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I must say that before I went to the U.S., I didn't consciously identify as African.
我不得不強調，在我前往美國之前，我從來沒有有意識地把自己當作個非洲人。
But in the U.S., whenever Africa came up, people turned to me.
但在美國的時候，每當人們提到“非洲”時，大家都回轉向我，
Never mind that I knew nothing about places like Namibia.
雖然說我對納米比亞之類的地方一無所知。
But I did come to embrace this new identity, and in many ways I think of myself now as African.
但我漸漸的開始接受這個新的身份。現在很多時候我都是把自己當作一個非洲人來看待。
Although I still get quite irritable when Africa is referred to as a country,
不過當人們把非洲當作一個國家來討論的時候，我還是覺得挺反感的。
the most recent example being my otherwise wonderful flight from Lagos two days ago,
最近的一次例子就發生在兩天前，我從拉各斯搭乘航班，旅程原本相當愉快，
in which there was an announcement on the Virgin flight about the charity work in "India, Africa and other countries."
直到廣播里開始介紹在“印度、非洲以及其他國家”所進行的慈善事業。
So, after I had spent some years in the U.S. as an African, I began to understand my roommate's response to me.
當我以一名非洲人的身份在美國度過幾年之后，我開始理解我那位室友當時對我的反應。
If I had not grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa were from popular images,
如果我不是在尼日利亞長大，如果我對非洲的一切認識都來自于大眾流行的影像，
I too would think that Africa was a place of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, and incomprehensible people,
我相信我眼中的非洲也同樣是充滿了美麗的地貌、美麗的動物、以及一群難以理解的人們，
fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS, unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved by a kind, white foreigner.
進行著毫無意義的戰爭、死于艾滋和貧窮、無法為自己辯護，并且等待著一位慈悲的、白種的外國人的救贖。
I would see Africans in the same way that I, as a child, had seen Fide's family.
我看待非洲的方式將會和我兒時看待Fide一家的方式是一樣的。
This single story of Africa ultimately comes, I think, from Western literature.
我認為，關于非洲的這個單一故事從根本上來自于西方的文學。
Now, here is a quote from the writing of a London merchant called John Lok,
這是來自倫敦商人John Locke的一段話。
who sailed to west Africa in 1561 and kept a fascinating account of his voyage.
他在1561年的時候曾游歷非洲西部，并且為他的航行做了番很有趣的記錄。
After referring to the black Africans as "beasts who have no houses," he writes,
他先是把黑色的非洲人稱為“沒有房子的野獸”，隨后又寫到：
"They are also people without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts."
“他們也是一群無頭腦的人，他們的嘴和眼睛都長在了他們的胸口上。”
