Mud Masterpieces

Africans must get really sick of having their every achievement cross-referenced to a Western World equivalent: Beatrice Kimpa Vita is "The Joan of Arc of Africa," The Great Mosque of Djenne is "The Taj Mahal of Africa" - on and on it goes.

Researching Beatrice Kimpa Vita did bring out some striking parallels between her life and Joan's: they both claimed to have had a direct line of communication with Heaven, they both led armies of followers, and, of course, they both offended the wrong people and found themselves on the hot end of an auto-de-fe. Still, in a more egalitarian world, perhaps Joan of Arc would be known as "The Beatrice Kimpa Vita of Europe." I would also like to congratulate Portugal on their success at the World Cup but not on their colonial legacy.

In my article on The Great Mosque of Djenne, I question the commonly held notion that Africa ( aside from Egypt and Great Zimbabwe )is lacking in monumental architecture. Just because a building is made out of mud doesn't mean it's not an impressive feat of engineering. I love the design of this building - to me, it looks like the birdhouse of God.

A telling African adage I came across this week proclaims the importance of Africans helping to set the record state by recording their own history: "To break the hunter's lies, the lion must tell, himself, his story, with his own words."