Reflect: What does it mean for Africa to be socially constructed? In which ways can knowledge about the social construction of Africa help us towards a just framing of Africa in the classroom? In which ways can it be dangerous?
This means that what distinguishes "Africa" and "Africans" from "Europe" and "Europeans" is social convention, not anything innate to the continent and the people living there. Therefore, "Africa" and "Africans" have been defined and redefined numerous times throughout history, and they have to be continuously defined and reinforced.
Pointing out this social construction can be helpful in emphasizing how, despite being incredibly diverse, people outside of Africa are often ignorant of this diversity. In classes, we can emphasize that Western conceptions of Africa as culturally monolithic are due to the Western social construction of Africa and Africans, not because the continent is actually monolithic.
I think this discourse can be dangerous when students don't understand what it means. When I taught a lesson on how race is a social construct, some students argued that that couldn't be true because racism is a real problem in our society. They thought that social construct = made up = frivolous and unimportant. Only after we discussed how the position of President of the United States is also a social construct did they understand that social construct just meant that race is not rooted in biology, not that it doesn't genuinely affect people's lives.
Julianna,
I really like your emphasis on the process of constructing meaning, how open it is to revision: "Therefore, 'Africa' and 'Africans' have been defined and redefined numerous times throughout history, and they have to be continuously defined and reinforced."
My reflection, below, links up with this idea, even as it focuses more on the implications of the past.
An area of the world as vast and diverse—geographically, linguistically, culturally, etc.—as Africa has no “natural” essence, no “single story” (in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s phrase). Over time, meanings have nevertheless become attached to the continent. As with all stories, we must interrogate these discourses; in the case of Africa, many of those that have circulated—and dominated—historically were the projections of outsiders, telling us more about the needs and desires of the storytellers than about the people and cultures of Africa itself. The human implications of such distortions are profound. In order to frame Africa justly—to see this part of the world and hear its voices, more truly—we must wipe the historical dust from our eyes, adjusting the vision that has been shaped by selective ways of seeing.
Great points about Africa as a social construct. Julianna, I've had a similar conversation with my students about race as a social construct and received a similar response. I like how you related it to the President of the United States as a social construct. I also discussed with the students how "race" in one society can be very different from "race" in another society. Discussing "race" in Brazil or the Dominican Republic is usually effective.
In terms of Africa, I often ask students why they believe it was constructed in the way that it has been. What does that construction say about the constructors?
The information in the PowerPoint was very interesting to me. This notion of an imaginative Africa has manifested in my own life in many ways. Firstly, as an African American, this idea of Africa played out as an undercurrent to our expressive culture. For example, it was understood that the way we worshipped in Black church "came from Africa". We knew that the way we cooked food "came from Africa". This Africa was always shrouded in generalizations. I'm glad that I've had an opportunity to be educated about the Continent. In 2024, Africa is viewed more through the lens of specificity.
This is an interesting topic because I have never put thought into seeing Africa like this. It has always been portrayed as being a third world country that most Europeans and North Americans would take slaves from. I never really hear any achievements or advances Africa has done. I also want to add that it is unfortunate that the origins of the name of Africa are in dispute and that seven origins have been suggested. "Africa is the ultimate "undeveloped, unhistorical", this stood to me because as I mentioned before Africa is seen as nothing more than that and the world needs to understand that Africa is capable of more than that.
-Nancy Tallas
What does it mean for Africa to be socially constructed? In which ways can knowledge about the social construction of Africa help us towards a just framing of Africa in the classroom? In which ways can it be dangerous?
At a basic level, recognizing that the idea of Africa has a history - is historically constructed - represents a crucial first step towards a self-critical stance in our own understanding and teaching of Africa. The fact that different groups and interests at different historical moments have been invested in the social construction of Africa prevents us from simplifying this history in unhelpful ways or setting up false binaries that seem to present easy choices. On this last point, it was important to be reminded in the presentation from Cheikh Thiam that Europe's own understanding of itself is incomprehensible apart from its othering of Africa - that the social construction of Africa was intrinsic to Europe's (and individual nation-state's) construction of its own identity. I reread some of Edward Said's Culture and Imperialism over the summer, which tracks along the same lines. But, on the other hand, it's important to recognize the way that particular African and African-American activists and groups have been invested in the idea of Africa and the important leverage this has given them at times. That complicates things significantly. But these are just the kind of complications that I think can make the classroom experience more interesting and engaging for students.