So much of the media surrounding Africa depicts places with mud huts, wide open spaces, people clothed in cloths or barely at all. Even if that portrayal is diminishing, those are the visuals in people’s minds when they think of the continent. Which is a big reason why I loved “An African City” so much.
Summing Up “An African City”
“An African City” follows a Ghanaian woman, Nana Yaa, who has lived abroad for the majority of her life and has decided to return to her homeland for a fresh start. The series follows her and her four friends, also “returnees,” what Ghanaians who have lived abroad are called, through their lives as wealthy, beautiful, cosmopolitan women in Accra.
The series busts the stereotypes of demure, religious African women and plants them firmly among saavy, impeccably dressed socialites who wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of “Sex and the City.” Not only that, but taking place in Accra shows that Africa isn’t all huts and villages, but also includes cities with multi-million dollar apartments. Topics covered range from power outages to being objectified by foreign men, from self-gratification to being a mistress and a whole host of other topics.
What You Need to Know
The series was created by Nicole Amarteifio who loosely based the story on her own life of living abroad and moving back to Ghana. Inspired by the webseries “Awkward Black Girl” and by the confidence that “Sex and the City” sparked in American women, Amarteifio set out to create a series that could do the same for African women as well as change the face of the African woman in mainstream media.
The series started out at as a show on YouTube, where you can watch the entire first season, because she did not want to compromise her vision for a television station. The episodes are about 15 minutes each, so you can watch the whole first season on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Season two is available for streaming on their website for $20. If you’re looking for a bit of media that shows a different side of Africa, then I highly recommend checking it out.