Thanks to Julian Hoffman for the tipoff to this excellent Guardian piece on the Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o which I referred to when I was writing my Africa chapter for the new Discover Geography series.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was a Kenyan writer.
He talks about how Africa is represented... and the language we use to describe the continent and its people....
"We have to reject the notion that splendour is not splendour unless it springs from squalor. Palaces are not palaces unless erected on prisons. My millions are not millions unless mined from a million poor. For me to be, others must cease to be. Education must convey knowledge that empowers us to imagine more inclusive palaces, where my being enables your being and yours enables mine."
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