Afrodiasporic Literature: Stereotypes to Avoid

Afrodiasporic Literature
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Afrodiasporic Literature
1 Stereotypes to avoid when writing about Africa
In Binyavanga Wainaina’s article, “How to Write about Africa,” the author identifies specific examples of stereotypes to avoid when writing about the continent. These stereotypes misrepresent the African story, and the correlations are important to the Africans. Wainaina (2008) lays a bare ironical chaperon on how African narratives should unfold. The stereotypes the author mentions are what the world has always seen in Africa and Africans, and these correlations are critical to the people in the continent. The first stereotype is that no African may be seen as civilized and successful unless they won a Nobel Prize. Next, Africa is a continent struggling with diseases, hunger, and war, and any attempt to depict Africans descriptively will be in vain. Third, the uncivilized Africans have a unique diet different from that of the Westerners. They can only afford monkey-brain as their best cuisine. Finally, Africans are known as people living in antagonism with each other, and success stories should include issues such as female genital mutilation, Ebola outbreaks, or other serious diseases.
The picture Wainaina (2008) paints in his short article represents the worldview maintained by many in the Western world. Nevertheless, Africa has diverse cultures, people, talents, and resources. The award-winning Kenyan writer challenges the commonly held stereotypes about the continent with a stinging satire and shares important lessons to would-be writers, historians, and journalists covering stories about Africa (Ndiso, 2019). While there are plenty of good stories about Africa, writers have always focused on the negative events in the continent to sell their content. Since these negative stories sell, Wainaina (2008) sarcastically reminds authors that these elements are key to their marketing campaigns. To Africans, Wainaina’s (2008) article reminds them that they should love their continent and maintain a positive image contrary to what the world has always perceived.
2 The movie “Soul Sisters” and the ending of Sade’s journey to return to Nigeria
In the movie “In America: The Story of the Soul Sisters (2011),” Sade George’s immigration journey ends with a decision to return to Nigeria. As she returns, Sade is pregnant, and according to a famous African proverb, a snail can try, but it is impossible to cast off its shell. Her pregnancy is figuratively employed in the film. Sade reminisces on what her teacher used to say that Africans were in the past forced into slavery, but things have changed to a situation where Africans sell themselves into the same servitude (Cole, 2017). According to the film director, Rahman Oladigbolu, Sade was a medical student forced to leave Nigeria since the schools she ...