Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent

Dipo Faloyin

Sep 2022 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this ebook

An exuberant and stereotype-busting portrait of contemporary Africa in all its splendid diversity, by one of its leading new writers.

So often Africa is depicted simplistically as a uniform land of famines and safaris, poverty and strife. In this funny and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective. He unearths surprising truths about many African countries’ colonial heritage, traces the story of the continent’s struggles with democracy in seven dictatorships, explores lively local rivalries from the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament to the debate over which West African country makes the best jollof rice, takes on the origins and legacy of the continent’s stereotypical depiction in charity campaigns and by Hollywood, and describes the latest popular culture and youth-led political movements from across the region. By turns intimate, entertaining, and politically enlightening, Africa Is Not A Country celebrates the energy and particularity of the continent’s different cultures and communities, and treats Africa with the respect it deserves.

Ratings and reviews

Great book. I wanted to learn more about modern Africa after visiting a couple of countries years back and realizing we were not getting an accurate picture here in the West, but work and life got in the way of that. I've recently started following some influencers in Africa, specifically in the travel and tourism space like Tayo Aina, and that reignited that desire. This book delivered. lots of information packed into these pages, that makes you curious to go down several different rabbit holes. I had first rented this from the library, but had to buy it.

About the author

Dipo Faloyin is a senior editor at VICE, where he focuses on race, culture, and identity around the world. His writing has appeared in Dazed, Prospect, and HuffPost. Born in Chicago, raised in Lagos, he now lives in London.