The idea of Africa as a single place is common in Western countries, which has many consequences. I’ve looked at some of these before in terms of the idea of dividing countries up into first world and third world (here and
here). There is a great website focussed around the tropes associated with people’s ignorance of Africa called Africa is a Country.
If you look at the graphic above, you’ll see how expansive the continent of Africa is. In the mental map of many non-Africans though, it occupies almost a single point, which probably contains the following 7 features:
- famine and disease
- safari and savannah animals
- Nelson Mandela
- Kony2012 (see a previous post)
- Nigerian scams
- genocide in Rwanda+Darfur, rape in the Congo (if you’re slightly more informed)
- the Lion King
The ebola outbreak has been a perfect example of how these misunderstandings (combined with the more plain old racism) lead to bad consequences. For more, I recommend you listen to a great episode of the Global Dispatches Podcast called What the ebola panic reveals about Americans’ understanding of Africa. Here are just some stories from the news:
- A teacher in Kentucky, USA resigned rather than take forced paid leave because parents were concerned she might have ebola after visiting Kenya
- “A Guinean woman has been attacked in a bus in Rome by angry passengers who told her she was infected by Ebola and had to get off the bus”
- A school in New Jersey, USA banned some students from attending classes because they were from Rwanda
Of course there are more things at play than poor knowledge of geography. One being an exaggerated misunderstanding about the disease’s transmission (which also has a racialised aspect). For example, a teacher was placed on leave after travelling to Dallas (ie. being in the same city as one ebola patient) and another for being on the same plane but on a DIFFERENT DAY as a patient (despite the CDC assuring that there is no chance of transmission). But is total border shut-downs by — surprise surprise — Australia that’s been most appalling. The expert consensus is of course that this would only make the outbreak worse (and it has). But that’s in the countries with the outbreak, which of course the Australian government doesn’t give a flying fuck about, true to its xenophobia.
While we can’t necessarily influence government policy and societal attitudes directly, there are a few things that I think we can do, to make the conversations about ebola (and anything else that may occur in Africa) a bit better:
- Learn a bit about how ebola is actually transmitted
- Use that knowledge in conversation and correct misunderstandings
- Don’t make jokes whose punchline requires us to (1) exaggerate its prevalence or ease of transmission and (2) over-associate ebola with the continent of Africa. Contrary to common beliefs about PC thug gulags, there are ways to make jokes about horrible things –- including ebola — that aren’t also shitty and harm-inducing.
- When you talk about ebola outbreak, talk about the countries which have it (which is only a couple)
- Don’t mention “Africa” in a sentence if you mean a specific country (which you generally would). Don’t accept it from other people. Treat a sentence like “I’m going on a holiday to Africa” with as much weirdness as you’d treat a sentence like “I’m going on a holiday to the northern hemisphere”
- Learn a bit about what countries are in Africa and where they are. There are plenty of online games that make it easy like this one and this one
- If you find yourself reading or talking about something in Africa and it’s about famine, disease, safari, Nelson Mandela, Kony2012, Nigerian scams, genocide or the Lion King, ask yourself if there are not other stories you’re not aware of.
- Read some blogs authored by Africans. Add a few Africans to the people you follow on Twitter
- Watch this excellent video by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the danger of a single story, especially when it applies to “Africa”
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