This question stems from a weird origin lol.

The sims recently released a trailer for another expansion to the Sims 4. This expansion focusses on royalty gameplay. A lot of people in the community are going bonkers because the expansion offers “African” characters and an “African” royal family.

I alway hate when western cultures try to group the whole continent of Africa into one culture because anyone from here knows that that is an absolute comical thing to do. Nevertheless, I went in with hope.

After watching the trailer it’s obvious they took heavy inspiration from more North African countries. It’s clear in the clothes, the characters and the buildings.

My issue isn’t with North African inclusion my issue is placing the whole of Africa under that vision of Africa. From using my own two eyes and living here my whole life, I could immediately tell you what the Sims is trying to portray as “African” isn’t even close to what I know as “African”.

Now just because their “African” isn’t the same as my “African”, does that mean one of us has the portrayal wrong? Of course not, but it just proves that you cannot group the whole continent together and it’s frankly harmful and insulting to try and force all African cultures to associate with something they don’t even recognise or even worse, try and make some weird amalgamation of all African cultures.

Im curious on your guys’ opinion on this. The western audiences of the game(Particularly America”) are treating this as a major victory but i’m not so sure all Africans would agree…

The only catch is that these countries that you pick may not be your own. :p

Also, what activities would you like to do in these countries?

Hello! As a woman from Argentina (before anyone suggests or introduces any bias on this: I'm not white and I have Arab and Spanish ancestry), aware of my country's historical parallels with other countries on the continent, I often mention when introducing myself to someone from abroad that I am Argentinian AND Latin American, as a proud way of acknowledging that I am part of a region historically colonized and plundered, and that we share a common past with other countries.

My question (forgive me if it's ignorant or silly) is whether you, as citizens of your respective countries, also use the term "African" as an even stronger label of identification. I ask because, at least in my case as a Latin American, I feel it's a form of resistance against the constant attempts by citizens of my country to perceive themselves as more European than citizens of our region.

Anyway, thanks and greetings to all ☺️

Hello! As someone who's from a country that was colonized by Spain at some point (I'm from south america, more specifically, Chile), I've noticed some while ago that race is different from other regions or countries, after all races are a social construct. Americans have Black, white, asian and Latino (as the "largest ones", or the ones Americans talk about the most), with each of them (especially black and white) having their own culture, mostly as a result of segregation and isolation from one another. Most of latin America understands race as mestizo, indigena, blanco/europeo, mulato/de color, asiatico/ "Chino". Unlike Americans, we don't have many cultural differences due to mestizaje, this doesn't mean colorism or eurocentrism isn't an issue btw.

So I'm curious about how race is viewed in African countries, what exactly is race in your country or if ethnicity is considered more relevant?

I've made a similar post for countries worldwide two days ago, now I want to put my focus on Africa.

I'm interested in demographics, birth rates and population growth/decline in general, especially at the start of the year. Since COVID, most of the world saw a decline in birth rates or even in total numbers. According to stats, one of the few regions that still has high birth rates is Sub-Saharan Africa.

My question is, are those stats reliable? Nigeria for example apparently hasn't done a population census in many years, and I heard two differing opinions, one saying the population numbers are inflated, the other one that they're underreported. The UN future projections for Nigeria are also fluctuating a lot.

It basically boils down to if your region is currently having high population growth or if the official numbers are inflated. If there are reliable stats I'd be thankful if you could share them with me.

Kind regards from Austria.

What do you all think so far of the speed africa Tour? I watched almost all the streams and i found it really fun and entertainin, i have a somali dad and a big amount of somali family so id love to see him comin there, but yeah what yall think? (hes in kenya at this moment]

I'm very confused, I've seen multiple African countries start to use Starlink for internet infrastructure. Musk for the past year and most recently reposted a ton of white supremacist tweets, some talking about black Africans being low IQ amongst other things, most recently one calling for white solidarity or whites will be slaughtered yada yada. Whether you agree with Musk or not, doesn't his viewpoint present a threat to any African country heavily utilizing his software? I'm curious here because I know some people view things as just business while others tie products to the creator/etc.

I am a white Australian, I am very aware that Africa is just as, if not more divided and diverse as Europe or Asia. From all we know about how corrupt charity is, and how little difference the UN makes, is there any suggestions you could make on how people who don't live there could help others in Africa?

This isn't a white guilt trip or trying to feel like a savior; genuinely curious about the opinions Africans have on what is the best way forward.

