written by Thandiwe McCarthy
January 24 is World Day for African and Afrodescendant Culture, proclaimed by UNESCO in 2019 to celebrate African culture, encourage dialogue, and bring importance to African heritage.
As a 7th-generation Afrodescendant Canadian, I appreciate the significance of these days. The gentle reminders to pause, reflect on, and enjoy the diversity of human excellence that helped shape the world we live in today.
So, on this day I’ll act as your guide and share a few ways you can practice, engage with, and reflect on the contributions of the African and Afrodescendant culture.
Read:
You’re not getting outta this day without reading. So, let’s start with the satirical essay "How to Write About Africa" by Binyavanga Wainaina. It’s a great essay that pokes fun at how people view and write about Africa even today. The fact this essay was even written proves why we need a world day to reflect on African culture.
I would also like to remind you that the current Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate is a Black woman named Chimwemwe Undi. I met her at the Frye Festival in Moncton, New Brunswick, in 2025. She is lovely. Her debut poetry book Scientific Marvel (2024, House of Anansi Press) won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. The book is a wonderful adventure through identity and her home city of Winnipeg. I enjoy her use of humour and I strongly suggest you give it a read.
My fiction choice is the African American author N.K. Jemisin. She won the Hugo Award, the highest prize in science fiction, in 2016 for her book The Fifth Season (2015, Orbit Books). I like to call The Fifth Season a pre post-apocalyptic book because it has the wildest first chapter hook I’ve ever seen. If you liked the Fallout television show? This will be the best book you’ve read in a while.
Reflect:
You wouldn’t happen to own a smart phone, would you? Is it made by Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Lenovo/Motorola, or Google? If you said yes to both those questions, then congratulations: you are benefiting from African resources.
Our smart phones run on batteries, which are made of cobalt. Over 70% of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The labour practices of the companies overseeing the mining operations are far south of ideal for the workers. And that is putting it politely.
So let us stop tossing angry birds, crushing candy, and doom scrolling to reflect on the fact that the smart phone, the greatest technological advancement in our lifetime, is literally powered by African labour.
Everything created by phones, all the software that runs on the phones, none of it works without cobalt. Not a single smart phone would turn on if the Congolese didn’t work 12+ hours a day for 30 days straight for a month’s pay of $200 USD (living wage is around $500+ USD).
So on this world appreciation day of African and Afrodescendant culture, let’s make the effort to go out and enjoy the creative contributions of Africa. And if you don’t want to check out my suggestions, at least engage with the local community. Order in some African cuisine with friends, go to an event starring Afrodescendant artists, purchase a book from a local bookstore by a local African author.
With Love and Respect
Thandiwe McCarthy
Thandiwe McCarthy is a seventh-generation African Canadian and a renowned spoken-word poet and writer. His unique narrative style interweaves the rich history of Black New Brunswick with contemporary experiences, emphasizing the significance of storytelling in preserving cultural heritage. A co-founder of the New Brunswick Black Artists Alliance, an advocate for the recognition of August 1st as Emancipation Day, and an organizer for the New Brunswick Emancipation Celebration event, Thandiwe was recognized by the CBC in 2023 as one of the 20 Black Changemakers in Atlantic Canada. Thandiwe is the culture correspondent for [Edit] magazine and author of the poetic memoir, Social Oblivion: Raised Black in Canada.
His current project, Still Here: Preserving our Legacy is a powerful combination of historical documents, first-person stories, original poetry, and compelling portraiture that is poised to spark national conversations about Canada’s Black History and bring the stories of Black New Brunswickers to a wider audience.
