Afrobeats in DC: White Folks Fearing, Black Folks Segregating

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Africa, Afrobeats, Angelique Kidjo, black people, Cultural exchange, Fulbright, Howard Theatre, Howard University, Lisner Auditorium, Nigerian Music, P-Square, Peace Corps, white people

Google ‘Peace Corps Camel’

Washington DC is full of idealistic former Peace Corps volunteers, Fulbright grantees, and other assorted aid workers and international travelers (often white people) who delight in living vicariously by traveling to various African destinations.  They occasionally sample the local cuisine, but can even more reliably be found ensconced in the local dress or viewing the local animals.  Typically, their stated aim is to live like a local or to at least better understand them by getting to know their culture.  Consequently, having now attended several concerts of major African superstars in the DMV, I find it exceedingly odd that I see none of those people at these shows.

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My Favorite African Candy Bar (and Personal Musings of South Africa in Africa)

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Accra mall, Devex, Lesley Anne Warner, Nando's, Osu, Peace Corps, Sahel, Shoprite in Accra, South Africa in Africa, South Africa in Ghana, Steers, Tex candy bar

I really enjoy reading Lesley Anne Warner’s travel vignettes (a fellow DC-based Africanist blogger), so with that inspiration in mind, I’ll try to increasingly focus on a few personal musings – particularly before the DC think tank scene gears back up for action after Labor day.  Yesterday’s post on my time in the Sahel can be seen as the opening salvo in that direction.

For today, I’ll provide a link to my favorite African candy bar.  It apparently dates back to 1956.  The increasing spread of South Africa’s commercial presence throughout the continent, something that has been very visible to me in the 8 years that I have been traveling to Africa fascinates me, particularly as the first African country I visited was South Africa – a mark that I share with many Americans.  I have discussed this briefly in posts on the Central African Republic and Nigeria.  On a related note, in my inbox today from Devex is a link to a piece on South Africa’s emergence as a donor of aid.

Leaving the Peace Corps in 2010, I traveled overland from the Sahel to Ghana.  It was my second visit and I was in awe of the many changes that had transpired in four years.  Particularly notable was the opening of an indoor shopping mall in Accra (complete with a very expensive cinema).  It was anchored by the South African grocer Shoprite, and had several other retailers based in South Africa as well.  Even at the time of my first visit to Ghana in 2006, South African fast food restaurants such as Nando’s (chicken) and Steers (hamburgers) were operating in Accra.  Bread from Baker’s Inn could even be found on a Liberia Refugee camp outside of the city.  However, the most pleasing change was that in 2010 (unlike 2006), I was able to find my favorite African candy bar in Accra.

Mali (and the Sahel): Not in DC? Summer Doldrums Inspired Observations

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African governance, Al-Qaeda in Africa, Andrew Lebovich, Dogon country, Hezbollah in Africa, IBK Mali, John Paden, Laurent Gbagbo, Mali, Mali elections, Peace Corps, Washingtonians to Maine

Despite having lived in a neighboring country for two years, I never got to Mali.  It was however quite popular with the Peace Corps volunteer travel circuit.  I recall the picturesque Dogon country being a particular allure.  Moving to the Sahel in 2008, it was very much a ‘backward’ region that garnered little attention in the US, Francophone/Anglophone divisions aside.

Today that has all changed.  Everyone and their mother had an opinion on the French intervention in Mali.  However, the elections that have restored Mali’s former ‘model democracy’ have come and gone, with scant attention from Washington.  Granted, there are many summer vacations to Maine and Massachusetts to be had, but to my knowledge, there were hardly any events on the elections.  The Zimbabwe elections, taking place the same week, got limited attention, but there was at least one major conference on them.  Conversely, the Kenyan elections in March received considerable attention in DC.

The lesson I take away from this is that if you are a dictator and want to avoid/lessen the wrath of the Western nations promoting a democracy and governance agenda, schedule your elections in July or August (are you listening Laurent Gbagbo?).

On a related matter, are there any significant Sahel experts in the DMV?  John Paden of George Mason comes to mind, but he is quite elderly and by some frames of analysis, northern Nigeria would not be counted as Sahelian (speaking of which there is quite a plethora of Nigerian experts in DC, with most focused on Abuja, the Niger Delta, and Lagos).  Terrorism and conflict has drawn a lot of folks to the Sahel, something that has been particularly visible to me as my return to the US coincided with a drastic deterioration in the region’s security situation.

While I am all for people being abreast of current events, one doesn’t particularly build up a strong reservoir of expertise if they just change directions with the wind (for the sake of controversy, Andrew Lebovich comes to mind here.  I’ll give a shout out to Alex Thurston for consistency).  Furthermore, many of these folks operate on a not very nuanced narrative set by outlets like The Atlantic and Foreign Policy.  I see few experts focusing on Hezbollah activities in coastal west Africa (or even the CAR) or studying Liberia for its Al-Qaeda connections.

A Chat with a Recent GMU Graduate & Miss Burkina Faso USA

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Blaise Compaoré, Burkina Faso, Carol Zigani, George Mason University, jollof rice, Leopold Senghor, Miss Africa USA, Ouagadougou, Peace Corps, Thomas Sankara, USAID

I recently raved about the great night of entertainment that was Miss Africa USA in Silver Spring.  While most of the contestants represented a wide range of African nations and a large swathe of American geography, a few, such as Carol Zigani, were local.  Carol, who is based in Manassas, represented Burkina Faso and answered some of my questions on African politics, culture, and Africa in DC issues via e-mail.