Benin
- Karen Darnell
- May 3, 2020
- 3 min read
In this blog, we'll travel to the country of Benin with a side trip to the nearby Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria. First stop will be an Angelique Kidjo concert. You can preview this concert by watching Angelique Kidjo performing “Afirika" at the 2020 GRAMMYs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3pTaEsWs3c. Any one of her CDs can provide the concert. Black Ivory Soul, Oyaya!, Sings, and Spirit Rising are just a few of the options. Her music is also available for download and NPR has a recorded interview of her at https://www.npr.org/transcripts/125390625.
The next stop in Benin is at the largest open-air market in West Africa in “The Best Markets on Earth: Season 1: Dantokpa Pagne Market, Benin.” It is available on Amazon Prime, but they have it mislabeled. Instead of Episode 2, you’ll find it under Episode 5. Most of the shopping in the market will be for that bright West African fabric called Dutch Wax and we’ll meet some of the vendors, makers, and designers who use the fabric. If after learning about the fabric, you want to see how the cotton grown in north Benin reaches the manufacturing center in south Benin, you can also watch “Dicing with Death: Season 3 Benin: Cotton at All Costs” on Amazon Prime, but I found “The Best Markets on Earth” to be more engaging.
The third stop in Benin is at the Royal Palaces at Abomey, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The gallery of pictures is worth perusing: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/323/.
The fourth stop is a soccer game in “Laduma,” a 2010 documentary on Benin's national football (soccer) team as they try to get to the world cup (available on Amazon Prime).
After the concert, shopping, sightseeing, and sports watching, it will be nice to have dinner and read a book. Recipes from Benin include those found at https://vibrantwestafricancuisine.com/top-5-dishes-benin/.
Because the official language of Benin is French, Benin’s literature is largely in French. A few books available in English that include some history or literature of Benin include:
"Why goats smell bad" and other stories from Benin by Raouf Mama
Yakabou must choose: an African adventure for boys and girls by Dennis Perry
Flash for Freedom! by George MacDonald Fraser
The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin (there is also a German movie called “Cobra Verde” based on this book)
While we’re in this part of the world, it’s worthwhile to hop over the border to the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria to learn about the Benin Plaques. The Khan Academy has a nice explanation of them at https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/africa-apah/west-africa-apah/v/benin-plaques
A famous slave narrative from the Kingdom of Benin that reportedly influenced the abolition of slavery in Britain and her colonies is The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Written by Himself. Besides being available in paperback, Audible, and Kindle, you can find it free online from Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15399. I found it to be well written and interesting. Particularly relevant here is the description of the writer’s life in Africa before he was taken as a slave.
As always, The Crazy Tourist shows a good variety of places to visit in Benin at
Finally, when this pandemic is over, you might want to plan travel to Benin using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Benin and throughout the world.
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