Adéwálé Àjàdí opens with a bold claim: every system that shapes our lives begins with a mental model. That idea sits at the heart of Afrilition, a framework he argues has the power to reshape Africa's future from the ground up.
The challenge Àjàdí identifies is not a small one. He writes that Africans currently operate within the global system largely in reaction to it, accepting the mental models that system was built on rather than authoring new ones. That posture, he suggests, is not accidental. It is rooted in history and reinforced through formal structures that were never designed with African agency in mind.
Afrilition, as Àjàdí frames it, is a call to move from reaction to intention. The work is about asking which mental models Africa chooses going forward, and who gets to define them.
If you have not yet come across Àjàdí's writing on Afrilition, this piece is a good place to start asking yourself which ideas you have inherited without question.
Originally published by Premium Times.