ABSTRACT
The negative portrayal of Africa by global media as epitomized by television images remains a major concern to some Africanists and others concerned with the numerous challenges confronting Africa. Socio-psychologically, this phenomenon weakens the psyche and the collective consciousness of black people: it denigrates the black African identity globally, serves as a significant barrier to the realization of renewed black consciousness and further compounds the plight of black people in other spheres of human endeavor. The first part of this paper examines the underlying issues surrounding this phenomenon and expounds the linkages between re-branding Africa project and the various dimensions of spreading African cultural heritage across Africa and to African Diasporas. The second part explores a multifaceted approach proffered to tackle Africa's image problems, which the paper argues constitute the major steps towards the propagation of African history and culture.
INTRODUCTION
In spite of apparent complexities, it is difficult for an observer of African affairs not to characterize Western media dealings and attitudes toward Africa (ie in terms of coverage: image production and portrayal), as media racism. Is one clinging to the ‘historical baggage'? Yes, the question remains, whose interest(s) are they serving? It is difficult to straighten out racism from capitalism when it comes to the history of the relationship between the West and the ‘other'. The increasing profit oriented philosophy of the media has further underline the problematic. This notwithstanding the incessant negative portrayal of black people by the Western media falls nothing short of brainwashing, in the service of race supremacists and ideologues.
Television news contents and images of black people, for example, whether from Haiti portraying them as incapable of coping with natural disasters because ‘they are weak', or the footage of acutely malnourished children waving away scores of flies struggling to eat from their mouths and eyes in some remote Ethiopian village, all of which suggest one thing. That, black people are ‘inferior', and in constant need of help: who justifiably occupy the bottom most rung of the ladder of humanity and of human achievements. That is the image of Africa, which the Western media generate and portray.
Media racism is one aspect of the larger phenomenon of media imperialism which is at the heart of the contention over the New World Information and Communication Order between the developed countries of the North and the developing countries mainly of the Southern hemisphere. The other aspect, which also concerns the objective of propagating African history and culture, is cultural imperialism.
There are several discernable implications of Western media imperialism against black people. However, in this paper our focus is on the correlation between the impact of the images of Africa that the Western media create and propagate globally on the one hand, and the imperative of propagating African history and culture, on the other. Thus, we argue that the negative portrayal of Africa by the Western media serves as a major impediment to the realization of the objective of propagating African history and culture. In other words, the basic question, which this paper seeks to answer, is in what ways the Western media hamper the objective of propagating African history and culture. The Critical Theory framework of analysis is adopted to deconstruct the content that the media generate about Africa. Why is it that despite three decades of Third World countries' agitation for a fairer deal in global information relations, Africans and Africans in Diaspora are still being bashed and given negative portrayal by the global media? What role can African media practitioners play in changing the trend for the better?
THE ROOTS AND CONTEXT OF WESTERN MEDIA IMAGE OF AFRICA
Even though some of the earliest European travelers who had contacts with Africans gave a near accurate account of their experiences, majority of them chose to distort and misrepresent Africans through, outright untruths and slanted interpretations of their notes, thus, sowing the seeds of the process of disfiguring the image of Africans across Europe. One explanation given for this, according to David Brion Davis citing Henry Levin, has to do with the idea of the moral and aesthetic ‘power of blackness'. This idea which associates the black colour with disconcerting negatives such as death, evil, bad magic, melancholy, forsaken love, etc “pervades a host of cultures and mythologies” across ancient Europe (Davis: 1970:487). Thus in all the four major European languages the words which represent a ‘black' person carried the connotation of “gloom…, baseness, wretchedness, and misfortune” with them (ibid).
Again, countless legends abound in European mythologies of men turning black because of ‘sin', or that black people sprang straight from hell. In the same vein, Eric Dingwall demonstrated the wide spread of this tradition in European folklore, where for example, stubborn children were often frightened by the expression: “black man will get them” (Dingwall:1979:60). Even Shakespeare himself says in Love's Labour Lost (Art iv, Scene 3):
“….black is badge of hell
The hue of dungeons and the school of night.”(ibid)
Steeped in these ancient stereotyped beliefs, superstitions fear and false knowledge, it is easy to see the influence of this tradition in the accounts of the authors of early European travel literature. This trend was sustained over a long period. For example, a French traveler in the 17 th century remarked that, “it might be properly said that these men came out of Hell, they were so burnt and dreadful to look upon” (Davis: 1970:81). In addition, a century later Oliver Goldsmith also described black people as the “gloomy race of mankind” (ibid).
This mythological image of black people created by Euroancestrals based on the dichotomy between ‘black' and ‘white', ‘good' and ‘evil', ‘darkness' and ‘light' was the root of the base-image of black people in European cultural tradition. It also seems to be the root of the ‘feel good' psychological syndrome, which Westerners derive from disparaging the African personality.
The same beliefs that were passed on as knowledge seem to have influenced some of the great leaders of the Enlightenment project about Africans. The two most notable ones were David Hume and Voltaire. Hume writes:
I am apt to suspect that the negroes to be naturally
inferior to the white. There never was a civilized nation
of any other complexion than white, nor even any
individual of eminent in action or speculation.
No ingenious manufacturers among them, no arts, no science.
(cited in Erin and Uya (eds.), 1994:1)
Although critics have shown that, Hume was careless in his evaluation of the judgments, which informed his conclusion, since he has never visited Africa. Secondly, they also argued that, “the inferiority of Negroes had become a favorable topic for [Enlightenment] writers, whose real target was the authority of scripture (Davis: 1970: 492), it is clear that the power of the words of those philosophers had triumphed in influencing those that came after them.
Many theories about the origin of black people and on why their skin colour is black were also put forward during those periods (from ancient Europe to Enlightenment era). For example, one theory suggests that black people were the descendants of Canaan whose father Ham was cursed. Another suggests that, the closeness of black people to the Sun is responsible for their dark skin colour. Yet, another attributed it to the different water, which black people drink.
However, the theory that gained greater currency and influence in 19 th century Europe was the theory of evolution propounded by Charles Robert Darwin in 1859. The significance of this theory goes beyond its link to the origins of black people. Its impact cut across all aspects of Western systems of thought- Philosophy, Science, Theology, and the Arts etc.
The acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution by the scientific community specially the Royal Society as the theory, which explains the basic principle of the origin of all species, paved the way to what is called the Darwinian revolution.
Twelve years later, Darwin published his second work, entitled: The Descent of Man. In it, Darwin elaborated his theory of evolution by extending it to show the origin of man. According to Darwin:
To the core of his being, man is an animal. Analysis
of his embryonic development, vestigial organs,
bodily structure and emotions point conclusively
to his animal pedigree….man differs from his
animal brethren only in degree not in kind
(cited in Vanderpool:1973;xxvii)
The implications of this conclusion to the black man are many: that in the hierarchy of the human races, the black man is the link between humans and the apes and therefore naturally inferior to the white man. In other words, Darwin's theory gave all race supremacists the pretext to justify their actions against those whom they consider to be of lower races. For example, the statements made by a Darwinian Anthropologist-Marvin Harris and cited by Noam Chomsky in part show the linkages and the implications of the theory of evolution:
Racism also had its uses as justification for class
and caste hierarchies; it was a splendid
explanation of both national and class privilege.
It helped to maintain slavery and serfdom;
it smoothed the way for the rape of Africa and
the slaughter of the American Indian; it steeled
the nerves of the Manchester captains
of industry as they lower wages, lengthened the
working day, and hired more women and children
(In Appleman A.(ed.) 1979:501)
As mentioned above, the theory of evolution laid the foundation for ‘scientific racism', not just in Biology but also across many fields of inquiry such as Anthropology, Paleontology, and the new synthesis of Genetic Engineering. It also laid the premise for the idea of I.Q tests and the Eugenic movement, which propagated the practice of negative and positive eugenics. The now discredited Social Darwinism also has its roots in the theory of evolution.
The image of the African created by Euroancestral mythologies, reinforced by European travel literature, enlightenment historical philosophy and consolidated by scientific racism permeated through all sectors of European societies. For example, European literature of fiction was full of base images of Africans. E.C Nwenzeh's comparative study of Africans in French and German fictions (1911-1933), provided numerous examples that showed the prevalence of such works.
The power of fictions in molding the mindset of that generation can be comparable to the role media play in contemporary public opinion construction. As Sardar and Davis observed fictional stereotypes have the power to fill in the ‘gaps' in peoples' minds about a reality they did not know or know little about (Sardar and Davis: 2003:200)
Amongst the many examples, Nwenzeh cited to demonstrate the mindset of colonial fiction writers, the example of Levy Bruhl seems most relevant. According to Nwenzeh Bruhl was the author who popularized the concept of primitive mentality. Bruhl's world, he wrote, is made up of two groups: the primitive and the civilized, the black and the white. The former abhors rationale, thus, he contends that:
Among the difference which distinguish the mentality
of inferior societies from our own, there is one which
has arrested those who have observed them under
the most favorable conditions, that is before they were
modified by a prolong contact with the white men. They
recorded the resolute aversion of primitive peoples to
reasoning, to what logicians call the discursive operations
of the mind (Nwenzeh:1978:7)
In another instance, under the sub-heading “Cannibalism”, Nwenzeh explained further that “in their untiring effort to denigrate the black man, colonial writers wove into their stories tales of human sacrifices and of great appetite for human flesh among black people (Nwenzeh:1978:79).
This same portrayal of black people is re-enacted in plays, dramas, children books, stage comedies in Western societies.
WESTERN MEDIA AND THE IMAGE OF AFRICA
In spite of the persistence of some of the traditional practices from which the Western image of the African was built over the years, it seems obvious that, the Western media has in effect surpassed all of them put together, in terms of reach and degree of impact. This is largely due to advancement in technology and an information based society. According to Cameron Duodu, television for example is the most powerful selling tool in the world. Citing the extent of the growing power of television, he contends, “even the highest office in the land-the Presidency of the United States- is decided in part, by who can advertise most often on television”(New African Magazine, June:2008:p17).
Why is television so powerful? Research in media psychology has indicated that the impact of T.V on the viewers' perceptions of images is deep. Images act on the inner recessive of the subconscious mind of the viewers. In other words, when images register on the mind of the viewer they have lasting impact. Recollecting his childhood experience, Eric John Dingwall demonstrates this point:
I remember that, many years ago, I was once taken
as a child to see a show at, I think, the London
Hippodrome, which has its title, “Savage South Africa”
here we were treated to the usual spectacle of half- naked
savages being mown down by rifle fire from amply armed
British soldiers gaily clothed in scarlet and gold. I remember
I loved it; and the picture of the sandy arena on which the
hauling savage were falling has remained with
me to this day. (Dingwall:1979:60)
Such is the power of images that once registered; they become ingrained and endure for a long time. The images of Africa in Western media, whether on T.V screens such as in documentaries or the print media are those of, to use Pascal Eze's Acronym PIDIC- Poverty, Instability, Disease, Illiteracy and Corruption. Furthermore, the entertainment industry also portrays the same negative image of Africa. Films or scenes about Africa are mostly about coups, refugees, and savages or barbaric Africans. Yet, even children's entertainment programs are not left out in denigrating black people. In the most popular cartoon series, Tom and Jerry for example the house cleaner, a black woman, who is portrayed as overweight and demented is always being outwitted by the cat and mouse. The same is with many of the roles that some black actors play in Hollywood films. These roles reinforce prejudice against black people.
These portrayals of black people represent what Stuart Hall characterized as overt racism in the media. The other type of media racism is what he calls inferential racism. The type that is couched in the language of media. Here, pejorative language/images are insidiously used which in the end denigrate and
demonize black people. He writes that
Telling racist jokes across racial line, in conditions
where relations of inferiority and superiority prevail,
reinforces the difference and reproduces the unequal
relations because, in those situations, the point of
joke depends on the existence of racism. Thus they
reproduce the categories and relations of racism,
even while normalizing them through laughter
(Hall:1990:18)
IMAGES, PERCEPTIONS AND IMPACT
The role of the media in the construction, reconstruction and manipulation of social consciousness cannot be overemphasized. The socio-psychological impact of the images of black people from the media is not the same, depending on the categories of the viewers. These categories are classified as Africans and non-Africans, continental Africans and Diaspora Africans. Among non-Africans that have some degree of prejudice against black people, the images would reinforce existing prejudices. Where prejudices do not exit, particularly among young non-African children, it is very likely that the images would act as stimulus in forming negative perceptions and negative racial attitudes and behavior towards black people.
Among the Africans at home or abroad, there are those who have some level of the knowledge of their heritage. The higher level of this category is those having both knowledge of history of Africa and Diaspora Africa. To this category of black people, those negative images can only elicit resentment or protest.
On the other hand are those Africans, in Africa or Diaspora who have little or no knowledge of their heritage. Much less, the knowledge of culture of either of Africa if they are Diaspora and vice versa, as such this category of people is the most vulnerable. The vulnerability of this category of persons to the psychological aggression of media racism is evident in many respects. Those of them in societies where blacks are in the minority and suffer some degree of stereotype because of their skin colour, are more likely to be resentful of who they are and have little or no racial pride. They would want to distance themselves from Africa or anything African. The instance of some Jamaicans in the U.K given by Stella Orakwue in her article title: “I'm Jamaican; you're ‘African” (New African magazine, June 2008), is a good example of the ‘cycle', this category of black people fall into. This group of Jamaicans according to Orakwue resent being referred to as Africans with a passion.
