Wakanda Perception do you have of Africa?

PART I- The Perception of Africa

Something you’ll definitely come to know about me is that I am a big Marvel fan. Before the Marvel comic fandom come and challenge my “fan-ness” I’m gonna put my hands up and say that, no, I haven’t read a single comic yet (I’m working on it), but I do have a real love for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

An MCU film that I particularly enjoyed was definitely Black Panther. I loved everything about this film. Everything from the plot, to the costume to the soundtrack. I don’t know if it makes up for not reading the comics, but I even watched it more than a couple times in the cinema! 

Now, for all those who somehow haven’t seen this film even a year post its release, first things first you should definitely go and watch it before you continue this blog post. However, in case you just can’t be bothered to watch it, or you need a refresher of the plot, let me break it down to you:

This film is set in Wakanda, a fictional sub-Saharan African country that managed to hide from the rest of the world. This meant that the country remained unaffected by significant events occurring globally between the 17^th and early 21^st century. Subsequently, unlike every other African country, Wakanda was never a victim of apartheid or the slave trade, colonised, plundered of resources or involved in world wars. As a result, the country thrived rich with its own natural resources and was able to develop uninterrupted without western external influences. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Wakanda became the most technologically advanced country on Earth, significantly surpassing the progress of Western countries in medical care, weaponry, infrastructure, and transportation etc.

Okay, so if you are familiar with the MCU, you would know that when it comes to the end of a film you HAVE to sit through the credits; sitting through the credits is what differentiates the amateurs from the real fans. And I am definitely no amateur. If you don’t know already, the reason you HAVE to sit through the credits is for the infamous mid/post-credit scenes. The same applies to Black Panther, of which there was a particular mid-credit scene that caught my attention though others may have overlooked it.

Within this mid-credit scene, the storyline reaches a stage in which the people of Wakanda felt morally obligated to share their progressions with the rest of the world at a UN-style international conference. This may not seem to be anything deserving of screen time, however, what I found so interesting is that the first thing a white representative of the high-income, western world asked was:

“What does a nation of farmers have to offer the rest of the world?”

It’s funny because in the cinema you could hear chuckles pretty much summarising what everyone was obviously thinking:

“You don’t know the half of it, babe!”

But what if we, the viewers, hadn’t just watched a film about the futuristic advancements of this African country. Would we too ask such a question dripping with belittlement and presupposition? Unfortunately, I think it’s highly likely.

I feel that the world has painted a particular image of Africa in an ink that will be hard to wipe clean based on the unfavourable history of all African countries. I do not believe that this perception is exclusive to the world outside of Africa- my premise is that it has also been accepted by many Africans themselves, hindering the development of African countries. Presently there appears to be a general view, a “single story”, that Africa has little value or developmental significance to contribute to the rest of the world (Chimanda Adichie, Ted Talk, 2019). African countries are continuously portrayed as overly dependent, poverty stricken and severely underdeveloped. It is vital that we challenge such damaging perceptions opposed to simply acknowledging them as ‘social facts’. 

Before I get stuck in, I just want to note that throughout I will be referring to Africa as a monolithic singularity, a.k.a. one “nation” as the question itself states. I haven’t done this to further perpetuate the idea that “AfRicA iS a cOuNTrY”; I am very aware that Africa consists of 54 intricate, complex and diverse countries that differ on the grounds of culture, ethnicity and religion. Instead, I am referring to Africa as one nation, almost ironically, to challenge views in which African countries are negatively perceived collectively and how this affects Black people of African descent globally.

I am also making reference to one nation that is intensely bonded by commonalities in recent histories. I’m sure you are all familiar with the concepts of colonialism and slavery, and how these events impacted the lives of black people. The intention of colonialism and slavery was for Black Africans to view themselves and their civilisations as inferior, the goal being to degrade Black people until they viewed themselves in the same way those in the West saw them- less than human. I honestly believe that this sense of inadequacy has significantly tainted the African psyche.

During the colonial period the coloniser rejected every aspect of the existing African culture, insisting that there wasn’t one to begin with, and promoted their own “white values” encompassing politics, economy, religion etc (Fanon, 1963). This cultural infiltration was evident in all aspects of African lives across the continent. For example, as a Zambian national I do not have to look far to see this. The generation of my parents, all have western European names: Anastasia, Martin, Daphne, Judith, Lizzie, Carol, Francis- the list could go on. However, the post-colonial era has seen a surge rising against this cultural infiltration. My own post-colonial generation, have names such as: Bwalya, Shumba, Chilufya, Taonga, Chiselenga, Mushili, Mumbe, Himoonga, and this list too, could also go on.

Yet, even so, this perception and imposition of general inferiority is what I believe has, as James Baldwin put it, “burnt into the soul of our civilisation” and has left its dark mark on Africa and Africans themselves. Most African countries have been independent for 50 years or more, and slavery has been abolished for even longer, but many of Africa’s nations remain brutally wounded and not yet psychologically recovered from the impact of colonialism and the slave trade.

