It's All Just a Game of Thrones

Ah, Game of Thrones: my intellectual escape into a fantasy land of knights, thrones, and war. I don't usually seek to blur the lines between my guilty pleasures and my schoolwork, but this time I couldn't resist. Recently in my English and Social Studies classes we have been discussing Africa, our perceptions of Africa, and the realities prevalent in some parts of Africa. In conjunction, we have been reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, the story of an American family's missionary work in the Congo. What I have found is that the people in these Congolese villages are largely uninvolved in their political system, and the heated issues that surround Western debate are of little importance to them. In Kingsolver's Congo, the system is a game of thrones with little influence on daily life, and although her portrayal may not be representative of all Africa, it brings up the key point that what is often portrayed as a fundamental issue in African states may not be an issue at all in the eyes of most citizens.

[By the way, you must go watch Game of Thrones if you are not yet obsessed.]

In The Poisonwood Bible, the evolving revolutionary movement in the Congo is of little notice to most of the Congolese. They understand and crave their newfound independence, but life continues as usual besides that. Orleanna Price, the missionary wife, goes as far as to claim "[the elites] take turns leaning forward to point out their moves with shrewd congeniality, playing it like a chess match, the kind of game that allows civilized men to play at make-believe murder" (317). Orleanna understands that while the elites play their game of chess, a society with graspable, daily dilemmas exists within.

Ruling houses of Game of Thrones depicted as chess pieces
(like I said, watch it...)

The story we tell ourselves about Africa is usually something similar to this "chess match" analogy: civil war, failed states, rampant dictatorship, etc. In all of this mess, we sometimes forget to acknowledge the daily struggles: finding food, purifying water, securing shelter. On the other hand, I'm not denying that the larger, state-based issues are important; indeed, these issues are crucial to helping us understand the broader situation that many peoples find themselves facing. However, they tend to skew our understanding of African nations.

Just like the college essays I mentioned in my previous post, portrayal is not always reality. In reality, millions of stories exist within the African continent (actually 1.033 billion stories to be exact). Obviously we can't learn each and every one, so generalizations must be made. What we must avoid, however, is viewing Africa merely as a game of thrones—although often more event-based and therefore easier to report on, the complexities surrounding a nation should not outweigh the daily struggles within.