{"id":6094,"date":"2014-10-29T07:05:26","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T07:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?p=6094"},"modified":"2016-03-11T14:09:14","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T14:09:14","slug":"dayo-olopade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules & Making Change in Modern Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARI’s Jamie Hitchen<\/a> reviews Dayo Olopade’s<\/a> new book.<\/em><\/p>\n

The meaning behind the term kanju<\/i>, \u2018a specific creativity born from African difficulty\u2019, is instantly familiar to anyone who has spent time stuck in the traffic jams that characterise modern African cities, \u00a0in which drivers can purchase a wide array of goods from roving vendors. Capturing and understanding kanju<\/i>, a Yoruba word, is the theme that runs through Dayo Olopade\u2019s recently published paperback The Bright Continent<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"Dayo<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a journalist\u2019s account that provides important insights into how Africans are changing their own situation through a framework of \u2018maps\u2019 looking at family, technology, commercial, nature and youth.<\/p>\n

The book seeks to highlight the ingenuity challenging formality bias \u2013 the tendency to rely on rules and formal structures.\u00a0 Olopade takes a libertarian stand in arguing that formality bias is holding Africa back. The integrity of formal institutions is in doubt, she says, and they need to be reconceived, to ensure they are viewed as vehicles for change by citizens.<\/p>\n

Olopade provides valuable examples to counter pervasive narratives of Africans lacking agency, detailing innovations in technology and the design of indigenous systems to meet local needs.\u00a0 She cites the cases of vertical gardens<\/a> in urban Kenya, digitalising patient attendance<\/a> records in Malawi, Shujaaz<\/i>,<\/a> a multi-media youth engagement production in Kenya and phone applications to provide rural farmers up to date crop prices<\/a> in Uganda.\u00a0 She reasons that \u2018fat economies\u2019, such as the USA, can learn from the resourcefulness and adaptability of the \u2018lean economies\u2019 that exist across the African continent.<\/p>\n

Olopade\u2019s argument against external decision-making for Africa, without African involvement, is valuable. \u00a0Yet her argument is weakened by the tendency to provide and interpret information that reinforces the hypothesis being set out.\u00a0 The cases of successful local resourcefulness given are not contrasted with less successful, or failed, ventures. Furthermore, Olopade\u2019s in-depth focus on middle-income countries like Nigeria and Kenya comes at a cost of ignoring low-income countries, particularly in French speaking regions, like Chad and Niger.<\/p>\n

Beyond asserting the disconnection between politicians and their electorates, especially between government representatives and Africa\u2019s youth, Olopade does not fully explain the capacity of informal structures to enact political change – to reshape the political sphere into something more representative and relevant.<\/p>\n

Finally, while Olopade gives voice to African innovators insufficient space is devoted to the opinions of beneficiaries – in other words, those best placed to comment on the successes and failures of these initiatives. \u00a0Her example of paying for education through Bridge Schools in Kenya<\/a> would be more powerful if the voices of parents and students were audible.<\/p>\n

Overall The Bright Continent<\/i> delivers a valuable snapshot in capturing what happens beyond the state and aid agencies, in Africa\u2019s informal sector.\u00a0 A sector which, according to the African Development Bank, contributes 55% of GNP<\/a> and upwards of 80% of the labour force across the continent.<\/p>\n

Moving forwards, academics should be striving to provide more rigorous research, on a country by country basis, to fully understand where the continent is bright and where the light shines duller. \u00a0Doing this, will help us to understand more fully, how kanju<\/i> can meet the demands of a youthful continent striving for development and prosperity.<\/p>\n

Jamie Hitchen is Policy Researcher at ARI.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Capturing an understanding of kanju (a specific creativity born from African difficulty) is the theme that runs through Olopade\u2019s excellent take on Africa\u2019s informal sector, says Jamie Hitchen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[64,76,883,900,879,896,2303,877,894,902,901,898,899,833,881,65,895,57,890,885,891,897,170,878,886,893,892,887,880,86,858,884,882,160,888,889],"class_list":["post-6094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-africa","tag-agriculture","tag-book-review","tag-bridge-schools","tag-bright-continent","tag-chad","tag-culture","tag-dayo-olopade","tag-fat-economies","tag-formality-bias","tag-informal-sector","tag-innovation","tag-innovator","tag-jamie-hitchen","tag-kanju","tag-kenya","tag-lean-economies","tag-malawi","tag-media","tag-medical","tag-mobile-app","tag-niger","tag-nigeria","tag-olopade","tag-patient","tag-phone","tag-phone-application","tag-shujaaz","tag-traffic-jams","tag-uganda","tag-usa","tag-vertical-gardens","tag-yoruba","tag-youth","tag-youth-engagement","tag-youth-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: "the Bright Continent" by Dayo Olopade<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Africa Research Insitute researcher Jamie Hitchen reviews Dayo Olopade's new book, "The Bright Continent"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Review: "the Bright Continent" by Dayo Olopade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Africa Research Insitute researcher Jamie Hitchen reviews Dayo Olopade's new book, "The Bright Continent"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AfricaResearch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AfricaResearch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Yovanka ARI\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/\",\"name\":\"Review: \\\"the Bright Continent\\\" by Dayo Olopade\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-29T07:05:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-11T14:09:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/03660fee7530e23ea5b5e53fe67eedf2\"},\"description\":\"Africa Research Insitute researcher Jamie Hitchen reviews Dayo Olopade's new book, \\\"The Bright Continent\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":606},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Book Review: The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules & Making Change in Modern Africa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Research Institute\",\"description\":\"Building on the Dynamism in Africa Today\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/03660fee7530e23ea5b5e53fe67eedf2\",\"name\":\"Yovanka ARI\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/author\/y-ariyigasdhb76r\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: \"the Bright Continent\" by Dayo Olopade","description":"Africa Research Insitute researcher Jamie Hitchen reviews Dayo Olopade's new book, \"The Bright Continent\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Review: \"the Bright Continent\" by Dayo Olopade","twitter_description":"Africa Research Insitute researcher Jamie Hitchen reviews Dayo Olopade's new book, \"The Bright Continent\"","twitter_image":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17.png","twitter_creator":"@AfricaResearch","twitter_site":"@AfricaResearch","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Yovanka ARI","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/","url":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/","name":"Review: \"the Bright Continent\" by Dayo Olopade","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17.png","datePublished":"2014-10-29T07:05:26+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-11T14:09:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/03660fee7530e23ea5b5e53fe67eedf2"},"description":"Africa Research Insitute researcher Jamie Hitchen reviews Dayo Olopade's new book, \"The Bright Continent\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/17.png","width":696,"height":606},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/dayo-olopade\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Book Review: The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules & Making Change in Modern Africa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/","name":"Africa Research Institute","description":"Building on the Dynamism in Africa Today","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/03660fee7530e23ea5b5e53fe67eedf2","name":"Yovanka ARI","url":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/author\/y-ariyigasdhb76r\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6094"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9879,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6094\/revisions\/9879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}