with several Reformed theology and apologetic-focused posts... :-|
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
How Not to Write About Africa - Foreign Policy
"It's hard out here for us old Africa
hands. We are desperate to see more coverage of important stories from the
continent and for our neighbors to become more educated about the places where we
study and work. Yet when we get that coverage, it tends to make us cringe.
Take, for instance, the current
violence in northern Mali. In the last six weeks, Mali has
experienced a coup d'état and a declaration of independence from rebels who now
loosely control half its territory. The recent conflict has displaced
approximately 268,000 people as various groups of Islamists and separatist
rebels jostle for control of desert oasis cities as a drought-driven food
crisis looms with the arrival of the country's hot season. The situation in Mali is by far the worst unfolding humanitarian
crisis in the world today, but compared with say, Syria
or Afghanistan,
you probably haven't heard much about it.
Or consider the flurry of coverage of Central
Africa that followed March's "Kony 2012" phenomenon. First of
all, it is frustrating that it takes a viral Internet video or the involvement of
Hollywood celebrities to bring attention to the
depredations of groups like the Lord's Resistance Army. Even worse, many Africa
correspondents file stories that fall prey to pernicious stereotypes and tropes
that dehumanize Africans. Mainstream news outlets frequently run stories under
headlines like "Land
of Mangoes and Joseph Kony," seemingly without thinking how condescending
and racist such framing sounds..."
Laura Seay, the writer of the article, "How Not to Write About Africa" (Foreign Policy) with the following questions and conclusion.
"Is it because Africa is still in many Western minds the exotic "other"
of movies and imagination? Or perhaps because many Western reporters still
approach Africa with a mixed sense of
excitement at being somewhere so "unique" and fear of the Heart of Darkness? Or
is it simple ignorance about an Africa that,
as Kenyan author Binyavanga
Wainaina notes, is never going to look like what the West wants it to look
like? I don't have a definitive answer. But I do think we can do better."
This video explains part of the problem and provides a solution too.
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