Blind spots in African knowledge(places you don't know much about)

[videogamestashbox.com]

What are your blind spots in African knowledge?
(places you don't know much about)

For me it's...
1. The south central sahel - Southern chad & northern CAR
(where the forest meets the desert)

2. Guinea bissau and Guinea
(though I'm a little better here based on my knowledge of surrounding groups)


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#1 Off the dome I couldn't tell you much on who lives there and the history of the area. #2 is easier because I know the migration history of the area so I could guesstimate my way into info and build from there. Come to think of it I'm probably bad on inner southern Swahili coast aswell(inner mozambique on into zambia)​

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[Guvnor]

All of it lol, I have a lot to learn but I'm getting there though.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

For me I have to say I am weak in African history when it come to...

1. Great Zimbabwe
2. Nigerian history
3. Great lakes African kingdoms history
4. Christian Nubian
5. A tiny bit of Somali

Edit: You're talking about just history right?

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

For me I have to say I am weak in African history when it come to...

1. Great Zimbabwe
2. Nigerian history
3. Great lakes African kingdoms history
4. Christian Nubian
5. A tiny bit of Somali

Edit: You're talking about just history right?

Could be history and/or cultural groups. There are places where I know about the migration routs, linguistic group, and "kingdoms" history but know little of the specific ethnic groups that populated them in terms of names, customs, surrounding groups, etc.

I have my fuzzy areas ...and it's good to know what they are
That's how you know what info to pursue ...and what not to speak on ...............

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

For me I have to say I am weak in African history when it come to...

1. Great Zimbabwe
2. Nigerian history
3. Great lakes African kingdoms history
4. Christian Nubian
5. A tiny bit of Somali

Edit: You're talking about just history right?

I actually did a good little search on that topic though I was looking more broadly at Christianity's first(maybe I should say ....second) "flowering in Africa" One of my favorites was a story about Roman(s) who ventured into the Sahara and made it to the Sahel before dieing. Later they found a story about him or a sword and some christian related stuff. My memory is hazy on the topic, but I definitely have material about Christianity from chad to Nubia to Ethiopia(obviously) up into Egypt and over into Libya. I just never did anything with it in terms of posting.
Maybe it was the roman who went into chad and come back with a story about the sword and some Christian related stuff ...fukk it, i'd have to find it again

 

[mbewane]

I don't know much about anything, but even less about Southern Africa. I couldn't tell you anything about Namibia except the genocide and the name of the capital. Don't even mention Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana...I guess language somewhat plays a role (me being francophone)

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

I don't know much about anything, but even less about Southern Africa. I couldn't tell you anything about Namibia except the genocide and the name of the capital. Don't even mention Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana...I guess language somewhat plays a role (me being francophone)

I have to admit it took me a min to get over the francophone gap. it's very easy to rely on info that comes from anglophone areas ...and not for any deliberate reason either.
I'm not going to go into a U.S. library and find french language books on Africa even if I could speak it. Maybe translations though

 

[mbewane]

I have to admit it took me a min to get over the francophone gap. it's very easy to rely on info that comes from anglophone areas ...and not for any deliberate reason either.
I'm not going to go into a U.S. library and find french language books on Africa even if I could speak it. Maybe translations though

Yeah I speak English (as you can see) so I have access to anglophone knowledge, but as in everything you tend to be closer to what your own environment is, so living in France I've obviously met more people from Senegal, Cameroun or Côte-d'Ivoire than from Swaziland, Tanzania or South Africa. So I end up knowing more about those countries.

Sidenote: Language is a huge issue too, becase unconsciously/unwillingly some Anglophone Black people (from Africa or abroad) perpetuate anglo-saxon domination over other languages/ways of thought. Whereas a lot of francophones (or speakers of other languages) have their own info AND the anglophone one, anglophone Blacks tend to only have the anglophone one. But since it's the largest market in the wolrd (thanks to the US and its "soft" power), that's the "only one that counts" and gets disseminated thanks to -mostly- the US. For example I read Imbolo Mbue's book that had all kinds of buzz last year, there's no way it would've been as succesful if it were the exact same book in any other language than english. (That's not to say that there's no merit : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is just a stellar writer for example, who happens to write in english). On the other hand an extremely important book that I've talked about various times here, Afrotopia by Felwine Sarr, STILL has no english translation and has not been talked about on anglophones websites/blogs/etc dedicated to Africa. At least Achille Mbembe is getting translated, but then again he's living in SA.

 

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