How to Write About Africa by Binyavanga Wainaina
Written by Kwani · March 24, 2008
Author: Binyavanga Wainaina
Series: Kwanini
This trio of sharp-witted essays takes irony to a new level. In How to Write About Africa, Wainaina dissects the African clichés and preconceptions dear to western writers and readers with a ruthless precision. In the same fashion, My Clan KC undresses the layers of meaning shrouding the identity of the infamous Kenya Cowboy. And in Power of Love, we start with a bemused recollection of the advent of the celebrities-for-Africa phenomenon, heralded by the mid-eighties hit song We Are The World. It’s a short step from there to the speculation, many years later, that “a $9-dollar-a-day cow from Japan could very well head a humanitarian NGO in Kenya,” whose “dollar-a-day people” continue to fascinate the “$5-dollar-a-day, 25-year-old backpackers who came and loved and compassioned and are now the beneficiaries of $5000 a month consulting for the United Nations.”
For me this is an amazing book to read. It just reflects openly about on how things happens and nobody bothers to say or comment.
How can I order this book and he others you feature on the website?
Response to Binyavanga Wainaina’s “How to Write About Africa”
by Everett Shiverenje Igobwa
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Carleton University, Canada
In “How to Write About Africa,” Binyavanga Wainaina a renowned Kenyan journalist and writer explicitly presents the numerous ways in which Africa is incorrectly interpreted and represented; simultaneously, he implicitly educates the reader on the guidelines one should adhere to in order to judiciously render Africa in one’s writing and in general. Wainaina ascribes eight attitudes to the erroneous misrepresentation and skewed perception of Africa by the majority of media sources, which can be identified as ethnocentric, Eurocentric, ignorant, racist, problematic, helpless, hopeless and generalized.
In this satire on how one should “correctly” go about writing on Africa, the use of a problematic voice is conspicuous. African people are deemed as being solely involved in periods of starvation, warfare or emigration. Wainaina is ultimately rejecting the way in which Africa is presented as ubiquitously conflict-ridden while positive efforts and occurrences of the continent are for the most part neglected. The problematic tone is in fact a myopic perspective of Africa; despite conflicts in certain countries, there exist positive innovations and occurrences economically, politically and socially on the part of Africans which fail to be reported. So, Wainaina mocks the problematic tone often used when representing Africa while writing in this satirical manner. In summary, Africa is thus presented under the rubric of the 3Cs namely Crisis, Conflict and Catastrophe.
Similarly, Wainaina addresses the way in which Africa is represented as a helpless, dependent continent, always in need of assistance. He states, “Africa is to be pitied…be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.” Wainaina “advises” the use of certain characters in one’s book, including “The Starving African,” who must be presented as “utterly helpless.” Moreover, it is suggested that these “helpless” characters flock to one’s central hero, who proceeds to “teach them, bathe them and feed them.” Often, Africa is presented as a dependent, needy continent; Wainaina no doubt has grievances with this media interpretation through misrepresentation, most likely because Africa has, since pre-colonial times, established its own sense of autonomy and self-reliance through trade routes and even through artistic mediums. Wainaina emphasizes, then, that the notion of “helpless Africa” is in fact entirely specious, irrelevant and a purely ignorant standpoint.
Perhaps the most apparent tone of writing taken by Wainaina in his satirical advisory is that of representing a generalized, stereotypical Africa and African people. It almost seems as if he is poking fun at the ridiculous generalizations and homogenization often made about Africa, as he blatantly states, “In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country…Don’t get bogged down with precise descriptions.” Wainaina also addresses the stereotyped African roles that are presented by many media sources, such as “The Loyal Servant,” “The Ancient Wise Man,” “The Modern African” and “The Starving African;” he disapproves of the misconception that all Africans fit into one of these categories. Wainaina, to further emphasize the generalizations and stereotypes ascribed to Africa, states at the end of his article, “the African sunset is a must. It is always big and red. There is always a big sky.” This puerile description embodies Wainaina’s dislike for the delusion of Africa as singular and homogenous, when Africa is in truth a vastly diverse continent, heterogeneous, in every imaginable way, from its environments, climate religions, people, cultures, education systems, music traditions and political institutions. To deny Africa’s unique nature is to submit to an outdated ignorance and a primordial paradigm that must be eradicated, as Wainaina subtly implies.
Ultimately, Wainaina is advocating both a literary and general reform to the interpretation of Africa. No longer should problematic, helpless and generalized viewpoints be employed when writing of Africa; such perspectives hold absolutely no validity when Africa has in fact always been unified, diverse and independent in so many respects since time immemorial. Wainaina implicitly advocates these notions through his effective use of satire in his piece. In a very innovative manner, he communicates what must be avoided when writing about Africa while intentionally exhibiting those same errors himself; perhaps such measures are taken so that the reader may directly behold and comprehend the imprudence of presenting Africa in such a light.
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the media needs to change the way it portrays Africans.