Spain or Death - August 18th (posted late due to lack of electricity - C'est la vie): It's a quarter to eleven on this side of the earth. I've just finished a meal of stewed lentils (a la Jeanne) and mango-tomato adjeke (cassava-based couscous, a la my own concoction with the help of Marcus Samuelson - thanks CB!). I'm out on the terrace with a glass of white wine during a pause in one of my long, enlightening discussions with our resident scholar, Felicia Anonyuo. Last night we talked about womanism, race, immigration, Alice Walker (I got just a tad defensive), and how the West views Africa. Tonight we've been talking about her dig through the archives here in Dakar where she found a book, "Une conquête morale," (A Moral Conquest) written in 1917 by French colonial scholar, Georges Hardy. She is going absolutely nuts over this text because it is just what she needs to show the intention behind the psychological colonization she is arguing is at the root of the tragic 'Spain or Death' mentality of many young Africans. The mainstream explanation for suicidal immigration attempts is wholly economic. Felicia's argument is that if one of the principals of economic theory is that we are rational actors who make rational decisions in our own best interest, then why in the world would someone risk death for the chance to join a peripheral work force in a foreign country? The missing piece, the factor the media has failed to recall, is the history of colonial brainwashing through which Africans were unconsciously made to believe that Europe is paradise. I can't wait to hear about what Felicia ultimately finds (after Dakar she spend 4 months in Nigeria too). Now here I am writing about how much I love Senegal (I secretly hope to someday discover that I am from here originally), and yet so many young Senegalese are desperate to escape from what they see as a hopeless situation. The disparity between me and them and their loss of faith in the growth and potential in everything their own is really sad... Sorry to end on such a downer, but it's important to note that even though I do love Senegal and am a natural optimist, every place has it's problems ranging from the mundane (daily power cuts) to the overwhelming.