Afridentity: Essays on Africa

During international speaking engagements, Nigerian-born writer and clergyman Bekeh Ukelina Utietiang realized that a whole generation of Africans is losing the sense of what it means to be African, while Westerners remain ignorant of who an African really is. The essays in this book are Utietiang's response to this dilemma. He covers topics ranging from Muslim-Christian relations in Nigeria to the importance of teaching indigenous languages to the failure of democracy in African culture. He gives us an insider's view of Africa and its people, and in each essay, we learn a little more about the warmth, spirituality, and sense of community of a continent too often dismissed as “Third World.” But most important, he makes a strong case for the use of traditional African culture – African languages, African religious customs, African government systems – in rebuilding an Africa that is true to itself.