Stereotypical Views Of Africa

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Stereotypical Views of Africa Stereotyping is the categorizing of events, objects and people without regard to unique individual characteristics and qualities. It is also a standardized mental picture that is held by members of a group and provides a simplified opinion, predicted attitude, or uncritical judgment. Webster’s collegiate Dictionary: Miriam-Webster, Incorporated, Springfield, Ma 01102. Stereotyping of the continent and people of Africa is very evident in the general population of the United States of America. It has created a very negative picture of the continent. This is very clear in the type of questions people ask me about Africa when I meet them for the first time. For example, someone asked me “do you walk around naked or wear animal skins in Africa?” Another person asked me “do you live in huts and how did you come here?” When ever people ask me these questions, I laugh it off and take the opportunity to give them a history and a geography lesson about Africa and its people. It surprises me that some of these people think Africa is a country and not a continent. Some can’t show where Africa is on the world map. Whatever they know is the stereotype of Africa from movies and internet sources. As an African, I always look for opportunity to contrast the stereotypical views about Africa with the good life that I had in that homeland. By telling people about my life, I answer more questions than I would if I answer each individual question. I was born in Nairobi the capital city of Kenya. They city has airports, hotels, amusement parks, restaurants, industries, high scrape buildings and businesses. We used electricity and we had flushing toilets. I went to a regular school and college just like we do here in the United States of America. We were taught and spoke British English along with our Kenyan common language Swahili. We have 42 ethnic

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