SUSTAINABLE AFRICAN SOCIETY IN DIGITAL TRAVEL NARRATIVES: A CRITICAL THEMATIC APPRAISAL

Abstract

Africa is known by some derogatory sobriquets which include the Black Continent and underdeveloped. Such offensive epithets are intended to designate the parlous social conditions in many African countries. The unfavourable social situation has relegated the continent to the background at the global stage. Many concerned Africans have therefore been proffering solutions to the deplorable social situations. These include youth social media travel v-loggers. This study, which is qualitative in nature, is guided by John Stuart Mill’s Social Progressivism theory. The v loggers posit that the development of Africa depends on the potential of the civil society and standard social practices to complement pragmatic governance. Adoption of civil society’s potential such as promotion of nativity, women’s endowments, the rule of law such as tax compliance and standard social practices is dimensional to the economic recommendations of the Global North. The suggestions of the youth on harnessing civil potential are novel to the traditional conception that the development of the continent is solely in the hands of the political elite in government. However, insecurity, recent return of military regimes in some African countries, patriarchal supremacy, and professionalisation of politics are some of the impediments to these youths’ social growth initiatives.