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Rosebell Kagumire

Binyavanga Wainaina's How to write about Africa

http://www.granta.com/extracts/2615


You will find all the naivety that most writers and even journalists use to write about Africa

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Thank you for this. I have to admit to being embarrassed by how true it is. I posted the link to this, and where I first read it, on the HMF blog, because I think it is important. The media is a fickle but important tool, and those who work in it will always fashion their stories and words through their own lens of perception and according to their own agendas--whether they be conscious or unconscious intentions. You hope for impartiality and fairness, but the human element will always be present in terms of how someone sees events, and in what context. You just hope there are an equal number of voices presenting different perspectives.

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Yah you are right and some think Africa of 1900 is still the same as most of them they cannot differentiate between a documentary produced in those years and the current. You will find that some still base their urgments on history rather than on the current real facts; so you will find some (like the one I met in Japan) asking you if the animals stay near your home, etc. Some just want to use such materials for their own benefit as I remember in one of the reflection dinners organised by European Union in Serena Hotel in Kampala here in Uganda, one of the local leaders in Northern Uganda (where there has been a conflict for more than 20 years now led by Kony Lebels) informed us that the Gulu Walk which was Organised in New York, attracted about $7M but only $5M were sure sent to the victims and people used such pictures from here.

Any way, thank you for this.

Robert

Robert

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