Book review

BASHI LETSIDIDI | Friday June 28, 2013 00:00

On an almost weekly basis, the Gaborone International Convention Centre hosts high-profile international meetings and delegates from abroad who got their hands on Culture Smart!Botswana would not have been surprised to find that 'the general quality of business presentations is not very sophisticated.'  The book forewarned them that 'the speaker will put up a slide and then carefully, word-for-word, read aloud to his audience exactly what they can read for themselves.'On the way to the GICC, some of those delegates would be hoping and praying that they don't encounter the homicidal driving of public transport operators. 'Combi drivers are the masters of the unexpected: they may stop suddenly and without warning, overtake on the left, drive over pavements, cut across in front of another vehicle and commit any of the numerous violations,' the book says.

Fact check: most people would be inclined to classify running red lights 'under any of the numerous violations' but the manner that these drivers relate to traffic lights strongly suggests that they are colour-blind.  Therefore, this presumably unintentional offence would appear to be more of a health than legal problem.Mainly written for tourists, books in the Culture Smart! series provide 'essential information on attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour in different countries ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies and sensitive issues.'  The history buff will get as much joy out of reading these books as the culture vulture.  This one is rich with historical detail as well.  The author writes that when King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and their two daughters visited Bechuanaland protectorate in 1947, the programme required that the royal party travel from Lobatse railway station to the airport and it was not considered dignified for them to do so on anything other than the best road surface available: 'Hence Lobatse gained what was for many years its only paved road!'

What this particular book doesn't ensure though is that tourists would use proper greeting forms.  If, in the process of exchanging greetings with a tourist, you are asked: 'Legae?' for 'Le kae?' (Setswana for 'How are you?') chances are that the tourist learnt his Setswana from the book.The writer is Mike Main, an Englishman from Devon who is now a Botswana citizen. If he ever paid anyone to teach him Setswana, he would have more than sufficient legal basis to demand a refund. Back in the 1990s when 'labour productivity' formally entered public lexicon and the productivity movement took root, there was need to mint appropriate Setswana words to explain productivity concepts. Thus 'moswa o eme' (a dead but upright tree) came to mean employees with a severely deficient work ethic. The writer heard different: referring to the government's first recruits still employed with some having reached very senior positions, he asserts that Batswana refer to such people as 'Moswa o eme.'  The fact of the matter is that the phrase, whose public use has receded significantly, referred to employees who, regardless of age and length of service, were hopelessly slothful.

The writer also stumbles on Mohumagadi which he understands in a Precious Ramotswe sense to mean a Motswana woman of 'traditional build' as the latter is described in the Alexander McCall Smith books. He says Mohumagadi refers 'particularly to the wife of a chief who, ideally and reflecting the wealth and status of her husband, should be fat and therefore healthy.'  Yes, royal families would want to appropriate the term to themselves but Mohumagadi is a respectful term for 'wife.'  Those who observe Setswana decorum would ask after the health of Mohumagadi and not of the wife.

To his credit, the writer has travelled extensively across Botswana, immersing himself in the culture of the local people in the admirable way that United States Peace Corps volunteers do and is able to provide information about Batswana culture that some Batswana don't know. He writes about rain shrines in isolated and remote places 'in a ravine or a rocky outcrop [that] can be easily missed by a casual eye.' He has been to rural areas and observed the plowing of the fields and observed that men working in the fields share food served in communal bowls. He knows that each ward in Molepolole is headed by the direct descendant of the founding father of the morafe. He knows and can describe how madila [soured milk] is made as how puppies are trained to protect goats. He knows and explains why pregnant Batswana women eat clay on a termite mound.  He has clearly travelled in a long-distance bus because he knows that 'some of the vehicles are quite luxurious, comfortable and very modern; some will have a video player suspended from the roof at the front of the bus and delight their passengers with endless westerns or kickboxing movies!'  Somehow he left out the bit about those buses travelling at race-car speeds and the DVD player operator not observing the age-restriction advisory. The latter explains why Anaconda would play to a literally captive audience that includes kindergarten-age toddlers.

What information he did not have at his fingertips, the writer dug it up from archival records, thus he can assert that a 1991 survey found that 20 to 40 Basarwa on a single cattlepost is not uncommon.  The larger point he was making here is that Basarwa herdmen typically live with extended family members at cattleposts where they work.The book contains some painful truths that one wishes could be hidden from strangers because they portray Batswana in bad light. In addressing itself to the rich-poor divide, it notes how 'the nouveau riche [newly rich] have quickly acquired all the attributes of indulgent, excessive consumerism, and it is not hard to see the first signs of obesity in them and their children.'  Addressing the subject of late-coming which in Botswana is something of a national pastime, the writer observes that 'Batswana have an extraordinary facility for successful improvisation so that lateness or delayed delivery can often be made up for in surprisingly inventive and creative ways.' 

