January 27, 2014
Nigerian-American journalist Olopade’s first book rebuts the view of Africa as mired in poverty, war, and failed aid projects, and instead offers a hopeful perspective. Olopade looks past the arbitrary boundaries of sub-Saharan Africa’s colonial legacy and re-maps it according to categories of Family, Technology, Commerce, Natural, and Youth. Instead of dwelling on political shortcomings, corrupt leadership, and stunted infrastructure, Olopade embraces the spirit of kanju, a Yoruba word for hustle (“the specific creativity born from African difficulty”) that bolsters a vibrant informal economy ranging from fake license plate sellers in Lagos to Kenya’s M-Pesa system of mobile phone-based payments. She assails foreign aid dynamics that provide Africans with donated used clothes, for example, which disrupts local manufacture and “privileges Western convenience as much as the intended recipients.” Despite a multitude of examples of inventive responses to sociopolitical obstacles, Olopade tends to frame her pro-technology vignettes with buzzwords that sound like a Silicon Valley startup’s pitch for venture funding. She also leaves virtually unaddressed the effects of latter day economic colonialism in the form of massive Chinese investment, and the ongoing impact of war and political insurrection. The African continent is certainly brightening, but not quite at the pace Olopade ambitiously tries to portray. 21 b&w photos and charts. Agent: Howard Yoon, Ross Yoon Agency.