How not to write about Africa
Will some people never understand that beside the horrific pictures of starving children, child soldiers, tribal wars, ripped and mutilated bodies laying on streets, Africa has smiling faces and is a peace loving continent? I was watching “How Not to Write About Africa” by Binyavanga Wainaina. To a large extent African literature is full of some of the elements that were highlighted in the video clip. The amount of stereotyping of the continent leaves one wondering whether the African continent has anything interesting to write home about besides wars, and jungle life associated with the famous “Big Five” wild animals. Africa has been largely portrayed as a place of “hand-outs”, and a “dumping ground” of cheap and inferior goods from developed countries. I believe this video partly addresses this disgusting phenomenon.