The Thing Around Your Neck

A Nigerian woman named Ujunwa arrives in Cape Town, South Africa to participate in an African Writers Workshop sponsored by the British Council. Edward Campbell, a posh older Englishman and the organizer of the workshop, picks her up at the airport along with another participant from Uganda. Meeting the other participants, Ujunwa wonders who she will become friendly with. Edward introduces everyone and explains the workshop, the man from Uganda encouraging Edward and ignoring the other participants in the workshop. The next morning Isabel, Edward’s wife, asks if Ujunwa comes from royal blood because she is so beautiful. Ujunwa thinks this is ridiculous, but makes up a story agreeing with the woman, later calling her mother so they can both laugh about the interaction.

Ujunwa begins working on her story, writing about a woman named Chimona who is looking for a job. She approaches her father for help even though they have not spoken since he abandoned her mother. The participants in the workshop all have dinner together and then joke about the stereotypes from their different countries of origin. They debate the merits of different African writers, making fun of European attitudes toward Africa. The other writers realize Ujunwa has not been talking about herself and they ask her about her father. She speaks only briefly, annoyed at the assumptions they make. The next morning Ujunwa continues to write about Chimona. Chimona gets a job at a bank with help from her father, doing marketing with another woman named Yinka. Yinka reminds Chimona of the woman her father had an affair with. She and Yinka visit the house of a client, who asks Yinka to sit on his lap.

Ujunwa tries not to notice Edward watching her throughout the week. When it is time for the first of the writers’ stories to be read, Edward makes a sexually aggressive comment toward Ujunwa, who laughs it off. Edward criticizes the Zimbabwean woman’s story, which is the first read, for not explicitly discussing the political situation in Zimbabwe. The next night the woman from Senegal reads a story about her girlfriend’s funeral. Edward criticizes it for not reflecting the “real Africa,” saying, “This may indeed be the year 2000, but how African is it for a person to tell her family that she is homosexual?” (96). Later, the man from Kenya, the Zimbabwean woman, and the white South African woman invite Ujunwa out to a bar. They discuss the guests not a part of the writers’ retreat who are staying at the resort, all of whom are white and treat the Black participants with suspicion. Ujunwa brings up Edward’s sexual harassment, allowing herself to feel angry.

The next day, the Tanzanian man reads a story about militia killings that Edward praises, but Ujunwa thinks it reads like a news article. She continues to work on her story. Chimona continues to watch Yinka flirt with the client. He says he’ll take their bank’s contract if Chimona is his personal contact. She walks out instead of allowing him to harass her and quits the bank job.

The next morning Ujunwa attends breakfast, where Edward is harassing the woman from Senegal. The participants complain about Edward, and Ujunwa lashes out at the Black South African man when he tries to excuse Edward’s behavior. That night Ujunwa reads her story. She receives good feedback, but Edward criticizes the story for being unrealistic and pushing a certain agenda. Ujunwa begins to laugh, and she explains to Edward that her story is autobiographical. She walks out of the retreat and goes to call her mother.