How to Write About Africa - Binyavanga Wainaina

Kwani • March 24, 2008

This trio of sharp-witted essays takes irony to a new level. In How to Write About Africa, Wainaina dissects the African clichés and preconceptions dear to western writers and readers with a ruthless precision. In the same fashion, My Clan KC undresses the layers of meaning shrouding the identity of the infamous Kenya Cowboy. And in Power of Love, we start with a bemused recollection of the advent of the celebrities-for-Africa phenomenon, heralded by the mid-eighties hit song We Are The World. It’s a short step from there to the speculation, many years later, that “a $9-dollar-a-day cow from Japan could very well head a humanitarian NGO in Kenya,” whose “dollar-a-day people” continue to fascinate the “$5-dollar-a-day, 25-year-old backpackers who came and loved and compassioned and are now the beneficiaries of $5000 a month consulting for the United Nations.”