why was africa portrayed as backwards
Moreover, the views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of Inquiries Journal or Student Pulse, its owners, staff, contributors, or affiliates. … Africa is indeed behind of all the continents but not backward. The white supremacy machine makes sure that the stories of Africa’s failures are propagated whereas It is a view that is as nonsensical and it is patronising and racist. An African lady who has a computer, can type and speak english as well as my native language. I honestly don't see any excuse as to why blacks didn't advance anything passed spears and loin cloths. The most significant of these novels is Henry Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines published in 1885. Analyzing the Impact of Israeli Security Policy on Palestinian Manufacturing Productivity, Improving Medical Humanitarianism: Pitfalls and Best Practices for International Aid, United States Patents, Biopiracy, and Cultural Imperialism: The Theft of India's Traditional Knowledge, Changes in Estonian Defense Policy Following Episodes of Russian Aggression, Old History in the "New" Cuba: Exploring the Legacy of Race and Economic Inequality on the Island Today, Before Drones: U.S. Covert Action in Africa During the Congo Crisis, The Spectator, “Colonialism’s Back and Not a Moment too Soon.” January 1993. Interstate - Journal of International Affairs [Online], 1996/1997. “Africa is backward because Africans are backward”, this is a Eurocentric narrative told over and over again based on a Eurocentric vision of Africa created by the powerful White supremacy propaganda machine. Bad news sells well. At the outset,... http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1156, International NGOs and the 'New Humanitarian Agenda'. Since independence in the 50's/60's African countries still seem to be quite backward both socially and economically . In the 21st century, there’s never been more focus on Africa than now. Why search out the most miserable environments to film in and continue propagating negative stereotypes of Africa as a nest of poverty and problems?". Secondly, what were the real issues that were concealed in the media’s misrepresentations? Responding to a reporter’s question as to why … 1997. His message was clear: with so many young men coming into the labour market and only a few jobs to go round, conflict, possibly war, is simply a matter of time. Re: My theory on why Africa is so backwards. 1997. In many cases, this criticism is justified. and/or the individual authors according to agreements set forth by and between the publishing journal and the author. It's Always Hot in Africa. More recently there has been open talk of recolonizing Africa. But Africans, especially those living abroad, fret about the perception of their continent and its inhabitants because their future often depends on the opinions of those in whose country they reside. Remi Adekoya.
, Biney, Amy. The mass media is not neutral in the news it chooses to disseminate on Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is very fertile but impossible to defend. Where is Africa's answer to Al Jazeera? These two conflicts also provide some concrete examples of the gross misrepresentations of issues and images of Africans. Such answer lacks historical support, so they aim at only justifying their act of colonizing Africa … I shall now examine how the Western media covered the conflicts in Somalia from 1991-1993 and Rwanda from 1994 to 1995. Before that, in Leopold’s Congo, locals were called " indigene " or backwards. Since the early 1990s, rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia has become a major issue for global trade and security, prompting strong responses from the international community. Novels by European explorers and adventure seeking hunters played their part in perpetuating a negative image of Africa and the Africans. Why Africans worry about how Africa is portrayed in western media. Unlike the Mammy figure, this trope depicted African American women as aggressive, loud, and angry - in direct violation of social norms. Certainly, Africa has ruthless and corrupt Moi’s, Mobutu’s, Bokassa’s, but these leaders have been propped up (and in Mobutu’s case, installed) by Western governments. Poor countries don't equal black people. Author has 80 answers and 12.7K answer views. It approaches African history in a racist way, for example the reasons given by the europeans nations for colonizing Africa was the responsibility of Whites to civilize the backward people of Africa. Many, many African Nations since Independence have only gone backwards: “while food production has grown globally by 145% over the past 40 years, African food production has fallen by 10% since 1960. From the era of Africa’s enslavement and colonial rule, traders, missionaries, adventurers and explorers have all played a role in perpetuating and disseminating certain images of Africa. "The Western Media and Africa: Issues of Information and Images." There are many African countries that are well along their way. I expect to finish the trip in North Africa in 2017. Educating the world on the central role African Americans have played in American music is the mission of the new National Museum of African American Music in Nashville. On account of this lack of historical and analytical examination, most Western reports resort to attributing all conflicts in Africa to primordial irrationality and “tribalism”. Thanks to the revolutions sweeping through North Africa and the Middle East, Africa has the world’s attention.But just because all eyes happen to be on Africa at the moment doesn’t mean myths about this part of the world have been dispelled. General. 