This article was published in The Citizen Newspaper on 5th November, 2023.
In the African setting, it is not a thing to talk about our being ‘black.’ It is an identity that most people will discover and be made to embody when they go abroad. The identity ‘black’ which is descriptive of the person’s racial background is used synonymously with ‘African.’
Growing up in different countries in Africa I never heard of such things as “Black History Month,” or “Black Lives Matter,” because that was not an issue there. However, there is a need to talk about things globally because of the existing racial divide and systemic suppression. There is a need, especially in African countries to teach Black History.
Realities of the past which stirred racial bigotry that has survived to our times are far from disappearing. Black History needs to be core to our learning of history as a people, alongside world history. This does not entail learning only about the transatlantic slave trade but also the positive contribution of Africans globally, in science and research, technology and innovation, sports and entertainment, etc.
These can be good models for children growing up in Africa, or those of African origin who grow up overseas, and are traumatised by being confronted with racial prejudices from an early age.
Every story and history has a storyteller (narrator) who oftentimes influences the story based on their point of view. As such learning one’s history as written by another, as in this case, the history of the people of Africa as written by non-African people of Europe and America, endangers the integrity of the story being told, as these groups have had a contention in the past which has left behind deep wounds.
What does this tell us? With regard to our history, we need to invest in researching again and again so as to have a proper record of the historical happenings of African people, established by African scholars. It may scare you to hear how African people have been described in histories learnt abroad in the past.
The authority of philosophers like Georg Hegel (1770-1831) would have been questioned a long time ago but it was not because he was in tune with the racial superiority mentality of his time. “The African is a natural man in his completely wild and untamed state, barely above the level of animality,” he said in his thesis.
He goes on to describe an African as someone completely incapable of knowing God, and many other hard-to-swallow things. This was a knowledgeable authority of his time, though he had never been to Africa. He only depended on word of mouth from missionaries who went to Africa.
While I cannot think things have completely changed in the past few years, many history books published by Western Publishers are used for learning in Tanzania.
We may need to use Western books for learning sciences or Western languages, but not history. We should be able to have the history of Tanzania as fact-checked and told by Tanzanians and Africans themselves. Publication houses have house policies which influence the content they publish.
Coming to discoveries, the entire continent of Africa is full of things said to be discovered by Westerners who partitioned the continent into their colonies.
While I was studying in Nigeria, a question came in one of history term exams (in O Level) saying, “Who discovered river Niger?” I cannot forget being puzzled by simple explanation, that Mungo Park would come to Nigeria in late 18th Century and discover a river that runs for 4200 kilometres, the third longest river in Africa.
Mungo Park is named as the person who discovered the river; despite there being people living around that river since time immemorial. While Mungo Park had influence in the early travels and explorations around the river Niger, there is a misrepresentation of who he was and what he did.
In teaching history, there is also a need for Africans to learn their history in their languages. This is because history cannot be separated from culture, which cannot be harmlessly separated from language. In attempting to tell our story in foreign languages there is a danger of losing crucial details and meanings. History too, has to be taught in a way that is attractive and engaging, allowing room for discussion and candid clarification, especially for positive history.
We do not need to be taught by the West what best we can include in our history. Just for awareness, though slavery and colonisation are crucial realities of history in African countries, it is not taught in some countries, for example, the UK which actually participated in both by royal approval since 1663 and went on for centuries.
Black history is only taught in 10% of the schools in the UK. The national curriculum also omits the vast contribution of Black people in the UK (Claudia Webbe, in House of Commons, on Black History and Cultural Diversity Curriculum, June 28, 2021).
