Linda Logan

History 371
Patrick Mbajekwe, Instructor
September 3, 2014

Critical Thinking Exercise #1:

I have to say that I was looking forward to reading this book to see if
the thoughts that I have about Africa and her people were based merely on
pre conceptions or based on truth about what I know about myself, human
nature and the world. I m thrilled to know that mostly what I do know is
based on fact and what I have derived from my own humanness.
As a girl growing up in the 60s I remember watching Tarzan, The
Little Rascals and movies like the Mummy, and all of them portrayed
Africans in a comical, shiftless, and unintelligent manner. Stupid above an
instinctual level, Africans were represented in these mediums to present or
contrast the superiority of European and Western Cultures against the so
called primitive culture of Africa; Therefore, declaring by European or
Western standards of evolution, that all other cultures were inferior based on
the apparent lack of advances in government, technology, science, art and
literature. All of these forms of creativity and expression by Africans were
considered rudimentary efforts at best and understood only on a figurative
level; Americans and Europeans alike believing that this is the best that
Africans could produce.

Some other representations of Africans can be seen in how we interact

with them and in how we chose to help. Because of our Western beliefs that
we are somehow more evolved, and they are not, seemed to indicate that
they needed our help, protection and guidance in all areas of their lives, thus
beginning the period of time when conversion of Africans to a more European
thought process and culture became less important and became, more
importantly, about gaining trusteeship over Africa. This pretense, which
really was an excuse to invade and conquer Africa, was used in order to
further Western self-interests by gaining control of valuable property rights
for oil, minerals and other natural raw materials that were needed during
that time to further industrialize European and Western Countries.
Westerners felt that because of the savage and primitive aspects of Africa
that were believed to exist and that were documented in works of fiction and
non-fiction by such writers as Rudyard Kipling and Theodore Roosevelt and
which stated that Africans were childlike, barbarian and savage, was
therefore concluded that Africans were incapable of managing their own
affairs. These perspectives went unquestioned well into the twentieth
century and in some forms still exist today.
Today, as a result of the collapse of colonialism, we provide help in
ways that are not always beneficial to Africa or Africans. Take for example
our propensity for gift-giving, providing military assistance or helping with
market share creation: Although most Americans would give as much as
they could to help financially, most of the money comes from celebrity

causes and fundraisers who are genuinely concerned with Africas wellbeing, but realize the advantages of the free publicity and international fame
that comes along with attaching their names to such a worth-while cause ;
wealthy philanthropists and corporate donors who already have vested
interests to protect, and foreign governments, who have also befriended
Africans, provide aid packages that come at an even higher costs, i.e. low
interest rate loans and other financial assistance that further depresses an
already stagnant economy.
Other than the money raised by celebrities, most of the help comes
with a price tag that is too high to pay. Whether it is the continued business
as usual attitude or one for creating leverage for more business opportunity,
the fact remains nothing is being given without the expectation of getting
something in return. Military help is usually provided not to protect the
defenseless people but sent to protect well- established financial holdings, to
further oppress by supporting dictatorial regimes, or to manipulate control of
the mining and distribution of valuable raw materials for profit, instead of
these resources being purposely applied to and for the betterment of the
African people for their use at home.
Another form of aid that has not been very useful is project aid, even
though it is very purposeful, it does not provide Africans with the tools to
continue the upkeep of the project after the hired builders are gone, access
to much needed building supplies and the ability to acquire the skills and
knowledge necessary to build in other places. This type of aid fosters the

continued dependency on foreign countries, continues evolutionists

stereotypes created in the 18th and 19th centuries, that surmises that Africa
and Africans are indeed inferior and cannot be allowed to control their own
destiny, and continues to perpetuate the Western image as the Great White
Hope and Savior of the free world, all the while ignoring that it is because of
historical Western involvement in African affairs in the first place that has
caused her to experience the stymied economic growth, lack of access to
medical care, substandard education and crumbling infrastructure that she
currently is afflicted with.
Africa and Africans is not the only continent or people whose cultures
and societies have been adversely affected by Western and European
involvement. Native Americans were forced thru violence to leave their
homes, communities and land (after they refused) for the exact same reason
as Africans were colonized. The American Government wanted the valuable
land (which primarily was the whole continent of North America) to come
under their ownership. So, if America is capable of eradicating her
indigenous population for no other apparent reason then greed, how do you
think other populaces around the globe will fair once we have set our sights
on their valuable natural resources?
As a descendant of Native Americans, my ancestors also were among
those who were forced to leave there homes, fortunately for me, they did
not migrate to the reservation in Oklahoma but escaped and blended into
surrounding negro (which they were called at the time) communities near

Cherokee North Carolina. Afraid of persecution, they bound up or cut their

hair, wore western clothing, adopted the names that were given to them by
land owners they worked for, became Christians and sent their children to
school. As a result, I often wonder how my life would have differed if they
had not made that choice?
Other indigenous populations that have been affected or altered by
western involvement are those that are found in Latin American and
Polynesian countries. Today, thousands of children from Latin American
countries are smuggled into the U.S. or are arriving at our borders as
refugees fleeing from countries that have been torn apart by violence and
drug cartels that are in direct business with the United States and who is
their main buyer of their major export crop illegal drugs.
In conclusion, America is not to blame for all of the ills experienced by
nations that are considered, by our standards, to be under-developed but to
acknowledged that our involvement in societies that were forced to accept
Western standards, through greed, violence intimidation is a big step in the
admission that we play a huge role in the problems that now exist in Africa
and for her people.