What's your point though? Is this a call for censorship?

Or are you maybe saying only (well-off) Africans can write about Africa?

You know, literature functions like a mirror. If you don't like what you see in the mirror, don't start yelling at the mirror. That's silly. The only way is to change who or what is standing in front of the mirror.

Luckely for me I also brought along a few books by Kapuzinski, which aided in a more nuanced prespective.

But being back in Sweden I'm finding it hoplessly difficult to change the common perception and therefore rejoyce in anyone who's able to point out this amazing stupidity. This truely made my evening, thanks.

When I was a boy, I wanted to live in Africa and go to Mars. One down, one to go – but still hopeful about Mars. I spent two of the best years of my life in Benin, upcountry, teaching schools with the Peace Corps. First, to immediately follow a few of the rules myself: Africa had a very definite feminine feel to me, from the moment I walked off the plane at Roberts Field on the way to Benin, until the minute I left Algeria for Paris two and a half years later. I have been back since. Africa still feels deeply feminine to me. Sorry.

Secondly, the constant presence of lovely bared breasts, at least in West Africa, in my field of view was one of my favorite things about living there. One of the female volunteers, another male friend and I went to the market for beans and rice one night toward the end of our stay and were served by a beautiful woman with very shapely bare breasts, causing Jerry and me to stare. Sarah reprimanded us, asking if we weren’t tired of the sight after two years. The answer was an insistent ‘no.’ Again, sorry.

It’s the news media that have the real problem seeing anything like an Africa that really exists. I remember a few years back when CBS Radio News announced that “The Pope arrived in Lomé, Togo today to the beat of tribal drums.” I called the national news desk after the broadcast and asked the guy on the phone “Which tribes?” “Huh?” “Which tribes were playing drums for the Pope? – Ewe? Mina?” “Huh?” “What makes the drums TRIBAL? What does TRIBAL mean in that sentence?” Etcetera. It became clear that ‘tribal’ just meant ‘primitive.’

I had a similar dialogue of the deaf with a newsman a few years later about the fact that in South Africa the death throes of apartheid were called “black-on-black tribal violence,” while the simultaneous breakup of Yugoslavia was never described as “white-on-white tribal violence,” as it clearly was, if either term had any meaning.

Kristin you are soooo correct too.

"While your movie must center around the trials of a great African hero/villain, the story should be told through the eyes of a white person or white people--think the South African rugby team or that guy who narrated "The Last King of Scotland." White Americans will not be able to relate to a movie in which black African people are granted full human subjectivity or allowed to participate in reflection or deep thought."

"If you are an African-American academic, make your work/documentary centered on your own personal journey. Be sure to spend copious amounts of time at former slave trading posts thinking about the involvement of black Africans in the slave trade. Indulge your own private conflict about What It All Means for you as a Descendant of Africa and of the transatlantic slave trade. If your feelings throughout the Journey motivate you to take an antagonistic attitude toward the Africans you are studying, all the better. There is, after all, nothing to be said about Africa beyond What it Means for African-Americans. It might even get you a cushy post as head of the W.E.B. DuBois Center for African and Africana studies at Harvard University. Just check out the career of Henry Louis Gates."

"If your screenplay centers upon a big human disaster like the Rwandan genocide, refrain from including anything that could be understood as commentary on political or economic circumstances. African human disasters can only be explained to a Western audience through the lens of the "ancient hatreds" theory. That is, conflicts in Africa happen because of the "ancient hatreds" that certain tribal groups have had for one another since the dawn of humanity. If you are not dealing with a conflict that can be described as "ethnic" in any terms, then you must play up the involvement of African criminal syndicates (especially those run by Nigerians) and warlords in the conflict. Furthermore, the story must include a clear Moral Message; this means that one side of the conflict must be designated as unqualified "evil" and the other as unqualified "good." Again, moral ambiguity is confusing and upsetting and to be avoided at all costs.

Speaking of Nigerians: Nigerians are the Quintessential African Villain. Do not include any Nigerians who are "good" or morally ambiguous or complex in any way. Avoid giving your African characters depth in general, but make your Nigerians even more one-dimensional than the rest. Nigerians are to Western films about Africa what Italian-Americans are to Mafia films. Thugs, drug runners, criminals. Always ruthless. No Nigerian women may figure into your story unless they are prostitutes. In general, it's taboo to depict African cannibalism--unless, of course, you are depicting Nigerians. It is a-okay to write Nigerians as cannibals (Just see "District 9" for an example.)."

"Screenplays about Africa are in fashion these days. Just remember: You can only write movies about great African statesmen (such as Nelson Mandela) or evil despots (such as Idi Amin). No one in the United States wants to see a move about Yoweri Museveni. Why? Because moral ambiguity, mixed administrative records, and dealings with the World Bank are boring. American studios can only sell movies about African heroes or African villains. Even if you find the moral ambiguity in the biography of a Mandela or an Amin striking, you must write your characters either as total heroes or total villains. Anything deeper will be confusing to the Western audience.

When writing your screenplay, keep in mind that you should write your film with a distinguished African-American actor in mind for the lead role. Nothing says Oscar bait like an African-American playing one of these great African heroes or villains. Besides, you will never get your film into the studio without a big Hollywood star behind the project. In order to prepare for the role, the African-American can simply meet with a dialect coach who can teach him the Standard African Dialect that African-Americans use to portray African characters. The dialect training is so standard that the same dialect may be used for every African-American who ever plays the part of an African in any part of the world.

While your movie must center around the trials of a great African hero/villain, the story should be told through the eyes of a white person or white people--think the South African rugby team or that guy who narrated "The Last King of Scotland." Americans will not be able to relate to a movie in which African people are granted full human subjectivity or allowed to participate in reflection or deep thought."