When I think of the great scientific achievements - putting a man on the moon, coming up with the covid vaccine - I think of it as something we've done. I think, "we put a man on the moon." Even tho I had fuck all to do with it.
Back when I lived in Nigeria, I would think, "they've put a man on the moon."
As an African, I felt outside of the world of mankind's successes - and I don't think it was just me.
I can't quite explain why.
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@davidnjoku For a long time Africa has been excluded from the global community. The Africans who were enslaved and taken through the new world had their cultures erased and had to establish their own, new culture based on their history and experience. This disconnect further isolated Africa, while immigrants from other parts of the world maintained ties with their homelands. The net result is that as the world slowly got more connected, Africa maintained its aura as the land of huts and safaris
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@jmopp @davidnjoku and even as an african of colonial origin there's a strange disconnect. i get both the we've/they've at the same time
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@mensrea @jmopp @davidnjoku Same here.
Back in SA "them" used to mean Americans to me.
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@monsoonrains @mensrea @jmopp I feel like the whole world is poorer because of this feeling that Africans have. A billion people - mostly young and ambitious - aren't contributing to their full capacity (unless they emigrate).
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@davidnjoku @monsoonrains @mensrea @jmopp I think the only people I've talked to (so far) who were like... people I could think "you get it!" about this feeling were Brazilians. South America seems to have a lot in common. Also left out of everything.
But yeah. When you're obviously not included in anything it's hard to think of those achievements as something you can claim.
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@len @jmopp @monsoonrains @davidnjoku there are a few from za, like the heart transplant. but i don't think it's really about being able to point to specifics, it's about feeling part of the greater project
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@mensrea @len @jmopp @monsoonrains I agree. Sometimes when you can point to specifics it only serves to emphasise how much we're probably missing out on.
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@len @mensrea @jmopp @monsoonrains @davidnjoku As an American scientist, I can testify that research publications from South America are listened to/available in the US much more than those from Africa. South Americans justly feel isolated by the north, but their isolation is nothing compared to the isolation imposed on Africans.
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