"The African Narrative"

Not so long ago I was told in not so many words that my blog is a cheap knock-off of western bloggers and I shouldn’t call it afroblogging by an African photojournalist. It doesn’t deal with socio-geo-political or environmental issues regarding Africa, therefore it should it not be called afroblogging but blogging by an African. And I understood where he was coming from. I mean I’m not an activist by any definition of the word. It has nothing to do with Afrofuturism, nor “African” fashion, culture or cuisine. The thing about twitter discussions is that they can go south very quickly, so I deflected by joking about feeling like I’ve been scolded and moved on. But that conversation has stayed with me and it’s been bothering me more and more.

My question is what is the “African narrative”? A quick google search reveals that there is consensus that the narrative needs to change, we need to tell our own stories. The version of Africa the western media is portraying is poor, outdated and incomplete. And I agree, we do need to tell our own stories and from our perspectives. As a continent of 54 countries, we are more than just a war torn, famine, stricken wasteland. The world needs to understand that one, Africa is not a country and two, we determine our destiny; very loaded statements that need a series of posts to unpack.

This is a list of what I have found is defined as authentically African.

1. Activism: socio-economic, geo-political, environmental activism, with the words black, neo colonialism, socialism, racism, capitalism etc littered all over the text
2. Fashion: African print.
3. Food: Traditional African cuisine
4. Hair: Natural hair and care

I’m sure there are more topics but these are the default hot topics.  Mind you, for it to be authentic, the African must saturate the content.

I have and love my natural hair due, in part, to the culture and safe space that was built for black woman through social activism, a little black girl can now grow up without ever having relaxed or permed hair. I am grateful, I am just as comfortable with a wearing a wig as I am wearing my afro.
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My blog is an outlet, an online journal of sorts, it’s not for everyone, mostly my friends and I am not all that interesting. I have one political post about elections I did not vote in. Most of the content is about romance, heartache and the thoughts plaguing my mind at a certain point in time. This is my lived experience, this is in very small part, how this 28-year-old Namibian, born free, woman experiences life in Windhoek, to declare it anything else would be to pronounce me un-African? If, I, a black female who has never left the continent is not African enough, than who is?

Is there no space in African literature for the young metropolitan working adult struggling to find love? Is that aspect of her life not African enough? Are we going to ignore the affect technological development and urbanisation has had on our social lives and communities or do you just want to hear about the time my dad took me to a sangoma, who performed a cleansing ritual three in the morning? Or how I spend my school holidays tilling the field in the village? I am acutely aware of my country’s colonial history and the affect it has on my life, and I’m informed enough to take part in the socio-political discourse.

I fear, as creatives, we may fall into the trap of trying to define ourselves to the western world. The journey began as the process of reclaiming and telling our own stories and needs continues to as such. The audience, I believe, is key in keeping on track. By Africans, for Africa, inclusive of all narratives.

What other aspects of life on the continent are we discarding? If we are going to tell our stories, let’s break out of the mould set by the west to only tell certain aspects our culture, let’s embrace the modern urban vibrant Africa, but let’s not also leave behind rural, village Africa. Let’s tell our story, the whole story, our extremely diverse 54 countries story.