In "How to Write about Africa," Binyavanga Wainaina* lists dozens of stereotypes that let outsiders seem to know what they are talking about when they write about that large, diverse continent. You can feel the simmering of anger underneath the crazy list, the feeling of having to endure outsiders who think they know when all they are doing is rehearsing myths or patting themselves on their backs for one superiority or another, or enjoying the emotion of pity, or otherwise fantasizing about some exotic other place and other people. It's a reminder that society offers us a huge, pre-packaged set of attitudes and "understandings" of many a topic that are well in place but may have little validity and may actually be destructive. For educators and citizens, the problem is posed: how to resist the lazy, canned understandings that threaten our contact with reality daily.

Even following a couple of dozen people from different parts of the continent on Twitter, reading some of the links they provide, etc., can make a huge difference. As we should expect, the specificity of their words and experiences explodes the common myths time after time.

*See also: "How Not to Write about Africa in 2012: A Beginner's Guide"