Author(s): Dipo Faloyin

Politics | Africa

Africa Is Not A Country is a kaleidoscopic portrait of modern Africa, that pushes back against harmful stereotypes to tell a more comprehensive story. You already know these stereotypes. So often Africa is depicted simplistically as an arid red landscape of famines and safaris, uniquely plagued by poverty and strife. In this funny and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective, creating a fresh and multifaceted view of this vast continent. To unspool this inaccurate narrative, Africa Is Not A Country looks to a wide range of subjects, from chronicling urban life in Lagos and the lively West African rivalry over who makes the best Jollof rice, to the story of democracy in seven dictatorships and the dangers of white saviourism and harmful stereotypes in popular culture. It examines how each African country was formed, by white European explorers who turned up with loose maps and even looser morals, and how 90% of Africa's material cultural legacy was stolen during the colonial era, and the fight to get those artefacts back. By turns intimate and political, Africa Is Not A Country brings the story of the continent towards reality, celebrating the energy and fabric of its different cultures and communities in a way that has never been done before.

Review: Warm, funny, biting and essential reading. -- Adam Rutherford, author of How To Argue With A Racist
A necessary book that deserves its place in the canon as essential reading. -- Sally Hayden * Irish Times *
For curious minds... a truly revelatory read. Faloyin writes with humour...well-researched...it's a book that will stay with you long after you've finished - and one that opens a new chapter on the way you'll think about Africa. * Mail on Sunday, *Summer Reads of 2022* *
Imposed on 54 diverse countries, it's a stereotype Faloyin is bent on examining and demolishing, a task he carries out with verve... Impossible not to relish. * New York Times *
Hilarious, ferocious, generous and convincing. -- Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland and Butler to the World

Author Biography: Dipo Faloyin is a senior editor and writer at VICE, where his work has a specific focus on culture, race and identity across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His writing has also featured in Dazed, i-D, The Huffington Post, Refinery 29, Prospect and others. He was born in Chicago, raised in Lagos and currently lives in London.