African stories - Past, present, and future

African artists are challenging Western media's false narrative about Africa. They use various mediums like novels, podcasts, and films to portray Africa in a different light. These artists combine new technology with African storytelling and culture to create narratives that reflect their experiences. They challenge dominant narratives about Africa's past, present, and future. The novel "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyeisi explores African themes and challenges Western storytelling. Afiya Kikire's podcast discusses the evolving nature of cities in Africa, such as Accra in Ghana. Afrofuturism is a genre that imagines a futuristic Africa without colonialism, tackling issues like resource scarcity and gender equality. Films like "Pumsey" and "Neptune Frost" challenge dominant narratives and highlight Africa's role in technology. African artists are rewriting narratives about Africa's past, present, and future through new media formats, proving that Africa is thriving and will continue to do so. Western media sources, run awry by Western-dominated history and misconceptions, fail to acknowledge many African countries as they grow and evolve into metropolitan centers today, and will force a false narrative about Africa down the throats of anyone that will listen. Storytellers like Afiya Kikire, Saul Williams, Anizia Uzayman, and many others continue to break down this narrative through new media. Whether the medium is a novel, podcast, movie, or other, they break down barriers and portray Africa in a way that turns away from the victimization pushed by dominant media and history. What modern African artists are doing today is showing that Africa is more than rising. It's thriving and continuing to pump out creative minds that expose international inequities. These creative minds use the newest technology, combined with African traditions of storytelling and culture, to make up narratives that either reflect their own experience or the experience of others on the continent, exposing a true African story. These stories not only reveal what day-to-day life might be like for those living on the continent, but also show an alternative view of a dominant account of Africa's present and future. Afropolitans offer a different view of current African life, while Afrofuturism shows an abstract form of possible African futures that also take into account their pasts. Past, present, future. All are delved into within these stories. Yaa Gyeisi confronts the past and begins to delve into the present in her novel Homegoing. This novel challenges one main concept of typical Western storytelling and or culture. The entire thing traces the descendants of two sisters. While Western societies are all patrilineal, that is not the case for African societies or histories. This novel tackles what it was like to be a slave, as well as what it was like to stay in Africa and immigrate to the United States in a more recent period. In each chapter, the dialogue places the reader in a historical time and place that moves them along the narrative. A narrative that accurately depicts the negative impacts of colonialism on Africans and their descendants, connected throughout by the physical location of the continent and the familial tie to the homeland that is revisited by the end. The novel challenges a common trope in other African and Western literature that puts colonialism in the center. Instead, this is a story about Africa and Africans, with colonialism being included but not the main catalyst of the narrative itself. Instead, the book focuses on African themes like storytelling and language to accurately depict a truly African story. Ghana, while still influenced by the past, is creating a present that shakes off colonial negativity. Afia Kikiria exposes the ever-evolving nature of big cities on the continent by discussing Accra, the capital of Ghana today. She exposes a narrative of a true African American, a first-generation immigrant. Her parents moved to the U.S. for a better life and moved back to Ghana for the same reason. Instead of going back to Ghana for a negative reason like deportation, they went back because their means can get them more in a country in Africa. This flips the script of Accra being full of poverty and rural, rather than the booming metropolis it is. Her narrative is also more personal. Her medium of choice was a podcast, and the oral soundscape that she creates allows the listener to connect more to her story and arguments. She intentionally includes music and background noises to transport her listeners to a certain place and time, or to make them feel a certain emotion to emphasize her points. She also utilizes another important aspect of sound, silence, to allow her listeners moments to absorb and adjust so thoughts can be collected and agreed upon. By utilizing the medium that allows for the creation of empathy, more so than the traditional books through the creation of an oral emotionscape, she can create a story that is truly reflective of her experience and allow others to experience it as well. An African future is a bright one, even if people may think of it as being stuck in the past. African artists use new media, such as film, to demonstrate a possible African present or future, creating a new genre known as Afrofuturism. Having similar roots to the sci-fi genre, Afrofuturism delves into what could be, or what could have been, sanscolonialism. They utilize futuristic and sometimes outlandish storylines to criticize or challenge the common narrative about Africa. This can be seen in films such as Neptune Frost or Pumsey, both of which challenge dominant narratives and point out problems in Africa today. Pumsey, with a female lead, discusses resource scarcity, specifically tackling access to water. Access to water is a problem faced by many communities within the African continent today, and this film showed an exaggerated version of that. They point out a possible future for all of us if we fail to protect our resources and planet today. Another topic examined is gender. In traditional Western storytelling, women, even if they are the lead, are typically weak in one way, whether that is physically, mentally, or emotionally. It is only recently that Western media has begun to embrace a strong female lead, and even their depictions can still be flawed. Pumsey's lead does not question her gender or her strength, and even the governing body in this dystopian African landscape is controlled by women. This is reflective of African history and Afrofuturism as a genre. Historically, African women across the continent have held revered and respected positions in their families, communities, and governments. This shows that not only is an African future a more equitable one, but so was an African past. Neptune Frost, on the other hand, looks at Africa's role in today's technology landscape. It starts in a mining town, where they are searching for coltan, which is one of the main components in most smartphones and other technology today. This exposes a true story for many Africans on the continent who are being exploited to mine for Western companies, similar to the colonial past. However, what changes with movies like Neptune Frost is the narrative of control and freedom. The miners revolt after the murder of one of the main character's brothers. They then go to a place that offers an alternate reality for Africans, where they control technology and have the freedom to come and go and do as they please, challenging the dominant powers at work in the world today. Both point out problems with Africa today and offer views of an African future. Overall, African storytellers are taking advantage of new media formats to rewrite narratives about an African past, present, and future that incorporate things they have personally experienced or were inspired by. Whether it is through an audiobook, a podcast, or a film, Africans are recreating an Africa that better fits their mental image and allows for deeper understanding and empathizing on behalf of the viewer. All these media forms prove that the narrative about Africans being primitive or trapped in the past is false. Africa is, and will be, thriving for many years to come, with creative storytellers and social activists leading the way.