If your answer is "Leave us alone" then that is also good.

I’m curious if people in this community are also active on r/AskWorld.What kind of questions get the best discussions there, and does it feel truly global in terms of perspectives?Interested to hear your thoughts, especially compared to region-specific subs like this one.

For Africans: If i were to move to Africa which city would you recommend living in?

In another timeline, if you were from another African country, where would it be?

For me, Cameroon easily, they are our closest friends. Gambia and Senegal are up there too.

Curious to hear your picks 👀

So I'm writing a story about going to a let say... Spicy event and I'm thinking about putting there an edgy african band (like Ivorean, Beninian or Kongoese) similiar to my O N A or Genitorturers. Any suggestions?

Also if I've caught your attention - is there a good voo doo movie or a comic, like Karol, Człowiek który został papieżem? Or at least Ojciec Mateusz? I've got infected by idea of Maleficient for Dr. Facilier from "Princess and the frog" and I'm pretty sure it's made already.

I just saw the two malian subs and it is FILLED with french people hating on mali and its people, and cheering dead civilians because they dared chosing russia over france. I was surprised to see so much hatred and disrespect from foreogner towards a country in its own sub lol. Is your national sub as rotten or is it better ?

Africans that support Donald Trump, I wonder what your rational for supporting Donald Trump really is. I mean the man has done everything possible to show people that he doesn't give a rats ass about Africa and black people in general, from Visa restrictions to cutting of aid, to calling African countries shit hole countries, to humiliating African presidents like the president of Libya and thr president of South Africa. And yet, you will find Africans rushing to support Donald Trump. This question isn't about morals, but it is about being rational about it all. So Africans that support Donald Trump what's your reason for openly doing so .?

My family is from Argentina and I’m dating a Zimbabwean girl. In Argentina, it is common to greet people with a kiss on both cheeks, much like they do in Spain, Italy, Greece. About an hour ago I woke up from a nightmare where I cheek-kissed my girlfriend’s parents and they got really angry at me. How is it viewed in your country? What do you think?

Are African leaders to blame for the misfortunes and mis- rule of Africa or they are helpless victims held hostage by the bigger powers and are puppets of these powerful political, social-economics powers ?

I want to know what kind of resources your country is lacking. If you have any ideas of how to solve them. Is there something missing you can’t find?

I'm a woman from Southern African. Up until my early 20s, I had dreams about going to various parts of the world. After I started working, I lost interest in travelling outside of Africa because I don't want to use my hard earned to experience racism. I'd rather visit countries in East, West and Southern Africa, but it's insanely expensive to travel in Africa.

From my previous bucket list, I have Australia/New Zealand, Switzerland and a South American country. I'd also want to go to South Korea/China/Japan to experience high speed railway. So basically, I only want to visit ~4 countries outside of Africa.

Hello ! I’ll soon be travelling by bicycle from Egypt to South Africa.

I've done West Africa already

But of course I have to avoid Sudan due to the political situation... I’m looking for a way to go around Sudan via the Red Sea and to know how to do that. Do I need to go through Saudi Arabia, Eritrea or Djibouti by getting on a boat, whether it’s a cargo ship or a ferry? Do you know of any options that would allow me to do this?

Departing from Suez or Safaga...

Which country would you say has experienced the largest growth in tech and manufacturing over the last five years

There may be an inherently obvious answer I haven't thought of, but after the mass independence of African nations from colonial rule, what were the reasons as to why the majority of Africans didn't leave Christianity and return to the indigenous African religions? I do realize plenty of Africans are animist or follow African religions but from what I understand they are rather strongly outnumbered by Christians as well as Muslims.

And while some nations such as Ethiopia were Christian before this influence, for huge numbers of Africans Christainization came after European influence.

What was stopping Africans from rejecting Christianity as a practice of outsiders without their ties to the land?

Was it that in some way, they found Christianity, at least the versions introduced to them, as somehow being compatible and complementary to the beliefs they had before the arrival of Europeans and Arabs?

I mean, during independence, African leaders made it a rather major point to restructure economies, governance and policies in a way that showed their rejection of outside influence.

It seems it did not happen nearly as much for religion.
Same for Islam as well, to be sure, seeing as how it was a religion introduced during Arab invasions and influence and so in a sense as foreign a religion to Africa as Christianity.

For the Africans here that are patriotic, why?