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A review by solaria
Africa Is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa by Dipo Faloyin
challenging
funny
informative
medium-paced
Prior to reading, I had very limited knowledge about the African continent. Whatever knowledge I did possess was informed through school fundraisers and throwaway comments about how disadvantaged the "country" was. This book was a match made in heaven, as it targets that exact rhetoric that was drilled into me during school.
This book is bursting at the seams with personality. It's packed with witty humour, insightful personal reflections from Faloyin as a Nigerian person and cracking analyses of the stereotypes surrounding Africa that disadvantage the people within it. This book sets the record straight - Africa is not a homogenous continent filled with "primitive" people destined for poverty and suffering. Africa is a continent that was devastated by oppressive colonial regimes that saw thousands of ethnic groups merged into 54 poorly-designed countries and left to deal with the effects of colonisation. I loved how it compared the historical (which for some of these countries is less than 50 years ago) and the modern-day context within these countries. One might assume that covering 54 countries in one book is a very big task, but Faloyin doesn't bite off more than he can chew. He focuses on specific examples and case studies that he's clearly researched thoroughly and well-versed in to ensure that he doesn't cover the politics or history of specific countries he's not familiar with.
My favourite parts of this book were the focus on the white-saviour complex in television, film and charities. The creative liberties that were taken, such as the intro to Chapter 2 being written like a screenplay or a later chapter providing a satirical guide on "how to make a movie about Africa" were brilliant! I can't wait to see what Faloyin writes next because this is an absolutely phenomenal debut novel.
This book is bursting at the seams with personality. It's packed with witty humour, insightful personal reflections from Faloyin as a Nigerian person and cracking analyses of the stereotypes surrounding Africa that disadvantage the people within it. This book sets the record straight - Africa is not a homogenous continent filled with "primitive" people destined for poverty and suffering. Africa is a continent that was devastated by oppressive colonial regimes that saw thousands of ethnic groups merged into 54 poorly-designed countries and left to deal with the effects of colonisation. I loved how it compared the historical (which for some of these countries is less than 50 years ago) and the modern-day context within these countries. One might assume that covering 54 countries in one book is a very big task, but Faloyin doesn't bite off more than he can chew. He focuses on specific examples and case studies that he's clearly researched thoroughly and well-versed in to ensure that he doesn't cover the politics or history of specific countries he's not familiar with.
My favourite parts of this book were the focus on the white-saviour complex in television, film and charities. The creative liberties that were taken, such as the intro to Chapter 2 being written like a screenplay or a later chapter providing a satirical guide on "how to make a movie about Africa" were brilliant! I can't wait to see what Faloyin writes next because this is an absolutely phenomenal debut novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Colonisation, Genocide, and Police brutality