African Beats & Books
African culture is rich and diverse, with many different forms of creative arts and music. Though often underestimated due to a lack of written records, the continent actually has a fascinating history. If you want to learn more and bring a bit of Africa to your home, then we have some suggestions for you – books to read, and music to listen to.
“The Scramble for Africa” by Thomas Pakenham describes the race to colonize Africa. This book is a comprehensive and popular history detailing how colonial powers vied with each other to gain control over territories and resources. Buy this book here.
Perhaps you like the sound of African music? Here is an album by Ismael Lo, an accomplished singer and artist from Senegal. Click here if you want to buy his album.
“The State of Africa” by Martin Meredith is an intriguing volume that spans Africa’s recent history, in particular the fifty years since independence. The book starts with the story of Kwame Nkrumah and Ghana in the late 1950s and covers the entire continent, following the course of each country as it steers towards independence. Meredith does a superb job of providing convincing information about principal events and key protagonists in recent African history. Buy this book here.
"Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver - An American Baptist missionary uproots his wife and two children to do work in the Belgian Congo, circa 1959. Naturally, the family is ill prepared to confront the realities of living in the midst of the Dark Continent. This novel explores the vast cultural differences between the first and third worlds, the politics of colonialism, and the dangerous potential for religious fanaticism. A great book to help open Western minds to the often harsher realities of living in rural Africa. Buy this book here.
"Dark Star Safari" by Paul Theroux – Acclaimed travel writer Paul Theroux sets off on an overland adventure from Cairo to Cape Town – the hard way. Traversing across bush and desert, Theroux takes the reader on a journey of discovery and rediscovery while never losing his sense of humour, going through hardship and the richness of the small moments in life – where simply standing on an open plain can bring deep contentment. Buy this book here.
"Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – A beautiful yet harrowing account of the events leading up to the Biafran Civil War in Nigeria, as told through the lives of three main characters from diverse cultural backgrounds. If you want to get into the grit of the harsher realities of tribal conflict in Africa, this is a very compassionate account with well developed characters and an intriguing story line. Buy this book here.
"A Grain of Wheat" by Ngugi wa Thiang’o – A Grain of Wheat depicts the Kenyan struggle between the Mau Mau liberation fighters and the British colonial government in the 1950s-1960s. Key themes are betrayal, heroism, and the massive sacrifices made by those who fight for independence. This is an essential read if you have an interest in the contemporary politics of Kenya. Buy this book here.
"The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith – A delightful, light-hearted book about Africa, for once! This is the story of Precious Ramotswe, a Botswanan woman who inherits her father’s cattle herd and uses the money to set up a detective agency. What follows are hilarious vignettes about her legion of clients and their respective problems. Read this if you need a break from the consistent heaviness of african political literature. Buy this book here.
