CULTURAL STUDIES

A is for Africa

By Ifeoma Onyefulu

Genre: General Non-fiction

Synopsis:

               A London-based photographer offers images of traditional life and culture in her Nigerian homeland. Sharp, sun-drenched photos filled with smiles and bright colors create an idealized impression of village life, with little evidence of poverty and only occasional, inadvertent, signs of modern influences--a child wearing a T-shirt, or oil lamps made from recycled milk tins. In an introduction and many of the brief captions, the author suggests that the drums, beads, mud huts, family structures, and other details she captures on film represent Africa in microcosm, a risky sort of reductionism. 

Analysis:
              This children book offers an inviting glimpse of West African traditions. The photographs describe the culture of the people in West Africa. This book shows how the people live together, share the same traditions and beliefs and teaching the young ones about the old customs as they were taught before.