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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.
Curtis Keim is professor of history and political science at Moravian College. The recipient of the College’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, he is (with Enid Schildkrout) the author of The Scramble for Art in Central Africa and African Reflections: Art from Northeastern Zaire.
About the Author
Curtis Keim is professor of history and political science at Moravian College. The recipient of the college's Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, he is (with Enid Schildkrout) the author of The Scramble for Art in Central Africa and African Reflections: Art from Northeastern Zaire.
Praise for the Second Edition:
“With this new edition, Professor Keim has updated and expanded an important book for the teaching of Africa in the West. This book does the intellectual heavy-lifting of deconstructing our notions of Africa, but does it in a way accessible and meaningful to students and non-students alike.”
—Jeffrey Fleisher, Department of Anthropology, Rice University
This book strikes a perfect pitch. Keim takes a serious subject and presents it in a thoughtful, concise, and highly engaging manner. He mixes humorous observations with sophisticated anthropological and historical concepts to make them easily accessible to generalist audiences. As a result, Mistaking Africa contains valuable insights for the novice and experienced Africanist alike. It is a great book for introductory courses on Africa, across a range of disciplines, as well as more specialized courses such as US foreign policy toward Africa.
—Scott D. Taylor, Associate Professor and Director, African Studies Program, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
“This is essential reading for the current generation of otherwise sophisticated young social entrepreneurs who little realize how their ideas about Africa have been shaped. This welcome update includes expansions of the discussion on development, information on US military interests in the continent, an assessment of celebrity activities and recent representations of Africa in feature films, a chapter on the enduring western fascination with African animals, help for finding African materials on the Internet, and analysis of new images drawn from recent ad campaigns.”
—Edna Bay, Emory University
Preface
Acknowledgements
Part 1—Introduction
Chapter 1—Changing Our Mind about Africa
Chapter 2—How We Learn
Part 2—Evolutionism
Chapter 3—The Origins of “Darkest Africa”
Chapter 4—“Our Living Ancestors”: Twentieth-Century Evolutionism
Chapter 5—Real Africa, Wise Africa
Chapter 6—We Should Help Them
Part 3—Further Misperceptions
Chapter 7—Cannibalism: No Accounting for Taste
Chapter 8—Africans Live in tribes, Don’t They?
Chapter 9—Safari: Beyond Our Wildest Dreams
Chapter 10—Africa in Images
Part 4—New Directions
Chapter 11—Race and Culture: The Same and the Other
Chapter 12—From Imagination to Dialogue
Appendix: Learning More
Notes
Works Cited
Index
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