AFRO-PESSIMISM


Gloria Emeagwali

There are
about six types of afro-pessimists. First there are the nihilists. Nothing
from the African environment is positive. Everything is devalued  – from
ecology to environment to people, both past and present. Their negative
and nihilistic views still permeate a lot of texts on history, geography,
sociology etc. Just pay a visit to the textbooks and read between and above the
lines. Covert and overt racist sentiments sometimes predominate. Let us call
this group, Category A.

Then there are the haters and
abominable racists. Their vocabulary is limited to words like barbarism,
savage, tribesmen, uncivilized and so on. Let us say that you can spot them
from a mile away. They are less sophisticated than Group A. The Dutch Reformed
Church of the apartheid era; Mormonism of yesteryear and so, too, the KKK, share
some of these views and work within the same paradigm. They marshal the views
of persons like Wilson, D’Souza and all the haters masquerading as scholars –
through works like the Bell Curve, and what have you. The cult of whiteness permeates
their thought process, theological icons and symbols. This is Category B.

  

There are
some scholars who are genuinely disappointed with the pace of change in
post-colonial Africa. They are not psychologically or mentally challenged. They
are not haters, and they are not necessarily wrong in some of their analyses.
The missing ingredient in their discourse is HOPE and SELF- CONFIDENCE. They
seek to inspire policy changes but their discourse is largely counter- inspirational,
when unmatched with real political activity and engagement on the ground. If
you don’t have confidence in your self, who would? Let us classify them as Category C.

Category D is comprised of self-loathing
folks who really hate the skin they are in. To some extent they are victims of
white supremacist propaganda, assimilated from the neo-colonial mass
media, textbooks, religious texts, Hollywood movies and literature etc. A toxic
environment perpetuated self hate, robbed them of pride in themselves
and turned them into self destructive parodies of themselves.

Category E
are opportunistic career seekers in search of fame and fortune, playing to the
gallery. They are manipulators rather than victims, seeking sympathy, a
green card perhaps, and much more. The more they pathologize Africa, the more likely
their promotion to the next level in the context of institutionalized
racism. They thrive on pity and are beneficiaries of the ‘mercy-industrial
complex’ in one way or the other. They don’t believe what they say but they are
inveterate perpetuators of self-pity.

Seeing people
eating out of dustbins in a foreign region, in this case Africa, is a consolation
to the people in Category F. They delight in ‘poverty porn’ and tell
their constituencies how fortunate they are to be born in Country A or Country
B, while ignoring the basic needs of their local poor, many of whom are shoved
into prisons. Celebrities in search of attention, and politicians
with little to offer their constituency, at home, may fall into this category. Some
are humanitarian opportunists – although there are a few well meaning
exceptions, with less questionable motives.

And then
there are the flip floppers…occasionally trapped between the old paradigm
and a newly emerging one.

Professor
Gloria Emeagwali

Prof. of
History & African Studies

History
Department

Central
Connecticut State University

New Britain

CT 06050

<http://www.africahistory.net/>

<http://www.vimeo.com/user5946750/videos>

Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora