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Africa is the second largest continent with over a billion people living in some 55 countries1. It is a continent renowned for its rich anthropocentric traditions (such as Ubuntu) and is home to at least half of the world’s dozen fastest growing economies are also from this continent that is characterised by a predominantly youthful demographic. The demonstrable rapid pace of change, coupled with the continent’s leapfrogging potential has led many to re-interrogate their perceptions of Africa. Subsequently, many commentators have advanced the notion of the “21st century as the African century”. In so doing, these commentators adopt a number of lenses ranging from macroeconomic, developmental, geopolitical, policy and governance ones amongst others. Notwithstanding the positive

1 https://www. au. int/web/en/AU_Member_States scenarios of an arguably more prosperous Africa within the foreseeable future, very few of the commentators have adopted a human-centred approach that taps into the realities and aspirations of the vast numbers of denizens of our continent.

Consequently, the emerging narratives inadvertently reflect an epistemological bias that fails to take cognisance of the complexity of the African condition. The paper argues for a narrative that is rooted in the Afrikan reality and one that is empathic towards the creative expressions being co-constructed by its own people, in partnership with empathic actors and stakeholders from the global community. Part of the reason for inherent bias in the prevailing externally constructed narrative lies in the question of context, authorship and ownership.