I am just interested in what your conceptions about Afica are…im writing this for a local paper so your responses will be valuable. Feel free to post anything no matter how stereotypical, crude or offensive. thanx
Sorry…that should be Africa
My God…my spelling is atrocious…sorry.
Last week, I was fortunate to be invited to a discussion of terrorism sponsored by a local newspaper. Another attendee was a man named David from Kenya.
He was thoughful, polite, intelligent and deeply concerned about his country’s welfare, specifically tied to farming. In my opinion, if the human race is to survive, we must become a global community. We have to start thinking of all nations as equals instead of maintaining our ethnocentric points of view.
I wish that everyone had a chance to meet and listen to people of other nations one-on-one… They become real instead of statistics.
Poor, many countries run by tyrants propped up by their militaries who plunder their nations’ wealth, severe HIV/AIDS problems, ethnic strife (mostly between various African groups, but also black/white problems in Zimbabwe & S. Africa), and sometimes religious conflicts, too.
Nice to see Kenya just had a peaceful transfer of power, though.
I don’t know if my comments were necessarily about Africa… It’s a pretty broad topic. minega, do you want to know what people think about Africans themselves?
Actually, it really depends on the area of Africa that in question, minega
When I think of the Congo area, I think of warring factions, unstable governments, and bloodshed. Vast but principally untapped mineral wealth comes to mind as well.
When I think of North Africa, souks and the desert is my first imagery. Camels and pyramids. Snake charmers in the bazaar.
When I think of Sudan, my heart just breaks.
Likewise Rwanda.
When I think of Nigeria, I think of tribalism.
When I think of Southern Africa, I think of Kenya moving towards a peaceful democracy and the huge strides South Africa has made.
When I think of Tanzabar, I think of spices.
I realize that these are all exceedingly simpilitisc images.
I’m not sure that Africa can be fit into the mold of European countries. It seems to me that the traditional cultures do not lend themselves as well as European societies did to the European concept of nationhood. It is my understanding that relationships such as clan are a large factor in social interactions.
When the European powers drew lines on the map to outline what would be countries, they didn’t pay enough attention to what peoples were living where.
Africa will have a harder time because of this. So it will take more time, and patience, and work to solve many of the problems of a modern state
South Africa, Cape Town more specifically, is great. And I have absolutely no bias whatsoever from living here ;).
When I think about Africa the first thing I think of is hunting. The best hunting in the world! And I’m not a hunter. But I do read about hunting a lot.
I’m with Gazelle – the question is, what specifically about Africa are we talking about? At the moment the news here is full of talk about Mugabe and Zimbabwe and the famine and whether the English cricket team should go play there. But north Africa is very different from sub-Saharan Africa; Kenya is very different from Liberia, etc. etc.
I’ve met a lot of Africans (hundreds, literally) from all over the continent. Many of them have been really nice people. Some have been complete assholes. Neither category had anything to do with where in Africa they were from, or even with the fact that they were from Africa at all.
If you mean what do I think of it as a tourist destination, I’ve never been there but from Michael Palin’s travel programs it looks like there’s a lot worth seeing.
no not Africans…just Africa. Close your eyes and picture it. Africa. i know this sounds silly but it’ll really help me
have to go for the ritual sacrifice now…
Naked chicks in National Geographic. No, wait, the majesty and grandeur of the Pyramids.
(Thread title corrected out of pity.)
I usually think of the Nigerians I’ve known. (Why Nigerians? Because I’ve never had more than a passing aquaintance with anyone who was from another country in Africa.)