Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Foreword
- 1 Introduction and Background
- 2 Methodology: A Phenomenological Study of Sub-Saharan African Immigrants
- 3 Being a Sub-Saharan African Immigrant in the United States: Speaking From the Heart in a Foreign Language
- 4 Perception and Definition of Success
- 5 Racism and Discrimination
- 6 Coping Strategies as We Reclaim Our Identity and Voices of Power
- 7 The Myth of Going Back Home While Living in Two Worlds
- 8 Leadership in Africa as a Contributing Factor to Emigration
- 9 Leader and Leadership Development
- Conclusion: Applicability and Practical Suggestions About our Research
- Index
1 - Introduction and Background
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2024
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Foreword
- 1 Introduction and Background
- 2 Methodology: A Phenomenological Study of Sub-Saharan African Immigrants
- 3 Being a Sub-Saharan African Immigrant in the United States: Speaking From the Heart in a Foreign Language
- 4 Perception and Definition of Success
- 5 Racism and Discrimination
- 6 Coping Strategies as We Reclaim Our Identity and Voices of Power
- 7 The Myth of Going Back Home While Living in Two Worlds
- 8 Leadership in Africa as a Contributing Factor to Emigration
- 9 Leader and Leadership Development
- Conclusion: Applicability and Practical Suggestions About our Research
- Index
Summary
To this day we continue to lose the best among ourselves because the lights in the developed world shine brighter.
—Nelson MandelaI’ve always felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or a person without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person. The consequence of the single story is this: it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.
—Chimamanda Adichie, 2009 TED GlobalIf we were to assess Africa's development the way we assess that of a person, starting at the point where Africa's existence first appears in written records, rather than the geological history of the planet—from birth, naming and through all the stages to the present—Africa's identity would be much more understood and appreciated. Through the many courses of human history, the land and peoples of Africa have faced—and continue to face—many challenges. Fortunately, Africa is a huge and very resilient continent that continues to grow and change regardless of the centuries of plunder, genocides, and demeaning policies thrown at the land and people and all the beings that reside and depend on it.
In the last three or so decades, there has been an increased historical interest in Africa. As the oldest inhabited continent on Earth, Africa is home to all humankind. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans and human ancestors have lived in Africa for more than 5 million years. African diversity in genetic makeup is also uncontested. Britannica records that some of the oldest traces of life have been identified in the Transvaal region of South Africa, preserved as unicellular algae in rocks dating from 3.4 to 2.6 billion years ago, placing the life forms firmly during the Precambrian era, which extended from 4.6 billion to 541 million years ago (Windley 2020; Nicol et al. 2021).
Anthropological and archaeological records indicate that Africa is the oldest inhabited continent, the site where fossil evidence of human beings (Homo sapiens) and their ancestors, with evidence of critical evolution stages, has been found. Africa is one of the most linguistically diverse continents in the world. It has more than 2,000 languages and is home to more countries than any other continent (Brown and Ogilvie 2010).
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- Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2022