Press "Enter" to skip to content

Why is a Google doodle for Chinua Achebe News?

As Nigerians celebrate the posthumous 87 birthday of prolific writer, Chinua Achebe, the international search engine “Google” honours him with a doodle.

Google Doodle is a special temporary alteration of its logo on its homepage used to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, events and people.

Google honour Achebe by marking his November 16th birthday, to emphasize his figure as “the father of modern African literature”.

“One man took it upon himself to tell the world the story of Nigeria through the eyes of its own people,” Google said.

“Chinua Achebe was the studious son of an evangelical priest. A student of English literature, he started writing in the 1950s, choosing English as his medium but weaving the storytelling tradition of the Igbo people into his books.

“His characters were insiders, everyday people such as the village chief (in Things Fall Apart); the priest (in Arrow of God) or the school teacher (in A Man of the People).

“Through their stories, we witness a Nigeria at the crossroads of civilisation, culture and generations.”

“Surrounded by iconic images of his most famous literary works, today’s Doodle celebrates his legacy on what would have been his 87th birthday.

“Daalụ nke ukwuu, Chinua Achebe!”

According to “The Economist”, Achebe’s best-known novel “Things Fall Apart” has been translated into 50 languages with more than 10 million copies sold.

He also won the Man Booker International Prize Award and Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Christmas in Biafra. The late writer is not the first Nigerian that has been celebrated by Google.

OLAUDAH EQUIANO

On October 16, Olaudah Equiano, an abolitionist known as Gustavus Vassa during his lifetime, was celebrated on his 272nd birthday for his bravery and published memoir, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”, where he detailed his life and events in slave trade.

FLORA NWAPA

On January 13, Flora Nwapa, Nigeria’s first published female novelist and Africa’s first internationally-acclaimed English-language female writer, was also celebrated as the “mother of modern African literature.”

She was honoured on what would be her 86th birthday for her achievement as Nigeria’s first female Minister and also her published works that introduced Nigeria’s rich culture to the world.

While Nigerians took pride in the recognition of one of its own, Achebe’s doodle was not only reported by Nigerian media houses but also across the world. Added to that it joined in scoring a big point for Google as the tech giant has been accused of not being diverse enough in its choice of who to honour.

A study had shown that of 445 people honoured by Google from 2010 to 2013, 62% were white men, 17% were white women, while 4% were black women.

Google claims it has been working on reaching out to other race and communities before the study.

Google also came under criticism when it chose to do a Doodle of Japenese American Activist Yuri Kochiyama who praised Osama Bin Laden. Even worse because the posthumous birthday was the same as that of Malcom X. But Yuri Kochiyama was a great civil right and schools reform activist who dedicated her life to teaching migrants, servicing shelters and gathering friends from all race and class, among such friends was Malcom  X.

Yuri was seen in the famous photo of Malcom X just after he was shot.

That Malcom and Yuri were on the same page in history and that Google Doodle links to a Wikipedia page about the subject and that Yuri is less known across nations compared to X, may have been some of Google’s defense for the choice of who takes the day, Whatever the case, the Google team has proven over time that they do their home work, thus explaining why its choice of Achebe was respected and newsworthy for many.

Facebook Comments
ETN24 - Explaining the News is about putting News in the correct context to promote understanding and education. We believe News should educate, not agitate. Our dedication is to fighting Fake and Sensational News, as well as to keep an eye on the media to ensure our peace and sanity are not sold for traffic.