Africa. Only one other continent in the world – Australia – has similarly defined boundaries. Where does Europe begin and end? What does America mean? The United States? And Canada? What about South America and the Caribbean? Where does Asia start and end? Africa is a clearly defined shape surrounded by water – and is vast. You can fit the USA and China in and still have room to spare. The distance between London and Moscow is the distance between the mouth of the Congo River and its eastern border with Sudan. Because it is clearly defined, Africa is an easy target for generalisations. Many outsiders are happy to dismiss the continent with a selection of single words: backward, poor, corrupt, hopeless. Its labels include ‘the Dark Continent’ or ‘the Hopeless Continent’. Book titles also often portray violent dramatic images – What if Africa refuses to develop? False start in Africa, Africa in Crisis, Aid on the Edge of Chaos, Africa Betrayed, Black Man’s Burden, Criminalisation of the State in Africa, Wars, Guns and Votes, The Politics of Suffering and Smiling, The Looting Machine. More recently there have been different dreams – ‘Africa Rising’, ‘Emerging Africa’, ‘African Renaissance’.
Above all, these adjectives are reductive, one-dimensional. They are based on a single view based on one or two countries. No one would describe Asia, America or Europe in such simplistic ways.
By Richard Dowden