese customs to Inuit, but there was some.At the same time, while I knew there was going to be plenty to disgust a vegan I m not judging the Inuit for that, they live the way they need to live, it s just gross to read about there was SO MUCH eating of seals, whales, seabirds, etc Raw whale lung dunked in blubber, ugh And the descriptions of the families digging in to a seal in their living room, children covered in blood as they all chow down on the good bits Yikes.Plus, wife swapping I feel sorry for the women, who the author ad...I fell in love with the book s title, and then I discovered that the author, T t Michel Kpomassie, fell in love with Greenland from the title of a book he happened upon in his native Togo as a teenager, triggering his life changing quest to visit the country arguably most different from his own The fact that this quest got him out of Togo, and thus out of a seven year apprenticeship with a snake worship cult, made the beginning of this memoir read like a gripping novel.It takes himt...

English
07 December 2018

Tété-Michel Kpomassie