Africa Vs Latin America

When I began reading Chapter 1 of “Mistaking Africa,” it reminded me of our first class meeting. Professor Crowley asked us to do the same exercise Curtis Keim talks about in the text. Professor Crowley asked us what comes to mind when we think about Africa. It is a great exercise and allow us to express our perceptions of Africa. Even in class, it took me time to think about what comes to mind when I hear the word Africa, because I have not really heard much about it besides the common misconceptions: “Africa is a primitive place, full of trouble and wild animals, and in need of our help” (5). I frequently see the UNICEF commercial with Alyssa Milano, who asks her viewers how it would feel to be able to save a child’s life for fifty cents a day. The commercial precedes to play really depressing music and shows a slideshow of undernourished children, who fend for themselves in

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.

Like many other continents in the world Africa has a lot of differences in itself for example there are differences in geography ,language, politics, religion and other things in life due to Africa’s lack of political government over an extended period of time.

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 has had a long and tumultuous road of colonization and decolonization the rush to colonize Africa started in the 17th century with the discovery of the vast amounts of gold, diamonds, and rubber with colonization hitting a fever pitch during World War I. However, the repercussions of colonization have left deep wounds that still remain unhealed in the 21st century. Early on, European nations such as Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium scrambled for territories. Countries wanted land so they could harvest the resources, increase trade, and gain power. The European colonization of Africa brought racism, civil unrest, and insatiable greed; all of which have had lasting impacts on Africa.

The cultural diversity and advancements portray the progression developed in African history. The growth of these two subcontinents prove that American and European historians were incorrect on how advanced and civilized Africa was.

An unfortunate fact of the world is that racism is everywhere. There is no country or continent that can claim to have never felt the effects of racism. Each place has a different history of racism, and currently deal with it in varying ways. Latin America is no exception. The history of racism in Latin America is quite unique, and because it is such a racially diverse continent. Just like other areas in the world, Latin American countries face problems of racial inequality and injustice. Many of these countries are taking steps forward in hopes of reaching a more equal way of live for people of all races, but it is a slow process. Race in Latin America is much different than it is in the United States, and for that reason the same steps that the United States take to ease racial tensions won't necessarily work as well in Latin America.

The gap between Africa and Afro-America and the gap between the living and the dead and the gap between the past and the present does not exist. It 's bridged for us by our assuming responsibility for people no one 's ever assumed responsibility for. Slavery may be buried within the history books in our libraries, but America itself is not free because it is still afraid of reading about slavery and shies away from the topic. Contemporary readers have a responsibility to take the leading role in remembering history of American slavery. The internationalization of contemporary English means that reading is the best tool for doing this and bridging the gap (Bennett and Royle, 238).

During the post-classical period, there was islam everywhere. You could see it in architecture, in laws and codes, and in the people themselves; but as islam diffused throughout eurasia, several places received it differently. The different impacts that islam had on these individual is shown in the prime examples of south asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In both of these countries, Islam allowed trade to flourish and facilitated the spread of knowledge, but as the religion spread to different regions, who converted and how it affected political empire varied greatly, dependant on the region and culture involved.

Going into my sophomore year of high school I was fortunate enough to get accepted by the Schuler Scholar Program. In the program each scholar is a assigned a reading coach. During the first session my reading coach, Wyatt, told me to write down a couple questions that I had about anything. When I heard "anything" the first thing that came to my mind was Africa. For a while I've been wondering about the topic. Since my step father’s mother is from Africa, it is a topic that comes up a lot at the dinner table. Sometimes we visit his mother’s side of the family, and they make African food and play music and it is always a good time. Being African American and white, I have always wanted to learn more about the culture and roots of my African American side. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to do just that. So in my journal I wrote "Why isn't Africa the most powerful continent"

9.Nationalism is an intense pride in one nation. It could be a both negative and positive force. Europe, Latin America, Middle- East. Africa and Asia’s government use this method to unite diverse population. Africa proceed to go their own movement because most of their land is colonized by the europeans. With Nationalism Africa was able to detach themselves from britain and become an independent state. Asia

Africa is a continent plagued by misinformed and false stereotypes, rarely being seen or portrayed as what it really is. Countless amounts of myths and ideas are formulated based off of single stories or one-sided stories from the region, often without a second thought. These stereotypes give Africa an overall negative image to the rest of the world and suppress the reality that is hidden behind the slew of stereotypes. The belief that all of Africa is poor and undeveloped is an uninformed statement that harms the reality and worsens the image of the continent by perpetuating an incomplete idea into the world.

Latin America has a history of colonization and, therefore, oppression. Latin American history is similar to that of Africa and the Caribbean; the people all suffered colonization and were ruled over by European countries. This legacy of European rule and oppression has left its mark in the literature of Latin America. Themes of hopelessness and the search for identity are common. Latin American literature uses tone to establish these themes of self-evaluation and hopelessness.

The myth and stereotypes about Africa are not anything new and they are very present in our daily lives and the way Africa is portrayed. For example the reason why many people today think that Africa is bleak land of poverty and diseases is because early writers, historians, and geographers talked about Africa in that way. Because these stereotypes are so readily available, they infiltrate people’s daily thinking. Furthermore this makes people less likely to actually seek to really learn about Africa because they feel that their [inaccurate] suffice for their worldview of Africa. This is in turn leads people completely ignoring anything that contract their already established ideas.

Some would say the western world has always had a flawed view or understanding of Africa and African cultures. The author of Things Fall Apart; Chinua Achebe once wrote a paper on Joseph Conrad's “Heart of Darkness” and how it had a negative impact on the readers. He notes how “Heart of Darkness” sets up Africa as a foil to Europe and how this affecting a new generations view of Africa. In the paper he references some of the experiences he’s had with the so-called “ignorance” of the western word; “The young fellow from Yonkers is obviously unaware that the life of his own tribesmen in Yonkers, New York, is full of odd customs and superstitions and, like everybody else in his culture, imagines that he needs a trip to Africa to encounter