Misconceptions: West Africa

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.

Then I will use the film “ Kingdoms of Africa: West Africa” in order to explain how complex and advanced these societies like Benin were by looking at their deep culture, complex traditions and their highly skilled

laborers.
Many people would say that Africa has a tarnished image; often times there is more of a negative connotation when referring to events taking place there than positive ones. I grew up not knowing much about Africa; I knew that the first humans came from the continent and that many of the European powers colonized over many regions in the early 1800’s. But I never learned anything about Africa before the colonial period. All the textbooks and classes I took until this point in my life focused on the colonial period and onwards. This class has allowed me to truly see that Africa had a past before the colonial period; they have a rich history that was completely separate from the Europeans involvement. Africa has had vast and powerful Kingdoms in which there was advanced technology, art, music, literature; Africa had all this long before the arrival of the Europeans. This is a fact that many people do not take into consideration.
The film “ Kingdoms of Africa: West Africa” focuses on the Kingdom of Benin which reached its height in the 16th century in modern day Nigeria and today Benin city houses about 1 million Africans. The architecture and the sculptures that are found in the city tell the tale of a vast empire that had power, prestige and many skilled laborers which performed beautiful and complex tasks. Many often thought that African kingdoms where rudimentary, not civilized compared to the rest of the world. But the film demonstrates how the kingdom had a complex and advanced “network of trenches and walls that zig zagged around the city for 1,000 miles” in order to protect themselves from intruders (Kingdoms of Africa:West Africa). When the British attempted to enter the city by force, a majority of them were killed by Benin's guards; a month later the British retaliated and raided the city but were astonished with what they found. They could not believe that the beautiful and complex pottery, stones, sculptures had been created by Africans; “over 2,000 pieces were taken sold and distributed to Western museums” (Kingdoms of Africa:West Africa). The reactions of the British allowed me to realize that it was these Europeans that created the sense of superiority over the Africans. It was through them that the