How To Write About Africa
Published in the early 2000s, in one of DFID’s Development Issues [ a mini-magazine tracking stories from around the world where development is actually taking place in spite of bottlenecks], Binyavanga Wainana exposed the clichés and stereotypes non-African writers employ all too often when they set oput to describe the continent. Gloria’s Scoop has gone back in time, to reproduce a section of the Article, courtesy of The Developments… Africans Always use the word “Africa” or “Darkness” or “Safari” in your title. Subtitles may include the words “Zanzibar”, “Masai”, “Zulu”, “Zambezi”, “Congo”, “Nile”, “Big”, “Sky”, “Shadow”, “Drum”, “Sun” or “Bygone”.