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Recently, a couple people have asked me for suggestions on accessible books to read in order to better understand Africa. This is a difficult task, because Africa is an enormous and incredibly diverse continent. It is bigger than China, the USA, Europe, India, Argentina and New Zealand all put together.
However, there is a widespread lack of understanding about Africa in the West. This is perpetuated by common stereotypes peddled by a media that is often too lazy to dig more deeply than images of “noble savages,” “chaotic tribalism” and “exotic” wildlife.
Therefore, I can see the importance of guiding people toward books that provided a more authentic, careful and well-crafted picture of this continent. While reading several books will still only provide a caricature, if they are good, the caricature will be a little less rough than before.
As a result, with the help of my wife, who is a better scholar of Africa than I, I list below five works of African literature that I believe will provide a good basic overview of life, society, culture, religion and politics on the continent.
I have chosen to focus on works of fiction because I believe that for the general reader they provide the most accessible and humanizing entry point into life in Africa.
1. “Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe. This profound reflection on rural life in Nigeria and the impact of colonialism was the first novel written by an African to be widely read outside the continent. If you read no other African literature, you should at least read this book.
2. “The Song of Lawino,” by Okot P’Bitek. This epic poem is a relatively quick read (I got through it in an afternoon) but is a rich, funny and insightful look at the tension between tradition and modernity in rural northern Uganda. The lamenting and biting song of the protagonist, Lawino, skewers her well-educated husband’s decision to leave her for a “modern women.”
3. “Zenzele,” by Nozipo Maraire. This novel by an Ivy League-educated medical doctor takes the form of a letter from an urban middle class Zimbabwean mother to her daughter, Zenzele, who is excitedly preparing to go to Harvard. The mother tells the story of herself and her family as way to impart wisdom and advice, entreating Zenzele always to remember her roots.
4. “Purple Hyacinth,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. One of Nigeria’s up-and-coming young authors, Adichie’s debut novel contrasts the behavior of an upstanding, well-respected politician in the public and private spheres. The narrator, who is the politician’s teenage daughter, reveals the secrets of fanaticism and domestic violence that hide behind a seemingly perfect public record. It is an important reflection on gender in the modern African context.
5. “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,” by Alexander McCall Smith. Though written by a white Zimbabwean who now lives in Britain, this book, part of an extended series of novels, tells a gentle tale of a private detective who solves seemingly mundane cases. McCall Smith portrays wonderfully the small dramas of daily life in Botswana’s capital.
Recently, a couple people have asked me for suggestions on accessible books to read in order to better understand Africa. This is a difficult task, because Africa is an enormous and incredibly diverse continent. It is bigger than China, the USA, Europe, India, Argentina and New Zealand all put together.
However, there is a widespread lack of understanding about Africa in the West. This is perpetuated by common stereotypes peddled by a media that is often too lazy to dig more deeply than images of “noble savages,” “chaotic tribalism” and “exotic” wildlife.
Therefore, I can see the importance of guiding people toward books that provided a more authentic, careful and well-crafted picture of this continent. While reading several books will still only provide a caricature, if they are good, the caricature will be a little less rough than before.
As a result, with the help of my wife, who is a better scholar of Africa than I, I list below five works of African literature that I believe will provide a good basic overview of life, society, culture, religion and politics on the continent.
I have chosen to focus on works of fiction because I believe that for the general reader they provide the most accessible and humanizing entry point into life in Africa.
1. “Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe. This profound reflection on rural life in Nigeria and the impact of colonialism was the first novel written by an African to be widely read outside the continent. If you read no other African literature, you should at least read this book.
2. “The Song of Lawino,” by Okot P’Bitek. This epic poem is a relatively quick read (I got through it in an afternoon) but is a rich, funny and insightful look at the tension between tradition and modernity in rural northern Uganda. The lamenting and biting song of the protagonist, Lawino, skewers her well-educated husband’s decision to leave her for a “modern women.”
3. “Zenzele,” by Nozipo Maraire. This novel by an Ivy League-educated medical doctor takes the form of a letter from an urban middle class Zimbabwean mother to her daughter, Zenzele, who is excitedly preparing to go to Harvard. The mother tells the story of herself and her family as way to impart wisdom and advice, entreating Zenzele always to remember her roots.
4. “Purple Hyacinth,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. One of Nigeria’s up-and-coming young authors, Adichie’s debut novel contrasts the behavior of an upstanding, well-respected politician in the public and private spheres. The narrator, who is the politician’s teenage daughter, reveals the secrets of fanaticism and domestic violence that hide behind a seemingly perfect public record. It is an important reflection on gender in the modern African context.
5. “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,” by Alexander McCall Smith. Though written by a white Zimbabwean who now lives in Britain, this book, part of an extended series of novels, tells a gentle tale of a private detective who solves seemingly mundane cases. McCall Smith portrays wonderfully the small dramas of daily life in Botswana’s capital.
