02/13/2006
Nice Read...
Checkout this well written and pretty funny article by Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenyan author, playwright, journalist and winner of the Caine Priza). It seems Wainaina also has an SA connection as he studied commerce at the University of Transkei, after which he worked in Cape Town for some years as a freelance food and travel writer. In July 2002 he won the Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story "Discovering Home" (Source Wiki). But I do digress, here's an extract but be sure to go read the article in its entirety :
How to Write About Africa
Always use the word 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or 'Safari' in your title. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar', 'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow', 'Drum', 'Sun' or 'Bygone'. Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas', 'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans.
Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.
In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don't get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn't care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.
Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat. Do not mention rice and beef and wheat; monkey-brain is an African's cuisine of choice, along with goat, snake, worms and grubs and all manner of game meat. Make sure you show that you are able to eat such food without flinching, and describe how you learn to enjoy it—because you care....
04:55 Posted in Random Thoughts | Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this | Tags: South Africa
Comments
Curious he calls Afrikaaners 'westerners' - almost all Afrikaaners I know consider themselves quite strongly to be 'African'.
Bad Western characters may include children of Tory cabinet ministers Afrikaners, employees of the World Bank.
Posted by: Shaun | 02/13/2006
Which begs the question of whether those who consider themselves Africans cannot also be considered Westerners?
Posted by: someamongus | 02/14/2006
While it's a fact that all humans once originated in Africa, and maybe lived in Africa for a long, long time, doesn't mean that they can call themselves Africans. You've gotta be black to be an African, see? Ever call yourself an African in the presence of a black person? As for Wainaina's article, I found it extremely offensive, as I'm sure it was meant to be.
Posted by: hex | 02/14/2006
You're kidding, deeply offensive?? If he had written about Peter Marais campaigning in a lace teddy I might have agreed with you, but this article was a fine bit of tongue in cheek writing that poked fun at those who take themselves too seriously when writing about Africa.
Posted by: someamongus | 02/15/2006
Peter Marais campaigning in a .. who could possibly find that offensive? OK, I'll say Wainaina's piece was mildly offensive. What he does is stereotype all Europeans as stupid bigots with preconceived ideas about Africa; that's what got my hackles up. Gee, Im just so crushed to hear you don't agree with me on this one!
Posted by: hex | 02/15/2006
Peter Marais in a lace teddy - now there's an odd mental picture! I don't think Wainaina was stereotyping, I think he was just making a (valid) point about preconveived ideas that foreigners have of Africa. I've done business in many countries overseas and have heard many of the themes he presents in his books repeated by so-called "educated" people.
Posted by: Joeblo | 02/17/2006
The comments are closed.