Is There An African in the Room

Page 1

Is There An African in the Room Talk at St Andrew's Africa Summit – February 23, 2019 (St. Andrew's)

NII AYIKWEI PARKES Mi sane’ɛ djei mɔfɛɛmɔ sane Mi sane’ɛ djei mɔfɛɛmɔ sane How many people understood that? Well, in the past (and to some degree, still) that would be enough for someone to declare all of you who didn’t understand uncouth savages - for how could you not understand simple language? - and nominate himself (for it was often HIM) qualified to write about you. My story is not everyone’s story is what I said - and I said it in one of the 67 languages of my country, one of approximately 2500 languages of the continent of Africa. So few of you understood me. That disconnect essentially lies at the heart of the distortion of the African story - correction, of African stories, of African histories. If we consider the indisputable fact that everyone of you, hearing my talk in English would summarise it differently, then we have versions of every story, variations on the truth in just one language. Fact: the average person in Africa speaks a minimum of two languages. Every language is rooted in concepts, contexts and philosophies about the world, so imagine the versions possible in a place with 1.2 billion people and at least 5000 language versions of every story not even taking into account the possible twists of religion, gender and age. That is the size of the central problem of trying to pin down what it means to be African. Yet that is what the rest of the world has tried to do for so long - and they keep wondering why they get it so wrong. Because the world has so diligently and persistently imposed its story on Africa (starting with the map of Africa – on the large and small scale) art in Africa has often been concerned with challenging accepted stereotypes. Of course, there are two dangers therein - one is that artists can sometimes carry the burden of ‘representation’ which suffocates the wilder children of their imaginations, the other is that in


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.