Stereotypes And Myths About Africa

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Africa, one of the largest and oldest continents there is today, has a lot of false information that is associated with it when it is mentioned. What many believe to be true about Africa and its people typically turns out to be either exaggerated information passed along from person to person, or information one person just makes up off their personal opinion. These are what to be considered and labeled stereotypes and myths. However, even though there are many stereotypes and myths about Africa and its people is only because many people are wrong with their conception of Africa. If people actually conducted, the proper research about the continent, then would end up being able to obtain the true and reasonable knowledge of the continent. People …show more content…
These ranges from such things like the media, books that do not include the proper history from the people of Africa firsthand. This then leads to leaving all the stereotypes and myths about Africa unanswered. Which, is why all the stereotypes and myths about the African people and the continent just come from a lack of communication, lack of resources, and not having first hand access to the continent. In the book Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and Inventions of the American Mind by Curtis Keim helps illustrate and explain in depth not only what the stereotypes and myths about Africa and its people are, but also how they are formed, and spread along. There are many stereotypes and myths about the Africa continent, and region one, to begin with is the nickname that is given to Africa which is “Mysterious and Dark Continent” (Keim 10) giving the idea to people that Africa is an evil and crooked place. However, even though this being true about Africa having much crookedness in some parts of the country with its politics, still to label the whole continent by that is a stereotype, since every continent has this problem but does not get such a dark nickname. Africa is actually a quite beautiful and lite up continent that if …show more content…
This is then how myths and stereotypes form, due to the spread of false information from person to person. When trying to understand and truly educate yourself on the matter of understanding an entire country and its people, takes such things like oral history. Oral history from those who have actual firsthand knowledge of the matters and history there on the continent of the people, land, religion, and way of life. In addition, such things like oral tradition needed in order to understand a continent that is how people in Africa learn about their generations before them. Ending stereotypes and myths about the people of Africa is just educating one another on the land. We need to bring books from Africa firsthand, and other documentation on the land, which will give the right perception of the land. We also need to have visuals of all parts of the land, and people so people can understand the difference parts of Africa, and not just label the whole continent off just one part. Doing this will limit the stereotypes and myths about Africa and produce the truth for people who are uneducated on the

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