Typically when students study abroad, they go to the traditional European countries.
Thus, when I first told my friends and family I would be studying abroad in the West African nation of Ghana for the spring semester of 2010, they looked at me stunned and asked either “Why?” or “What will you do there?” To which I replied that I would be a regular college student, taking classes and such.
After my response, nearly everyone’s jaw would drop and they would question why I would want to go to Africa for school.
Most Americans that choose to travel somewhere in Africa do so to see wildlife or work for charities.
When we think of the African continent, it seems we choose to only focus and think of starving children, safaris and tribal groups.
When, in fact, the reality is that each African country has a thriving and unique culture of its own. It’s important to remember that Africa is not in fact a country.
I know this may come as a surprise to many, who — like Sarah Palin — seem to believe and conceptualize Africa as just a singular place.
In actuality, Africa is the second largest and most heavily populated continent on earth. Also, a lot of the resources we use everyday such as the diamonds in your jewelry, the gold used in your computer and even the cocoa that makes your chocolate come from African nations.
So why is it that no one seems to care about Africa and its 54 diverse countries?
It is hard to pinpoint exactly why Africa is so far off the average Westerner’s radar. I think the two biggest reasons are the bias of the media and our overall lack of education and knowledge about the continent.
For centuries, Europe has been under-developing Africa. Countries such as Portugal, the United Kingdom and France physically divided up the continent at the Berlin Conference of 1884. They drew up fake borders and decided what European country got which area of the continent. In doing so, they divided and merged different ethnic groups and caused a lot of the issues that currently plague the continent of Africa.
The colonialism of Africa lasted until countries such as Ghana fought for their independence after World War II.
On March 6, 1957, Ghana became the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence.
This was only the beginning of the struggle for Africa and more than fifty years later the African continent still has a lot of problems to solve.
AIDS, poverty, unclean drinking water and civil wars have wrought a lot of destruction upon the African continent.
Yet, what a lot of people don’t know about Africa is that, for the most part, it is a lot like the rest of the world.
Americans seem to only want to think about the African continent when they are talking about genocide, planning mission trips, donating money or referencing the “starving kids in Africa” when referring to their children’s waste of food, but no one really cares about the culture and problems of Africa.
Maybe this is due to the media’s lack of overall coverage of the continent or choosing to only focus on the negative elements of African society. Or maybe it’s because our education system doesn’t focus enough on world history and geography.
But we are in college now at a school that has one of the best African Studies programs in the country.
I challenge you to learn something about just some of the 54 countries in Africa and watching the movie “Madagascar” or “District 9” doesn’t count. You could read a book or take a class, and I promise you that you will not be disappointed. The history, politics and culture of the African continent is both complex and intriguing. But most importantly, it is your duty as a human to learn about the cultures of other people that occupy our large planet.
The populations and economies of the countries that occupy the African continent are constantly growing and play a major role in the world economy.
The continent has been jaded by all of the Western world and instead of trying to “help” people in Africa we should become knowledgeable about each country’s distinct culture and even show genuine interest in what is happening there.
Africa is a big continent, so refuse to ignore it any longer.
Email: tmkennel@indiana.edu
Africa: the forgotten continent
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