When I started this blog and this field work I thought I would be talking about how different and unique my experiences in Africa would be. Hence the blog name. Now that I am here however, I am more moved by the simularities I find between here and so many other places I have visited, lived, or worked. Don't get me wrong the Southern African flora and fauna are very unique but because of convergent evolution (I guess) the quiet, shy impala remind me of white-tailed deer and the bounding springbok remind me of pronghorn. The singing jackals-- coyotes? The sneaky mongoose---a weasel? The veld grassland reminds me of my prarie home in Manitoba and the breathtaking landscapes in Namibia made me nostalgic for Arizona. The people here are not so different either. Some of the political and social issues I am learning about are sadly very familiar to other places I have been. To the country I was born in.
Why did I expect South Africa to be an alien land? What is it about Africa that seems so foreign to me and other folks? I think one problem is ignorance. I know I am embarrassingly ignorant of all the different countries on this vast continent and I think that tends to create a lumping effect-- thinking of an entire continent as one country of "Africa".
This is Africa. It is so familar that it feels like home. Maybe it is because if you follow the family tree back long enough the roots are buried here in this red earth. We are all Africans. Maybe that's it.
I felt the very same way...like it was all familiar but yet, totally different. I guess many people have felt that before, and they said it's b/c it's in our genes...run way back and very deep. Crazy isnt it?!
ReplyDeleteWonderful and insightful post.
ReplyDeleteAnother terrific post. I think you nailed it. Ignorance is about the only thing that separates us on both the macro level you're experiencing and the micro level, person-to-person and neighborhood-to neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bill. Your posts are very insightful and well written. A publication some day?
ReplyDeleteYou know, MollyWog, the juxtaposition of this post to some personal epiphanies I've been blessed with is superb and chilling in a good way. Deep down, under the earth be it red dirt, yellow sugar sand, or even the earth that we call our flesh and bones, we are all essentially the same.
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