Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Something I ran into while browsing.

An essay by Binyavanga Wainaina that appeared in Granta 92 and is republished in full on their website.

Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat. Do not mention rice and beef and wheat; monkey-brain is an African’s cuisine of choice, along with goat, snake, worms and grubs and all manner of game meat. Make sure you show that you are able to eat such food without flinching, and describe how you learn to enjoy it — because you care.

Read the essay here.


How many books -- and which ones -- trot out these appalling stereotypes? I'm trying to remember from my own reading. What about you?