Malcom X once described the media as “the most powerful entity on Earth” because of how it can “control the minds of the masses”. I want to draw attention to a society where the media often unintentionally perpetrates these negative views of Africa, completely ignoring how these ‘social facts’ came to be. Now-a-days, the media frequently portrays Africa as a “cesspool of disease, poverty, conflict and ‘backwardness’” highly dependent on its western former colonisers. Trust me, you may not notice it but you’ve definitely seen it. The adverts with the kids sat in a puddle of dirty water and flies on their face. The films that make the entirety of Africa look like a giant safari where everyone lives in mud-huts, wears leaves as clothing and the biggest worry is not being eaten by a lion. This is not to say that there is no need for aid or that mud-huts and lions do not exist, not at all- it’s just that in the grand scheme of things this very consistently skewed representation of the entire continent just reinstates a notion that Africa is somewhat inferior (Iwuoha, 2017). It is this indirect form of control, this same societally repressed unconscious bias, that oppresses Black people. This is a form of structural violence, a.k.a. the systematic harming of individuals. We should not praise our ‘moral progression’ in society when oppression has just embodied a more socially acceptable form.

More recently, oppression can be seen to have led to an unconscious (or maybe even conscious) tendency for Black people to detach themselves from their African heritage in an “endeavour to make European culture [their] own” (Fanon, 1963). One must play down their negritude, (essentially black pride), in order to be accepted into a world that views ‘blackness’ as ‘less than’.

This is demonstrated by the way in which Black individuals may: alter their appearance using lightening skin cosmetics and hair extensions to be more aligned with the white western idea of beauty or change their names so they fit more comfortably in the mouth of Westerners etc. This is a phenomenon that occurs both within Africa and outside of Africa, almost creating a ‘white mask’ that represents the suppression of Black identity and culture, a repercussion of a deeply set inferiority complex (Fanon, 1952).

PART II- The Development of Africa

Okay, but what has all this got to do with Africa’s development? At this point it may seem like I’m connecting dots that are not related, but hold on, give me a second, stay with me!

‘Human Capital Flight’ aka ‘the Brain Drain’ is the process in which educated professionals emigrate from one country to another because of more desirable opportunities elsewhere (Werriam-Webster, 2019). It is estimated that annually, approximately 70,000 skilled professionals within Africa leave to work in regions of the world such as the UK, US, Australia and Canada (Kewitsu, 2018). At one point in time Africans were never thought to have “accomplished something greater in art or science” or anything generally praiseworthy (Kant, 1785). Although not conveyed as stark as in the time of Immanuel Kant, this form of messaging has nevertheless continued over the years– the criteria of expertise are constantly formulated and judged by the west.

Due to this depiction of Africa that I outlined at the start, educated professionals who feel that they have earned a place superior to this perception will seek respect and recognition for their work and move to regions in the West based on this principle of ‘better-ness’ existing outside of Africa.

While migration from the west is also common to other regions of the world the reasons tend to vary, for example retiring to a hot climate like Spain or wanting to “explore the world”. In contrast for many professional Africans it is often in search of opportunities that improve the quality of their lives or progress their career to a level they feel they would not be able to attain in Africa itself.

However, this assertion needs to be contested if the image and story of Africa is to be changed. I am opposed to the idea that: firstly, Africa does not hold opportunities worth the attention of the skilled professional work force, and secondly, the West profiting from this perception and using means to lure individuals who have the potential to aid their own development, compromising the development of Africa.

Africa has many examples of success which are often not recognised or celebrated internationally. An exemplar case study embodying Africa’s possibility, is a technological development invented in Kenya (2007), now adopted by other countries: M-Pesa money transfer services. According to A CNN article, this particular service, only recently becoming more popular in America, enables individuals to send and receive money via smartphone and is still expanding (Monks, 2017). This is proof that Africa can be a source of globally relevant and useful developments when barriers of so-called inadequacy are revoked.

In summary, the key points that I have tried to squeeze into this post are:

• Historical events have generated a negative perception of Africa, built on supremacy
• ‘Africa’ became synonymous with ‘substandard’
• Individuals of African descent tend to detach from their heritage possibly as an initial way of countering an innate sense of inferiority
• The West seems to be strategically forgetting enough of Black people’s suffering to live with vitality and freedom, but remembering enough to translate this suffering into the perception of continental maldevelopment

Essentially, I can see why people would be so eager to brush colonialism and slavery under the rug, so that we can just pick up from where we left off, and keep moving forward. But the severe impact it had on African countries, and many other countries globally, is irrefutable. I strongly believe that in order for humanity to heal, we must collectively, as a society, acknowledge the suffering of the Black Africans and those of recent African descent. Only then can we attempt to nip this continental oppression in the bud. Only then can the damaging ‘social facts’ regarding Africa be undermined. Only then will Africa truly be able to “flourish” (Du Bois, 1903).

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Thank you so much for reading my first ever blog post! I hope you’ve taken something from this, (even if it’s simply the fact that Black Panther is an amazing film that you have to see if you haven’t already).

But ultimately, I just want you to know what I know, you know!

Signed,

IAMLENGA

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*Alongside my own opinions, this post and the points made within it were inspired by a range of critical thinkers that you may want to check out if you found this to be an interesting read:

·         Frantz Fanon (Black skin, White Masks, 1952), (The wretched of the Earth, 1961): https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frantz-Fanon

·         W.E.B Du Bois (The Souls of Black Folk, 1903): https://www.biography.com/activist/web-du-bois