My Impressions About Africa
My passion about the media’s representation of Africa started with one simple question: “Ok, so what do you know about Africa?” “They all live in mud huts, children are malnourished, women walk around with huge buckets on their heads, and when I grow up I am going to help all the poor children of Africa.”
Cue the build-up of anger within me. Not all women are bucket carriers, not all the children are starving and your plight to help the poor children in Africa is bordering on the verge of insult. As a 10-year-old girl I could not help but be angered by every lesson on the continent of Africa. I felt that I was in a class of ignorant children, blinded by the glossiness of living in the ‘developed world’ and blissfully unaware that the Africa on the television was not Africa as a whole. After a while I realised that the over simplified views were not the fault of my classmates, rather a product of the representation of Africa in the media.
Growing up, we are exposed to the negatives about Africa through the media: the war, the corruption, the poverty. Whether it is a documentary about the slums or a news report about a government scandal, the negatives are capitalised, underlined, even italicised, and now it is tiresome.
It is not that Africa is misrepresented. Africa in many ways is in need of change; I can and will admit that. But I feel that Africa is almost a victim of typecast. It is like the director (The Western World) constantly announces ‘Another hard hitting drama about the corrupt continent of Africa. Inflicted with poverty, conflict and decorated with topless women with buckets on their heads in a manner that is just made to be sculpted and placed on your display cabinet. COMING TO YOUR CINEMAS NOW’.
Note to the Western World: We have seen it all before! Why don’t you show us the beautiful Africa, the successful, morally sound entrepreneurs, the hard working children, the socio-economic developments? Now that is the Africa we have not seen.
I am not suggesting that the problems any Third World country face should not be addressed, but the constant focus on the negatives is unnecessary. Children in the Western world develop compassion towards the less fortunate through the current representation, but adversely the feeling of superiority is encouraged; meaning that as the children grow, they find it difficult to shake off the fixed ideas they have about Third World Countries, and this is a really sad.
So, if I could use one of my wishes, it will be to encourage diverse representation of Africa in the media. I want to see the good, the bad, the ugly and the absolutely beauti- ful, not just for my own satisfaction but for the edification of children everywhere. I mean after 17 years on earth it is the least I can do.
–– Seventeen-year-old Abolarinwa writes from United Kingdom