‘How to Write About Africa: Collected Works’ Shows Binyavanga Wainaina’s Legacy
In fact, there are many aspects of Wainaina that I enjoy in How to Write About Africa.“ He is especially expressive when painting the city of Nairobi that fascinated him. “The roadside Kikuyu grass sheds silvery tears the color of the light of memories. Nairobi hangs in the distance with a haze of smog,” he writes in Discovering Home. “Soon the misty innocence will be pushed aside by the confident sun, and the pursuit of gold will reach its zenith.”
At the same time, as Iduma points out, “it’s hard to think of a writer of his generation who was as pan-African as he was.” His frenetic piece about the 2006 World Cup team of Togo, “the most authentic, blackest, most African football team”, “on Zanzibar’s wailing reef balconies, in the dark rumba belts”, while the celebrations It erupts and reaches a thrilling ending. , militia-filled bars in Lubumbashi, volatile video shops in Dakar” and more.
“He had a knack for crossing the border like a line in the sand,” Barrett said. “He was very Kenyan, but also seemed Nigerian, Ugandan, Senegalese, South African for the writer he was looking for.”
And then there is the rush produced by the Wainaina language, which transitions into its own syncopation. Spiny, playful, and original. “What excites me every time I read it is the feeling that Wainaina’s true talent lies in finding rhythm in language and inspiring the words until they sing,” Iduma said. For example, one piece ridicules the leaders’ “history, rumors, myths, praise, double eyes” and “crocodile grinning farce”.
Wainaina was an original work that offered a broader vision of African writing. In his 2014 essay “i’m gay momalso revealed his bravery, turning him into one of Africa’s most prominent anti-homophobic critics. He defined himself in his own words, especially in his writings.
