Speaking of the south: northern voices and southern realities

When so many voices from the north of the world strike so many discordant notes when speaking of the south, how is it possible to find a voice that is strong, significant and truthful, yet not neo-colonial and arrogant? This presentation will be a reflection on the problems of writing about Africa from Europe, of living in the 1st world while engaging meaningfully with the 3rd world. It will indicate the struggle of an author of a book-in-the-making to find an appropriate voice for writing about South Africa, for articulating an experience of the expectations, achievements and disappointments generated by a liberation movement come to power. What are the appropriate parameters for being critical of a society in which you come and go but do not live? When you enter contested terrain and believe that you cannot and should not be neutral, what are reasonable terms of engagement? What can Europeans writing of Africa contribute to Europe and to Africa