Dumor used humor to highlight the misrepresentation of Africa by many non-African media sources.  Although the media, in particular cable news, often uses non-experts posing as experts for a variety of topics, this is particularly harmful when reporting about Africa.  Unfortunately, Africa is often under-represented in K-12 schools and the media perpetuates this minimization and misrepresentation.  Thus, it is essential that teachers utilize sources that address the wide range of experiences and stories in Africa.  In history classes, students can examine and compare folklore from various regions in Africa or examine artifacts such as the Benin masks.  In literature classes, students can read works by Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Chimamanadi Ngozi Adichie, or Trevor Noah.  We could also incorporate snipits of Nollywood films to help our students to better understand the diversity of the African experience as we seek to overcome the many misrepresentations of Africa.

In my world history and world cultures classes, I try to incorporate African voices but I usually begin these sections by helping students to identify their misconceptions about Africa.  As I work through this course, I realize that our very precious and limited time might be better utilized if I provided students with more African voices and sources.  For example, I could incorporate more African stories and rely more heavily upon sources such as the BBC's Africa in Focus.  Further, when we examine the European colonization of Africa, I can focus more on the wide range of African voices that were largely ignored at the Congress of Berlin in 1884-85.  I would also like to incorporate more sources to illustrate the matriarchal and matrilineal systems that were common in some parts of Africa.