Book Review: Africa Is Not A Country - Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa by Dipo Faloyin

It's hard to craft a book with so much righteous indignation - let alone make it funny, accessible, and informative. Nevertheless, Dipo Faloyin has succeeded in writing a spectacular takedown of the myths which are often perpetrated about Africa.

It starts in the best way possible:

[Insert generic African proverb here. Ideally an allegory about a wise monkey and his interaction with a tree, or the relationship between the donkey and the ant that surprisingly speaks to grand gestures of valour. Sign it off: Ancient African proverb]

How many times have you seen that? Think about all the tropes played out in every Hollywood movie set vaguely in Africa - would you accept the same stereotypes about your continent?

And yet, it does rely a little too much about internalised stereotypes:

The point is: there are a lot of people in Lagos. None of them are shy.

I'm sure there's at least one introvert in Lagos who cringes every time people expect them to be boisterous!

The horrors and complexities of colonisation and its aftermath are on display for all to see. In many way, much like cryptobros discovering why banking regulations exist, some African countries are speed-running Europe's history of bloody internecine warfare and mad kings. A predilection that some parts of Europe (and America) are still struggling to move past.

I think it could have benefited from just a few maps or illustrations. I also found some of the language a little… infantilising? The way he capitalises certain phrases like "These Powerful Men In The Capital" felt to me a little out of place. That said, there's some excellent caustic humour and some quite beautiful prose.

In the end, it shows that while Africa is not a country, the stories are often of different countries tackling the same problems in the same ways. [Insert something about everyone's hearts beating to the rhythm of an African drum, while an elephant wanders into an impossibly huge sunset.]