This archive report was first published on 12 September 2019.
Published on September 12, 2019, Tee Ngugi's article highlights the need for Africans to break free from their myths and images of the traditional past. In his essay, In Praise of Alienation, Abiola Irele problematised the concept of alienation as formulated by thinkers such as Frantz Fanon.
According to Fanon, the African elite, graduates of colonial education, were hostile to their culture and traditional society due to their exposure to European culture and Western civilisation. This led to a state of mind where they desired to be white, suffering from an inferiority complex.
However, Irele's essay offered a reimagining of Africa in terms of modern experience, urging Africa to embrace science, education, and the entrepreneurial spirit. He argued that cultural nationalist arguments and slogans were simplifications of a complex situation.
Ngugi reflects on recent events in Kenya, where a professor is alleged to have masterminded the theft of millions from her school, and a lawyer threatened retribution for those opposed to his tribal chieftain. He questions whether Kenya has fully embraced the spirit of modern ideas and practices.
Ngugi concludes that Africans are lost in their own myths and images of the traditional past, and that they need to break free from their tribalistic and corrupt tendencies to become truly great nations.
