Envy: Differences between the West and Africa

Abstract

Envy is perceived and handled differently in the West than in Africa. Defined as “a negative . . . response to someone else’s superior quality,” envy is largely considered psychological in the West, and is often suppressed to avoid the stigma of a negative “emotion.” In contrast, Africans often express envy openly, at least to outsiders. Open expression of envious desire for what the West has underlies contemporary formal education in Africa, that as a result has little local fit. Unlike in the West, envy in Africa translates into witchcraft. My experience in Africa tells me that this is not magical or supernatural in the western sense of these terms, but rather is a way of responding to powerful and potentially destructive envy. Freedom from envy comes through faith in Christ, thus making clear the need for mission, discipleship, and culturally relevant theological education. My observations on envy in Africa are based on my own experience—born and reared in a White British community but having participated in village life in East Africa using indigenous languages, from 1988 to date, in the course of missionary work. Being deeply a “westerner,” with profound exposure to Africa, enables my translating what is less known in the West (African ways of life) into the “familiar,” that is, western scholarship. This is on the basis that good translation should always be into what is “known”. Although geographically and historically my exposure to African ways of life is very limited, I am inclined to refer to “Africans” rather than more specific ethnicities (tribes) that I know well, so as not to imply that the people whom I have gotten to know over many decades through closely sharing in their lives are uniquely peculiar.