Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Teju Cole on "The White Savior Industrial Complex"

i agree with the term "industry," as used in the genocide film and literature industry, in questioning those who profit from it. examining the kony2012 for its use of money is legit. some years ago the asa got a grant to support research initiatives in africa, allowing us to fund a range of disciplinary activities. i was asked to serve on the board of review, and was excited about it. then i discovered that our $400,000, or whatever that sum was (it was in the ballpark), was to be eaten up by the ngo that was chosen to administer it. maybe 50% or so went to the administrating agency. i squawked, i think to no avail--considered resigning, and then just resigned myself to going along, and to the fact that the recipients would get about $5000 each--and also that we had to spend a portion of the funds on bringing them to the asa meeting where they would speak about their projects--gobbling up still more money.
what might have been significant funds got swallowed up here and there, and it became token.
you all maybe already know all this, but i was disappointed to learn that this was standard practice.
i still give money to drs without borders and other groups; what can you do? at least, maybe, we can say, some are better than others, some deserve our support more than others. but let's be honest to recognize, that some live by these monies, that the cause becomes the cause of their self-importance and even self-enrichment.
i repeat--have you seen guelwaar? sembene takes on the fight for independence from the dependency theorists head on
ken

On 3/22/12 7:35 AM, Rex Marinus wrote:

Ikhide, I wonder which part of the "articulated priorities" riles you. I'm also a bit nonplussed by your take on the title, quite so because, I think it does express sufficient irony and pathos apt to Teju Cole's incisive analysis. Perhaps you'd wish him, as you often do, to dismantle and cuss out Africa, blame the land and people, and maintain the cynical lie that these images retailed serially about that sad continent where the left-handed charity industry is most lucrative is indeed all of Africa, and be left without scrutiny. I think Teju speaks volumes and does speak for me in many regards. I suspect your ambivalence is driven by a need for a particular kind of tepid correctness that would serve very little to the spirit of the article. All those who take a stand for that continent must, to quote the erudite Okpewho, call it by its proper name. Teju Cole does. He does more: he takes a steady look at this phenomenom of the "white savior Industrial Complex," a more contemporary equivalent of the "whiteman's burden" and puts a name to it. His articulated priority? to point to the powerful implication of misrepresenting an entire continent  by the powerful imagery created in powerful lands where Africa remains a strange alchemy off horror -  terror, war, tyranny, disease, and death, and nothing else . Teju speaks for many of us in his "articulated priorities."
Obi Nwakanma

 

---

Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:47:43 -0700
From: xokigbo@yahoo.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Teju Cole on "The White Savior Industrial Complex"
To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com; Ederi@yahoogroups.com

"One song we hear too often is the one in which Africa serves as a backdrop for white fantasies of conquest and heroism. From the colonial project to Out of Africa to The Constant Gardener and Kony 2012, Africa has provided a space onto which white egos can conveniently be projected. It is a liberated space in which the usual rules do not apply: a nobody from America or Europe can go to Africa and become a godlike savior or, at the very least, have his or her emotional needs satisfied. Many have done it under the banner of "making a difference." To state this obvious and well-attested truth does not make me a racist or a Mau Mau. It does give me away as an "educated middle-class African," and I plead guilty as charged. (It is also worth noting that there are other educated middle-class Africans who see this matter differently from me. That is what people, educated and otherwise, do: they assess information and sometimes disagree with each other.)"

 

- Teju Cole in The Atlantic Mobile, March 21, 2012

 

Thoughtful fairly nuanced piece; the condescending title does the burden of his essay a disservice. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it but I couldn't disagree more with the essay's articulated priorities.

 

Read the rest here.

- Ikhide

 

Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com

Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide

Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide

 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

--  kenneth w. harrow  distinguished professor of english michigan state university department of english east lansing, mi 48824-1036 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu