Mistaking Africa

by Keim, Curtis A.

• ISBN13: 9780813343860
• ISBN10: 0813343860
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-08-04
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

For many Americans the mention of Africa immediately conjures up images of safaris, ferocious animals, strangely dressed "tribesmen," and impenetrable jungles. Although the occasional newspaper headline alerts us to genocide, AIDS, malaria, or civil war in Africa, most of us know very little about the continent. However we still carry strong mental images of Africa, which are reflected in American advertising, movies, amusement parks, cartoons, and many other corners of our society.Few think to question these perceptions or how they came to be so deeply lodged in the collective American consciousness. Curtis Keim'sMistaking Africalooks at the historical evolution of this mindset and examines the role that popular media play in the creation of our mental images of Africa. Keim addresses the most prevalent myths and preconceptions and demonstrates how these prevent a true understanding of the enormously diverse peoples and cultures of Africa. Updated throughout, the second edition includes an entirely revised chapter on Africa in images, which analyzes portrayals of Africa in popular media, including print advertising by corporations such as Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, IBM,Voguemagazine, Honda, and Snapple. New to the second edition as well is an appendix on learning more about Africa.ContentsPart One: Introduction 1. Changing Our Mind about Africa 2. How We LearnPart Two: Evolutionism 3. The Origins of "Darkest Africa" 4. "Our Living Ancestors": Twentieth-Century Evolutionism 5. Real Africa, Wise Africa 6. We Should Help ThemPart Three: Further Misperceptions 7. Cannibalism: No Accounting for Taste 8. Africans Live in Tribes, Don't They? 9. Safari: Beyond Our Wildest Dreams 10. Africa in ImagesPart Four: New Directions 11. Race and Culture: The Same and the Other 12. From Imagination to DialogueAppendix: Learning More

Author Biography

Curtis A. Keim

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction
Changing Our Mind About Africa	p. 3
Speaking "African"	p. 4
The Use and Misuse of Stereotypes	p. 6
Stereotypes over Time	p. 11
A Word About Words	p. 12
How We Learn	p. 15
Television Culture	p. 16
The Print Media	p. 18
Movies	p. 23
Amusement Parks	p. 25
Celebrities	p. 28
Other Sources	p. 29
Evolutionism
The Origins of "Darkest Africa"	p. 35
Africans in Antiquity	p. 36
Western Views of Africans, ca. 1400-1830	p. 38
Birth of the Dark Continent	p. 40
A Myth for Conquest	p. 44
"Our Living Ancestors": Twentieth-Century Evolutionism	p. 49
Biological Evolutionism	p. 50
Evolutionism	p. 51
The Primitive African	p. 53
Changing Paradigms	p. 56
Lingering Evolutionism	p. 61
Real Africa, Wise Africa	p. 63
African Cultures	p. 64
Art and Artifact	p. 66
Touring Africa	p. 69
Selling Sex	p. 73
Africans in the States	p. 74
An African American Example	p. 77
The Noble African	p. 79
We Should Help Them	p. 83
Authoritarian Help	p. 85
Market Help	p. 86
Conversion Help	p. 88
Gift-Giving Help	p. 90
Participatory Help	p. 93
Military Help	p. 95
The Failure of Help	p. 96
Rethinking Development	p. 98
Helping Out	p. 100
Further Misperceptions
Cannibalism: No Accounting for Taste	p. 105
Africans Live in Tribes, Don't They?	p. 113
A Textbook Definition	p. 114
A Word with a History	p. 115
The End of the Tribe	p. 117
Contemporary African Uses of Tribe	p. 118
Other Tribes	p. 120
African Tribes in America	p. 121
Alternatives to Tribe	p. 124
Safari: Beyond Our Wildest Dreams	p. 129
Where the Wild Things Aren't	p. 130
The Good Old Days	p. 131
The Decline of the Great White Hunting Safari	p. 136
The Tourist Safari: Animals in Pictures	p. 138
The Safari from a Distance	p. 140
The Lion Is King	p. 142
Hunting Africa	p. 144
Africa in Images	p. 147
Black, White, and Red All Over	p. 148
Africa's Got Chemistry	p. 151
One Challenge per Continent, Please	p. 151
Our Living Ancestors	p. 153
Africa Is Dyeing	p. 154
Flights of Fantasy	p. 156
"Totally in the Wild"	p. 156
Dances with Lions	p. 159
African Salesbeasts	p. 161
New Directions
Race and Culture: The Same and the Other	p. 169
Race	p. 169
Culture	p. 172
On Being Human	p. 175
From Imagination to Dialogue	p. 179
Evolutionism	p. 180
A Kind of Equality	p. 182
An African Dialogue	p. 184
Learning More	p. 189
Notes	p. 195
Works Cited	p. 215
Index	p. 229
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