How Not to Write About Africa

Africa is maligned in mainstream discourse, from Trump’s recent remarks about “shithole countries,” to the common framing of Africa as if it were one country, to colonial narratives in pop culture.

by Marie-Helene Rousseau

The phrase “shithole countries” is now part of an ever-expanding lexicon of cringeworthy terminology that will undoubtedly be chronicled in historical texts describing this dark period in American politics.

President Donald Trump’s recent comment that the United States should take immigrants from Norway, rather than “shithole coun…