The Social Construction of Africa and Africans in Western Mass Media Chapter 2

Images of Africa and Africans in Western Mass Media

Africa Portrayed as the Dark Continent

The term was first used by Europeans around the 19th Century to describe a continent they knew so little about. The term shows Europeans ignorance of the continent, its people and cultures. Legitimizes the status quo and perpetuates unequal relations of power and exploitation. The preoccupation of Europeans to civilize or uplift the beastly or noble salvages in the 19th Century and early 20th Century Africa. The identification of Africa as a dark continent were socially constructed. Europe is constructed as the ideal that all must follow and the standard by which all else is measured against.

Charles Darwin
Philosophers, anthropologists, and naturalist, such as Charles Darwin, subscribed to the European worldview regarding Africa by creating a pseudo- scientific justification for Eurocentric racism. They invented the term negro Negro was/is conceived as being less than human. It follows that, Europeans were not slaughtering and rapping a people, only savages

Tuskegee Experiment
White scientists and physicians like the Nazis injected syphilis into healthy black men. They failed to treat the infected even after the discover of penicillin.

Africa Portrayed as the Third world

Africa is no longer the great unknown, but a Third World continent. Third world is a disruption , a deviation, an anomaly which must be checked and brought under control if history is to be played out according to plan, and if progress is to be achieved. Africa was described as Utterly inferior to Europe.

 Films like Tarzan have familiarized Westerners with an Africa composed of old notions of the Dark Continent.

 Is a book by Hammond and Jablow that is centered upon one theme: the confrontation between civilized Britain and savage African. Although the text is biased, it acknowledged that instances of cannibalism in Africa were mere fabrication.

What Purpose do these Constructed Images of Africa Serve

The Devil Came on Horseback

This is an award winning documentary by a former U.S. marine about the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. The documentary uses the often-used images of bodies burnt and blackened, corpses stacked like cordwood, and rape victims recounting their tales of horror. In addition to revealing some of the warped perceptions of Africa and its problems, This documentary highly underscores the weight that is given to issues of concern on the continent.

Western View of Africa

Western images of Africa continue to distort and caricature Africas reality. Western television pictures painted Africa as a faraway place where good people go hungry, bad people run the government, and chaos and anarchy are the norm.
George Alagiah, a former Africa corresponded for the BBC

Americans have come know Africa mostly by its wars and not the recent success of African countries in settings as diverse as Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, and Cape Verde in generating robust economic growth, reducing poverty, and constructing effective democratic institutions.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Africas first elected woman president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She spearheaded Liberias recovery from a tragic history of ethnic conflict, exclusionary politics She made Liberia to be ranked among the top 10 most improved in the world in the 2009 World Banks Doing Business Survey. All this information is unknown to most Westerners.

Afro-Pessimism
Many journalists and scholars alike attribute Africas current crisis to its geography a case of bad latitude. Afro pessimists assume that Africa, the worlds second largest continent, three times larger than the United States and home to as many as 1 billion people is incapable of change, just as philosophers and anthropologists of earlier centuries had argued Afro pessimists focus on Africa's tragedies and wars as its defining character while simultaneously over looking the continents real progress in education, health, the economy, and democratic governance.

Politics of the Mirror

The tendency of todays many Western commentators to frame their observations of Africa using assumptions that govern belief about their own societies. Relegations of Africa to the dustbin of history by the mass media and some scholars at universities has important implications for U.S. foreign policy toward African states and peoples.

Africa is a rat hole into which we throw vast sums of aid money only to see it disappear. Former U.S Senator Jesse Helms

Economic Data on Africa

Since the 1990s, each major region of Africa boasted as much trade with the US as all constituents of the former Soviet Union combined The continent is the source of about 18 percent of U.S oil imports. This figure is expected to rise to 25 percent in the next decade or two. The continent has extractive mineral industries that provide inputs for the U.S. and other Western industries.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. European explorers called Africa the Dark Continent because?
A. Africa did not have electricity. B. the thick forests kept sunlight from reaching the ground in many places. C. most Africans have dark skin. D. they believed it was a vast and dangerous place.

2. Who is the first woman president in Africa?

A. B. C. D. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Tsitsi Dambarembwa Graa Machel Winnie Mandela

3. Western television often pictures painted Africa as A. A continent full of natural resources B. A continent with potential to achieve greatness C. A continent where people go hungry, bad people run the government D. A continent rich in culture 4. Afro pessimists assume that Africa is A. incapable of change B. Growing at a fast rate C. Negatively portrayed in western media D. Producing some the smartest students

5.

Which of the following films and books have familiarized Westerners with an Africa composed of old notions of the Dark Continent A. Tarzan B. The Devil Came on Horseback C. The Africa that never was D. All the above 6. Why do westerners refer to Africa as a Third World. A. Africa is the third largest continent B. A third of the words population live in Africa C. They believe Africa is utterly inferior to Europe. D. Africa was growing at a fast rate

7.

Which of the following about Africa's economic condition is false? A. The continent is the source of about 18 percent of U.S oil imports. B. The continent has extractive mineral industries that provide inputs for the U.S. and other Western industries C. Africa is a major trade partner of the U.S D. Africa does not export any goods to the U.S The book The Africa that never was is an unbiased description of Africa because it refer to Africans as . A. Educated B. Civilized C. Salvages D. Friendly

8.

9.

Most Americans have come know Africa mostly because of A. recent success of African countries in generating robust economic growth B. recent success of African countries in reducing poverty C. recent success of African countries in constructing effective democratic institutions. D. the wars happening in some parts of Africa

10. The Devil Came on Horseback is a documentary that. .. A. uses the often-used images of African rape victims recounting their tales of horror. B. tells the story of Africa from an African point of view. C. shows that Africa can solve its own problems. D. tells the story about African urban life.

Answers
1. D 2. A 3. C 4. A 5. D 6. C 7. D 8. C 9. D 10. A