Why I Talk About Africa
Africa has long been devalued and disparaged through the eyes of outsiders.
At the root of this lies the arrogance of Western rationalism — its blind faith in reason and logic — alongside capitalism, a system now stretched to its contradictions. To produce commodities (such as spices), history’s largest forced migration was orchestrated, buying and selling human beings through the transatlantic slave trade. To extract raw materials, the West pillaged Africa’s natural resources. In an attempt to justify these morally bankrupt actions, Africa was persistently “othered” and belittled — a process carried out under the guise of “scientific” legitimacy within Western academia, all in the name of rationality and reason.
The expansion of capitalism inevitably led to imperialism and colonialism, driven by an insatiable hunger for more.
Many in Korea today assume that imperialism and colonialism are relics of the past. This assumption is rooted in a linear, Western concept of time. But history does not flow in separate, disconnected phases of past, present, and future. It accumulates, layer upon layer.
The crises we face today — racial, class, and gender hierarchies, the oppression of refugees and migrants under the nation-state system, environmental destruction, and climate change — are all condensed contradictions from the past. The world is deeply interconnected, with every part influencing the other. Within this structure, Africa — its people, land, and resources — stands at the frontline of these contradictions, subjected to exploitation and discrimination through racialized and class-based hierarchies.
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To confront these contradictions, we must adopt a multidimensional, cyclical understanding of history and time. Africa offers us this lens. Its long history of devaluation and subjugation, the movements that have fought against it, and its present realities serve as a guidepost for what we must change and how we should move forward.
Speaking up for those who have suffered — or are still suffering — is not merely an act of advocacy for others. It is an act of advocating for myself, for us, and for our collective future.
Korean society today is plagued by high suicide rates, low levels of happiness, fierce competition, and cultural intolerance. We are all suffering within a system that assigns value to everything based on a single metric — money — without deeper reflection. I no longer wish to live in such an exclusionary and rigid society. I hope for a future that is more inclusive, more expansive.
And that is why I share Africa’s stories — stories that have been overlooked, stories that carry alternative values, and stories that compel us to critically reexamine the values of today.
© anniespratt, 출처 Unsplash
