University of Michigan Why I’m Not An Afropolitan Article Summary The detailed writing instruction is post in the attached file. Please check the writing i

University of Michigan Why I’m Not An Afropolitan Article Summary The detailed writing instruction is post in the attached file. Please check the writing instruction and make sure meet all requirement.Need to choose ONE reading from the attached file.This class is from African American literature class.Word count at least 600. 1
Why I’m Not An Afropolitan
January 21, 2014 by Emma Dabiri
https://africasacountry.com/2014/01/why-im-not-an-afropolitan
Last summer, I was invited to take part in a discussion, ‘Fantasy or Reality? Afropolitan
Narratives of the 21st Century’, as part of Africa Writes 2013 Festival. I was joined on the panel
by Minna “Ms Afropolitan” Salami and the journalist Nana Ocran. Professor Paul Gilroy was the
Chair.
At the time I was researching my piece I found little written about Afropolitanism beyond the
celebratory (notable exceptions the Bosch Santana critique Exorcizing Afropolitanism and
Afropolitanism – Africa without Africans by Okwunodu Ogbechi, both of which are referred to
below). However, in the months since I published my critique, the voices of dissent seemed to
swell in volume and frequency; from the insightful Is Afropolitanism Africa’s New Single
Story? in which Brian Bwesigye reads Helon Habila’s review of NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need
New Names through the truncated version of Afropolitanism that he argues Habila represents, to
Marta Tveit’s The Afropolitan Must Go, which side-lines the issue of commodification that I
develop as one of the central challenges to Afropolitanism, to focus instead on a critique of the
term and its relationship to identity politics.
Unlike Tveit, when I first heard “Afropolitan” I was excited. I am always looking for language
that expresses my position as an Irish/Nigerian woman who is deeply connected to her
Nigerianness. I’d rather refrain as describing myself as half anything, and I detest the word
mixed-race. I thought perhaps Afropolitan presented an alternative to this terminology and,
interestingly, positioned me with others through a shared cultural and aesthetic leaning rather
than a perceived racial classification. Further, the term identified that you could be black or
African without having to subscribe to the depressingly limited identities widely perceived as
being authentic.
The enduring insights of Afropolitanism as interpreted by Achille Mbembe should be its promise
of vacating the seduction of pernicious racialised thinking, its recognition of African identities as
fluid, and the notion that the African past is characterised by mixing, blending and
superimposing. In opposition to custom, Mbembe insists the idea of ‘tradition’ never really
existed and reminds us there is a pre-colonial African modernity that has not been taken into
account in contemporary creativity.
As Minna Salami writes on her blog Africans should be as free to have multiple subcultures as
anyone else, but the problem with Afropolitism to me is that the insights on race, modernity and
identity appear to be increasingly sidelined in sacrifice to the consumerism Mbembe also
identifies as part of the Afropolitan assemblage. The dominance of fashion and lifestyle in
Afropolitanism is worthy of note due to the relationship between these industries, consumption
and consumerism.
2
The rapacious consumerism of the African elites claimed to make up the ranks of the
Afropolitans is well documented. Frantz Fanon’s prophetic words once again resonate. In the
foreword to the 2004 edition of Wretched of the Earth, Homi Bhabha asks: “what might be saved
from Fanon’s ethics and politics of decolonization to help us reflect on contemporary
manifestations of globalization.” He reminds us that the economic landscape engineered by the
IMF and the World Bank continues to support the compartmentalised societies identified by
Fanon. No matter how much wealth exists in pockets, “a dual economy is not a developed
economy,” writes Fanon. It is largely in the pockets of the mobile Afropolitan class that much of
the wealth is held.
What I want to ask is in what way does Afropolitanism go about challenging the enduring
problematics of duality and compartmentalised society, identified by Fanon as one of the major
stumbling blocks to African post-colonial independence?
To be honest, when I look at the launch of OK Magazine Nigeria (although I don’t know whether
Afropolitans would claim OK magazine — I’m not sure it’s chic enough), or hear about palm
wine mojitos and fashion shows at the Afropolitan V&A event, it leaves me feeling somewhat
depressed.
