Issue 10
The Culture & Language Barrier | BanklessAfrica Newsletter
This is BanklessAfrica Newsletter, a newsletter that helps you stay up to date with well-curated news about crypto and Web3 around Africa.
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In this week’s editorial, which was written by our resident ‘black creative historian’ - you probably think you know who, but you don't, not really - we discuss how culture and language barriers can make it difficult for people in Africa to not only understand but to assimilate into the unique position that Web3 plays regarding the transformation of the technological space.
If you're a fan of our podcast episodes, you know that we love to highlight projects that are making an impact in Africa, and this week we tell you about a new project called Ghana Unity DAO. The Founder, Del Titus Bawuah, talks about the uniqueness of Africa in Web3 and describes the youthful population of Africa as having the potential to harness Web3 technologies. Africa is behind in terms of technological advancements — Web3 has the potential to bring Africa into a sphere of technological prominence in today’s contemporary society.
In our current affairs section, UN data reveals that 13 million Nigerians own cryptocurrencies; we get an update on the Sango Project, which is aiming to create a Bitcoin sidechain in the Central African Republic; and learn more about South African exchanges welcoming a new regulatory ruling that defines bitcoin as a financial asset.
If you are new to Web3 we got you, you’ve probably seen a lot of abbreviations been thrown around - NFTs, DAOs, SBT, etc. Well, our beginner friendly learning center will provide you with all that you need to find and eventually join a DAO yourself!
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As of July 17 , 2022
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The Culture & Language Barrier
Author: 🤫 purple
Cover: chameleon
I would like to start by reminding us all that history is unchangeable, in the same breath, we cannot deny it for what it was. What happened to Africa as early as the 15th century has already happened. We cannot undo that part, but we can do better, we can learn from it, work to stop the currently existing forms of it, admit its truth, its consequences and evolve from that mentality. With this editorial, I seek to explore the biggest barrier for many Africans to assimilate into this new revolution of economies. I ask only for your openness & willingness for changing the status quo.
Have you ever walked into a room/discord server and realised that none of the people in that room/discord server were like you? It felt daunting, like you didn’t belong, or the pressure was now on you to reinvent the perspective of the masses. If you have no idea how to relate to them, you would be deemed ‘unimportant’, negligible even. I fear for the African people, that this may be our yoke to bear, that because the majority of the Web3/blockchain space is so heavily ingrained in other cultures that are not ours, we will be left out in the cold for the innovation of the frontier.
Historical Context at Play
Contextually speaking, Africa is a melting pot of culture, with over 3000 recorded unique tribes, there are 2000 languages and dialects. This means that English being a global language only scratches the surface for us. From Lesotho to Ghana, from Ghana to Ethiopia, from Ethiopia to Mali, to Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, etc, we recognise English, but it is not our first language, well, semantics aside.
Now understandably, the tech space contributors have for the past decade mostly been Euro/Americentric, meaning English is the most commonly used language in those circles ergo, the innovations that come out of that space. This also means the work culture, the value that is placed on certain activities outside of work is almost completely different from that of the more Afrocentric communities. This is not to say that the innovating communities do not have their own valuable cultural practices because they do, however, they exist in a space that has given them – most of them at least – the freedom to practise and participate in the act of their cultural expression without much judgement.
At least twice a day, I listen in on a Twitter space or Podcast of some sort, and one thing remains constant, there are more white male voices out there than any other voice. Now they aren’t all bad, but it does make it difficult for me as a black woman, to pluck up the courage to talk in a Twitter Space of that sort about a project that I am building with other black & brown women; one would say why try when those people are clearly not even the target market, and to that I say we hear them everyday, surely asking to be heard in our truth is not tantamount to a soliciting of funds? Truthfully speaking, I guess we couldn’t expect anything different, because how many black women would the space expect to find that understand writing & reading a contract? How many black & brown women receive the blind support for their NFT projects, regardless of their potentially outstanding offerings? Again, this is not a targeted comment to any one particular person, in fact, no singular living individual can be pointed out as the reason for this disparity, but if the shoe fits.
The assumption that black and brown communities don’t have much to offer in say an NFT/DAO community is utterly, completely false, it is what I would like to call the learned side-lining of an entire continent and its people.
It is true that Black people across the globe have historical issues and problems that may not be the same the world over, however, I refuse to believe that there is absolutely no value for the rest of the world to gain from hearing our perspectives of OUR truth. What I mean is, Africans, on the continent and in the diaspora, deserve to be seen, heard and given platforms to express & innovate without being forced to assimilate to exist in a specific way.
Being a person of African descent while trying to break ground or teach your fellow kinfolk in this frontier should be easier because of the borderless, non-discriminatory attitude that is said to be encouraged, but even that is not enough when the interfaces of the websites, the jargon that is used and even the proposed applications of some of these innovations, are all geared away from possible language variations & do not encourage instructional tutorials for people who may still be on a learning path.
So, What Then?
The advent of a blockchain driven community is here, and although it could have a lot of positive impact for the global communities – particularly the African communities that need access to systems that seek to put the people first – there is an unfortunate amount of education and unlearning that would have to go into play before a larger scale adoption, both for the people on the continent and the innovators. But unlearning at what cost? What would it take to develop innovations that take into account the variety of languages that exist on the continent and the world? What would it take to give people the option to, as Del Titus Bawuah says in our latest BanklessAfrica podcast episode, be themselves in a world that has for a long time worked to eradicate our stories as Black and Brown people? I think it all starts with understanding that the uniqueness of our stories is ripe opportunity for Africans to teach the world how to relate to us, for us to learn how to intersect our ‘ancient’ technology with the newer more modern technology, I think it requires a meeting in the middle of the African minds and those considered to be the more prominent innovators of today.
We are at the cusp of something great, it would truly be a shame for Africans to be left out because of cultural or linguistic differences, or because the rest of the world may stand to gain more from our limited access than our uprising. It would be a shame for Africa to once again just be on the consumer end of the final product, versus contributing creators in the new economy.
References:
Safaris Africana, n.d. Available at: https://safarisafricana.com/african-tribes/ [Accessed June 2022].
Stephen Ocheni, B. C. N., 2012. Analysis of Colonialism and Its impact in Africa. Cross-Cultural Communication, 8(3), pp. 46-54. Available at: https://www.tralac.org/images/News/Documents/Analysis_of_Colonialism_and_Its_Impact_in_Africa_Ocheni_and_Nwankwo_CSCanada_2012.pdf [Accessed July 2022]
BanklessAfrica Podcast, 2022. 13, July. Available from: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-z2cvh-1271715 [Accessed July 2022]
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