Harare Review of Books

400 pages.

First published in September 2022.

Genre: Non-fiction essays.

It’s late in the year, and all of your gifting is done; but I hope you’ll consider picking up copies of this book for all of your Western friends (after you read it yourself, of course). Dipo Faloyin has written a book on our favourite theme (as Africans, that is): how not to group 54 countries and more than a billion people into one colourful, swirly mess. With jollof wars to go.

Faloyin is here to tell you all about Lagos, about map-making for colonials, white saviours, democracy in Africa, Binyavanga Wainana’s famous essay, loot in Western museums—their entire raison d’être, if we’re to be honest—and the afore-mentioned jollof wars (—it really is just rice, but ok!). His tone throughout is refreshing: irreverent where necessary, and journalistic in the main. The text is full of references (unfortunately, as end-notes in the ebook); so you can never say you didn’t know.

I have tiny criticisms—things that remind me that no one can truly write expertly on any broad subject. Being Zimbabwean, I picked up on small errors and omissions Faloyin made while summarising Zimbabwe’s liberation history, and I thought the perspective presented was slightly inaccurate. It made me wonder about other things he presented in this book; but this is where it’s important to realise this is hardly a scholarly text, and must rather be treated as an introduction to how much one cannot know about such a huge region. Which is the whole point.

This was my pick for book of the year for The Continent (pdf link)—again, not because the writing necessarily blew me away, but because it is a very important counter to the usual lazy narratives. Also, Faloyin’s style is very entertaining, and you’ll find this a quick and fairly easy read. I give this my highest recommendation.

Faloyin is a writer and senior editor at VICE.