Africa

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

hg objects:
"See also his NO LONGER AT EASE, A MAN OF THE PEOPLE, ANTHILLS OF THE
SAVANNAH, ARROW OF GOD.... Just how *real* or how *African* Achebe's
perspective is, who knows. His stuff is certainly good. He represents a
particularly, (ugh!) humanist African tradition - for more hard core
stuff send request. My favorite 'African' writer is still Coetzee.
 
hg
BTW, there is no such thing as 'Africa'."


You definitely have a point.  Anthony Appiah was on campus last year and
provided an interesting take on these subjects.  "Africa" to Appiah is
a simulacrum--a model with no "real" referent.  It might be a *necessary*
simulacrum for some, but that doesn't make it any more real.

Of course, when you come down to it, our notion of "Europe" and "Western
civilization" isn't much less of a simulacrum.

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)