( 13 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 27 2009
Keith Richburg goes to some pains throughout this book to paint himself as being an honest and conscientious reporter who should not be defined by the color of his skin. As a black American, he has done an excellent job at avoiding any semblance of bias in favor of black Africans he encounters during his 3 years stationed as a Washington Post correspondent in Nairobi. He has written a stultifying, cliche-filled and ultimately unilluminating book about his experience there. Do you like Thomas Friedman's ignorant musings on the Middle East? If so, you'll love this author's unoriginal and highly unsympathetic views on the misery that he thinks Africans have brought on themselves. He has an almost worshipful attitude toward whites that he encounters during his travels and is honest enough to question (repeatedly) whether he is a self-hating black man. I don't think he hates himself or blacks, just that he does not seem to have any perspective at all (and he's a foreign correspondent!) of how Africa's problems are not especially unique to it. But perhaps his most frustrating trait throughout this book is to make it seem that his conventional views -- Africans must take all responsibility for their terrible conditions, we must forget about the crimes of colonialism, foreign aid is just a waste, the continent is mostly a dark pit of savagery -- are somehow unpopular or seldom heard. He does convince me about one sort of equality between the races: I, for one, truly believe that a black American can be as uninformed, naive and conventional in his views as any white American. For a book on Africa that displays more erudition, less heavy-handed judgmentalism, and much better prose stylings, try Aidan Hartley's "The Zanzibar Chest," or Alexandra Fuller's "Let's Not Go to the Dogs Tonight."
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Posted: Jul 1 2009
I do have mixed feelings about the book - hence the rating. I completely laud Richberg's honesty, courage and willingness to dive headlong into what is a metaphoric minefield. And I would encourage anyone interested in issues of identity and race to read it as I do feel that it is one of more thought-provoking books I've read in some time. However, I would caution that this is an intensely personal book - like every viewpoint, Richberg's is a result of his individual experiences and prejudices. In the interest of full disclosure, I too have lived and worked as an expat (of Asian descent) in various countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including the current "trouble spots". Some places I also hated but then some I've loved. In terms of my main issue with this book, to quote Kenneth Noble: "Richburg tells readers they will learn what Africa is really like. In fact, what we mostly learn is how horrible war is and how wretched the current generation of African leaders is. This is all true, and Richburg's book provides many convincing illustrations. But he never goes beyond his description of Africa's troubles to give us a deeper understanding of the people who are being affected--let alone the multitudes who are not currently living in a war zone... after having said so much about Africa, Richburg does not seem greatly interested in Africans themselves." That last point is my main criticism that I have with Richburg's desire to condemn a whole continent: he may have lived there, but his main interactions were either professional ones in the high drama context of conflict/post-conflict regions, or with other expats. There seems to have been very little interaction or even interest or curiosity in Africans/Africa at a personal level, let alone a larger cultural, social or historic level. As a result, his views are inevitably skewed. My overall impression of Richburg from his book is that he holds views which you unfortunately see all the time in any closeted and privileged expat community. The only difference is that as a black man, he does not have the easy luxury that white expats have of seeing the local population as something "other" and therefore not subject to the same standards and rules. However, instead of his shared skin tone enabling him to better understand the essential and common humanity that we all share, he in the end decides to reject that understanding and embrace his difference from the "other". And I find that to be both a very human reaction but also a very tragic one.
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Posted: Oct 8 2008
This reporter went to Africa with lots of hope and was forced to conclude that the reality did not match it.A good,honest job of reporting.
