"Africa and Africans"

Paper Summary:

The writer of this paper focuses on the overtly condescending style of writing in "Africa and Africans' by Paul Boahnnan and Philip Curtin. An example of this style of writing can be seen by the fact that the authors blame the African people for their wasteful method of farming and the resulting food crisis. This paper details the manners in which the authors stereotype and over generalize in their description of African culture, art, society, religion and other lifestyle factors. The writer of this paper describes each chapter of the book and points out if and where the authors misrepresented certain facts. While the original intent of the authors was to dispel various myths of the African people and their culture, this paper proves why the opposite result was achieved.

From the Paper:

"Chapter two reiterates American ignorance in the opening sentence, wherein the authors state, "Africa is a part of the world about which Americans and Europeans can no longer afford to be ignorant." Although ignorance surrounding this continent does indeed seem prevalent across the Western Hemisphere, it is a mistake to assume that all Americans and Europeans are ignorant. However, this chapter becomes less controversial as it evenly describes the actual land and its geographical compositions, instead of general and populous compositions. Still, it seems paradoxical that the authors, while writing in hostile undertones of American ignorance, admit that much of the continent is navigable, due to its swells and basins; hence, it seems that the ignorance is more widespread than the asserted limitations to Americans and Europeans."

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