At the age of 16 Kpomassie ran away. He was determined to visit Greenland, and he travelled up through coastal West Africa, into France and eventually Denmark, before making it too Greenland eight years later. The voyage, and its background, is detailed in this remarkable book which is perhaps one of the greatest travel books ever written. Kpomassie's book is remarkable for a number of reasons. Firstly his eye for detail and his self-effacing style. Determined to see the world, as well as Greenland, Kpomassie's travels come at a seminal moment in history. This is the immediate post-colonial period. Africa has by and large thrown off its colonial rulers and its people are hopeful for the future. Arriving in Europe Kpomassie is rarely met by racism or rudeness. Instead he is assisted and helped by all manner of friends and acquaintances. He trusts in the randomness of meeting people, their good nature and he makes lifelong friends. Some of these friends go above and beyond in helping him make his dream.
But it is his time in Greenland that makes Kpomassie's story great. He is, according to Greenland radio, the first black person to visit the shores. But he immediately feels a connection. His strangeness is rarely met by hostility. Perhaps confusion, amazement and eventual excitment. People queue to see him. To invite him in, to teach him traditional hospitality. He learns the language, the culture, the religion and the Inuit way of viewing the world.
But he also feels an empathy. For if Africa has thrown off colonial rule Greenland is in the early stages of experiencing it. Denmark is clamping down on traditional practices. Hunting is being replaced by factory work. Fishing with nets and small boats is being replaced by giant industrial ships. Poverty and hunger stalk the Inuit communities. Heavy drinking and alcoholism blight communities. Old traditions, like sled dogging, are being destroyed. Kpomassie feels a kinship, but he witnesses a culture in transition, and for many that transition is painful.
Most reviews of An African in Greenland focus on the contrasts. These are important. At one point Kpomassie notes how an Inuit person sees in a white landscape details of food and shelter when an African might only see white ice and snow. The contrasts between religious beliefs, food and culture are everwhere. Kpomassie dives in, unafraid to eat raw whale skin, or indeed to participant in the more open sexual culture of the Inuit.
But the simularities of colonialism are what struck me most. The way that Danish rule was transforming Greenland - tying it into a web of capitalist production and destroying all historic culture - much as had happened to large parts of Africa. All of this Kpomassie sees, at the same time as he becomes part and parcel of the culture that does continue to survive, making friends and lovers through the country.
Readers will also be struck by Kpomassie's eventual return to Togo. He does so famous. Arriving home having been interviewed on the radio, written books and articles and met with the famous. He returns however, because he wants to teach Africa about Greenland. For his people who have never seen snow and ice, a post-colonial people whom Kpomassie believes must understand the rest of the world if they are to grow and develop. It is, in this way, much more than a book of travel - it is a deeply human book that celebrates all our lives.
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