As the legend goes – Ex Africa semper a liquid novi – out of Africa there is always something new. In cynical times, the Latin saying can be deemed a cliché, especially when nay-sayers insist on reminding us of misfortune, corruption, barbarism, beggary, of the toxic, prejudicial, yet persistent view of Africa’s failure to mirror the West. But as Steve Bantu Biko famously reminded us, in I write what I like, Africa’s contribution to the world lies not in industrial innovation, or military might – the core ingredients of every colonizing force – but in something far more precious – humanity. Africa’s power lies in its spirit of Ubuntu, in relationality, in returning to the world its ‘human face’.
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