31. Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo Faloyin
reader: the author
OPD: 2022
format: 9:14 audible audiobook. 400 pages in hardcover
acquired: May 2 listened: May 2-11
rating: 4½
genre/style: Journalistic essays theme: random audio
locations: Africa
about the author: Writer and editor born in Chicago (~1989), raised in Nigeria

I wish I had reviewed this when I still under its spell. Fayolin, an editor at Vice Magazine (which went into bankruptcy Monday), writes, and narrates, like an online personality. He has charm, a sense of how deep to go without losing a reader's interest, a sense of storyline, and he ties it altogether in theme. And he has a lovely engaging voice on audio.

The book is entertaining - fun and serious, ranting and thoughtful, and intentionally extending itself out to its readers. He begins in Lagos, then goes to Africa's tragic colonial history, then works around the surprising realities of various African countries - the arbitrary borders, tensions from colonial divisions, their youth and variability, and success and failures and new successes. And he rants on the western perspectives. And then he comes back again to his clearly beloved Nigeria.

One thing that really stuck with me was the lessons from attempts by Band Aid and We Are the World to address the Ethiopian famine of the 1980's. Racist implications aside (in the Band Aid song), the charities addressed a man-made famine. That was news to me. I think I was in the majority in assuming the famine was a natural unfortunate event. The Ethiopian ruling powers used normal seasonal cycles, interrupting tradition management and migrations, and created a massive famine in groups that they considered opponents. The results were devasting. The charity money, of course, went to that government. Well...damn.

Among other charms here are his long chapter in praise of Marvel's Black Panther movie, where African creative staff were intentionally responding the colonialist and western perspectives of Africa. Which is maybe silly (although less silly than his cringe-worthy claim that Eddie Murphy's movie Coming to America broke stereotypes...eek), but also thoroughly entertaining.

Despite the ranting, and tragedies, the book is really about accomplishments of young countries dealing with democratic and autocratic power struggles, racial and clan divides, of places where the independence leaders are often still alive, and sometimes very difficult and power-hungry. Whereas Robert Mugabe held on until a coup, Nelson Mandela stepped aside, and in the middle, Ruwandan president Paul Kagame appears to have managed a post-genocide country, instead retaliating, but then he committed other crimes in the process...in order to stay in power.

Recommended if you want to spend time on any of these steppingstones, or want an entertaining look an Africa, or just want a fun, well-written, magazine-article-style, book.

2023:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/348551#8148771 ( )

I loved this book. It's a necessary read. Smart, funny, and full of wit. Faloyin ventures to examine and break down stereotypes about Africa. He instead reminds us of all the diverse and rich history that exists within this vast continent. He takes us on a journey through various countries and discusses the challenges that exist. It's beautifully written and well-researched. ( )

A true eye-opening book! ( )

NF