From Afro-pessimism to Afro-optimism, changing Africa in the media.

Can we ever believe the media and its representation of Africa, when stereotypes play such a significant role in mainstream discourse?

For many years, Africa has been represented as impoverished, dirty, uncivilised and dangerous by the media; where stereotypes related to ‘savagery’ and ‘otherness’ encourage the idea that development can and never will succeed to change ‘Africa’.

In order to maximise donations, NGOs play on these negative stereotypes, or “Afro pessimism”, leading to an increase in ‘victim blaming’ where the poor are blamed for their positions.

However, this approach is being challenged by “Afro-optimism” which uses images of natural beauty and modern success stories, either educational or economic, to illustrate social change and ‘development’ in the continent.

Additionally, some argue that optimists also use stereotypes; suggesting that no media is wholly accurate in discussing Africa. 

McKinney (2016), argues that the media presents Africa as a  ‘backward’, underdeveloped continent, where dominant discourses of NGOs enforce negative perspectives in a variety of ways.

‘Pessimism’ often uses images of poor, starving, destitute children (see Figure 1) as a central tool of campaigns, creating a view of Africa as a dependent continent, shrouded with ‘helplessness’.

Using Serwornoos work (2019), the repetition of negativity associated with Africa leads to national media outlets, such as the Ghanaian newspapers, to internalise stereotypes as a form of self identity.

Additionally, the intrusion of Western Culture removes traditionalism and can contribute to civil unrest in nations such as Nigeria, as discussed in The Guardian.

This method is effective to an extent; as it brings donation to the NGOs who depend on the effectiveness of crisis appeals to fund their work; but it can be closely related to racism, as a result of ‘poverty porn’ and the idea that Africans are forever undernourished.

Additionally, in Postcards and Photography in colonial Uganda, the ‘camera and ethnographic photograph’ encourages colonial power by using racial disparity to encourage a sense of ‘the other’ and the ‘white man’s burden’ (Scott, 2011) to civilise the barbarity of an unstable continent.

Furthermore, photojournalists have alluded to starvation and disease (see Figure 2) that supports many typical negative representations of Africa.

Arguably, though this is a useful way to raise awareness about the socioeconomic issues that are occurring in Africa, despite modernisation.

Some scholars have supported the role of the ‘colonial’ photograph in reproducing the differences between African and European life. This can be seen through the Britannica magazine (Figure 3, below) which demonstrates the significance of conflict and ‘war’ in the African state, contrasted to ‘peace’ in Europe.

Thus, supporting the argument that pessimism, is successful in creating racial disparities of power by illustrating the significance of conflict and incivility in Africa.

Conclusion

Overall, due to the underlying set of criteria, labelled as ‘news values’ that dictate which stories are worth presenting to Western audiences, it can be concluded that no presentation of Africa is ever likely to be a true representation. 

In terms of ‘news values’, the use of drama that dictates which countries are focused on, thus leading to specific stereotypes categorising Africa as ‘one whole continent’ rather than individual nations.

Overall, Afro-optimism and Afro-pessimism, with their inherent use of stereotypes, both fail to present an accurate image of a complex and diverse continent. 

Scott. D. “Kipling, the Orient, and Orientals: “Orientalism” Reoriented?” {in} Journal of World History, Vol. 22, No. 2 (June 2011), pp. 299-328
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23011713