Great African Reads discussion

Hey Everyone!

So I just joined this group, and posted in the new members section, but I was wondering what brought other members to this group/ genre.

I have focused my studies on the African diaspora for the last ten years and on Africa especially over the last 4. Part of my original interest stemmed from my own ancestral background, and seeing the struggle of African peoples globally. Now, after having lived in and studied the African diaspora extensively, I found myself drawn to the motherland.

In July of this year my husband and I will be traveling to Africa for the first time. We met when I was in the Peace Corps in his home-country Guyana, and both of us dreamt of going to Africa. We will be moving to Uganda in July, where I will be studying for my Masters in Peace and Conflict studies and he will be volunteering full-time.

So, thats my blurb! What brings YOU here?

we have a similar question/discussion on another thread...but a little overlap doesn't hurt.

so, ummm...for me, it's just something that developed over a long period of time, for a variety of reasons. and i resented how little about Africa is/was taught in American schools...so there is an endless amount of books to read to fill an enormous gap...and then i never got bored...and then goodreads was created. voila!

funny story (?): my high school soccer coach was from Ghana. he was an amazing person (in addition to being an amazing soccer player). he used to tell us a tiny bit about his native home, but not much. so i decided that my social studies paper would be about Ghana...i wrote about marriage customs there. it was much more interesting than i was anticipating!! and i'm sure my coach thought it was hysterical. oy veh. 8-)
i wonder if i still have that paper...in any case, that is the project that set me on my way...lol.

Hey Marieke,

Yeah right after I posted this I noticed the other thread and check it out... but then it seemed like they went far off topic and I wanted to stay on!

Hi Eve,

What kind of voluntarism will your husband be doing?

I'm here because I'm reading a book by a writer from every country (67% and counting), and this is much more convivial than reading everything on my own!

Ah ha, Marieke. :)

Shoshana,

My husband will most likely be volunteering with a construction-type of organization, like Habitat for Humanity for locals.

Thanks, Eve. I'll enjoy hearing how your move goes.

Hi all. I've posted my "story" before, so I won't bore everybody again, but just a quick recap. My husband of 25 years is from Kenya, so I've been reading books about Africa at least since I met him, but I think I actually have wanted to learn about Africa since I read "Born Free" in fourth grade. My profile picture is our cottage in Kenya, where my husband stays when he goes every year and where I hope to be able to stay soon.

Ha! Born Free! Awesome.

THAT LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL Andrea!!!

Weird "why are you here" moment last night! My teenage daughter walked home from an activity with her friend, Aurelie, who is a foreign exchange student from France. Now, I don't like to stereotype, but this girl and my daughter both have beautiful dark skin and long, curly braids, so I asked Aurelie if her parents were immigrants to France. She said, "Yes, my parents are from Congo Brazzaville." She was certainly surprised when I started excitedly talking about all the history and literature we had been learning about from Congo. One of the benefits of reading about the world is being able to make connections with people.

That is such a cool story Andrea. I know what you mean -- it's so neat when you have an opportunity to connect w/ someone from a part of the world that you may not have any first-hand experience w/, but have read about and get to talk w/ them. It makes everything seem more concrete and real somehow. Plus, it's good to be able to either validate, or discard some of my perceptions based solely on what I have read against what the other person can share about their actual experiences.

I wrote a long post on the other thread, which I agree strayed from this topic, which is fine, but thanks for starting another one.

One thing I forgot to mention there...you probably notice my profile pic is "Tarzan of the Apes" which I realize is not at all an accurate dipiction of African life. My story is similar to Andrea's. My earliest memories and dreams of Africa came from my brother reading that book aloud to me when I was around 6 years old. So whatever else you may want to say about that book, it did instill in me a love of all things African.