States and Power in Africa - I first realized I wanted to be a political scientist while reading this book for the second time. Stresses imposed borders, population density and the problem of "broadcasting" authority as key challenges to African political development. When I was a little girl growing up in Queens, NY, I played house like any other girl, but my house was almost never in America. I’d pretend I was a Russian peasant woman burrowing for seedlings during the Polvolzhye famine; a little girl in Sudan, washing clothes at the bank of the Nile; a Qing Dynasty Empress; an Egyptian Queen commanding vast armies.
Africabeat is not dead, merely on a very long holiday. I've been frantically visiting graduate schools and am trying to finish up field research for a book I am writing on China and Africa. The conversations on this blog were very much a part of its genesis, so thank you to everyone who participated.
I've also just started writing a column for EbonyJet called The New World. The first column is autobiographical, and by consequence, not that interesting! But I hope that I can use it to explore topics dear to my heart--migration, identity, change, politics, globalization, and global Black culture--using the particular lens through which I see the world.
Finally, and this is very exciting for me since it means the political scientist part of my tag line is about to become a little less "aspirational," I will be starting doctoral studies in the Department of Government at Harvard University this fall. In the US, master's degrees and Ph.D's generally form a continuous course of study, which means it should take me anywhere from five to seven years to finish! I'm aiming for six.
I hope to be back in a real way in September, but I might just send a few dispatches into the ether in the intervening months. After all, there's like seven African countries I hope to visit in the weeks to come, and the Olympics in Beijing. These are exciting times!
I ended up writing a post titled "Saving Africa in blackface" for the Guardian's group blog, Comment is Free. Here are some of my thoughts:
"I am waiting for my last day in school; the children in Africa are waiting for their first one," reads the slogan hovering alongside a young German girl who's just cute as a button. It would be just another run-of-the-mill solidarity campaign, were it not for the puzzling fact that her face, stretched into a farcical grin, is covered in mud. Let's save Africa. In blackface.
I was a bit appalled, but laughed in spite of myself. I can appreciate satire. Lord knows after Kate Moss's Nubian makeover and Gwyneth Paltrow gone native - OK, more Cherokee Indian than Chewa, actually, but why get lost in the details? - the debate over celebrity advocacy for Africa could use some.
But an email exchange with UNICEF headquarters in New York revealed that this children's minstrel show was not, as I had hoped, the latest in a long tradition of internet hoaxes trafficking in bad taste. It was an actual ad campaign to promote an actual plan to give African children an education: UNICEF Germany's "Schools for Africa" initiative. All I could do was shake my head.
Continue reading "A new campaign to "Save Africa"...with blackface!" »
I'll stand up and shout when I think people are dead wrong or heading in a dangerous direction, but I'm generally the girl who sits back, listens and when she speaks tries to do so with conviction but hopes she won't rock the boat too much. The flurry of blog posts, digg, newsvine and reddit comments, del.cio.us bookmarks, and personal emails (both laudatory and critical) since the article on aid/Bono/TED was (finally) published a few days ago has taken me by complete surprise.
I am really glad that so many people are debating these issues. And if I've been able to spark interest and get people talking about TED, aid, entrepreneurship, and the media's portrayal of Africa in a meaningful way, even if it meant being uncharacteristically polemic, then I am happy for it.
But a few clarifications:
1) Yes I've been to Africa and no I don't think all African children carry AK-47s - A few lazy readers have suggested I go to Africa and see for myself how wrong I am to take a few exceptional examples of African dysfunction to generalize for the entire continent.
Putting aside the fact that I had to be in Africa in order to have attended a conference in Arusha, I've been to seven African countries and in none of them have I seen an AK-47-toting child, people dying of famine or war, or any of the other completely ludicrous stereotypes that form the opening paragraph of the article.
This article originally appeared on this blog and has since been published at American.com. It differs slightly from the original version.
Arusha, Tanzania–Africa is a continent of despair and desperation. Here, eight year-olds toting AK-47s massacre whole villages and eccentric dictators feast on the organs of the opposition, believing it'll boost their mojo. Tsetse flies nibble on the eyelids of starving children who sport distended bellies like it's their birthright, not to mention the fact that by the time you finish reading this article, another six Africans will die from malaria, five from AIDS, and seventeen from poverty and hunger. Also, the wildlife is beautiful and the people like to dance and sing.
That's Africa, and it's in desperate need of our help. Luckily, a few enlightened megastars from America and Europe have come to save it.
Continue reading "Africans to Bono: 'For God's sake please stop!'"
Image credit: Photo by Flickr user advencap
Continuing an age-old debate–is religion the “opium of the people” or can it be a catalyst for social change?–Congolese blogger Blaise Mantoto at UDPS Liege says the Congo’s Christian revivalist churches, which he cynically refers to as “for-profit spiritual shops,”
encourage political disengagement
[Fr]. He calls on revivalist churches to rewrite their missions,
arguing they should inspire their followers to improve their social and
economic situation through political activism.
UDPS Liege is the Belgium-based branch of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, a major Congolese opposition party and a vocal critic of Joseph Kabila, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Revivalist and charismatic churches have become increasingly popular in the Congo–at the expense of Catholic churches–by offering magical and miraculous solutions to the misery and insecurity Congolese have faced for decades. (These churches have also made news for making money off of the cruel exorcisms of child witches.)
But whether or not these churches encourage apathy, not everyone agrees that religion and politics should mix.
Read the rest at Global Voices
In 2004, just three years after a peace accord ended Sierra Leone's decade of nightmares, I was walking along Freetown's Lumley Beach toward the Bintumani Hotel. War and neglect had destroyed everything: Freetown, the capital, had no reliable power grid and only a handful of paved roads. Its already struggling population was swelling with those displaced by the fighting. It was a tropical destination whose only visitors were foreign relief workers. And yet, standing there in front of me was a luxury hotel, glowing with the light of its own generators.
Inside, I found a lobby serviced by a Chinese-only staff, decorated with large red lanterns, and completely rebuilt from floor to ceiling with Chinese materials and technology. The hotel was deserted. They could not have been turning a profit. Were they crazy to be here?
"Chinese believe high risk can bring high benefit," the hotel's manager, Yang Zhao, would say in later interviews.
And Chernor Jalloh, Sierra Leone's Tourism Minister, would say, "The early bird catches the worm."
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