Stereotypes Of African Culture Essay

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.

Racial stereotypes have always been a serious issue in society. The stereotypes impact many aspects of our life. We more or less get carried away by our perceptions toward race, and judge people in a certain frame unconsciously, as Omi set forth in In Living Color: Race and American Culture. Taken by Hilary Swift, this photo presents an African American woman, waiting for a bus that can take her to the Kitchen of Love, a food pantry that located in Philadelphia aiming to feed people suffering from hunger, where she volunteers. It happens in dawn so it’s still dark outside. The surroundings give us an idea that it should take place in a black neighborhood (Stolberg “Black Voters, Aghast at Trump, Find a Place of Food and Comfort”). The woman is staring at the direction where the bus is coming, with a smile on her face. As a photojournalistic image, this photo is aiming to portrait a kind and helpful African American woman, however, does this photo really “positively” portrait an African American woman?

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.

Stereotypes can be defined as schemas applied to a group of people sharing common physical, biological or racial characteristics. Focusing on education, African American students had consistently been negatively stereotyped about their intellectual abilities. Research indicates that racial stereotypes negatively affect African American students’ academic performance. This correlation, though, is clearest among salient African American students, implying that psychological factors may result from these discriminations.

Africa is the second largest continent in the world that was shaped 550 million years ago. Houses 800 million people that speak more than one-thousand languages and regional dialects. I was amazed that the native people of this region could speak many different languages. Africa is known for its vegetation, rainfall, mineral resources, and topography. The vast majority of its geography is grassland and woodlands that support the migration of animals and livestock. There must be warm weather and rainfall, which is heavily relied upon for vegetation. The largest river that flows upward, but has a span that runs from the top of Africa to the bottom is called the Nile River. Africa is mostly recognized for its enormous enriched deposits of mineral resources. Learning about the importance of Africa is truly exceptional. Whenever someone thinks about Africa the first thought is, this is where blacks come from. People don’t talk about how wealthy Africa is nor do they shed positive light on this region. This continent is thought to be poor and a developing country, but this the ideal place for humankind to emerge. Although, I was unaware of the mitochondrial DNA tree study I was mind-blown. This study shows

For many years there has been a lot of talk about what Africans think of African Americans and sometimes most of it isn't in the most positive light, and vice versa. As a Black American myself I want to delve deep into this argument that has been going back and forth for years. I feel that it is important for Africans and African Americans to understand each other, learn from each other because there are only certain things that are mainly different about each group but at the end of the day we are the same.

What’s one thing that most Americans have in common? It can be seen as they walk down the streets with their head hung low, wait in doctors’ offices as they lean against the wall and on the bus or train as they seclude themselves in a world of their own making. Give up? The one thing that most Americans have in common, but don’t realize it is their mutual dependency on all forms of media to get them through the day. While media has it perks, there are some drawbacks where certain ethnicities are concerned. Take for instance the black man and his black female counterpart, often, are given roles that display black people in a negative light which in turn assigns them negative stereotypes. The negative media bias towards those of African Americans

Humans have a natural instinct to try to understand unfamiliar demographics based on information displayed to them via media outlets and other people; this instinct is called stereotyping. Stereotypes are "cognitive structures that contain the perceiver 's knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about human groups" (Green). Stereotypes have been proven to affect young adolescents. Media depicts African Americans in stereotypical ways that negatively affect self-esteem, therefore all media outlets should display African Americans in a more realistic and rational way.

African Americans have been represented in the media with harmful stereotypes which were founded in the slavery era (Cartier, 2014)(Carpenter, 2012). This negative representation invites bias from those who accept the images, the distortion of which is accentuated by both sexism and racism. Black women are the least represented group in cinema, making it easier to rely on stereotypes which encourage societal bias. From these stereotypes, like the Jezebel and Sapphire, stem the “real world” stereotypes of the welfare queen and the crack mother (Carpenter, 2012), showing that media portrayals have shaped public perception regarding black women. While certain genres have seen a rise in portrayals of diversity, overall Hollywood as an industry remains unchanged, inaccurately representing minorities (Smith et al., 2016).

Everything isn't as plain as black and white. It's a matter of gray, or color. When we think of grays, we picture big-headed black eyes teetering on scrawny bodies. Terms modeled after the extraterrestrial idea are alien species. A species that has been introduced to living outside its native distribution range, whether accidental or deliberate. When we think of color we imagine something close to Skittles--"taste the rainbow"--imagination or racism. The modern victim of racism, African-Americans, we're forced from their native land and ended up thriving on alien territory where they were despised by the minority--hence, the Three-Fifths Compromise. They were the alien species introduced to living outside their native land, deliberately.

In the U.S, stereotyping is alive and functioning well. A stereotype is a widely held fixed and a simplified idea or image of a given type of a person or a thing. It has been rampant in the country and it has a negative impact. Stereotyping occurs when people judge others based on their gender, their job, their cultural, religious or ethnic background. It has resulted in unfair discrimination of people in the country. People also miss important aspects of the people they stereotype (Inzlicht et al., 230). Through stereotyping, people are not able to achieve their full potential and the country's social development slows down. There are many suggestions that have been placed forward in an effort to end stereotyping,

As an African American we have so many stereotypes of how an African American community should be. We strive for solidarity on so many topics like family, church, politics, and culture. When we do not act the same we get shamed in our own community for not acting black enough. These stereotypes are too limiting, because not everyone is the same. We should not be categorized by our community or what anybody else think is right. Traditionally and stereotypically, in the African-American community we ascribe to a certain definition of "blackness." These traditions and stereotypes surface in phrases like "acting black," "talking black," etc. What does your not acting black even mean, some people pass it around like it is supposed to a trait or characteristic.

The author conducted a study that “sought to examine specific perceptions (i.e., occupational roles, negative personality characteristics, low achieving status, and positive stereotypes) of African American portrayals on television.” (Punyanunt 241). The results of the survey illustrated that viewers consider negative portrayals apply to real life and the positive portrayals associated with people of color are unrealistic. In addition, Punyanunt applies psychological evaluations of the situation by incorporating the cultivation theory. Lastly, the method of the research, a 412 students of communication studies students are given a questionnaire revolving around African American views on TV. The results a are demonstrated through

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.