At the end of the 20th century, in the circumstances of the dynamic development of digital society and means of mass communication, personal histories have become subject to mediatization. In the sociocultural context of postmodernism human life itself, viewed as a narrative, is gradually becoming a newsbreak.
In the era of social media, there are numerous examples of mediatization and perfomatization of individual experience. However, just a few of them had assumed a degree of importance for a whole generation.
AfriGen (Africa + Generation) – a term, which emerged on social media in the early 2000's. It was invented in order to describe a generation of young representatives of the African creative class (writers, artists, designers, etc.), those who also known as Afropolitans.
Afropolitanism is a philosophy “Africans of the World”, emerged by successful young professionals – intellectuals of African descent. In 2005 Taiye Selasi a writer of Ghanaian-Nigerian origin who was born in the UK and raised in the USA first coined the term “Afropolitans”, which denoted the newest generation of young Africans, emigrants working and living in different cities around the globe, but having a strong connection with Africa. “We are Afropolitans: not citizens, but Africans of the world” – wrote Selasi. The invention of the term Afropolitan was closely linked to a personal history of its creator. But later this word has given rise to the complex concepts.
Afropolitanism as a form of transcontinental African identity has generated considerable interest among representatives of African Diaspora. It contributed to the creation of the social demand for constructing the image, with which they could contrast or identify themselves. The many writers of African descent took part in the process of the creation of Afropolitan media hero image, triggered by Selasi. Among them were Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Aminatta Forna, NoViolet Bulawayo, Chinelo Okparanta, Chigozie Obioma. Their life narratives became the basis for the biography of media hero, represented a new generation of Africa.