In the United States of Africa Paperback – 30 March 2009

In a book that turns the world on its head, Waberi exposes the racism that accompanies the debates on Africa. The things that usually seem normal when one discusses Africa and African problems become bigotry when it is actually Africans saying the same things about a degenerate Europe. Waberi found a novel way to convince those who read this book about the bigotry of discourses on Africa. The book presents the bigotry, racism, partenalism of the west through biting humor, that does not make you laugh but show you the ridiculousness of modern discourses on Africa and its development.

Good purchase.

Slightly disappointed.Had high expectations.

The novel is difficult but informative and in keeping with the title very biting. Recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about francophone west africa.

The concept of turning the world upside down to make the South the developed leader and the North the underdeveloped dependent is brilliant, but the plot soon spins off into some incoherent quest interspersed with ramblings for the benefit of some unexplained character named Maya. It made me want to hijack the narrative after the second chapter and write my own ending tying together the parody in a logical conclusion. The book has the hashish junk-dream quality of a William Burroughs or Brion Gysen pounding away on a typewriter somewhere in Tangier, but he is no Burroughs or Gysen.