Reclaiming narratives: African storytelling as a path to justice and reparations

The African Union Permanent Representatives’ Committee members at the African Union headquarters. Image from African Union X page, used with permission. By Mohamed Mohamud The African Union (AU) has adopted its theme for 2025 as “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations,” a commitment to redress historical injustices caused by slavery, colonialism, and systemic discrimination. This initiative seeks to acknowledge and rectify the enduring impacts of injustices on African communities worldwide. At the core of this movement is the reclamation of African narratives. Centuries of being overshadowed and misrepresented by colonial and other external perspectives have portrayed the continent through a lens of primitivism and inferiority. Such depictions served to justify colonial subjugation and exploitation. African writers and storytellers Some African writers and storytellers have worked to create literature representative of their people’s genuine experiences. They confronted colonial myths head on and asserted the rich cultural heritage of the continent. Among them is Ngũgῖ wa Thiong’o from Kenya, an outspoken voice in the decolonization of African literature using African languages as a cornerstone for the preservation and promotion of indigenous narratives. Bessie Head was an internationally acclaimed South African-born writer and a brilliant example of a storyteller...