black holes and gray matter. in one thousand tangos.

             
A Brief History of African Stereotypes, Part 1: Broken, Helpless Africa

Everything you know about Africa is wrong.

No, no, not you in particular.  I’m thinking about a more general “you” — the American “you,” the Western “you,” and even the 18- to 22-year-old “you” who enrolls in my introductory African history classes.

When I allow myself to think about it, it seems as though I spend as much time un-teaching African history as teaching it.  

Read on.

©2011 Kateoplis