Our value is not determined by our ability to produce African flavoured versions of Western
convention and form. Such an approach will surely only ever leave us playing catch-up in a
game the rules of which we did not write. That whole lifestyle of Sex And The City feminism,
cocktails, designer clothes, handbags and shoes is not particularly liberating in an AngloAmerican context, so I see no reason why we should transfer such models to Africa and declare
it progress. I’m not saying there’s no place for such activities in the African context but it
represents less of a departure from the behaviour of post-colonial elites than a repetition of same
as it ever was.
In an era such as ours, characterised by the chilling commodification of all walks of life —
including the commodification of dissent — we should be especially vigilant about any
movement that embraces commodification to the extent that Afropolitanism does.
In her eloquent piece “Exorcizing Afropolitanism” Bosch Santana outlines Binyavanga
Wainaina’s “attempt to rid African literary and cultural studies of the ghost of Afropolitanism” in
his plenary lecture entitled I am a Pan-Africanist, not an Afropolitan. Bosch Santana explores the
way in which Afropolitanism has become “a phenomenon increasingly product driven, design
focused, and potentially funded by the West.” She recognises that “style, in and of itself, is not
really the issue” but fears rather that it’s “the attempt to begin with style, and then infuse it with
substantive political consciousness that is problematic.”
In a response to “Exorcizing Afropolitanism” Salami argues that Bosch Santana is taking
umbrage at African agency. She frames the debate as a choice between African victimisation and
Afropolitanism, asking ironically, “how dare Africans not simply be victims, but also shapers of
globalisation and all its inherent contestations? How dare we market our cultures as well as our
political transformations?”
3
I would argue that our options are not reduced to one or the other (nor does Bosch Santana
suggest they are). However, in countering Salami’s interpretation of the debate: I challenge a
position wherein defining ourselves as Afropolitan is presented as the only alternative to the
Afro-pessimism narrative. Furthermore, I harbour serious reservations that the duality identified
by Fanon is challenged by a small group of Africans who are in a position to be able to “market
their cultures”. Salami herself admits that Afropolitanism possibly goes “overboard in
commodifying African culture”. This should not be a throw-away comment. It is a cause for
concern. The centrality of capitalism and the importance of commodification is confirmed when
one searches Afropolitan on Google and here. See what’s comes up? Online shops, and
aspirational luxury lifestyle magazines. There is lots of African-y stuff: jewellery, art and ankara
toys. Such items are recognisable from Fanon too, who writes: “The bourgeoisie’s idea of a
national economy is one based on what we can call local products. Grandiloquent speeches are
made about local crafts.” With the exception of a few well-positioned individuals of African
origin, who now have a larger market to who they can ‘sell’ this image of Africa, whom are
really the beneficiaries?
Paul Gilroy has argued that commodity culture has resulted in the sacrifice — to the service of
corporate interests — the loss of much of what was wonderful about black culture.
Afropolitanism can be seen as the latest manifestation of planetary commerce in blackness. It
seems as though having consumed so much of black American culture, there is now a demand
for more authentic, virgin, black culture to consume. Demand turns to the continent where a
fresh source is ripe for the picking.
Personally, I need to position myself with a more radical, counter-cultural movement. For me
Afropolitanism is too polite, corporate, glossy – it reeks of sponsorship and big business with all
the attendant limitations.
Should we be taking comfort in the fact that the world’s eyes are again on Africa? Headlines
decree “Africa is the world’s fastest growing continent” and the ‘hottest frontier’ for
investments. Time magazine’s cover of Africa Rising announces “it is the world’s next economic
powerhouse,” While The Wall Street Journal is dubbing it “a new gold rush.” Here’s one of my
own: “The Scramble for Africa.”
It’s no surprise the Western media is supportive of Afropolitanism. As Fanon reminds us – “In
its decadent aspect the national bourgeoisie, gets considerable help from the Western bourgeoisie
who happen to be tourists enamoured with exoticism.” Afropolitanism is the handmaiden of the
Africa Rising narrative and I suspect its championing by the Western media, runs the risk of
leading us ever further astray from the “disreputable, angry places,” noted by Gilroy, “where the
political interests of racialised minorities might be identified and worked upon without being
encumbered by an affected liberal innocence.”