'Africans, especially those living abroad, fret about the perception of their continent and its inhabitants.' "Does the whole of Africa have this demographic problem?" For instance, I know British passport holders in the UK who keep secret their Nigerian roots at work because of the negative perceptions created by the country's notorious e-scammers. These views are nothing but a modernised repackaging of the British colonial view of Africa and Africans as incapable of managing their own affairs. Although there are countries in Africa that are usually hot all year round … The ideology emerged under European colonial rule during the 19th and 20th centuries and was loosely inspired by nationalist ideas from Europe. Fourthly “information” is not neutral. We are called a third world nation because our brothers and sisters can not speak with one big voice. Wars disorient people and leave them destitute. These ideas continue to permeate the perspectives Western journalists, editors and academics adopt when writing about Africa. Also, many African professionals in Europe I have spoken to get exhausted by constantly being underestimated in their workplaces because it is assumed that since they grew up and went to school in a poor, backward environment (as many presume all of Africa is), they can't know terribly much after all. French President Emmanuel Macron should have known his comments about Africa at the G-20 summit this month would spark an angry backlash. The Western Media and Africa: Issues of Information and Images. Saharan Africa is overwhelmingly infertile, and has only limited numbers of defensible places. L.Minear, C.Scott, T.G.Rienner, The New Media, Civil War and Humanitarian Action. And that is unsurprisingly why Egypt was the most advanced civilization in the world for thousands of years. African cultures are portrayed as backward, atavistic, stuck in their primeval past, and needing ‘modernisation’ from the West. What all these views fail to take into account are the deep-rooted causes of the disintegration of the African state, which was undoubtedly exacerbated by the coming to power of an African elite which colluded with French, British, American governments and multinational companies to bleed African economies through Western imposed neo-liberal economic reforms. Self-interest refers to the fact that somebody is doing something only considering their interests and not considering things that would help others. The afrocentric rhetoric with which some discuss the continent often conceptualizes a glorified heritage. In the Spectator, Paul Johnson’s went as far as to say: “What the third world needs is a new form of imperialism: altruistic, internationally supervised, efficient and tough-minded … the factors which will permit the revival of colonialism are in place.”(2). The copyright to this article and other articles from JournalQuest are maintained by the publishing journal Interstate - Journal of International Affairs 1996/1997.2 (1997). Why most African countries are backward is because they infuse religion with politics, and both can't go hand in hand. I've been 17 countries so far (all in West Africa), and I plan to enter into Central Africa next. A major shortcoming of the text is that while it exposes the myths of imperialism, it does not dispense with imperial perception of Africa as backward, primitive or 'savage'. Aren't we on this platform together across the globe on real time, sharing practical experiences. Much criticism has been levelled at western media for negative coverage of Africa. This article examines the reasons why racism persists in Cuba more than fifty years after the 1959 Revolution in which Fidel Castro promised Afro-Cubans to eradicate racism from the island. In Rwanda in 1994, Tutsis were called "cockroaches" by their Hutu killers. But my interlocutors didn't seem too convinced about the "opportunities" bit, and I left the studio feeling quite peeved. It is not intended to provide medical or other professional advice. Africa is crying for help and it is only those with a pure heart that can rescue the continent. But as a journalist, I also know news media in general (African included), tends to focus on the negative and not the positive. The Sapphire caricature, from the 1800s through the mid-1900s, popularly portrayed black women as sassy, emasculating and domineering. When African Americans picked up the instrument in the 20th-century, they completely transformed it into something it had never been intended to be played as in Europe. Colonialism has also been addressed in Module Six: Africa and Its Geography, Module Nine: Economics of Africa, Module Ten: African Politics and Government, andModule Fifteen: Africa and the World. The long and ugly tradition of treating Africa as a dirty, diseased place. With the formal independence of most African countries in the 1950s and ’60s, anthropologists