In My Africa (episode)

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the song.

"In My Africa"
Main image Title card Title card 2
Season/Series:	14
Number in season:	9b
Original airdate:	April 27, 2011 September 21, 2011 January 10, 2011
Credits
Written by:	Ken Pontac
Storyboard by:	Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "D.W., Queen of the Comeback"	Next "Buster Spaces Out"

Read transcript

"In My Africa" is the second half of the ninth episode in the fourteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

D.W.'s new classmate, Cheikh, is from Senegal, in West Africa. When D.W. realizes that she does not know much about Africa, she intends to memorize through music. D.W., Brain, and Cheikh pool their resources to jot down a song about all 54 countries on that continent!

Plot

D.W. welcomes the viewers as she is walking through Dakar, Senegal, the hometown of Cheikh. D.W. explains that Dakar is like most cities, but is located in Africa. She briefly mentions how Arthur always talks in openings, and never permits anyone else to do the monologue. She even refers to him as a "show hog." D.W. then introduces Cheikh to the viewers, and says that this episode is about him, but Cheikh tells D.W. that it is actually more about her and his cousin, Brain. Just before the title card, Cheikh kicks the soccer ball he has, which is revealed to be El Boomerang.

In My Africa

The scene then goes to Cheikh and his mother and father leaving Senegal to move to Elwood City, in the United States.

After that, the scene goes to D.W.'s preschool, where Cheikh is introduced to the rest of the class, but D.W. interrupts, saying that she already knows who he is, as Arthur had told her who he is, and then shows him a picture that she drew of what she perceived of his life back in Senegal.

Cheikh tells her that his life is not like that, explaining that he is from a city (one that is much bigger than Elwood). Ms. Morgan informs D.W. that she should learn about a place before she describes it. Then the Tibbles make fun of D.W., saying that she doesn't know anything about Africa. D.W. vows to begin learning more about the "country" of Africa, but Cheikh explains to her that Africa is not one single country, but rather a continent, made up of multiple various countries.

Beginning at school, D.W. looks at the map in class and when she gets home, she starts reading books about Africa, but it's difficult for her, as she does not know how to read yet.

Arthur explains to D.W. that it was hard for him to learn about Türkiye, where his pen pal Adil comes from, and maybe she needs someone who understands more about Africa than she does. Arthur picks up the phone and calls his friend Brain, Cheikh's cousin. Brain begins to tell D.W. about ways she could learn about Africa, but his suggestions are too complicated. D.W. proposes they write a song about Africa instead, and they began singing. Cheikh then joined them, adding verses about African foods. Cheikh asks if they are ready to become pop stars, and D.W. responds, "I don't know about that, but we could try singing it for the class." The next day at preschool, D.W. becomes nervous, thinking this wasn't such a good idea. The Tibbles tease D.W., believing she might embarrass herself with the hippo bus picture she had drawn earlier. However, Cheikh ensures the twins that D.W. won't embarrass herself or anyone else, because he'll be singing with her. D.W. thanked Cheikh for helping her and apologizes for drawing the "silly" picture. Cheikh says he was glad she drew it; if she hadn't, they wouldn't be pop stars. D.W. whispers to him that they aren't pop stars, but Cheikh responds, "Not yet, D.W.," and explains that a week ago, she knew nothing about Africa, but now she does. They then sing another verse.

After they sing the song, Ms. Morgan introduces a new student named Keith from Kalamazoo, and then when she asks if anyone knows anything about Kalamazoo, D.W. raises her hand and says she does not, but she would like to learn, finishing the episode.

Characters

Major

• D.W. Read
• Cheikh Diouf (debut)
• Brain

Minor

• Arthur Read
• Mrs. Diouf (debut)
• Mr. Diouf (debut)
• Ms. Morgan
• Timmy and Tommy Tibble

Cameo

• Emily Leduc
• James MacDonald
• Keith
• Edwin
• Maryann
• Liam
• Amanda Hulser
• Elias Howe

Mentioned

• Adil Akyuz

Songs

• "In My Africa"

Trivia

• D.W. is the first character to begin the episode. She is also host for the show instead of Arthur since it opens in Dakar, Senegal, Africa instead of Elwood City (his home).

Episode connections

• In the introduction, Cheikh juggles El Boomerang from "Follow the Bouncing Ball."
• Learning false information about a place from movies and TV is exactly what Arthur did in "Dear Adil." Arthur mentions learning about Türkiye.
• Cheikh appears in a main role again in "Citizen Cheikh," and he and his parents become American citizens in said episode.
• When Cheikh said "tail of the iceberg" and D.W. corrects him that it is "tip of the iceberg," it is exactly what she once said from "D.W.'s Time Trouble."

Cultural references

• When D.W., Cheikh and Brain talk about becoming pop stars, they walk across a zebra crossing with cars that look exactly like on the cover of Abbey Road by The Beatles.
• For the references to African countries see the song page.
• Kalamazoo is located in the United States in Michigan.
  • There are also a number of other places in the United States named "Kalamazoo."

Errors

• D.W. pronounces Lesotho as Le-so-tho, not Lee-soo-too, as it is supposed to be pronounced.
  • However, since she is in preschool, that error might be on D.W.'s part rather than her voice actor's, since small kids have trouble pronouncing big words they have rarely said or never said before.

• The video description mentions Senegal is in the east coast of Africa.

The coloring error with D.W.'s pantyhose.

• In the "In My Africa" song, during Cheikh's verse about African foods, the left (from her perspective) leg of D.W.'s pantyhose turns the same color as her jumper at one point, but is then back to its correct color the next time she appears.

Production notes

• Since the publication of this episode in 2011 the political map of Africa has changed.
  • South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
  • Swaziland was officially named Eswatini (its local name) in 2018.
  • Western Sahara’s status as an independent country was and is disputed.
• Cheikh's character design originally included a visible section of buzzed hair, but this was removed in later reruns of the episode. The new design was used for all appearances of Cheikh in subsequent episodes.
  

  Original

  

  Revised

Gallery

Main article: In My Africa (episode)/Gallery