Afric The Cradle Of Humanity

There are many misconceptions that have been universally accepted mentioned in Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, many of which are based on biased and incorrect accounts and are extremely offensive. Three important myths are that Africa is a land of cannibals, it is backward and very uncivilized, and that it is one country where everyone and the climate are the same all over. These will be explained, refuted, and the detriment to the people of Africa will be discussed.

Between America and other European nations, stereotypes and misrepresentations have ultimately plagued the continent of Africa. To every side there is often another story, yet unfortunately for the many countries of Africa, they are ultimately victimized and suffer through further oppression. According to Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, Keim suggests that Africa is essentially under the public microscope, it tends to be scrutinized, and compared to European nations and America. Keim elaborates on human natures need to group people, places, and things, which creates the theory of superiority or dominance over races, cultures, and even religions.

Africa nowadays is viewed as a pretty poor continent, but if it were not for a single event, it wouldn’t be in the shape it is today. This event is best known as the scramble for Africa. The European powers had begun taking land after King Léopold the second claimed that initial piece of land. European powers gathered in 1884 to discuss which part of Africa were theirs to avoid fighting, however this was done between European countries, and the thought of even inviting a spokesperson from Africa was beyond them. The people of Africa were enslaved and forced to work the land for natural resources such as rubber and diamond. After the European powers claimed all that they could, two independent countries remained. These two countries were Liberia and Ethiopia. The “Eurocentric” perspective that the European powers had at the time allowed for them to commit these horrible acts and see nothing wrong with what they had

In the late nineteenth century the European powers of the world began imperializing Africa. This annexation, occupation, and division of African territory has since led to much strife within the continent and has caused many struggles politically. This period known as the “Scramble for Africa” has led to the many problems that Africa faces today and has been the root of several wars in Africa to assume control. After World War II many European imperialists began to give African nations autonomy. This seemed like a step forward for African nations, but without any plan to transition into self governance many African nations have faced bloody civil wars and corruption. Along with political struggles, numerous African nations face rising debt and other economic problems. Many of these political and economic issues stem from the “Scramble for Africa”. Once the European countries left Africa had very little to support itself. To explain the issues left by imperialism the three African nations of Rwanda, South Africa, and Sierra Leone will be put under the scope.

First, Africa was finally given a place in the international community because of New Imperialism. For hundreds of years, an entire fifth of the inhabited Earth was excluded from the world’s most important decisions. But because of New Imperialism, they were able to

When learning about the history of the world, we can not ignore the fact that Africa plays a significant role. Many believe that Africa is the birth place of all races, and although that is true, the history and cultures of Africa and its natives are misunderstood among Americans. People do not take the time to expand their knowledge about Africa, yet they create their own perceptions of the continent based upon the image that America created. America creates this stereotype that Africa is inferior to the other continents by picturing them as savage like individuals who live an insufficient life. To truly understand Africa, you must understand these two important elements: the demographics of Africa and the true history of Africa

There are many myths and stereotypes of how the media portrays Africa to be. The media has stereotyped Africa to be poor, hazardous, hot, underdeveloped nation, violent and spiritual country (p, 37). In the chapter “How We Learn”, Curtis Keim focuses on the specific sources that stereotypes Africa to be over populated country with exotic animals. Also stereotypes the people to be illiterate and not well educated people. People take negativity from different sources of media and base their opinion upon the information given and that is how people learn about Africa.

Modern African states have various problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. Africa’s ongoing political instability and economic crisis have hindered the improvement of Africa. Thus, the lack of money, advancement in technology, and climate has hampered economic development. Despite European mistreatment and oppression African’s have endured hardships that have encouraged economy, education, and political

Ohuoba’s “The Perception of Africa” shows how Africa has been stereotyped across America in ways including but not limited to: school textbooks, mass media, and news broadcasts. The essay expresses the continent of Africa as more than just poverty and clay roads seen on news broadcasts. Included in the essay was a short story of African native child that lives in the United States and studies about her continent in class. The child is baffled about all the perceptions of her homeland through her textbook and the children her class. Only the negative is studied and talked about rather than the good aspects of Africa. This demonstrates how one can be influenced to think something is worse than what it is.

When most think of Africa, they automatically think hot and dry. Africa's climate is hot in most places, however, due to elevation some places are much cooler than others. The diverse climates of Africa leads to a diverse economy. The distance from the equator, elevation and rainfall amounts all help to determine the economy of that particular geographic location, therefore some people engage in mining to make a living.

The colonization of Africa by the Europeans led to to years of hardship and discrimination. European countries fought each other for more land and demolished both relationships and cultures. Although Europe can be credited for “modernizing” Africa, bringing roads, transportation, and communications, the destruction they brought with them far outweighed the good.

Africa is an extremely vast land comprised of unimaginable wealth in natural resources, and an even richer history. Sadly its exiguous population, whom many believe to be the oldest in the world, is completely impoverished, underdeveloped and marred with limited and corrupt governance. The people of Africa have been the victims of cultural rape time and time again-by Arab slave traders, adventurous European explores who found that the African people are worth more than gold and forced them to pay with their soul, exploited by colonial “do-gooders”and ravaged by self-serving neighbors, just to name a few. Strategies of Western nations to help bring salvation to the African people from earth’s torture and misery, always seemed to fail. Therefore it’s hard to believe anyone in Africa had any hope left in them at all. For a good majority of African people China’s entry and immersion into their land couldn’t have come fast enough, yet there were many others, foreign and domestic whom only harbored suspicion, and doubt regarding their new colonizers and for good reason, history has not been kind. This essay will first explore the driving forces behind China’s immersion into Africa, next I will delve into explaining the differences in how Western nations and China are handling African problems. Next I will discuss the pros and cons of Chinas neo-colonization and conclude the essay with why I believe China is just a wolf in sheep’s clothing denying imperialistic objectives.

This chapter in Africans and Their History by Joseph Harris presents some of the roots of the stereotypes and myths about Africa in the past and for the most part are still held today. Harris discusses how the “greats” of history, geography, and literature starting a path of devaluation of Africans that writers after their time followed. Harris also denounced the language that these “greats” used to describe and talk about Africans. He asserts that this language inherently painted Africans as inferior and subhuman.

Let me ask you all here a question, who here has taken a course that was specifically targeted at learning about Africa in which it discussed any part of it whether it be the continent’s history, diversity, or current events? It does not surprise me at all that nobody here has taken a course similar to the one I described, but despite the lack of formal education on this topic, I’m sure some of you are confident enough to tell me that Africa is simply suffers from a widespread of poverty and contains a myriad of tribes. Responses like these are the reason why I am here to speak to you today and why the National Africana Studies Association

there is something interesting – and indeed surprising - about Africa, it is a continent where smart fastidious individuals can capitalize on the gullibility of others and make millions within the twinkling of an eye. It is a place where even monkey’s red ass, back up with a little lie and persuasion, can be marketed as omnipotent product and sold for millions of dollars for simple minded individuals.