Colloquially referred to as the “cradle of humanity,” Africa is reminiscent of humanity’s childhood, its primal state. While this appellation might be suggestive of ascendency, i.e., of what in legal terms is referred to as primogeniture, or the “right of inheritance of the firstborn child,” it is clear that the Western world, which grew out of the “old continent,” stubbornly continues to view Africa as an eternal child and fails to recognize its significant contribution to the world’s wealth (either past or present).

 

In our imagination, Africa is reduced to an immutable past, close to the state of nature so dear to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This continent is portrayed as the starting line in the race for linear evolution when a more accurate description might be the place where the world goes to reinvent itself and drive progress forward. Take for example, the revival of so-called modern art, which was spurred by the discovery of African statuary by European artists in the 20th century.

 

And the everyday technologies of this 21st century that are largely made possible due to the abundance of metals that have been lying beneath central African soils for millennia, just inches away from our fingertips unbeknownst to us.