| Location | Washington, DC, United States |
|---|---|
| Introduction | I now know what this blog is about. I recall my PhD dissertation bemoaned the little power Africans wielded when it came to what the rest of the world got to know about them. I also understood those wielding the power that could show the rarely seen richness and complexity of African lives had zero economic incentive to do so. This blog is a shift in my thinking. I now think the more gets uploaded to the internet, the more a multifaceted Africa unfurls; albeit as a very scattered online puzzle with missing pieces. The web, however, brings Afrophiles together in social networks; they stumble on and pass along these missing pieces. This blog is a part of that; sometimes I pass pieces on; sometimes I combine them with other pieces; re-contextualizing and remixing them into something else - hopefully something more. Borrowing Andrew Sullivan’s “bloggers = DJs” metaphor, I think in the digital more of Africa can now be accessed, sampled and brought to more people. I think the African blogosphere and twitterverse are the new turntables by which this access, sampling and remixing gets done. My future research will prove whether I’m right or all that was bullshit. (June 2010) |
