How We Learn By Outsiders Keem

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.

In Binyavanga Wainaina’s essay “How to Write About Africa”, the author sardonically offers advice to Westerners writing about Africa. Wainaina’s satirical tone is seen throughout the essay urging Western writers to “use the word ‘Africa’ or ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari” and more stereotype simplifications of African Culture. He directly addresses the audience multiple times throughout the paper “without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.” Although the text may seem like it is directed toward a journalist or an anthropologist attempting to write about the continent of Africa, this is a satirical piece that has a greater purpose. Which is offering constructive social criticism.

In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.

Africa has been seen by the Western world as a ‘dark’ continent and very little was known about its land or people. Geological explorations showed that the Sahara desert was initially a fertile area, overflowing in lush vegetation, animal and men. Climatic changes were responsible for the formation of the desert. Africa, therefore, came to be known as an inhospitable place, in spite of areas of with great rivers, thick forests and vast green-lands. This was mainly because the greater part of the continent was separated from Mediterranean civilization and was not open to outside influences.

Africa’s has obtained a poor representation of its deep past, during the past couple of weeks we have watched, read and researched information on this topic. Africa has been known to be backwards, poor, and disconnected from the rest of the world. Which we have proven false throughout this course, as a result, we will focus on five maps and a few readings that have proven Africa’s deep past has had inquired and false truths.

I have watched this TedTalk many times other classes. The speaker, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, gives a very powerful speech and there were two important themes that stood out to me the most. The first one being related to culture and how people form stereotypes based off literature they have read growing up. She talked about how until she began reading African books, she thought that African people with similar identities to hers never belonged in literature. She also talked about how before her American roommate met her she formed stereotypical assumptions about what type of music she would like or was shocked at how well she spoke English. This relates to the story, I Didn’t Know There Were Cities in Africa, because children books teach students from a young age certain stereotypes, that tends to affect their future learning. Similar to how the students didn’t know there were cities in Africa, she didn’t know that literature could contain characters of similar identities to hers. It also relates to my MAP interview that I conducted. My interviewee talked about how people here in the U.S. make assumptions about her because of the travel ban and because she is Iranian.

While watching the Ted Talk titled, Africa’s Next Boom by Charles Robertson, my perspective changed a lot. It changed because he talked about the percentage of people with HIV infection and malaria has decreased twenty seven percent. This goes against my original perspective about Africa being full of disease and having a crazy large amount of disease. I now know that Africa’s percentage of many diseases is decreasing and will continue to decrease as time goes on, which completely changes my initial thoughts. Also in the Ted Talk, Africa’s Next Boom, I learned that the education system is growing and will eventually be very powerful within the next years. I also learned that because the education system is growing, it is helping the growth of many more things, like government because more and more people will be educated. My original stereotypes also changed once I read the article from the Chicago Tribune titled, Opening Eyes to the True Africa by Thom Khanje, once again my perspective changed. It changed because I thought that Africa had lots of poverty and lots of war. While reading this I learned that the poverty figures are decreasing a large amount each year. I also learned that only five out of fifty two nations in Africa are at war. Both of these changed my initial idea of Africa. Between the Ted Talk and the article, the idea of a single story really came about. Both changed

When one thinks of Africa they usually think of a desert with primitive tribes, but that is not all that Africa holds. The continent of Africa is diverse. The food for example is very diverse. The religion in Africa is diverse, and the environment in Africa is diverse.

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, debated amongst many scholars, is considered one of the best short stories of the twentieth century. Yet the novella’s racism, perennial stereotypes and neglect to emphasize the diverse culture and people of Africa should be addressed. The novella will continue to present the stereotype of Africa as primeval and homogenous , negatively affecting the world’s perception of the

(Pieterse 1992: 227) says that, “The racism that has developed is not an American or European one, but a Western one”. With the global exportation of Western popular culture, it is no surprise that racist Western iconography and ideology have enjoyed immense popularity as well. The different components of Africa are stereotyped to be uncivilized due to the lack of technology. This causes Africa to be stereotyped as a victim, not only a victim of past transgressions of colonialism and slavery but a victim of illness and diseases which inflict penuriousness upon the land. Often in today's society Africa is portrayed as victim and by victimizing Africa this avails Africa overcome the post-colonial tropes of looking as people now visually examine

Christina: When you picture Africa, what do you see? Some may answer that they see the wide open plains of the Savannah and the immense diversity of animals that inhabit it. Others may envision the huge thriving cities in South Africa where tourists often visit to enjoy the beaches or take a stroll through a national park. Even others may imagine the indigenous peoples who still live all throughout Africa and whose ways of life are so starkly different from those of Western societies and other parts of the world. No matter what you imagine, it is easy to see that Africa is associated with a variety of images, but which one is accurate?

The false perception of Africa has been engraved into multiple minds so the truth becomes impossible to comprehend. Overtime, the Europeans discovery of Africa has lead to numerous debates about how stable Africa truly was. Figuratively, Africa has always been viewed as place in need of constant saving, however, in actuality, Africa has always been a diverse continent, never requiring any saving.

Another topic heavily discussed by those interviewed was the economic status of those in Africa today. Jamie spoke about her concern for African poverty, “I would have to say that I care most about the high amount of poverty in Africa, I mean our poor over here is their rich”. Another interviewee, Allison expressed a similar sentiment, “I care most about the underdevelopment of Africa, there’s a lot of people over there that is less fortunate than we are over here and they have less opportunities over there”. This phenomenon of Africa being perceived as underdeveloped was discussed by Walter Rodney in How Africa Developed

In the book The Last Train to Zona Verde, Paul Theroux is able to change the way in which the Western hemisphere looks upon Africa. What is usually associated with Africa is a deplorable place of famine and malady, a bottomless pit where billions of dollars of aid are thrown into each year. That, or one of the most beautiful, expensive places in the world one can visit. For a couple of thousands of dollars, if not tens of thousands of dollars, one can see all that he or she desires in Africa. However, what people imagine or want from Africa is not its daily reality. Theroux looks behind the exotic safari trips and nights spent at expensive hotels, exclusively offered for the either naïve or ignorant, rich tourist, realizing that Africa is

Africa is considered one of the poorest and filthiest continents in the world. Bu that is not true, that it is the single story of Africa. A single story is what Chimamanda from “ The dangers of a single story ” considers to be what people are shown over and over and that is what they think is true. For example, if CNN showed everyone in Africa struggling for food that would be the single story of how some people may think everyone is in Africa. But, some other Africans could be watching the news report on their new flat screen TV. Africans take offense of how everyone thinks that it is a horrible country and it is not their fault, it is the media's job to fix it.