“Until the Story of the hunt is told by the Lion, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter,” so goes an African Proverb. It is in this spirit that the Use of General History of Africa (GHA) conference organized by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education is laudable. The conference that will draw participation from most parts of Africa aims at reclaiming Africa’s identity and role in world history.

While India has drawn from its ancient and diverse culture that stretches back to over 5000 years to prosper and China has done the same to become a global economic power; Africa lacks organic identity and ideals but oscillates between values from the West and East.

It is imperative that African scholars seize this momentum to learn, represent and restore an authentic, honest, plural and balanced study of the African experience, past and present. We [Africans] must interrogate who we are; where we are; why we are where we are; why we are retrogressing  while nations that were in our league have taken forward leaps; why our resources are a curse instead of blessing; where we want to go and how to get there. Only then shall we be primary authors of our own history. Short of this path, we shall play other peoples’ tunes but have no tune of our own.