What is “Africanization”?

Growing up in Apartheid South Africa and coming of age as that system was about to formally end, I always thought “Africanization” referred to an affirmative project: mainly cultural (say more Fela Kuti on the radio, less bad European and American TV, among others). And, yes, I know the term has also been abused by opportunistic African elites (Mugabe, for example, equates “Africanization” with support for his dictatorship in Zimbabwe). But this week I learned from “The New York Times” that it actually refers to something else:

‘… Swaths of southeast Spain are steadily turning into desert, a process spurred on by global warming and poorly planned development … The Spanish Environment Ministry estimates that one-third of the county is at risk of turning into desert from a combination of climate change and poor land use. Still, national officials visibly stiffen when asked about the “Africanization” of Spain’s climate — a term now common among scientists. “We are in much better shape than Africa, but within the E.U. our situation is serious,” said Antonio Serrano Rodríguez, the secretary general for land and biodiversity at Spain’s Environment Ministry…’

Yeh. I am tired.

BTW, yesterday when the story was first posted on the NY Times website, the headline read: “Warming Leads to ‘Africanization’ of Spain.” I noticed in the print version that headline is now: “In Spain, Water Is a New Battleground as Parts of Spain Turns Into Deserts.” The headline of the story has also been changed online. The story is here.

HT: Ibn Battutta

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