Submitted by Amanda Hicks, Jun 6, 2007 13:49

As a former resident of Gabon, and an academic that deeply respects true and sound research methods, I am shocked and dismayed by this review, and by Mr. Ghazvinian's approach to analysis. I lived in Gabon for nearly four years, know very well the supermarket to which Mr. Ghazvinian refers, I can only say that his experential claims and his metaphorical extrapolation based upon them, are fatally flawed. Please consider the following issues:

1. Bananas are not indigenous to Africa. Bananas first grew in the Malaysian tropics and were carried to Africa by way of trade and slave routes. The "largely virgin rainforests" (as Ms. Seif refers to them) are increasingly encroached upon by expanding banana plantations that displace native flora and fauna, and exhaust the rich soil of the rainforest ecosystem. Mr. Ghasvinian should have done a little research before so hastily choosing such an inappropriate emblem and ill-suited metaphor for Central African development.

2. Bananas and plantains are readily available in Libreville. In four years of residency, during which I lived in all corners of the country, the one consistent food staple (in and out of the capital city )was bananas. Perhaps Mr. Ghazvinian's inability to find them stemmed from his ignorance of the environment and the market/consumer dynamics in Libreville. Mbolo is a European-style supermarket that retails import goods to a largely French and expatriate clientele. Their focus is not local food or produce -- those goods are found on every street corner and in every neighborhood and local market in the city. Had Mr. Ghazvinian simply stepped out into the parking lot he would have found any number of local woman vending local produce (including bananas). The large city markets in Mont-Bouet and Njembo never lack for bananas. I wonder if Mr. Ghazvinian ever set foot outside the airconditioned spaces in Libreville?

3 As for dining on beef bourguignonne and potato au gratin, again, I have to question whether Mr. Ghazvinian made an effort to explore and discover the local cultural, social, and economic realities of the people living in Libreville. In my four years in Gabon, the only menu in the city that ever sported such European fare was the restaurant at the 5 star Intercontinental Hotel. I doubt that Mr. Ghazvinian made much progress "stripping away the turgid jargon to unveil the human stories underneath" when his average meal of bourguigonne likely cost 1/3 the annual salary of any Gabonese laborer. How exactly did he make contact with the population most impacted by the economic and natural resources policies he so laments?

4. It may be true that "Mr. Ghazvinian has a keen eye for the irony, dark humor, and complexity of people and events." Perhaps he, and Ms. Sieff, should turn that eye toward their own work.

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