Name _________________ Grade ______
Activity 2
Due February 26, 2011
Process: A History of the Stereotyping of
Africa
☻Define stereotyping here:
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
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For Achebe, African writers had a duty to their country to reveal the past glory of the traditional
African culture. Here he is in a Nigeria Magazine (1964):
"The African peoples did not hear of culture for the first
time from the European; ... their societies were not mindless
but frequently had a philosophy of great depth and value and
beauty;... they had poetry and, above all, they had dignity." -Achebe
Introduction
In Activity 1, you were introduced to Achebe's Africa. You compared political boundaries. Such
changes would not be new to you. Europe's political boundaries have changed many times just
over the last one hundred years. Recently, the Balkans' boundaries changed. The political
changes in the boundaries of the country now known as Iraq have not let the world ignore the
decisions of colonial powers. Rwanda and Burundi, India and Pakistan, Nigeria itself. People
have been separated from their own families by colonial boundaries. Many of the 20th and
21st Century's world conflicts have their genesis in these decisions. Name such an incident as
mentioned in the sentence above. ____________________________________
You also explored Cultural aspects of Africa. The word culture was shown with a big C to
show that, unlike European societies, all aspects of traditional African life were linked. You read
of the important philosophical beliefs of various African cultures. You also read differences
between African religious concepts and those of European Christianity.
You now have read Achebe's Things Fall Apart, a novel published in London in 1958. Before
you can truly begin to understand the novel, you will need some background information on the
writer, Chinua Achebe, just as you have begun receiving on the continent of his birth, Africa.
Interconnected with this discovery of a noted author, your continued task in Activity 2 is to
understand the colonization of Africa. It is that colonization and the effects of that era that gave
Achebe the incentive to write his classic. Your task in Part 1 is to examine the doctrine and
practices of Colonialism and Imperialism. In Part 2 you will have many opportunities to
analyze discussions by and about Chinua Achebe; you should gather what it is that he so wants
the world to realize about Africa that is different from the Western portrayal. Think about these
questions as you read. What is that western portrayal? When did such stereotyping begin? Why?
Specifically what experiences led Achebe to write Things to Fall Apart? At the conclusion of
this research, you will write an essay agreeing or disagreeing with Achebe's argument.
Part 1: Africa in the Context of Colonialism and Modern
World Imperialism
"Here is an adequate revolution for me to
espouse--to help my society regain belief in
itself and put away the complexes of the
years of denigration and self-abasement.
And it is essentially a question of
education, in the best sense of the word."
--Achebe (Achebe's Fiction and Contemporary Nigerian
Politics)
☻What is Achebe's solution to the problems created by colonialism?
TASK
☻ Research the topic of imperialism and colonialism you will keep very careful notes with
citations in your Things Fall Apart journal. You are expected to respond in your journal to
the challenges of the various links.
Imperialism: Stealing Nikki's Purse
To understand how history can be distorted, read the account, an analogy, written by a teacher
Bill Bigelow, Go to the WEB and Find Stealing Nikki's Purse. Do not print just read it!!!!!
☻Then write your understanding of what you have read in your TFA journal.
must be a paragraph long, no less than 10 sentences.
Your response
To understand the modern colonial and imperial eras, it is very important to understand the role
of the British and why the "sun never set" on her empire. Note: Until 1998 when Hong Kong
reverted to Chinese rule, it was a truth that in modern time, "the sun never set on the British
Empire."
The "White Man's Burden"
Using one of the close reading strategies; read Rudyard Kipling's "White Man's Burden".
☻Then interpret it in your own words; make your response in your journal:
www.wsu.edu/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/.../kipling.html
The Atlantic Slave Trade
☻Explore www.mrdowling.com/610colafr.html and take notes on Maafa pay close attention
to the map and who had control of Africa at the time. Cite this page at the end of your notes.
How to cite it is at the end of the web page.
There is a word that can loosely be translated as "holocaust" in Kiswahili. The word, "Maafa" is
widely used by African Americans to describe the fact of slavers and slavery. Maafa gives a
wealth of information about the carving up of Africa and the slave trade and colonialism that
took place over centuries.
The Scramble for Africa
For all of the following use this heading "A Changing
Africa".
In Activity 1, you printed a map of Africa in the context of the World. The map of Africa has
☻View your colonial map and a modern map of Africa today
Note 3 changes that have occurred in your journal. ☻Question those changes. Why the word,
gone through radical changes.
"scramble"?
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It is very important that you understand what happened at the
Berlin Conference of 1884-85, the beginning of formal
colonialism. It was here that European nations, around a
table in Berlin, carved out territories that they claimed as
their own, just as Europeans had "discovered" America and
carved it out in their own image. (Some historians, for
example, view Columbus in the same way as Achebe views
the Europeans who "discovered" and divided Africa during
the Berlin Conference. You may find it difficult to find many
discussions about the very important 1884-85 Berlin
Conference on the Internet.
☻Go to the Colonial map (Mr Dowling's Electronic
Passport) and list the European countries that took
possession of specific African areas in the area of your
choice (N, S, E, W, or Central). Answer these questions:
What connections can you make between this "scramble"
and United States history? How were decisions made as to
how Africa would be divided? Where were those decisions
made?
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☻Read the reviews at www.completereview.com/reviews/hochscha/kingleo.htm of King
Leopold's Ghost.
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☻After you have read the reviews answer these questions
in your journal. What were the atrocities? What were
Belgium's gains? What were Africa's losses?
Achebe was born in Colonial Africa, in an area that would be
named Nigeria. Which peoples (3 groups) were forced
together as a part of this creation? About how many ethnic
groups were forced together? Answer in your journal. Use
the linked map: http://kids.mapzones.com/world/nigeria/