Africa Rising and its cohorts should not be allowed to obscure the fact that Africa has lost $1.2
to 1.4 trillion in illicit financial outflows…more than three times the total amount of foreign aid
received. Africa gives more to the rest of the world than it receives and is in fact a net creditor
through illicit means.
4
The danger of Afropolitanism becoming the voice of Africa can be likened to the criticisms
levelled against second wave feminists who failed to identify their privilege as white and middle
class while claiming to speak for all women. Because while we may all be Africans, there is a
huge gap between my African experience and my father’s houseboys.
The term Afropolitan is also increasingly used in the art world. Similar concerns to mine are
raised on the Aachronym African arts blog — in a blog post Afropolitanism — Africa without
Africans, Okwunodu Ogbechi questions the art world’s championing of Afropolitanism, arguing
it supports a bias that only views African artists working in the west as relevant, while the artists,
living and working on the continent remain largely ignored. He reminds us that, despite the
international lifestyle enjoyed by the Afropolitan, most Africans have almost absolute immobility
in a contemporary global world that works very hard to keep Africans in their place on the
African continent. They point out there is no immigration policy anywhere in the Western world
that welcomes Africans, while a major bias against African global mobility abounds in
international media. Most African-based artists would find it difficult to impossible to get a visa
to visit Western museums or to show their works abroad!
We are now well versed in the danger of the single story. While Afropolitanism may appear to
offer an alternative to the single story, we run the danger of this becoming the dominant narrative
for African success.
The traditional Afro-pessimistic narratives, while obsessed with poverty, denied the poor any
voice. While Afropolitanism may go some way in redressing the balance concerning Africans
speaking for themselves, the problem lies in the fact that we still don’t hear the narratives of
Africans who are not privileged.
The problem is not that Afropolitans are privileged per se — rather it is that at a time when
poverty remains endemic for millions, the narratives of a privileged few telling us how great
everything is, how much opportunity and potential is available may drown out the voices of a
majority who remain denied basic life chances.
While Afropolitans talk and talk about what it means to be young, cool and African, are many of
them concerned with addressing the world beyond their own social realities, to the issues that
concern other Africans?
Illustrating the above argument is the recent case of the security bonds being introduced for UK
visitors declared ‘high-risk’ such as Nigerians and Ghanaians. This has huge consequences for
Africans not from monied backgrounds yet hasn’t received much Afropolitan air space. Rather it
has been ignored in favour of topics more relevant to the social realities of the international jet
set.
I think maybe we need to have more consensus on what constitutes Afropolitanism. Salami says
in the comments section of her response to the “Exorcizing Afropolitanism” piece that
Afropolitanism means “being African without detouring through whiteness” which seems
somewhat at odds with Mbembe’s vision. For him Afropolitanism is a way of being African that
is ‘open to difference’, and is conceived of as transcending race.
5
In a recent Guardian interview, Taiye Selasie’s, who popularised the term in her 2005 essay
ByeBye Barbar or What is an Afropolitan? presents an image of an Instagram-friendly Africa.
Her interpretation of Afropolitanism goes beyond being ‘open to difference’ to something
resembling African versions of American or European cities. Afropolitanism it appears is
grounded in the ability to engage in the same pastimes one could expect to enjoy in a Western
capital.
In Burkina Faso she danced until 5am in a western-themed club & watched movies at a feminist
film festival. Adama, her charming host, is an ‘Afropolitan of the highest order’: by virtue of his
Viennese wife, and the fact he is studying German at the Goethe Institute. To her Togo was a
seaside treat: which she likens to Malibu with motorini, later she gushes about hanging out on
the beach with hundreds of super-cool Togolese hipsters.
Such an itinerary would be acceptable to any self respecting inhabitant of hipster capitals
Hackney or Williamsburg and it’s wonderful that you can now have the Hipster Africa
Experience, but I fail to see how this represents anything particularly progressive. It seems again
that African progress is measured by the extent to which it can reproduce a Western lifestyle,
now without having to physically be in the West. This doesn’t appear to signal any particular
departure from the elites enduring love affair with achieving the lifestyles of their former
masters. It seems that increasingly many who define themselves as Afropolitan seem to have
evacuated much of the rich potentiality the term might once have suggested.
Journal of the African Literature Association
ISSN: 2167-4736 (Print) 2167-4744 (Online) Journal homepage: https://tandfonline.com/loi/rala20
The local and the global in Francis Abiola Irele’s
critical thought
Lokangaka Losambe
To cite this article: Lokangaka Losambe (2019): The local and the global in Francis
Abiola Irele’s critical thought, Journal of the African Literature Association, DOI:
10.1080/21674736.2019.1674017
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/21674736.2019.1674017
Published online: 15 Oct 2019.
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JOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN LITERATURE ASSOCIATION
https://doi.org/10.1080/21674736.2019.1674017
The local and the global in Francis Abiola Irele’s
critical thought
Lokangaka Losambe
Department of English, University of Vermont, USA
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
In this essay I argue that Irele’s critical discourse is a construct of
double entendre, the introvert and the extrovert, crystallized in
his concept of the African Imagination. I critically chronicle the
development of this discourse from his engagement with early
African diasporic writings, through the Negritude movement, to
contemporary African literature while foregrounding his critical legacy.
Irele; Equiano; African
Imagination; aesthetic
traditionalism; new realism;
neohumanist aesthetic
In his early formulation of the concept of the African Imagination, Irele focused on
African literature and defined it as “a conjunction of impulses which can be said to
have been given a unified expression in a body of literary texts” (Irele, “The African
Imagination” 50). Because of this integrative conjunctiveness, he also insisted: “I
should like to emphasize that I am not making a case for a unique essence of African
literature but consider in fact that our literature needs to be related to other areas of
literary expression, and has a significance for human experience beyond our continent” (Irele, The African Experience 9). With that understanding, Irele expanded the
scope of the concept of the African Imagination as a generative matrix to include
African diasporic (or the whole of black) literary production. Thus, works by African
or African descent writers who have either lived and created in Africa or have
invoked African memory in various African diasporic constellations are part of the
African Imagination. Taken together from this perspective, the writings of the early black
authors such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano can be said to have enunciated a
counter -discourse within a Western modernity that placed Africans or black subjects
outside history while subjecting them to enslavement and colonialism. Despite what has
been described as their mild responses to the Western colonial ordering of the African or
black otherness (see for example Jeyifo ix), Irele has maintained that these early writings
shaped the counter-discourse that has characterized African and African diasporic writings up until now. I will return to this point in the last section of the essay.
Considering the fact that cultural nationalist movements that rose against enslavement and colonialism also conditioned African authors’ imaginaries and their anticolonial tone, Irele included critical and philosophical writings of their periods in the
CONTACT Lokangaka Losambe
llosambe@uvm.edu
ß 2019 The African Literature Association
2
L. LOSAMBE
concept of the African Imagination. Among such early cultural and spiritually syncretic or “messianic” movements which sought to assert Africans’ place in the world and
affirm their humanity are Edward Blyden’s “African personality” (Sierra- Leone),
Simon Kimbangu’s Kimbanguism (Democratic Republic of Congo), Peter Lobengula’s
resistance in Southern Africa, and Samory Toure’s resistance in Guinea. In the
African context, these early nationalist, anti-colonial movements, to use Irele’s words,
“form an essential part of the stock of symbols that have nourished the nationalist
strain of Negritude” (Irele, The Negritude Moment 3). The Kenyan Mau Mau revolt
against British rule that took place in the mid 1950s is also a part of the same anticolonial messianic movement. As Irele has pointed out, “The messianic movements
presented in bold relief certain traits which were to figure in the more sophisticated
reaction to colonial rule, Negritude. In other words, Negritude had a popular precedent in Africa” (The Negritude Moment 5). In the African diaspora, similar movements in Haiti (vodoun), Guadeloupe (slave revolt), Brazil (candomble) and the USA
(Negro spirituals) served as springboards for black “nationalist” cultural movements
like Negritude, Negrismo (Cuba and Brazil), and the Negro Renaissance in the
United States. These black cultural movements therefore set the tone for what has
evolved as contemporary African and African diaspora literatures, African philosophy,
and African history.
Having outlined the origin and the scope of Irele’s concept of the African
Imagination, I now turn to the position of his critical thought within it. Assessing the
state of African critical discour…
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