We all know that perceptions are very powerful. as a matter of fact, they can be more powerful and far more influential than reality.
Chimamanda Adichie once said that “Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people and stories can also repair that broken dignity.”
Why are there a lot of misconceptions, flawed perceptions and negative stereotypes about Africa? Some of these perceptions are not just sad, they’re downright shocking. However, the largely negative portrayal of Africa by the mainstream media as a cesspool of disease, poverty, conflict and ‘backwardness’ is intentional because it has more shock value and gets more attention from those who don’t really know the continent.
If you see a blatant error or misconception about yourself, won’t you be willing to set it straight?
As you would expect, these negative stereotypes of Africa have serious negative consequences on our continent.
A lot of people outside Africa and a lot of people within it – don’t understand the size, scale, and diversity of our continent. For example, a lot of people don’t realize that ours is a very massive continent in geographic terms, and it’s actually naive to make sweeping generalizations about Africa.
Did you know you can fit the land mass of India, China, the USA, and Mexico into Africa?
“Let us not allow society and the world to box us into a certain square.” -Ruth Tindyebwa
How can we achieve this?
