The TED Talk by Komla Dumor emphasizes the importance of centering Africans in telling their own stories. He argues that it is essential to hire African experts to tell the African narrative, as they have a deep understanding of the continent and its various contexts. Dumor stresses the need for balance in storytelling, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of Africa. He also advocates for the hiring of the best talent to tell these stories, as it is crucial to address the needs and interests of the African audience, like he himself at the BBC. Dumor's message underscores the significance of portraying Africa through the lens of its own people across various forms of media, including novels, picture books, art, commentary, and film. This approach ensures that the narratives are authentic, balanced, and reflective of the diverse realities and experiences within Africa.

Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian author of "Things Fall Apart," presents an African perspective on the impact of colonialism. By using Achebe and his work, particularly "Things Fall Apart," I am able to address the question of the authors/sources/artists being African (or not) and how their perspectives might be enhanced by the inclusion of African voices. An example of not being African and writing of African experience and life would be the short story "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off" by Nadine Gordimer. The story is of apartheid south Africa and depicts Africans but is not from their perspective. Achebe's work provides an authentic African narrative, offering a counterbalance to the often biased and limited portrayals of Africa by non-African authors. His writing allows for a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of African societies and their experiences, thereby enhancing and diversifying the perspectives available in the literary world which for AP literature is often dominated by old white men that the students in my classroom cannot connect with.