{"id":4580,"date":"2023-12-04T06:06:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T06:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drtejubaba.com\/?page_id=4580"},"modified":"2024-05-24T09:24:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T09:24:09","slug":"about-new","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/drtejubaba.com\/fr\/about-new\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00c0 propos"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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#Curator of African heritage<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I am Dr Teju Baba, a proud girl dad and I prefer to refer to myself as a West African with a Beninese passport. Yes, I know I run the risk of alienating the advocates of Africa\u2019s colonial border and a past that is still present but hear me out. I was born in Benin, former Dahomey, bordered by four other countries we now call Togo, Burkina Faso (former Upper Volta), Nigeria and Niger.<\/p>

These countries found their original (or almost original) forms redesigned by the colonial bequeathment of Africa (without Africa) at the famous Berlin conference of 1884-1885. It is not hard to imagine that my great grandparents could have easily found themselves in Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso or Niger and I also could have eventually claimed any one of these nationalities. Come to think of it, I could easily be Senegalese or Cape Verdean or Gambian.The possibility is endless.<\/p>

All that being said, I am grateful to be from Benin and privileged to hold a very pretty Beninese passport, but I am always West African.<\/p>

Raised in West Africa in the 80s and 90s, in the French education system characterized by French books that describe the French history and culture, I like most African kids today, aspired to this imaginary place (the West) described in these books, these stories, so beautifully and magnificently written.<\/p>

Centering the colonizer\u2019s values in the education system, Africa has for many years raised citizens that are not grounded in their African-ness and who have not learnt the principal value of Maya in Bambara, Mali and Ubuntu in Southern Africa. This value refers to human interdependency, the recognition of our duty to each other and the world around us. A philosophy that advocates for collectivism over individualism.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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