The African continent boasts the highest level of genetic diversity in the world, which makes sense: after all, it was from the continent of Africa that the human race first originated. Today, the continent is home to over 2,000 languages – from Igbo to Xhosa, Franglais to Yoruba – and comprises countries as politically varied as post-Arab Spring Egypt, fast-growing Ghana, and increasingly authoritarian Rwanda.

Why, then, is Africa so often depicted as a homogeneous morass of poverty and strife? In April 2022, journalist and writer Dipo Faloyin, who was raised in Nigeria, came to Intelligence Squared to discuss the themes of his debut book, Africa Is Not A Country, which unpicks these pervasive stereotypes. What is the cultural significance of Aunties? Which West African country triumphs in the long-running rivalry over jollof rice? Where would citizens of several African countries have to travel to visit their own cultural artifacts? (Hint: 90 per cent of them are in museums outside the continent). This was a portrayal of the African continent as it truly is – one that challenges us to shift narratives about the continent from lazy stereotypes to a richer, more complex patchwork of the many cultures and communities that populate the world’s second-largest continent.