It's Africa

Gui TaoEncyclopedia of China Publishing House2012

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Word count
110 words
Chapters
20
ISBN
9787500089544

Tags

Society and Culture Social SciencesCulture Slave TradeMarriageXinhua News AgencySocial ObservationAcademic StudyDocumentary WorkPopular Narrative

Summary

It's Africa is a work of reportage written by Xinhua News Agency correspondent Gui Tao during his posting in Africa. From 2010, he was stationed at the Xinhua Africa Regional Bureau, interviewing in Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Togo, Benin and elsewhere, and this book presents his observations and reflections on the continent. The book is built around 22 keywords: prejudice, danger, poverty, laziness, tribe, witch doctor, voodoo, wildness, disease, aid, skin color, the slave trade, the Chinese, democracy, food, marriage, war, Indian Africans, and Africans' view of China, among others. Starting from his own experiences—riding a matatu minibus in Kenya, entering Nairobi slums that appear on no map, visiting witch doctors, and exploring a slave fort—the author examines one by one the "myths" the Chinese (and the wider world) hold about Africa: widely circulated notions that may not be, or may not entirely be, true. Recurring throughout the book is one point: the greatest misconception is to treat Africa as a single country; in any African country, once you leave the capital, you are in almost another world. The author does not claim to have written all of Africa, only to loosen, even slightly, such plausible-sounding impressions as "poor and chaotic," "dirty and hot," and "lazy and backward," so that readers may see a more complex and more specific Africa. At roughly 110,000 Chinese characters with many photographs, it is a light-reading work of documentary essays.

Editor's review

关于非洲，流传最广的往往不是事实，而是偏见。《是非洲》难得的地方，在于作者既不站在“受害者”立场为非洲辩护，也不做观光客式的猎奇抒情，而是以一个长期驻守当地的记者身份，把一个个具体的人和场景摆到读者面前：贫民窟与写字楼只隔五分钟车程，迟到两小时却被视为准时，援助的旧鞋与本地人的新路，非洲人眼中的中国与中国人眼中的非洲。 22 个关键词既是章节纲目，也是一份“误解清单”。作者并不急于给出结论，而是让采访现场、对话与细节自己说话。书里对“非洲人不吃巧克力”这类笑话的自我追问，尤其能说明全书的基调：先承认自身的无知，再一点点把它拆开。 作为中国国家地理出品、图文并重的纪实读物，本书篇幅不大、语言平实，适合作为中文读者进入非洲议题的第一块垫脚石。它不能替代学术性的非洲研究，但足以让你在下一次谈论“非洲”这个词时，先停顿一下。

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Reading tips

  1. 可先读“序：这里是非洲”与“偏见”一章，建立全书的问题意识，再按兴趣跳读其余关键词。
  2. 每读完一个关键词，试着写下自己原先对非洲的印象，对照作者见闻看差异在哪里。
  3. 配合阅读《走出非洲》或非洲国别新闻，把书中的个案放回具体国家脉络中理解。
  4. 书末附录对“非洲时间”等专有名词有解释，遇到陌生概念可回查，不必强记。

About the publisher

Encyclopedia of China Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

The Encyclopedia of China Publishing House focuses on history, biography, military affairs, popular science and culture, with 18 titles in the library. Its representative series is the "Oral History Series of the Academia Sinica" (9 volumes), alongside oral-history and Republican-era military works such as The Northern Expedition, The Republican Economy, The Republican Military System and The Early Republic: Oral Accounts, plus The Nationalists' Frontline in the War of Resistance, The Chinese Expeditionary Force in Yunnan, India and Burma, and popular-science titles including Seeing the Universe Clearly. Representative authors include Liu Fenghan, Li Zhenguang, Rong Xinchun, Li Yueqian, Li Li, Chen Xing, Hu Wensheng and Niu Yue. Its publishing strength lies in presenting historical detail through first-hand oral accounts while balancing scholarship and readability; given limited public information, no other directions are inferred.

Contents

  1. Preface: This Is Africa
  2. Prejudice—Smile, Because You're in Kenya
  3. Danger—I Took a Matatu and Lived to Tell the Tale!
  4. Poverty—The Slum That Isn't on the Map
  5. Laziness—When 'African Time' Meets 'Chinese Speed'
  6. Tribes—Big Tribes, Small Nations
  7. Witch Doctors—Musa the Witch Doctor
  8. Voodoo—Snake Temple, Monkey Heads, and Voodoo
  9. Wildness—The Making of Five Hundred Warriors
  10. Disease—Bug Crisis
  11. Aid—Old Shoes, a New Path
  12. Skin Color—The White Black Man
  13. The Slave Trade—Chronicles of the 'Slave Fort'
  14. The Chinese—2011: Zheng He Returns to Africa
  15. Democracy—Democracy on the Heels of the People
  16. Food—Roasted Clay and Fried Termites
  17. Marriage—Would You Be My Fourth Wife?
  18. War—Old Soldiers Never Die
  19. Africans of Indian Descent—A Black Country, Brown People
  20. Africans Look at China—Rain or Roads?

FAQ

《是非洲》讲的是整个非洲，还是某几个国家？ 作者以驻肯尼亚的非洲总分社为基地，采访足迹涉及肯尼亚、乌干达、埃及、利比亚、埃塞俄比亚、加纳、多哥、贝宁等国，书中案例多来自东非和西非，并不覆盖非洲全部 54 个国家，作者本人也强调这不是非洲的全貌。
这本书是学术著作还是游记？ 两者都不是。它是新华社记者桂涛的纪实随笔，以 22 个关键词为框架，用采访见闻和亲身经历讨论世人对非洲的刻板印象，约 11 万字，配图较多，阅读门槛较低。
书名“是非洲”是什么意思？ 书名带有回应意味：面对种种关于非洲的传闻与想象，作者想说的是“这才是非洲”——或至少是“非洲是这样复杂”。它试图把被简化成一个词的大陆，还原为具体的人和事。
这本书的出版社和ISBN是什么？ 由中国大百科全书出版社于 2012 年 7 月出版，ISBN 为 978-7-5000-8954-4，全书约 110 千字，16 开平装，出品方为北京全景地理书业有限公司。
适合作为了解非洲的入门书吗？ 适合入门，但要摆正预期。它能有效松动“又穷又乱”式的刻板印象，提供记者视角的现场感，却不提供系统的历史与政治经济分析，也不构成旅行攻略。

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About the author

Gui Tao Author

Gui Tao is an author for whom limited public information is currently available. One work by this author is included in the library, namely It Is Africa. Judging from this work and its common classification, his writing touches on the fields of social culture and social sciences, with attention to the social realities and cultural landscape of Africa. Since information such as dates of birth and death, nationality, education, and personal experience cannot yet be confirmed, no excessive inferences are made here about his personal background. As his representative work, It Is Africa serves as the main basis for understanding his subject matter and areas of focus; readers can see in it his observations and narrative centered on African society and culture. Based on the available material, Gui Tao's output is modest, yet it shows a clear thematic orientation and an interest in social and cultural issues, while his writing style and influence await further works and public information for a fuller picture.