Why We’re Getting Africa Wrong

Africa is made up of 54 different countries – so why is it so often talked about as one singular place? Dipo Faloyin, a senior editor at Vice and author of Africa is Not a Country, joins Jelena Sofronijevic to discuss the continent’s diversity and how that’s been erased in everyday discussions. What led to the condensed view of today and how can we properly engage with the region?

• “People would rather see the entire region as a singular monolith, instead of a region that can be anything.”
• “Too many people have grown up with this idea of Africa as a singular monolith.”
• “Often when we talk about Africa we look at it from 1,000 miles up in the air or we look at it through the lens of safari, and that isn’t the reality for people on the ground.”
• “It’s always just so sad to hear that people when they think of Africa they see it as a problem.”
• “It’s hard to get people to see Africa in a different way when they’re still bombarded with images of babies with flies around their head.”
• “The most important thing is that we start to see vast stories of success, failure, love. That’s something that’s really missing across the pop culture landscape.”
• “The history of Africa is also the history of the UK.”

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Written and presented by Jelena Sofronijevic. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Assistant Producer: Elina Ganatra. Audio production by Jade Bailey. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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