Heart of Darkness

What happened to Africa over the years can be analysed through the interlocking power struggles between various caste-like social formations in African societies.

- Suraj Milind YengdeIS

BOTH,those who view Africa from the outside and those who live in it, assume it as a whole. Africa is bonded together as a geography of the countries commonly held by a mass of massive land and a few island nations. The continent's commonality is held by the forces of historical colonisation and the market of ideas empirically voyaging throughout the world.

Africa is a continent largely populated by darker-skinned people identified as Black, Africans, or related neologisms. Probably, the most influential picturisation of Africa is informed by David Attenborough's soothing commandments of flora and fauna, recorded mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The wildlife chases, panopticon shots of the animal kingdom, and vast, ever-expanding topography of the savannah—all have informed the younger generation about Africa. The 1990s saw impending conflict in the Horn of Africa, the central African region, southern Africa and western Africa. These conflicts were the result of decades-long insurgencies led by the rebels. I often wondered what caused this. Would a simple explanation about corrupt political class, gerontology and ethnic conflicts give us the answers? Something intrinsic to the region existed, and we ought to explain that deliberately.

The Outsider African

The dominant view of Africa is invariably mediated by the outsider. Who is the outsider? It depends on how you read history. Is the white settler population an outsider? Are Indians who have lived there for generations outsiders? Are the neighbouring country citizens outsiders? Are different tribal and ethnic groups bonded together into nation-states outsiders? This proposition is now debated by a generation of youth who have not experienced colonial aggression.