What are some prevalent perceptions of Africa? Poverty, primitivism, inferior? These are commonly misunderstood stereotypes of Africa. In Laura Green article the “Negative Racial Stereotypes and their Effect on Attitudes towards African-Americans” she explain that Stereotypes are "cognitive structures that contain the perceiver's knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about human groups”. Stereotypes of Africa and Africans can be dated back to slavery. Slavery is a prominent contributor to the development of stereotypes about Africans. Western societies over the past hundreds of year have portrayed Africans as being primitive and inferior. How have western stereotypes helped to instill a rather one sided story about Africa and Africans? The …show more content…
In Chimamanda Adichie Ted Talk: “The Danger of the Single Story” she elaborated on the terms, African authenticity. Here she explained that her novel was not considered authentic because it does not replicate the stereotypes of Africa. She was dismayed by this comment because her novel reflects where she is originated from, which is Nigeria. This is essential because countries in Africa have different cultures and beliefs. Some countries are developed with booming economy, while others are still in the primitive state. This context can be attributed to African artwork in western societies because artwork that does not include some form of wildlife or underdeveloped environment is not considered authentically African. A good example of a primitive Artwork would be “San eland rock painting, South Africa (no date)”. This is one of many artwork that illustrates the primitive side of …show more content…
This is more impactful than artwork and movies because most of the information is conveyed as reality and it reaches a broader audience. Advertisement that visualizes starving Africans with no running water sends a message out that can be perceived wrongly. These advertisements greatly influences Individuals' beliefs about Africa. People then view these problems as a general issue in Africa rather than an issue in a single country. As I have mentioned before the majority of the Ads are there to help under privilege individuals, but it also influences how the youths growing up visualize Africa. Making Ads as specific and direct will gradually influence how people look at the Continent of Africa. Mentioning the specific country that the ads are directed towards is more beneficial and it contributes towards reducing
One of the reasons Africa was so easily infiltrated by European powers was their use of propaganda and dehumanizing efforts of the citizens, thereby prompting less impediment from European citizens. This as well as the slave trade in the United States has left unconsciously unfavorable view of the people of African, people in
In today’s society there are many stereotypes surrounding the black community, specifically young black males. Stereotypes are not always blatantly expressed; it tends to happen subconsciously. Being born as a black male puts a target on your back before you can even make an impact on the world. Majority of these negative stereotypes come from the media, which does not always portray black males in the best light. Around the country black males are stereotyped to be violent, mischievous, disrespectful, lazy and more. Black males are seen as a threat to people of different ethnicities whether it is in the business world, interactions with law enforcement or even being in the general public. The misperceptions of black males the make it extremely difficult for us to thrive and live in modern society. Ultimately, giving us an unfair advantage simply due to the color of our skin; something of which we have no control.
As a consumer of this materialistic country, I can sometimes feel overwhelmed with all of the advertisements that exist and are thrust at me constantly. While some of them can be cute or creative and occasionally put a smile on my face, the majority of them exasperate me with their stupidity. However, when an advertisement is done correctly and the quality of it astounds the viewer, something amazing can happen. People can start to talk about what they have been impressed by, and word-of-mouth creates further advertising. Advertising is a form of art that reaches millions of people at once and can affect their view on not just the product, but on the entire idea of advertising itself.
Bryant H. McGill once said “Education should prepare our minds to use its own powers of reason and conception rather than filling it with the accumulated misconceptions of the past” (McGill ). There are misconceptions all around us; people look at certain things in a particular manner but what each person sees comes from their background. I have recently come to the realization that there are many misconceptions held about the African continent; my current class has helped me see these misconceptions and understand why they are incorrect and how I formed them. With the help of our Western society, I developed beliefs that Africa was a continent full of poverty, civil unrest, and in desperate need of help. Much of the media coverage in Africa showed droughts, famine, the need for clean drinking water; everything that was exposed to the American population about Africa through these channels carried a negative connotation. I was never taught or informed about the complex culture and fascinating traditions that make up such a diverse continent. The ancient kingdoms of West Africa were complex, developed civilizations that had rich culture, traditions, values, norms and skills that exceeded those of societies of the rest of the world such as European ones. In this paper, I will first further explain some of the common misconceptions that I had about African in general and about their ancient kingdoms.
