Brooh Hailu
Sociology 309
Professor Tembo
12/5/2013
Debunking Myths about Africa
Africa is a continent that holds much mystery and stories that have yet to be fully unfolded.
Its mysteries have resulted in much myths about the continent. A myth is a widely held but false
belief or idea (Dictionary). Africa, has a lot of myths due to the fact that people, including mass
media, portray it to be true despite the contrary. This paper will discuss three widely held beliefs
by people. However, I will prove how these beliefs are instead myths by providing the truth and
facts and also giving a reason to why they are in fact widely held beliefs.
The first myth that was discussed by the whole class is that Africa was so overpopulated
in cannot achieve sustainable development. This was evidently false. To begin with, Africa as a
whole continent has a population of 1.003 billion. Even though this number may seem large to
some, the size of the continent must be taken into account. Most people tend to refer to Africa as
one country however, Africa actually holds 55 countries. Therefore, African countries tend to have
low population density. The whole continent of Africa can fit China, USA, India, Eastern Europe
and several countries from Western Europe into just one continent. Whereas countries like China
and India, have a smaller land mass yet have over 1 billion people. This shows just how large
Africa is. China has a population of 1.351 billion yet currently has a booming economy (nations
online). It has had constant economic growth and has reached its place of 2 nd largest economy in
the world, after the US. This proves that overpopulation has not hindered other countries in the
world from achieving sustainable development. In fact, China has used its large population in order
to strengthen its economy by having a huge labor force. Moreover, Africa also has numerous
organizations working towards its sustainable development. Organizations such as Sustainable
Development Africa, which has offices in both Northampton shire, England and Lagos, Nigeria
have been delivering sustainable solutions to businesses, industries and governments (Sustainable
Development Africa). There are a variety of organizations that are similarly working all across
Africa to achieve sustainable development. Thus, Africa is in fact on a large movement of
sustainable development, and its population is not deter it from doing so.
The second myth was that Africa has famine and starvation. Africa is largely known by the
rest of the world as a continent that is always starving and suffering from famines . However, this
is largely because of the way the media portrays Africa. Africa is always on national news when
something negative occurs. This is largely because not only does it grab more attention, but it also
makes the rest of the world look and feel inferior. The daily events that take place that work in
developing the country for the better does not really make it to the news, and therefore, goes
unnoticed. That does not mean Africa does not suffer famines and starvation, however, it is also
not the only continent to do so. The Indian subcontinent for example has the largest population
that is suffering from famines and starvation, making up for nearly half of the world’s hungry
people. Africa and the other parts of Asia together, make up for approximately 40% of the reaming
hungry people of the world (World Hunger). Even though, most people assume the largest
population of people starving are found in Africa, this is actually a myth . Fact is, starvation is
virtually found in all parts of the world that has poverty. Therefore, to say Africa has famine and
starvation is not truly justified as it implies it is the only continent that suffers from it.
The third myth was that Africa is often referred to as The Dark Continent. The Dark
Continent came into use during the colonial era. Europeans used it to refer to Africa, the last
continent to be explored and colonized. However, the meaning then and the perceived meaning
now is completely different. During the colonial era, Europeans used the term The Dark Continent
as they saw Africa as mysterious and any man that dared to venture into the continent that held
much mystery was considered brave. Africa held out until the final decades of the 19th century,
and was then broken up between the British, Dutch, German, French, Belgian, Spanish, Portuguese
and Italians during the Berlin Conference (NJIS and the World). Today however, years after
independence, most people assume that Africa was referred to as The Dark Continent due to the
often dark skin color of the people. Therefore, the term The Dark Continent changed into having
a negative connotation. Africa has a very diverse and a large spectrum of skin colors. Therefore,
referring to Africa as a “Dark Continent” is not only offensive, but also incorrect. Some also use
the term to refer to how Africa looks like from outer space. In comparison to other continents,
Africa is the least illuminated when looking down from outer space. Whereas places like North
American and Europe are brightly lit.
Africa will unfortunately continue to have many myths, often negative, that are held by the
outside world. There are a variety of attributes that contribute to the falsely held beliefs,
nevertheless, the media will always be a major contributor. No matter how hard a person may try,
it virtually impossible not to be affected or influenced by the media. Media has become an integral
part of our everyday lives. It’s found everywhere and accessible through a mere touch of a phone.
Even though the media is a great place to gain knowledge and understanding of the world, it is
also one of the worst. This is because all media, is bias. It is impossible to have an unbiased news
source because at the end of the day, it is being presented from someone’s point of view. Whether
it is the journalist reporting the news or the CEO of a news company that decides whether the
company has a liberal or conservative point of view, the news that gets delivered will have some
kind of bias. Similarly, news that is reported about Africa, is also bias and often against Africans.
Therefore, if all knowledge about Africa is gained purely from media, it will often be either
exaggerated, twisted, bias or not completely true, and sometimes a combination. However, being
able to detect bias in news being and critical of it, as well as having diverse sources of knowledge
will help have a better understanding of the world and consequently Africa.
Moreover, other aspects such as the world’s leading nations competition to be the best or
the most superior also leads to making poorer countries looks even more inferior, and sadly, Africa
is one of the biggest targets. Africa is one of the most exploited continent in the world. During the
colonial era, Africa was largely exploited for its labor force and natural resources in order to
industrialize Europe. Today, its natural resources continue to be exploited. Africa is one of the
major resources for products such as coffee, copper and much more. Even though the world’s
leading nations derive a large portion of their resources from Africa, the continent is yet still
portrayed to be inferior. However, if it wasn’t for Africa, Europe would not have been able to
industrialize during the industrialization era and today, these “first world” countries cannot sustain
their development without deriving their resources from Africa. This shows just how important
Africa is the global arena. The continent plays an integral part and these first world nations are
largely dependent on the continent after all. However, Africa still continues to be portrayed as
inferior. Which results in myths about Africa being rendered as true, because it is these very same
nations that are telling the myths.
In conclusion, a lot of beliefs about Africa are in fact not always true. These three myths
specifically, have now been debunked and shown why it is in fact false. There are a variety of
reason why myths are believed to be true, and the media will always be a major contributor.
Understanding that everything we hear in our daily lives isn’t always true is a great first step. Even
though the news is often a very reliable source, bias is also important to understand and
acknowledge. The three myths discussed in this paper are not the only myths that exist about Africa
today, and there will always be many more it the future. Moreover, Africa is also not the only
continent that has myths, even though it is one of the biggest targets. Myths are quite unavoidable
but broadening ones perception of the world and as a result, also broadening knowledge will result
in a much better understanding of the world and how it works. Africa is continent with much
beauty, diversity and complexity that most people are unaware of.
Works Cited
http://njisworld.wordpress.com/mr-duells-articles/the-dark-continent-europeancolonization-in-africa/
http://sustainabledevelopmentafrica.com/2011_environmental_management_seminar__w
orkshop
http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/how-do-you-tell-when-the-news-is-biased/
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/world_population.htm