Latjorr Ndow: You can have this last word on this one!! Actually, I could have suppressed/witheld the clarification Professor Karin Barber made the other day, but, in the name of fairness or fair play, I had to send it to the L. My brother, you can elevate Wole Soyinka up to the sky, that's you prerogative. But for me, he is not fit to be my role model, and honestly, I do not also rate him at all intellectually vis-a-vis the social sciences I mean. In fact, that was an issue in Nigeria itself, some time ago. One of his professor colleagues had in fact written an interesting scholarly piece, reminding people, among other things, that Wole Soyinka is/was a literature person, and not a social scientist! Anyway, having said that, I must in fact say that Ali Mazrui, in many people's view, has actually come out clean on this latest dispute, but knowing how narrow minded some people can be, I had to deliberately criticise Ali Mazrui as well, because I did not want to be seen to be a partial journalist - siding, as it were, with Ali Mazrui who coincidently is a Muslim like myself. I hope people will not misunderstand the point I am trying to make on this one. To tell you the truth, I did get a few private e-mails from concerned people - Christians and Muslims alike - who felt that I had been too harsh on Ali Mazrui because, despite all the fuss, he has not done anything wrong or unethical this time around, in their views; that it is in fact Wole Soyinka who keeps on castigating Ali Mazrui since 1987. But I told these e-mail writers that I didn't want to be accused of taking side, hence I had to criticise Ali Mazrui in unequivocal terms as well. And besides, in reality, his (Ali's) behaviour, or the tone of some of his (Ali's) letters to Wole, in my honest view, was distasteful as well. Emmanuel Ndow: Read the piece I wrote again, and you'll see for yourself that it did say that "Wole Soyinka is a mentor and a good friend of Henry Louis Gates Jr." I already knew about this and mentioned it in my piece. Really, the piece I did was based on their own letters to each other, over the period; and I know, for a fact, that I did do a fine job with those letters. I hate to say this openly, but the truth of the matter is that both Soyinka and Mazrui are religious fanatics, if you will, and whether people want to hear it or not, religious differences (or religious intolerance) have been one of the root causes of the dispute between the two. My friend, as Matarr Njie would often call people, you could see this religious factor very clearly, if you read their letters to each other, from the early 90s to now. Madiba Saidy: Thanks for the reply. Your efforts are always appreciated, and may God bless you! I was able to lay hands on most of the articles written by the two, but I have in fact decided to drop the intended article which I was going to submit to the L next week. I believe there are more important issues than this. Frankly, I do not, any more, have to try and convince anyone about the childish and personal nature of the debate between the two scholars, because it is there for anyone who is not blind, to see for himself or herself. Ebrima Ceesay PS: I am just reminding some of you that, in actual fact, Wole Soyinka is a Professor of Literature, not politics, or economics, or sociology or history. Henry Louis Gates Jr too, despite all the bluff, his educational background or specialisation is actually English literature. Yes, he does hold a first degree in history, but he is neither a political scientist nor a historian. In fact he himself admitted that. I just thought I should make this observation on the L, and people can then read between the lines for themselves to try and understand the point I am trying to make. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------