According to Wikipedia AFRICAN RENAISSANCE is "a concept popularized by South African president Thabo Mbeki in which the African people and nations are called upon to solve the many problems troubling the African continent."
Two years ago I was in high school in Connecticut and I was one of about twenty black students out of six hundred, and the only African student at the school. So, you can imagine how excited I was when one of the teachers invited me to have dinner with his Ivorian friend who he was friends with. The excitement was out of the relief at the fact that I wouldn't have to explain every detail about myself such as how come I speak good English although I am a Motswana. Or so I thought.
Dinner time came and about five people were there altogether. Naturally, at some point the group conversation touched on Africa, and many questions were asked by the non-African people in the room. The questions ranged from what people do for Christmas to totems, in our respective countries. As I listened to the Ivorian girl speak I realized that she and I had different views of the continent and what it does and should stand for. She spoke of hopelessly inept youth who turn trigger-happy due to boredom, greedy leaders who embezzle government funds, the "uncivilized" nature of Africans responsible for AIDS spread. It was clear that she had decided to put the African part of her identity behind her. She looked down on everything African, she had given herself an American name and swore never to set foot on African soil.
She spoke of how Africans will never have appreciation for the beauty of their beaches, that Africans use them as dump sites. At that juncture I added that although I am not West African and have never been there, I don't think such a strong and negative generalization can be used to answer questions from people who know nothing about the continent of Africa. I was adamant that there are many positive things about Africa that don't get the airplay they deserve and used the richness of African cultures and excellent African literature as examples. She spoke of how African culture is barbarism and gave Rwandan genocide as an example. Everyone but I was amused. I realized that our accounts were bound to be different by virtue of where in Africa we had lived, and our individual experiences. I also realized she might have left Ivory Coast for reasons considerably different from the ones I left Botswana, and that there is usually an element of truth in stereotypes, this incident made me ask myself a lot of questions.
But considering how cross we get for Western media's portrayal of Africa (e.g. NY Times front pages), if we are to contribute to African Renaissance, how do we as Africans talk about Africa to people who know nothing of the continent? How do we avoid perpetuating stereotypes and still speak of the negatives that exist on the continent just like any other?
I began to wonder if there is any way we are to speak of the continent as Africans when trying to impart our cultures to other people. It is no use moping about the effects of colonization on our inferiority complex as Africans. Obviously I would realize that not all Ivorians would share that girl's sentiments, but would the rest of the non-African world? It seems to me that together with an economic revolution and such, Africa is desperate for a mind-revolution so that even when we speak of unflattering realities in Africa we do not shoot down our integrity and dignity as if to say that the like of Lumumba and Biko died in vain.
With this I wish everyone a happy 2007 and look forward to your responses.
7 comments:
Yaaay, you did it! Your very own blog. Me likey very much (I am usually more eloquent but I am severely jet lagged). More to come...viva 2007!
Even if Africa is as bad as they make it seem, Africa is still my Africa...the one I LOVE, and will always Love!
man i totaly understand what you mean. I was one of the only three black kids(one was my sister and the other kid was black american) in my highschool 328 graduating class in Michigan. I know the pain of been around that many people who have no clue about africa especially a very very small town and highschool kids. The first few days were very hard because not only kids are going to make fun of you, you are the only african in a small town america. We were asked by many of our teachers to talk about botswana but instead of making use of the education they intentionally asked stupid questions in front of their students. I was very ashamed of been african to a point that i will not use my setswana name or speak setswana in their company. I learned and i grew up, my college years i spoke setswana and used my setswana name 24/7. I wore my setswana shirts anywhere i could. So for your friend to say negative things about africa its said because they will say they heard it from the horses mouth that africa is indeed a bad place. Try to talk to the sister, be proud of were u from, they can talk all they want and its only because we are africans and we know their country more than they do.
Thanks for your great insight. You see I am careful of speaking to someone about having them speak better of Africa because they are African, for three reasons. Firstly, as you pointed out, some people go through a phase where they are ashamed of being African because of external pressure to be ashamed. Eventually they grow out of it and so it could be that she is having her phase of shame and I shouldn't tamper with the process. Secondly, it is not like some of the things are lies. They are just unflattering facts not balanced with positives and thirdly, I can't because that would be self-righteous of me to tell someone how they should speak. Rather, I believe that I can take responsibility as one individual myself to speak the balanced truth about the Africa I know. I think it boils to that we should do our bit and hopefully the ripple effect of our mind revolution will reach the likes of that girl. Thank you so much, Joseph...
I also went to an American high school and was one of the few Africans there. I also struggled with questions about identity.
At first I hated the fact that I was African. I did not speak up in class because I felt stupid and hated my accent.
There was so much talk about diversity at the school so I felt like I did not deserve to be at that school if I was just a diversity token. A lot of the students made it sound like if a school like mine had no diversity policy black students would not be there. They talked about affirmative action a lot.
In the end I realised that I was giving Americans too much power. If I feel worthless in their prescence it is not their fault but mine. I have to celebrate my heritage because regardless of my people's flaws they made me who I am. Americans have their flaws too. Why do Africans care so much what Americans think of them. Americans are people like us, they are not gods and I don't think Africans will stop developing if Americans choose to think we are barbaric and swing from trees like monkeys.
As Africans we need to be proud of ourselves for ourselves not so that we can impress Americans. Lets stop worrying about what others think of us and lets tackle the problems we have as a continent. We know we are capable of turning things around so lets channel our energy towards that.
I am now working hard to educate myself and I do not care whether I deserve to be at my school or not. What matters is that I am here and the American education will help me build a better Botswana when I go back.
i feel you. oh, wow! the accent thing is ludicrous and as i will speak from experience, adjusting it(even if you don't set out to) will have you strike other Africans as foreign and still be the "African monkey" to Americans.. I feel you about being a diversity token!!!
I also attended a high school of about 600 students where I was the only African students on the campus. I have never been ashamed of who I am and I was appaled at the absurd questions I was asked. Some seemed down right insulting. One lady assumed I did not know what a hamburger was and proceeded to say it was two pieces of bread with meat in the middle. Such experiences strenthened my resolve to continue being proudly from Botswana and African. I realized that ignorance and primitive sterotypes of African are rife. I had thought people would know that Africa can not be summed by stereotypes, that I was not the exception and there were many Africans like me that were educated and were "enlightened" before coming to America. The media perpetuates African sterotypes and as individuals, we can counter them. By being a confident in who I was and voicing my opinion, that became my way of dispelling the stereotypes. Living the way I had been raised by my parents and not trying to change just to become more American like was a conscious effort I made. It is crucial to know where you come from, your roots and keep focus on that so when you enter unfamiliar environemnts, peoples' ignorance do not disarm you and force you to change. Although change is good sometimes succumbing to environemntal pressures can mean you give up a part of cultural yourself. I believe there is a power in culture and the more you embrace it and where you are from, the easier it is to be comfortable in new situations. We as Africans need to be proud of who we are.
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