Hear You People; in Africa we Speak Knowledge into Being
I am yet to figure out how to summarise my
experience in Kampala city over the holiday. It is a story that takes me to
things I don't like enjoying. Race and socialisation is one of them. Just
because you are different and do things differently does not make you special
or better. I have always said that. And with it ended the debate on racism. At
least within myself racism is a closed debate. I will respect and like human
beings based on character not colour. Kampala is one of those loud African cities. We love
it that way, we enjoy it. Our conception of a restaurant and bar is that these
are spaces where people meet, talk, eat, drink, watch TV programmes e.g.
football matches, play games such as pool, listen to music, dance etc. Those
who can read and/or do other things can as well do them. But we really don't go
out to bars and restaurants to read. Does that make us bad? No. Poor? No.
Stupid? No. Inferior? No. Backward? No. No no no! It is that our conception of
generation of knowledge; receiving and giving it is different from our
colleagues in the west. It can't be that because we do not quite believe in
and/or practice reading in busses and restaurants and almost every other
space therefore we don't learn and/or impart knowledge hence silly and
backward. We have our way of transacting knowledge. We often talk knowledge
into being. If you see us talking for long leave us alone. Do not conclude we
are idle. We aren't. We are as busy as you are with your book. Read it and let
us talk. Talking to us is as important as reading is to you. We cannot compete which
among the two is better. None is; none should be. If the restaurant in the
African setting is not conducive stay in a hotel room. Better still, try
Stockholm or any other western city for your vacation not Kampala. If you come
to Kampala, be sure to find us and trust me we will be making "noise"
in our bars and restaurants. That is what we do. We are loud people. We learn
and we educate through talking. We enjoy it and we love it. Well. I have not
said anything yet. I know. It was my experience with a white lady getting
irritated because my friends and I were "making noise" in a Kampala
restaurant, in fact, a bar. To be nice (as I always am), I would say that was a
little uncomfortable to me.
When I shared this with friends someone wondered: “who in the world be irritated with
warm and fun people!!??. I wonder too. But there are people. Those who already have a sense of entitlement. Those
who already feel and believe they are superior and better. They come your own
space and tell you to shut up already because you do not know how to live good
life. And those to whom good life is to sit down, be still and read. Is that
not the standard of good life and superior culture?! These experiences always
make me a nice guy, you know. There is reason I love it whenKelechi Okafor claims
that: “in 2018 I am going to choose a random white family’s home and move in
with them. I am going to claim the master bedroom and ban them from speaking
anything other than Yoruba." You see, it is beautiful when you have the
privilege such as that of going into other people's homes, occupying even the
most private spaces such as their bedrooms and demanding that they adopt your
way of life
Hear You People; in Africa we Speak Knowledge into Being
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
January 09, 2018
Rating:
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