This is one of a series of blog posts linked to the research I did for the 'Discover Geography' series, and mentioning some of the reading I did to prepare some of the chapters.
Not all of this material made it into the final book so I'm sharing it in these posts.
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."
Comments