Concept Paper

Mission Statement  

Bhlasen.com aims to directly engage and influence the formation of perceptions of Africa. We seek to open lines of illuminating dialogue among African university students and also between them and their peers from outside Africa. We intend to bring their voices into the global dialogue to proactively assert and defend the multiple expressions of African identities and directly confront unfair negative perceptions of the continent.  

Motivation

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,…
-- W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963).

More than a century ago, Du Bois in writing the essay “Strivings of the Negro People” described what provides the agenda for this website. Granted, Du Bois’ comments were focused on “the problem of the color line”. Our endeavor today still has the element of race relations which can never be ignored in as far as Afro-centric issues are concerned. However, this endeavor transcends issues of color. It is about a whole continent. It is about the predicament of a billion people of different races and skin tones who fall under the classification “African”. It is an attempt to help to assert their subaltern voices in a world that continually ignores their input while barraging them with mass media images of themselves. These images are derived from truths, half-truths and outright falsities, all combined to form the cage that constrains Africa and Africans to a rigid identity; an identity that inspires contempt and pity from everyone, including Africans themselves.

This is not a novel revelation. Africans at various times have been aware of these twin facts; that the eyes they use to see themselves and their homeland are not their own and that the images they and others often see are merely distorted holograms. However, this is rarely a consistent consciousness, and as such it is often a reactionary perception: a burning anger that lashes out upon sudden enlightenment, often too passionately and too irrationally that, like a bright paper flame, it easily burns out and fails to provide sustained impetus for change.

We envision a new kind of institution: one that deals with the problem of perspective by not only allowing Africans to represent themselves, but also by providing a forum for an interchange between students, both African and non-African, for the continual projection of a more complete self-image.

Our Philosophy

We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge.
-- John Naisbilt

The source of our concern for information dissemination is an act of accusation. We recognize that various policies and decisions are made based on popular perceptions of Africa and not necessarily fact. This has affected not only international relations between the rest of the world and African states, but also between and within African states.

Beyond being an accusation, however, our desire to provide access to more sources of information is an expression of our optimism and belief that we can empower ourselves to be better citizens by being more objectively aware of events around us. Africa ’s position in global politics and economics is that of a passive recipient of policies and edicts, but this need not remain the case. With the rapid growth of communication networks and access to information through electronic media, particularly among younger generations, we have, through the Internet, a powerful, accessible, viable means for deploying a lot of information to a lot of people and potentially influencing the formulation of policy in the foreseeable future.

This website is about freedom on several levels, one of which is to grow to a deeper understanding of exactly what African nations' legitimate interests are as global players, and what advancing those interests means in the face of current international relations. It is obvious that a choice of ‘sides’ will turn out not to be a two-option decision, but rather a multidimensional appreciation of what the real issues and the feasible solutions to them are, viewed from as many relevant facets as possible.

Our Editorial Policy

Thus, while this site is biased towards representations of Africa, it is not a platform for political or rhetorical posturing. Nor is it intended to be an ever-watchful, skeptical watchdog of the media, or a protector of the image of Africa. We believe that if anything is true and just, it should not need apologists provided that the subject in question is assessed as objectively as possible. There are several good and bad opinions out there, and our aim is to give audience to and assess them in our discussion forums. Put simply, we take the side that advances Africa and her interests.

In particular, without turning this into a tour-brochure exercise, we want to help people make up their own minds (as we, in fact, struggle to make up ours) while we are on the verge of taking the first conscious, if giddy, steps towards becoming real and active citizens of our world.