Africa Is A Country

Of course they don’t literally believe Africa is a country. The title of the blog is ironic and is a reaction to old and tired images of Africa. The blog deliberately challenges and destabilizes conventional wisdom about the African continent and its people in Western media - that definition includes 'old (nationally oriented) media', new social media as well as 'global news media'. Media here means more than journalism; it is also art, music, film, books, graphic design, etc.

They don’t spend all their time criticizing though. They also celebrate and feature work that they think complicates the old, ahistoric and objectional images. They want to introduce readers to work by Africans and non-Africans about the continent and its diaspora that have worked against the old and tired images of Africa. Africa is a Country is also about constructing a state of mind, one where the “nation” operates outside the borders of modern nation states in Africa and its continental and conceptual boundaries. So, yes, the blog announces that Africa is indeed a “country,” an imagined community whose “citizens” must reinvent the narrative and visual economy of Africa.

Africa is a Country was founded by Cape Town-born academic Sean Jacobs and developed over time - it wasn’t always clear what it would be become - into a collective of scholars, writers, artists, filmmakers, bloggers, and curators who together produce online commentary, original writing, media criticism, short videos, and photography. If all of that still doesn’t make sense, how’s this: This is the blog that’s not about famine, Bono, or Barack Obama.