and modernisation theorists helped to portray a view of the dark, exotic Africa as being “emergent Africa.” The 1970s saw an image of “dependant Africa,” advocated by the dependency theorists who used the concept and theory of dependence in analysing Latin America, to understand Africa’s underdevelopment. Western news reporting in general is often portrayed as being neutral and impartial, and the journalist as a neutral and balanced arbiter. These images have on the whole been negative. Photograph: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters. The country has been plagued with conflict and disorder beginning just years after it attained... On January 1st, 1959, a small band of Cuban rebels shocked the world, overthrowing the American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. The documentary was a Polish journalist's take on the latest UN projections, which forecast an impending population boom in Africa. All rights reserved. Thirdly, what kind of language was used to represent the issues? They also disconnect businesses from their clients. JournalQuest is a free program to help academic student publications increase online readership and distribution. After all, the images of misery I had just seen were not fabricated, they were real. International aid plays a crucial role in shaping how affected communities rebuild after a crisis. Africans were portrayed as if they were waiting helplessly to be saved from their uncivilised ways. My first instinct was to retort: "Why do you focus on the slums and not on the positive stories? Also write down a few questions addressing what you do not understand or would like to learn about colonialism. So I said that while a population boom would create many additional challenges for African governments, especially in the sphere of social services, a huge labour pool also meant opportunities for rapid economic growth, provided enough jobs are created for the millions of young Africans who will soon be of working age. In an editorial entitled “Weep for the Lost Continent,” the Independent on Sunday claimed: “Africa is so much without hope that it is difficult to believe that it can help itself. Africa has been presented as a continent in the difficult throes of trying to become more like the societies of the Western Hemisphere. These mental images of Africa have their deep roots in a historical relationship of slavery and colonialism which was imposed on the continent. Africa is backward because of the lack of love. Berg 1996. pp98. Geographically, the Middle East can be thought of as Western Asia with the addition of Egypt (which is the non-Maghreb region of Northern Africa) and with the exclusion of the Caucasus.The Middle East was the first to experience a Neolithic Revolution (c. the 10th millennium BCE), as well as the first to enter the Bronze Age (c. 3300–1200 BC) and Iron Age (c. 1200–500 BC). About The Journal | Submissions This article aims to present the biopiracy of traditional knowledge from India by the United States, which has occurred directly through the use of patent law and indirectly through economic power and cultural imperialism. 01/03/14 - 14:55. in Politics. Patrick Marnham “wonders whether Africa can ever be governable” and claims that “in Africa no known system of government works,”(3) whilst Robert Kaplan warned US government officials of an impending anarchy of social disease, environmental decay, population explosion and civil war, commencing in Sierra Leone and embroiling the twenty-first century. The Western Media and Africa: Issues of Information and Images. Like I said above, a mind tamed by religion can and will never see the big picture. Al Jazeera has succeeded in giving Arabs a voice on the global stage. A European who's unhappy he can't get a mortgage, will, however unwittingly, likely see his life in brighter lights after watching footage of people with no electricity, no running water and little food to eat. Some African Americans have constructed for themselves a utopia image of Africa. … The same logic applied in the heyday of imperialism. In looking at Rwanda and Somalia as case studies, we have to ask four important questions. ISSN: 2153-5760. Learn more | Blog | Submit. Traditional maps have downplayed the size of the continent in comparison to other parts of the world for hundreds of years. But the continent currently has no microphone of its own on the global stage, no loudspeaker with which to tell its stories the way it wants them told. Yet there is a particular image of Africa in the Western mind. African nationalism is an umbrella term which refers to a group of political ideologies, mainly within Sub-Saharan Africa, which are based on the idea of national self-determination and the creation of nation states. But why do many Africans, myself included, feel so strongly about how Africa is portrayed in western media? Vivian Koshefobamu, a 45-year-old vendor, speaks in front of dried meat, at … Low Achieving Status In contrast to White characters, research indicates that that African Americans Thirdly, “information” also plays a big role in the formation of Western public opinion, both sympathetic and negative, towards Africa and African people. Somali Publications Co. Ltd 1996. It has to wait in line hoping others lend it theirs from time to