[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Bunmi Fatoye-Matory (
Premium Times) interviews Afro-Colombian scholar Nohora Fernández about growing up in Colombia, the Afro-Colombian experience, and her interest in Nigerian literature. She says, “The Afro-Colombian experience is not widely known, and it is quite diverse.” Here are excerpts:
PT: Where were you born?
NAF: I was born in Cartagena, Colombia. Cartagena was one of the most important Spanish harbors for the slave trade in the Spanish Caribbean. A huge number of enslaved people arrived in Cartagena and were then sold to Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and other South America countries. Today, it is considered a black city, probably about 80 per cent of the population is black. I grew up in that city.
PT: What is the food like?
NAF: Because we are on the coasts, we have a lot of seafood. We have coconut rice, fish soups, fish and rice, fried empanadas, arepas. We use a lot of coconut milk. We have a lot of stews and soups, and cassava bread. We also have a lot of juices. The preparation is although different among the black populations.
PT: Could you tell us about your education in Colombia?
NAF: I attended Comfenalco in Cartagena. It is a private school. I attended with scholarship. Public schools in Colombia were not very good, so I had to study hard to get scholarships. I had my primary and secondary school education at the private school. I always wanted to be the best. It was a lot of pressure to keep my scholarship. In Colombia, the youth do not have access to good education. The government should make good education available to all Colombians. It’s one of the reasons for the current strike.