ABSTRACT
The epigraph from Keith Richburg expresses a sentiment not uncommon among non-Africans as a reaction to any suggestion of close involvement with Africa. It is a sentiment that even some Africans share, especially Africans who have had experiences on the continent horrid and powerful enough to make them fl ee their native lands and rue their African identity. Watching the recurrent images of Africans wasted by famine and AIDS, or Africans waging inter-ethnic wars that are reminiscent of Pol Pot’s murderous excesses, or seeing the obscenely corpulent fi gures of corrupt presidents-for-life who count their fortunes stashed in foreign banks in the billions (of dollars) while their people suffer owing to the state’s inability to provide them with drinking water or other basic necessities, one can easily excuse the non-Africans who want nothing to do with the continent and its people, and the disaffected Africans who wish to renounce their identity.
