Community: Real Life

Africa is not a country


Vimbai

When not taking a nap or two, Vimbai enjoys watching tennis, Tweeting and reading contemporary classics. She hopes to one day travel to Russia, but until then daydreaming about the Red Square will have to suffice.

You may be thinking: Of course I know Africa is a continent, but have you really thought it through?

I'm sure I wasn't alone in cringing as a result of both shock and embarrassment when it was revealed Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska and John McCain's running mate, didn't know Africa was continent. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some people who shook their heads and fists at her ignorance. But it turns out Mrs Palin isn't alone in thinking Africa is a country, my Psychology teacher (among others I suspect) is part of the Sarah Palin camp. When explaining nominal data he used countries as an example and, yes you guessed it, Africa was part of the list alongside the United Kingdom, France and sunny Spain. That no-one seemed to notice his error, aside from me, boiled my blood. Admittedly, I'm prone to the odd geographical error myself, but mistaking a mass of land that covers 6% of the world's surface for a country is ridiculous and leaves me seething with annoyance.

I'm from an African country and so I'm offended by the misconception Africa is a country, not only because it isn't, but because by incorrectly viewing Africa as a singular country people are ignoring the continent's diversity. Suddenly there's nothing special about Egypt's pyramids, Namibia's sand dunes or Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro. They are all the same and, worse still, they are overridden by stereotypical ideas. Given the constant bombardment of images of countries wrought with wars, poverty and corruption, when you mistake Africa for a singular country you reduce a whole continent to a country of starving communities with shoddy hospitals, wells that are twenty miles away and schools with no desks. It's also perceived that middle-class communities are non-existent, or that the small group in existence is corrupt, and anyone outside that corrupt group is extraordinarily poor with only two pence to survive on a day and living in a mud-hut.  No, I'm not deluded or overly naive. Yes, I know there are some who do live in such conditions, but let us not forget that it isn't everyone. But when you call Africa a country, you perpetuate that stereotype, cramming one billion people into one of two categories: corrupt or devastatingly poor.

"When you call Africa a country, you perpetuate that stereotype, cramming one billion people into one of two categories: corrupt or devastatingly poor."

Mistaking Africa for a country subsequently denies individuals a choice: no longer can they choose to call themselves African, they are African.  Suddenly you are African because, hey you're from Africa - that wondrous country with mud-huts and lions everywhere. It might sound insignificant, unimportant even, but it is important. It's a private and personal decision to identify as African because it comes with a political identity attached. More frequently than not those who call themselves African are also Pan-Africanist. But suddenly, when Africa is a country, all individuals from African countries become Africans and, subsequently, Pan-Africanists even those who staunchly oppose it. Look at Great Britain, being from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland doesn't immediately mean being British. There is a choice. Sure, there is debate over what exactly it means to be British but there is still a choice.  Yet that same respect to choose seems non-existent when it comes to an individual from a continent made up of 53 countries. Instead, in the eyes of those who confuse Africa for a country, individuals like me are African whether we like it or not.

And that, I believe, is the crux of the mistake: lack of respect for Africa as a whole. It seems somewhat extreme to say those who mistake Africa for a country don't respect the continent, but when the blunder is brushed away with a shrug and exasperated: "Oh you know what I mean", I can't help but think that's the main cause of the problem. People respect Europe enough to distinguish between European countries even differentiating Eastern Europe from Western Europe. Yet how many people do you know that have said "I've been to Africa". Africa, in spite of its flaws, its corruption, its wars and its developing economies, is a continent and not a country and it's time everyone remembered that.

Angry? Submit a rant

Updated: 16/04/2010


  • Print this page
  • Share/Bookmark

Also on TheSite.org