Introductory post: a white girl writing about Africa

A white girl writing about Africa

Coming from a white European privileged background, white supremacy is a system I was born into which has given me access to advantages, protection and power. 

 

Unsurprisingly, reading Wainaina's post on 'How to write about Africa' (Wainaina, 2005) made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. I knew that I was affected by white privilege but recognising some of my assumptions in Wainaina's ironic descriptions of white power was truly unsettling.  

 

Hence when I came across Layla Saad’s book 'Me and white supremacy: How to recognise your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change the World' (Saad, 2020) at my local bookstore a few days later, I immediately knew that it was my responsibility to challenge this awkward feeling and truly comprehend my positionality. 

 

I have since then identified in my everyday life some advantages that I was never aware of, or maybe never really wanted to be aware of. 

 

Being confronted to my white privilege through both Wainaina’s and Saad’s works, thus, motivated me to start this blog by reflecting on how I will approach writing about Africa. 

 

Fig. 1 : 'Me and white supremacy: How to recognise your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change the World' Book cover (Saad, 2020) 

 

The aim of this blog

I am writing this blog as part of the Water and Development in Africa module I am undertaking from the Geography Department at UCL. The aim of this platform will be to investigate the relationship between Water and Politics in Africa. 

 

In the Development field, scholars have referred to the ‘colonialist move’ to denounce the making of a discourse under contexts of unequal power (Escobar, 1995). In The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Escobar expresses that Europeans have adopted a colonialist move to describe the Third World. He explains that it is this discourse that has initiated in the 1950s and reinforces today the distinction between a developed and underdeveloped world (Escobar, 1995). 

 

Therefore in this blog, I will attempt to step away from the ‘colonialist move’ by challenging my assumptions and discourses to explore Development in Africa in the most non-biased way.

 

Through this blog, I seek the truth. Caleb Okereke, a Nigerian journalist and filmmaker claims in a podcast with No White Saviors that white people should discuss Africa in a specific way: "You came, you colonised Africa and now you have the chance to tell our story again. So the least we deserve is that you do it correctly. That’s all we’re asking for. So what we want, what the ideal is, is that you tell the whole story" (Okereke, 2020). In this blog, I will try my best to explore the truth behind political situations in the most accurate, objective and sincere way. I am not here to talk over people who can speak for themselves, this is not my story. But the least I can do is investigate the whole story.

Fig 2.: 'Africa has its own Story' (No white Saviors, 2019)

Implications

This blog will be an attempt to challenge my assumptions and unlearn the discourses of a white privileged girl while depicting the whole story of situations in Africa. However, I think that even with the best intentions I will make mistakes in my writing. I am aware that good intentions are not enough, hence why I apologise if I ever offend someone through this platform. I ask that you, as the reader, please let me know if I upset you with my writing. I am here to learn and unlearn, and will do better with your help. 

I am very excited to take on this journey and start investigating alongside you. I wish you a nice read!