A book I once gladly picked up at the book store was the 'Dark Star Safari' by Paul Theroux. I generally love travel stories and this one was brilliant.........that is if you are not an African. It dripped with all the stereotypes and condenscention that only one with a self perceived superiority could generate, especially one who has spent so much time on the continent, that he is admired as an 'old africa hand', an expert of all things inherently native.
This is one book that really got my blood boiling.
I have recently across an essay written by Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina, called 'How to write about Africa', and it really got me thinking. I have pasted the link below and I aknowlege the author. I hope it gets us all thinking.
The moral of this essay and the books we buy at the bookshop is that we need to write more about ourselves, because if we dont then someone else will do it for us.....with prdictable results. Blogging is a great start.
3 comments:
I agree on that the author's slant is misplaced, but he's become a world famous travel writer for that
however I am inspired to attempt a similar trip one day, perhaps west to east africa overland
Hi Banks. It would be refreshing to read an african's take on what other africans are all about. I have travelled across several southern african countries by bus and absolutely loved it. Wrote a few things down and they appeared in the Ugandan papers about 6 years ago.
That said, we still need to see more of us doing the same.
Why do people beef with this book? Perhaps you should give examples to illustrate. Me I don't see the beef.
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