Texas in Africa speculates on what Hilary Clinton’s itinerary in Goma will be and gives The New York Times and their Central and East Africa correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman a sound thrashing. Ouch.
Gettleman lost me (and many others) in early 2008 with his reporting from Kenya during that country’s post-election violence when he referred to an allegedly “atavistic vein of tribal tension” that supposedly permeates all of Kenyan society. Now, there but for the grace of God go I — I cover most of the continent here as best I can and I know how very difficult it is, especially when I deal with those parts of the continent I do not know as well as others. But in those cases it’s best to err on the side of caution rather than plunge in with generalizations about atavism and relying on hoary cliches about tribalism, the most misused concept of all when it comes to Africa.
