Geldof's Africa
It is refreshing to hear positive views of Africa and Africans when matters relating to the continent get such unrelieved bad press in many quarters. In the Independent Bob Geldof talks of the good humour and friendliness of the people in spite of the huge challenges they face. Others have tried to put across a balanced view of Africa, including the historian Basil Davidson who fronted a remarkable series for Channel 4 in the 1980s. Many black historians have done the same, but much of their work still goes ignored. The shameful and woefully ignorant view of Hugh Trevor-Roper of African history being in darkness has held sway for far too long.
One problem understanding Africa, its politics and affairs is trying to compare it with Europe. It just cannot be understood from that point of view. Geldof points out that just the scale of countires and regions is difficult to imagine
At the end of the day I prefer to read an African view of Africa. Geldof comes over as presumptuous in his talk of "my Africa" in true colonial style. Again on Channel 4 there was an extensive series of African cinema which was rich and recealing in content. The cinema dveloped in Francophone countries rather than British colonies and has thus been inaccessible.
The news broke recntly about the death of an eminent Ghanaian historian Adu Boahen. HIs obituary in the Guardian showed him to be a person of great courage and honesty who was threatened with arrest for standing by his beliefs.
Posted by John Tyrrell at June 12, 2006 10:34 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)