Saturday, March 16, 2019
The Status of Africa :: Politics Economics Geography African Essays
On October 7 1999, azimuth Daily Wildcat published a remarkable article by Lora Mackel, a history Junior in the University of Arizona. In the article, Mackel expressed her views close to the current state of the African undefiled as followsWe have all told seen the images before Children with bloated bellies, rebels with assault weaponry, shanty towns that spread as far as the camera can pan. These images reflect our own modern conceptions of Africa, for it seems that these wretched conditions and the continent itself are permanently linked. (4)Mackels article reminded this writer of a lilliputian anecdote told by a fellow countryman of mine named Kagiso, who is from Federal Botswana and is currently studying in Alabama. Apparently, one of his American classmates innocently asked him how he had escaped from the civil war going on in Africa. fit in to Kagiso, this particular classmate of his has this notion that Africa is just one big country. Although it was scant(p) for my countryman, Kagiso, to dismiss his classmates question as emanating from an individual on the lower side of the I.Q. scale, the point is that it connects to Mackels views and summarizes the informations of some Americans about Africa. Their perception is that the whole African continent is a basket case. On the other(a) hand, there are some Americans who unlike some of their countryman whitethorn not dismiss Africa entirely out of hand. Such Americans may study the view that Africa is a serious cause for concern. Once in a while, a sympathetic soul who holds the latter view more potently may arise. Unfortunately, most of the time, such people feel so moody for Africa that they end up being apologists for the African continent, never mind the concomitant that the continent is home to 61 countries with varying economic successes (Atlas 122). The generalize descriptions of Africa by writers such as Mackel fail dismally to present a true image of the continent.Africas critics m ay single out the governmental instability prevalent in some African countries as a cause for their dismissal of Africa. These critics may use Rwanda to plead their case. In 1994, more or less 250,000 Rwandans crossed into neighboring Tanzania as refugees. This was after their village leaders force them out just because they belonged to a different ethnic group (Shawcross 4). It is prosperous for Africas critics to gloat over these reports. However, one need not be reminded that political strife is not uncommon in this day and age.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment