Misrepresentations And Stereotypes In Africa

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Recommended: Western influence on Africa

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.
One of the first mentions of stereotyping is mentioned on page 15 of the textbook. Although it is not direct stereotyping of a culture, it is a mistreatment or misrepresentation of a place unlike our own. We put businesses in Africa and profited from them and sent missionaries to try and change the African culture, much like the Americanization that happened in
“For us, to be part of a tribe sounds exotic and somewhat primitive.” (Keim 99) In our minds, tribal means a primal attachment to kin or a certain way of living, almost like a cult. While Africans do have attachments to kin, “they also have professional, religious, regional, national, and other loyalties.” (Keim 99) As mentioned in the chapter, the scholars of Africa have even shied from using the term Africa because of its negative connotations. The word tribe was started by the Europeans in order to categorize and organize people of one culture or affiliation. So, once again, the stereotype is rooted in legacy. Classifying “tribes” in Africa would be like comparing the different social classes we have in America. I imagine that a “lower-middle class” American would not like to be classed as the lower class just because of the neighborhood they happen to live

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