time. The argument that civil wars, like terrorism, contribute to poverty is a no-brainer. The media prefers bad news stories – Africa is not singled out for that, but it does make life harder for those living abroad, A child soldier in Kanyabayonga, eastern Congo. Whilst from the 16th century to the 19th century, colonial administrators, missionaries and merchants were largely responsible for disseminating ideas about Africa, today this dissemination is carried out by various forms of print and electronic media: newspapers, television, radio and the Internet. Available: http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1156, Interstate - Journal of International Affairs. This activity discusses colonialism in Africa. If you are interested in enrolling a journal at your school, please visit the JournalQuest website. Let's not forget that there are also countries in Europe that still have a long way to go. Europeans are not emigrating to Africa in large numbers so they simply don't need to care how Africans view them. Representing the work of students from hundreds of institutions around the globe, Inquiries Journal's large database of academic articles is completely free. It is an analysis which seeks to blame the victims and deflect any focus on the role Europe has played in the bloody mess of Africa. Industries collapse, people loose jobs and investors lose confidence in the affected country thus pushing the affected region down the econ… We are underdeveloped because we are not united. A Cincinnati home for expectant mothers won an injunction to prevent construction of a neighboring theater where jazz would be played, convincing a court that the music was dangerous to fetuses. This is never given adequate coverage by the Western media. These ideas continue to permeate the perspectives Western journalists, editors and academics adopt when writing about Africa. A vocabulary of metaphors is used in describing Africa. Nothing burnishes reputation quite as quickly as success. Here's a look inside. The Horn of Africa: Critical Analysis of Conflict Management and Strategies for Success in the Horn... Somali Refugees in Kenya: Security Deficiencies and Public Health Concerns as a Result of Ineffective... A Critical Analysis of the Rwanda-Burundi Genocide and the Sociopolitical Implications of Colonial Rule in Africa, The Horn of Africa: Critical Analysis of Conflict Management and Strategies for Success in the Horn's Future, Somali Refugees in Kenya: Security Deficiencies and Public Health Concerns as a Result of Ineffective Policy, The Role of the Media in the Cuban Revolution: Resource-Mobilization Theory and Cultural Framing, A Barrier to Prosperity? A Nigerian, Kenyan or Zambian university graduate working in Europe will likely have to overperform in their job before they are accorded the same respect. Conflict management in the Horn of Africa has been relatively unsuccessful. Some of these questio… portrayed as menacing, untidy, rebellious, disrespectful, buffoonish, sexual, immoral, hopeless, untrained, uneducated, and noisy, Cosby (1994) con-cluded that most roles Blacks portrayed were negative and stereotypical. However, on the way back home, I started wondering whether I should be annoyed with white journalists who broadcast embarrassing images of poverty in Africa, or at the African governments who tolerate and often create such misery in the first place? The image of “Africa needing help,” was the dominant image during the 1984 Ethiopian famine and Band Aid was an international response motivated by Western public sympathy. Africa is backward because of mental slavery. Each major news item presenting Africa in a negative light is viewed by these folk as something that will make their working lives that bit harder. "The Western Media and Africa: Issues of Information and Images." What trailed, after its 1960 independence from Belgium, also followed a similar trend of its continental neighbors – continued foreign meddling. Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Contact, There has always been a great deal of intrigue as to. These rebels were especially known for their guerrilla tactics and their leaders, such as Fidel Castro and Ernesto... Israel has increased the nation’s security presence around the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. Whenever the question of why Africa/Nigeria is behind the rest of the world, the usual answers we get is; "because our leaders are selfish and corrupt". Take a couple of minutes to write a few sentences describing what you know already about colonialism. Finally, how did the media attention link with Western governments’ policymaking and Western humanitarian responses?Continued on Next Page », Save Citation » (Works with EndNote, ProCite, & Reference Manager), Biney, A. #1. Interstate - Journal of International Affairs 1996/1997 (2), http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1156, BINEY, A. People feel better about their lives when they hear others have bigger problems than them. I have selected these two countries because they are highly interesting in themselves and show the interplay between three sets of Western institutions: the news media, governments and humanitarian organisations. Many people think it is a racist phrase but can't say why, and the common belief that the phrase just referred to Europe's lack of knowledge about Africa makes it … Information on Africa is often presented without a historical and analytical context to explain the roots of a conflict. It seems they have natural resources, besides some desert areas I dont see how the land couldn't have been used for extensive farming (as comparible to whites or even asians). Moreover, roads and communication networks are destroyed or barred which further cripples these businesses. October 22, 2015 by Staff Filed under News, Opinion, Relationships, Weekly Columns. That won't do. Theories To Explain The Backward State Of Africa - Politics - Nairaland. Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1156, Biney, Amy. There is a saying that everyone for himself and God for us all and this defines Africa very well as most Africans do things for their own interests and nobody cares if it affects others This is 100% true for political leaders in Africa who are always putting their selfish interests first at the expense of their countries’ development Calling for the recolonization of Africa by the Western media and academic community is an alarming and highly dangerous trend. As the video explains, I'm going on a four-year journey to all 54 African countries. Looking at the Numbers. They have been accused by some of ignorance and racism. How television images of starving Somalis in 1991-2 led to the US government’s military intervention will be examined later as a prime example of how the media can and do have a direct influence on government policy. In the 1980s and ’90s Africa has not only been portrayed has dependent Africa but as “crisis and pitiable Africa.”. For example, “black on black violence” is a euphemism the Western press used in writing about South Africa in the 1980s, yet British journalists do not report on “white on white violence” when reporting the conflict in Northern Ireland. Such rhetoric romanticizes Africa, likening the continent to a sort of unblemished and innocent woman, "Mama Africa" as some often say. 1996. pp53, See “Somalis, the US and the Forgetting of History” in African Images, Racism and the End of Anthropology, by Peter Rigby. I don't plan to return to America until then. Firstly, how did the Western media portray these two conflicts? The necessity of international relief is unending as new crises continue to emerge across the world. n a Polish TV station last weekend, I was asked to comment on a documentary depicting life in the slums of Katanga, Uganda, aired in the context of what was described as a "demographic ticking bomb" facing the east African nation. ... backward environment (as many presume all of Africa is), they can't know terribly much after all. (1997). But this would have been an overly defensive reaction, one which would render me the hypersensitive African who prefers to imply racial bias rather than address uncomfortable issues. Wenjie Chen, an economist in the African Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said there are widespread misconceptions about China’s involvement with Africa. Ultimately though, it is only irrefutable and irreversible economic development that can transform global perceptions about African countries. Securing the Skies: Threats to Civil Aviation From International Terrorism, Nuclear Weapons Proliferation and the Efficacy of Deterrence, Light Sabres in Space: Soviet Views on SDI. After all, the average Brit or German doesn't give two hoots how their country is covered in say, Nigerian or Kenyan media. On the whole continent, only the Nile satisfies both requirements on a major scale. Our leadership should trust its people by accommodating home grown solutions before caring bagging bowels to the west or China. As we approach the millennium, with the triumph of the United States over Russia, capitalism over socialism and the market over planning, the depiction of Africa through the centuries has not changed considerably. Most Westerners have never visited Africa and may never visit the continent. Not all are backwards you know, you're pretty much generalizing. On a Polish TV station last weekend, I was asked to comment on a documentary depicting life in the slums of Katanga, Uganda, aired in the context of what was described as a "demographic ticking bomb" facing the east African nation. If western countries had the will they could recolonise the continent which they left in such haste. Should Politicians Be Legally Accountable for Their Election Promises? When one is asked to think of Western images that come to mind when thinking of Africa, the overall mental images are of primeval irrationality, tribal anarchy, hunger/famine, civil war, managerial ineptitude, political instability, flagrant corruption and incompetent leadership. The newsletter highlights recent selections from the journal and useful tips from our blog. “CNN is the 16th member of the Security Council” – Boutros Ghali, 1995. Mark Huband, “The Disintegration of Somalia” and “Why Africa is in Agony.” The Guardian, 7.8.92 and 31.8.92 respectively. Why African Americans Are Going Backwards. By the end of 2014, I should be near South Africa. I also have a house in Africa complete with a kitchen, televison and flushing toilet, wow. This is often a huge myth which needs to be exploded.