Mistaking Africa
Subtitle: curiosities and inventions of the American mind
By: Curtis Keim.
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Boulder, CO
Language: eng
Number of pages: 234
ISBN-13: 9780813343860
Subjects: Public opinion -- United States; Africa -- Foreign public opinion, American
Description: 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's Mistaking Africa looks 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, Vogue magazine, Honda, and Snapple. New to the second edition as well is an appendix on learning more about Africa. --From publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Changing our mind about Africa; title: How we learn; title: The origins of "Darkest Africa"; title: "Our living ancestors" : twentieth-century evolutionism; title: Real Africa, wise Africa; title: We should help them; title: Cannibalism : no accounting for taste; title: Africans live in tribes, don't they?; title: Safari : beyond our wildest dreams; title: Africa in images; title: Race and culture : the same and the other; title: From imagination to dialogue; title: Appendix : learning more.