The PANAFRICAN Review
gatekeeping ; “ experts ” want to police who we talk to , where we publish our thoughts , what we say about Africa , and pat us on the back with approval when we say what they like ’.
Some weeks before Godwin ’ s comments , on the streets of Twitter , an African ‘ expert ’ had issued less than veiled threats against yours truly . According to this ‘ expert ’ and gatekeeper of African scholarship , my credibility as a scholar was being imperilled by my association with a group of Africans that this ‘ expert ’ couldn ’ t stand .
What is more , apparently I was risking my career by having anything to do with this website , Pan-African Review , which the ‘ expert ’ slammed for engaging in disinformation . Worse , retweeting posts the ‘ expert ’ did not like made me more or a Twitter troll than an academic .
It was both surreal and bewildering to be told that my standing as a scholar was dependent on who I associate with on Twitter , what I like or retweet and where my nonscholarly opinions are published .
As it turns out , even in the hallowed world of academia where academic freedom is supposed to be such a sacred and sacrosanct norm , for the African ‘ expert ’ and gatekeeper , the African in me has to be careful about what I say and selective about who I associate with . So much for the promise of freedom and the cause of human rights that Afrophilia purports to stand for .
This encounter brought out fully for me the naked paternalism of the Africa ‘ expert ’ but also the hubris that attends attitudes by the ‘ expert ’ towards the continent and its people .
The paternalism is built on purporting to know what is good for Africa and Africans ( in this case I was told that it is not good for my career to write for this website ). The African peasant does not know what is good for himself or herself , but even the African scholar ostensibly does not know his / her best interests !
On the other hand , the hubris lies in claiming expertise-knowledge and being the gatekeepers of knowledge production about the continent . A very pervasive phenomenon obtains , of bravado and self-assuredness , including making predictions informed by statistical analysis about the future fates of the continent .
At conferences , we hear firm arguments that are steeped in the faith that Africa is there to be studied in its pristine state by the Africa ‘ expert ’ who has a grip on the issues . In reality , what passes as expert knowledge on a very complex continent and complicated set of problems is often superficial , spurious and shallow . But because it is about Africa , and has the direct or indirect backing of the venerated ‘ expert ’, it is not always subject to rigorous and critical scrutiny .
❧ ❧ ❧
92