For one as knowledgeable and as attentive to detail as the writer clearly is, it is confounding that in addition to those stated, many more falsehoods somehow managed to slip into the book.  In a chapter titled Private & Family Life, the writer says that in rural areas, when a girl is about 18, 'a hut will be built specially for her.'  Notice that the modal auxiliary verb ('will') indicates that he is not writing about what used to happen in the past but what supposedly still happens. The morning meal at a traditional-setting household that hosted him may have consisted of tea and diphaphatha but not every household will have the latter food item and it is therefore misleading to assert that 'A morning meal will consist of tea and homemade bread (diphaphatha)'  As misleading is the information that he assembles on the bridal price. He writes: 'Different tribes have different rates but the payment is nearly always made in live cattle and varies from four to 12 beasts.  Around Mochudi, for example, payment is fixed at four cows, while among the people of Serowe the payment may be as high as 12 animals.' This is plain false because Mochudi's rates have historically been higher than Serowe's. Under a benign British administration, the author writes, the Bechuanaland Protectorate moved slowly into the 20th century. Considering how the British introduced an extortionate tax regime to finance colonial administration and how that same administration shanghaied Batswana men (some of whom later died) into World War Two, few would be hard put to use the word 'benign' to describe how the British ruled Bechuanaland.

Generally, the book tends to generalise because while true to a certain point, the statement about business presentations should have been qualified with 'some'.  In a section headlined Expectation of Outsiders, the book says that 'visitors are often accosted in the streets by children, teenagers, and young adults particularly with the request to 'Give me.'  The fact of the matter is that a majority of Batswana households teach their children to never ask for things from outsiders and in the case of some, infractions are met with corporal punishment that borders on what the Penal Code calls 'assault occasioning actual bodily harm.' Cattle herders, he writes, have to account for every single animal to the owner when he makes his irregular visits to the cattlepost. Yes, there are owners who make irregular visits to the cattlepost but there also those who make regular visits.

Some readers who will take issue with the author's deployment of certain words and concepts - like 'common' and 'racial superiority.'   On the subject of crime, the writer says that 'rape also happens and is common among Batswana.'  There can be no denying the occurrence of rape but is it common among Batswana? The writer misdirects himself into a logical fallacy when he begins by rightly saying that 'feelings of racial superiority certainly exist in Botswana' but then for the language used, lays the blame at the wrong feet. He asserts the truism about tribal discrimination among Batswana tribal groupings and goes on to state that 'it is hardly surprising therefore that, whether one calls it racism, prejudice or xenophobia, different groups are 'ranked' one against another.'  Surely the writer knows when a Mongwato discriminates against a Mosarwa that is tribalism, not racism. Racism would be when a white person asserts racial superiority over a black person which certainly exists in Botswana.

The book tends to looks at Batswana through western eyes and in the process evaluates how they either measure up or fail to measure up to western culture. Under Invitations Home: 'It is not the habit, generally speaking, for Batswana to invite people to their homes other than for big occasions like weddings or christenings. Nor is it the norm to 'entertain' in the same way as people from the West, for example, might do.' Under Family Occasions: 'For the most part, wedding anniversaries, Easter, or such occasions as Valentine's Day also go unmarked.' Under Table Manners: 'The masses are not necessarily familiar with the refined manners of a Western dining room.While the younger generation, as with everything in Botswana, is growing up with norms and patterns of behaviour different from their parents', and much more Western in orientation, one might still find oneself lunching in a restaurant with a businessman who is holding a large bone in both hands, gnawing at it and speaking at the same time. It would be extraordinarily rude even to hint at any surprise.' The latter section should have been an opportunity for the writer to tell readers about Setswana table manners which forbid speaking during meals.

Where it has to compare those who are 'intensely conservative in outlook' with 'the educated young [who] seem indistinguishable from their peers around the world', the book makes clear where its bias lies. Those who have acculturated into a western identity are described as 'enthusiastic, bright, innovative and utterly modern' while the conservative can't seem to garner such praise. This characterisation does not explain why some of the most intelligent, most level-headed and most well-rounded people in Botswana were raised by people who are intensely conservative in outlook.

Other parts of the book are confusing to such an extent that a good many Batswana would be unable to relate to what is said about them. For example: 'Visitors may well notice that when two or more Batswana walk down a road or past a house and are talking to each other, they may be doing so in very loud voices. This is a common experience in Africa, and both are habits with generally accepted explanations that have their roots deep in the traditional past: people speak loudly in order to warn wild animals of their approach; people speak loudly so that there can be no suspicion that they are plotting or planning mischief - by speaking loudly they obviously have nothing to hide!' But what if one encounters pairs of Europeans or Asians at Game City talking to each other in very loud voices? Would they, by any chance, have African ancestry?

On the book's cover page is a picture of what is described as a 'Kalanga village, Makgadikgadi Pans.' However, there are only two huts, the one that appears to be better-looking set way back and a ramshackle structure dominating the foreground. Those from that part of Botswana would be more qualified to judge whether these huts represent the best of Kalanga architecture. If this illustration is a misrepresentation at all, it might have to do with the fact that generally, western audiences tend to prefer a depiction of Africa that hews close to their stereotypes about the continent.

The book's long measure is hard to discern because the writer makes that an extremely difficult task. Now he is saying things that some Batswana would find unflattering (a mixture of both fact and fiction) and in the sentence or paragraph he lavishes praise on them. Pay close attention to the subtle deployment of words: Botswana, he writes, is a 'fascinating' country and its people are 'interesting.' 

When you have to form the mental image of the businessman gnawing at a beef bone, of children chasing after tourists imploring them to 'Give me', of unsmiling people who rarely say 'thank you' and won't make eye contact because they are too shy to do so and of men who, under the influence of alcohol, become more dominating and aggressive, you have second thoughts about being described as 'interesting.'That notwithstanding, Culture Smart! Botswana is a useful addition to the body of knowledge about Botswana, objectionable though some parts of it are. Those who in the future may want to write about the country's customs and etiquette will find it extremely helpful in some ways.