African Curriculum
BOOKS
“A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah
I stayed home for three days without leaving my bed to finish this book. It’s a true story about a brave, clever young boy whose whole loving family is massacred by Sierra Leone’s RUF rebels. He runs through the jungle for something like 6 months to escape them, and his only salvation is a rap tape of “OPP” in his pocket that amuses villagers who would otherwise burn him at the stake (as in, “You down with OPP man? You know me!”). He’s a hero, anyone would like this book whether they care about Africa or not. It’s also a great way to learn about Sierra Leone and west African values in general, which are quite impressive.
“Warriors: Life and Death Among the Somalis” by Gerald Hanley
If you don’t get why on earth I am so keen on Somalia, read this book. Gerald Hanley is a soul searcher who imparts precious insights about the human condition and I think he saved me from five nervous breakdowns. His memoir is about his five years working as a British military captain in Somalia during WWII, and accounts brilliantly the character of his endlessly charming Somali soldiers.
“Another Day of Life” by Ryszard Kapuscinski
This guy is the original badass. He drives across embattled Angola dodging ambushes, land mines, roadblocks and South African mercenaries, then does some calisthenics. (He also manages to explain the convoluted roots of the Angola’s 20-year civil war in a non-boring way.)
“The Graves Are Not Yet Full” by Bill Berkeley
Bill is one of my mentors and in this comprehensive tome of African politics in the 1980s he gets into the nitty gritty of corruption, war and genocide. It’s not an easy read but it’s edifying. All of those vague African tragedies from McNeil Lehrer or whatever that old news show was called in 1980’s are here in this book — a great service to all of us who were just kids at the time. Bill illuminates all the disgraceful blunders of the Reagan administration and the various ethnic cleansing campaigns that we inadvertently funded with our tax dollars.
MUSIC
Ethiopiques Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Musique Instrumentale 1969-1974, by Mulatu Astatqe
You never knew Ethiopia was one of the coolest places on earth right? You will learn.
Club Sodade, by Cesaria Evora
This album would make the perfect soundtrack to Kapuscinski’s book if it were made into a black and white art film. Cesaria Evora is from Cape Verde in west Africa so she sings in Portuguese. I like the remix album as much as her acoustic stuff, it’s got a really poignant cinematic vibe.
MOVIES
“The Passenger”
Antonioni’s movies are more like slideshows than plots, but no matter. Jack Nicholson is in full badass mode as a cynical journalist who steals the identity of a murdered arms dealer in a state of existential ennui. The movie gives a vivid portrait of windswept North Africa with its sinister leaders and complete oblivion.
“Blood Diamond”
Gripping action movie with moving romance and realistic journalist protagonist gives lesson about the war in Sierra Leone.
“The Lost Boys of Sudan”
This loaded documentary about South Sudanese refugees moving to the U.S. for a better life and then realizing they’d rather be refugees in their own country than live in Texas shows why it’s not necessarily benevolent for celebrities to adopt poor African children and move them to Beverly Hills. It also shows how empty American culture can be. And how important it is for African countries to retain ambitious young people rather than lose them in a brain drain.
“The Lord of War”
Appealingly rebellious premise and protagonist in this Nicholas Cage movie about an arms dealer during the cold war. It’s handsomely edited and depicts the Liberian problems of the 1980s and 90s. See it if you want to understand Charles Taylor, an epic villain. A friend of mine also wrote a great article about Charles Taylor’s equally sinister dum-dum son, Chuckie, which you can read here. And my badass friend, veteran Africa correspondent Massimo Alberizzi, says he wrote the articles that inspired this screenplay.