I know this picture to a Western eye is at best bizarre and possible disturbing but I feel compelled to comment on it. In all likelihood this picture is posed but some components of it are quite probable, the iPod is the least believable part. Yet, despite how contrived or posed this image may be it represents a rather interesting series of events in human history and especially in African history. Taking the man in the picture, his manner of dress is probably quite similar to that of his ancestors one hundred years before him. He is by no means "Westernized." The exact location of the picture is hard to determine but I feel safe in saying that it is not near the cost, yet he has a large collection of snail shells. They are clearly a sign of status and probably came to him in trade from some distance away from where he lives. The Kalashnikov rifle is an interesting vestige of a time when a recently decolonized Africa seemed up for grabs between the forces of "democracy" and "communism." Both superpowers actively courted and supported various rebel groups in the hopes of making the continent safe for what ever interest either superpower saw fit for Africa. Yet both sides sought to do so under a rather interesting guise, that of some how "empowering" the local populations to sort out matters from themselves in a post colonial world. To use Manela's phasing of Woodrow Wilson's ideology, both the United States and Soviet Union were supporting the notion of "self determination" while at the same time imposing the will of a foreign power on disparate peoples. I suppose the failings of Wilson and others to fully understand or accept the idea that the various peoples and ethnic groups of the world would want a say in their own lives led to a tragic legacy of constant civil war for various parts of the Third World. It also shows that despite a claim to allowing former colonial peoples to live freely, the end of colonialism simply caused them to trade one master for another. In Africa this took on epic proportions with the constant civil wars that were fueled in part by the support of former colonial powers and the rising tensions of the Cold War. Yet turning back to the image at hand, one can see a very interesting picture forming. Suspending the disbelief in the authenticity of the photograph, the iPod represents a sort of future for Africa. As the device itself boldly proclaims, it is "Designed in California, Made in China." While companies in the United States may want to sell more products in the African market, one basic premise behind this exchange is largely ignored. The People's Republic of China is one of the largest trading partners with African nations for raw materials and energy sources. Despite being on the United Nation's Security Council, the PRC has ostensible supported condemnations of the genocide in Darfur while it works out trade deals with the government in Khartoum to purchase oil and natural gas, thus funding and propping up the regime that has turned a blind eye to the suffering of thousands of people. Furthermore, Africa's mineral wealth has proven a curse far beyond diamonds. Tantalum is an important metal because of its unique electromagnetic properties. As such it is used in a cellphones and iPods to make the devices so compact and efficient. The problem is that tantalum is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has been one of many "conflict minerals." Its forced mining has oppressed people in the DRC and funded warlords who can more easily sell tantalum than they can diamonds because tantalum cannot be traced back to a source like a diamond can. Thus, while the AK-47 represents the brutal legacy of the Cold War in Africa, so does the iPod represent many of the continents current woes. I suppose little has been learned and not much progress made sense the late 1910s.
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