AFRICAN STEREOTYPES

by Simeon Nkola Matamba ( Follow on Twitter )



The 18th century is commonly known as the century of lights with regards to the revival in sciences, arts and knowledge. Yet the 21st century can be tagged as the century of information. Never before information was easily accessible for large numbers. The complexity of the world and its different components can be grasped, erasing limited and simplistic beliefs held for absolute truths in past years. Stereotypes are meant to be dethroned by more accurate elements, giving a sight to the wonderful diversity different universes are made of.

 Nevertheless, the overwhelming amount of data stored in search engines and books does not always get the attention of many civilized people. Their scope of knowledge is limited to a bit of popular singing and some other stuff acquired from school and memorized through rote learning. That is what explains persistent stereotypes about Africa. Around the world,  the craddle of mankind is oversimplified with petty assumptions that are ridiculous at the same time.

A friend of mine forwarded me links to Youtube videos she posted two years ago about the issue. She is a congolese, grew up in South Africa and joined Canada some years ago. In the videos, she adresses the issue of african stereotypes through what curiosity would have some of her friends ask her. Of course, folks still thought Africa was a country, but some of the few questions she had to answer are: "You're coming from Africa,  so you speak African?", "In Africa,  do you have things like pizza?", "Do you have roads?".

I can't put all questions here but I won't forget to mention that someone was concerned about knowing if africans like chicken. It is  appalling and hilarious at the same time.  It is very paradoxal that in the age where knowledge and information is within reach, having smartphones, tablets,  the internet, platforms like Amazon or Scribd where self-education is not expensive, many people around the world don't know things that are merely basic.

This directly reminded me that few years ago, back home in Congo,  we entertained a whole family coming from the UK. They came in Kinshasa for an important ceremony taking place in our religious community. The kids were amazed to see people in Africa living in a big house, because they were told that in Africa we sleep in trees. They enjoyed their stay and were shocked that things didn't look like what they had been taught.

I recall that in high school we learnt about Europe, America, and Asia. We studied about kingdoms, emperors like Alexandre The Great, the Hellenistic civilization, phoenecians, Crete, and many other things. We also dealt with modern history and geography, countries, capitals, populations and so forth. It enabled us to know a bit more about the world, and today with news channels and various sources of information we keep on track with what happens everywhere.

Stereotypes are a result of a lack of interest in learning about others. Why will they learn about Africa? Will it change the fact that they are developped super powers?  Many europeans and americans hear of a country in Africa or somewhere else only when their boots are sent for military interventions. On top of that, as I said on my article about social medias, big channels focus on the negative side of things. As a result, the level of ignorance is unbelievable with stereotyping as the only option.

Citizens of the civilized world don't have to behave like primitives whose knowledge of the world was limited to how far their eyes could see. The world is big and beautiful and has to be explored for its diversity to be enjoyed.