Chapter 23: Al-Andalus: Teaching History and Identity With a Decolonial Lens for Early Language Learners

Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist and essayist, said in an interview with the Paris Review (Brooks, 2020), “There is that great proverb—that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” In this interview Achebe describes his love for stories as a reader. He mentions reading fantastical stories outside of his reality as a child. He also mentions that when he grew older, he read stories that made him side with “the good white man” because of the exceptional way in which said man was portrayed. This was the way he was introduced to the danger of not having the stories of his own community available when growing up. So, when he realized how he had been influenced by the stories of the hunters, he decided to become a writer.