As a group, we believe that popular culture does in fact perpetuates stereotypes. Television is a main source of information of popular culture. Television has forever changed how humans have interacted with another and introduce a world of diversity and knowledge. But with this profit, television has also harbored negative aspects. As a group, we studied how racial stereotypes are portrayed in television. In the history of television, different racial and ethnic groups have been widely underrepresented and television itself has been overwhelming represented by white figures. And when racial groups are presented on TV, the characters are often played in limited roles based on stereotypes. A stereotype isn’t necessarily untrue, but it is an assumption based on an incomplete and complex ideas that are oversimplified into something that isn’t what it meant to be, and it’s usually negative. For example, African Americans are often depicted as violent or involved in some kind of criminal activity. Their characters often portrays a person who is always sassy and angry or that isn’t intelligent and won’t succeed in life and inferior to whites in some manner. Asian characters are
Africa is a continent with two fronts. First is the façade that Americans create with our misrepresentations and stereotypes. They tend to be negative and create a negative image for those who live on the continent. The other front is the truth. Although there are some truths in American connotations, it isn’t the full truth. The stereotypes make two people look bad – Africa and those who do the stereotyping. Misrepresentations are created from a variety of different things, but it is up to the ignorant to teach themselves the truths that lie in Africa.
Africa is made of 400 million people throughout 50 countries with 800 different languages, which is probably difficult for communication and understanding of each other's. Leading again to Africa taking power of the world. Europe had labeled Africa as the "Dark Continent" because they didn't know much about it. Even though thousands of years ago their customs and ways of doing things originated from Africa.
As humans in our society, we are categorized by stereotypes everyday, I never considered that just mentally identifying with these stereotypes can unconsciously affect my performance. Researcher and author, Shankar Vedantam, in his article suggests that reminding people of their stereotypes can negatively affect their academic performance among other things. He supports this claim by providing data collected from experimental trials, statements from scientists studying the theory and finally real life situations where the theory applies. Vedantam’s purpose is to use the information he found to give notice to the phenomenon. He adopts a didactic tone for the readers of the Washington Post.
The history of humankind reveals interesting realities about the earth as the home of man. Today a lot of white people are defacing our artifacts and erasing the true history of where they come from; while also destroying the image of a person of color. Here in America we see tons of black men who don’t date black women as they do in other countries. Many misconceptions of prejudice and stereotypes nature have been held about Africa as a continent and its people.
Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those stereotypes.
African Art has played a significant role in shaping the culture and history of the world around us. Stokstad describes the belief that Africa is the cradle of history of mankind and how that belief is quite unshakeable. Origins of African art date back long before recorded history, and is many centuries old. The basic subject within African art is the human figure. The art aspect of this culture deals with strong formal qualities which were exhibited with the strong design features that create balance and harmony, as seen in almost all pieces of work from this time. There are quite a few subgenres to African Art, which Stokstad demonstrates as the chapter progresses, and the earliest art form in Africa goes by the title of Rock Art1. Africa contains the oldest and greatest amount of Rock Art on Earth. The Saharan Rock art is located in central Sahara contains images that span a period of thousands of years. The earliest
In the Western world European colonialism is hailed as an accomplishment. It is the time where Europeans flourished economically after finding and taking control of the lands of the New World. Because of European colonialism and the need for free labor, millions of Africans were forced from their homeland and were forced into slavery. Years later the Europeans came back to colonize and take the rich resources of Africa without any regard to the native people who lived there. Though colonialism ended in the United Stated in the 1700’s and other parts of the Americas in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, many of its racial and injustices are still an ingrained in society today There have been many instances where groups of people within African
Bohannan, Paul, and Philip Curtin. Africa & Africans . Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc. , 1995.
Music is another addition that can help increase the effectiveness of a global advertisement. A popular song in one region being played in the background of a commercial can add the local appeal that a product needs to help it sell. Music can also set the tone of a commercial and can help make the consumer feel the way that advertiser wants. An upbeat song can make the consumer feel that buying the product will also make them feel upbeat and happy. Music can also be easily changed in different countries without having to completely change the main video for a digital
Africa is a continent that is full of life, history, and future discoveries that should be regarded as one of the learning meccas of the world. It is the second largest continent by area and population, which makes it three times as large as the United States. Africa is a place many people travel to in order to learn, relax, and discover new ideas in order to improve the country. Africa is sometimes shed a bad light on due to its poverty in some parts of the continent. But many of the everyday things we use come from African countries. Also, many exotic plants and animals live in Africa that is not available for purchase anywhere else in the world. Growing up in both private and public schooling, Africa has not been a major topic of interest