However, African Americans since well before the American Revolution have resisted white efforts to define black reality, and therefore they cannot be said to have invented the idea of African primitiveness, even if they believed in portions of it. They were victims in much the same way that Africans have been victims.

Entertainment

One of the biggest difficulties with generalizing about American views of Africa concerns the inclusion of African American views. The problem is complex because American culture is complex. Until at least the 1960s, for example, it was quite common for African Americans to think of Africans as having primitive cultures.

CNN’s 2016 feature, “12 Incredible African Tribal Traditions,” highlights Ethiopian Mursi women who wear large lip plates; the Mekan men of Ethiopia who prepare for their Lunar New Year celebration by spending months getting fat to compete for the fattest man title; the practice of “lobola” or bridewealth that is given by the groom’s to the bride’s family; and the Maasai custom of blessing people by spitting on them.9 Such representations of African customs rarely put the customs in context and leave Westerners judging Africans and their customs as strange. That fits the definition of exotic. These texts and images socially construct an African reality that often barely represents what Africans experience in their own societies

When asked what they had expected to find in Africa, they provided words much like the ones described in Chapter 1, especially poor, dangerous, hot, underdeveloped, violent, tribal, and spiritual.