The Reign: Africa, by C.Nichole
Pan African Publishing, based in Texas, USA, has published a new children’s book entitled The Reign: Africa, written by C. Nichole. The 52-page illustrated book covers 20 African cultural groups, ranging from !Kung, Afar, Baganda, Batswana, and others, concluding with the Yoruba. Each feature is accompanied by an illustration that attempts to capture the look, at least in garb, of the cultural group presented.
The author gives researched information regarding the origins, the location, the norms and practices of each group. The information is presented in a way that’s easy to grasp for young readers. We learn, for instance, that the !Kung reside in modern-day Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Nichole tells us that they migrated from Eastern Africa to Southern Africa over 150 000 years ago, and that they are one of the oldest hunter-gather cultures on earth. We learn about how they rely heavily on the environment. The explanation of their culture also highlights the resilience and strength of the women. The men, equally resilient and strong, specialize in hunting. The !Kung respect their culture of healing, which ensures good health and the survival of the group, with a reliance on traditional medicine. They also thrive in community.
For some readers, a few of the groups covered in the book will be familiar, groups like the Yoruba, Wolof, Dogon, Maasai, and the Fulani. But what’s immediately instructive is how the reader gets to know that some of these groups are resident in multiple countries, alongside other groups, often with intersecting cultural practices.
The author presents this book as an invitation to explore the cultures of Africa. The book thus intentionally seeks to paint a positive outlook of Africa’s history, highlighting the origins of norms and practices that thrive to this day.
“I hope that you [readers[ go into reading this book with fresh eyes and an open mind,” C. Nichole says in the introduction to the book. And Pan Africa Publishing’s message to the world (and especially to children) is:
“Learn your history
Know your history
Share your history.”
There are two ways of understanding this message, this call: one, since Africa is the cradle of humanity, its history is everyone’s history; two, the initiative directly addresses people of African descent, wherever they are, to connect to the history that they may not have had a chance to learn, given the distortions stories about Africa often carry.
Pan African Publishing seeks to unite all people of African descent, and it is part of Pan African Think Tank, a non-profit run by C. Nichole.
This book is a welcome addition to reading material that will enrich children reading it, part of a growing genre in African writing that seeks to balance worldviews from and about the continent that literature can provide.
I only hoped that the book could have covered all the groups found in Africa, but I am happy it didn’t, because this leaves room for a follow up volume: The Reign: Africa 2? I want to read about the Shona, the Ndebele, the Shangaani, and hundreds more.
