Drum Magazine Issue 5 | Page 57

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28/7/05

1:14 pm

Page 55

Drum: ENTERPRISE 55
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“ A fair number of African professionals
are returning; and there is consciousness
among the ones who remain.”
whether black or bi-racial or none of the above – is a
question of politics, rather than pigment; not all of us claim
to be black. Often this relates to the way we were raised,
whether proximate to other brown people (e.g. black
Americans) or removed. Finally, how we conceive of race
will accord with where we locate ourselves in the history
that produced ‘blackness’ and the political processes that
continue to shape it.
Then there is that deep abyss of culture, ill-defined at best.
We must decide what comprises ‘African culture’ beyond
filial piety and pepper soup. The project can be utterly
baffling – whether we live in an African country or not. But
the process is enriching, in that it expands our basic
perspective on nation and selfhood. If nothing else, the
Afropolitan knows that nothing is neatly black or white;
that to ‘be’ anything is a matter of being sure of who you
uniquely are. And if it all sounds a little self-congratulatory,
a little “aren’t-we-the-coolest-damn-people-on-earth?” – I
say: yes, it is, necessarily. It is high time the African stood
up. There is nothing perfect in this formulation; for all our
Adjayes and Achidies, there is a brain drain back home.
Most Afropolitans could serve Africa better in Africa than at
Medicine Bar on Thursdays. To be fair, a fair number of
African professionals are returning; and there is
consciousness among the ones who remain, an acute
awareness among this brood of too-cool-for-schools that
there’s work to be done. There are those among us who
wonder to the point of weeping: where next, Africa? When
will the scattered tribes return? When will the talent
repatriate? What lifestyles await young professionals at
home? How to invest in Africa’s future? The prospects can
seem grim at times. The answers aren’t forthcoming. But if
there was ever a group who could figure it out, it is this
one, unafraid of the questions.
* From Atieno Ndede-Amadi’s, The Origin and Destination of Africa’s
Brain Drain: A Pilot Study, published on www. africasbraingain.org.
Ndede-Amadi is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology at
Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

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1. Sasa by El Anatsui, Courtesy of the October Gallery
© the artist 2. Le Chef by Samuel Fosso © S. Fosso,
Courtesy JM Patras/T.S. Ltd. 3. Victoria and Albert
Museum commissioned architect firm Adjaye/Associates
for the interior design of Black British Style exhibition
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