A vicious cycle therefore seems to have been formed, because ignorance of their history makes them easy victims of their racial tormentors, and the more they distance themselves from who they are the more vulnerable they become to media racism and other forms of racism. For those of this category in continental Africa, the manifestations of their confusions are more glaring. For some reasons their educational systems are in the main yet to be liberated from ‘mental captivity' of Western scholarship. The subjects of History are systematically killed, while the historians are endlessly debating what they called the crisis of relevance.
The argument put forward here is that there is a link between the level of one's knowledge of his/her history and the depth of that person's consciousness: self-image, self-respect and self-confidence on the one hand, and the person's level of vulnerability to the effects of the onslaughts of Western media, on the other. Where the reverse occurs to a person or community, a vicious cycle is formed: ignorance begets vulnerability, which in turn begets self-hatred and detachment from the victim's root: and more vulnerability to the corrosive power of racism and to the aggressive power of cultural invasion. Therefore, the cycle goes on and on and on without end.
What is observed in this category of people in Africa is total confusion: they loath their cultural heritage and they are a bad parody. This is because they are victims of both aspects of media imperialism: media racism and cultural imperialism. Their role models are agents of consumerism. Moreover, because they lack the knowledge of their own history, it is highly likely that they also lack the knowledge of the circumstances of their brothering in the Diaspora communities, much less to empathize with them or build bridges of solidarity where such opportunities come by.
This cycle is a major impediment to the goals of Pan-Africanism and to a worldwide black solidarity. Because where there is no self- pride in one's race, there is the absence of that psychological fulfillment which removes the feelings of inferiority and infuses confidence in the person. All this also have several ripples effects, for example in the victim's wellbeing.
The ultimate goal of the ‘othering' that the Western media is engaged in, in relation to black people is to preserve identity and privileges- which is premised on the racist thinking, that “unless we hate what we are not, we cannot love who we are”. This is where the link between scientific racism and media racism lies. In the 19th century, the ideology of racism was nurtured and sustained in the main by scientific racism, but in contemporary times, it has a more powerful ally in the media.
CONCLUSION: BREAKING THE CYRCLES
The remark made by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (editor-in-chief of the Root), summing up his hopes and frustrations over racism in America, (which he made after an interview with James Watson, the latest spokesperson of scientific racism), is central to the questions of race relations in the West. He contends that, “ the last great battle over racism will be fought not over access to a launch counter,…or even the right to occupy the White House; it will be fought in a laboratory in a test tube, under a microscope, in our genome, on the battle ground of our DNA”, (Weekly Trust Magazine, August 23 2008). In our view, Gate's comment aimed at the long-term solution, which would in the end, cut the umbilical cord between scientific racism and racism in the society. The short-term solution would be to attempt to rescue those captive minds from their mental captivity. They are endangered ‘species', because they are not discerning and are passive assimilators of media contents. This responsibility lies with the African intellectuals, whether at home or abroad, more than with any other group of Africans. It is their responsibility to reinvigorate that spirit of African renaissance, which lies in the ideal of Pan-Africanism. That is, Africans and people of African descent must adopt the view of the world through the prism of Black historical experiences.
The odds are of course many. While for example Governments in Africa have failed to see their relationship with the West through what John Pilger calls “the historical responsibility” assigned to them (Western journalists), “to report the rest of humanity in terms of their usefulness or otherwise to us”, (Cited by Ankomah), which is at the root of the intractable contention over world information flow. After more than three decades of agitation for a New World Information and Communication Order, the trend has only worsened. The balance sheet as Kaarle Nordenstreng calls it is clear: the call for one world many voices have stalled. The reverse has steadily continued: fewer voices, many worlds.
On the other hand, African media practitioners have continued to remain appendages of Western media and News Agencies. They have also failed to carry forward in high gear the rebranding Africa project. To rehabilitate the image of Africa and rescue the black youth from the tutelage of Western media imperialism, they must live up to their responsibility. As mentioned above, the African intellectuals are the only community that has the capacity to influence all the stakeholders. In other words, a strategic collaboration between African Academia whether at home or abroad, with the main stakeholders; the media practitioners and the African entertainment industry is required towards making this struggle worthwhile and fruitful. Without such collaboration, it will remain difficult to halt Western media bias against Africa, cultural invasion and racism against black people.
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