The American notion of Africa and Africans seemingly has always been unapologetically filled with convoluted racist overtones and simplifications. From being titled the land without law, civility, and modernity to being the land of exotic primitivism and savagery, Africa continues to be a widely misappropriated continent. Not only was the American psyche regarding Africa shaped by colonial imaginations and mythology, the sentiment heavily persists without much change. The misconceptions of this diverse continent is explored by scholar and professor, Curtis Keim, in Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and Inventions of the American Mind. Keim delves and deconstructs prevalent preconceptions that steer the American consciousness of Africa through
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Keim traces the pivotal European attitudinal change towards Africans around mid 1400s which coincided with rise of the African slave trade (37). He notes specifically that slaveholders and individuals who economically benefitted from chattel slavery believed the polygenists position of separate races which “implied God could approve of the inferior treatment of blacks”, hence the prolonging subjugation of Africans. Furthermore, the rise of scientific research and thought during the 1800s began to quantify their racist logic by establishing Darwinist notions that “[Anglo-Saxons] evolved better from apes”, while Africans apparently evolved less (44). Whether it was the notion that God made blacks subordinate by design or the belief that they were inferior by nature, both arguments were used to justify the atrocities that were committed upon Africa. Arguably for Keim, the concept that black African evolved less has essentially encapsulated Africa as continent with a child-like intellectual capacity which was a sentiment to justify colonialism (47). He notes that this sentiment continues today in the form of
Keim traces the pivotal European attitudinal change towards Africans around mid 1400s which coincided with rise of the African slave trade (37). He notes specifically that slaveholders and individuals who economically benefitted from chattel slavery believed the polygenists position of separate races which “implied God could approve of the inferior treatment of blacks”, hence the prolonging subjugation of Africans. Furthermore, the rise of scientific research and thought during the 1800s began to quantify their racist logic by establishing Darwinist notions that “[Anglo-Saxons] evolved better from apes”, while Africans apparently evolved less (44). Whether it was the notion that God made blacks subordinate by design or the belief that they were inferior by nature, both arguments were used to justify the atrocities that were committed upon Africa. Arguably for Keim, the concept that black African evolved less has essentially encapsulated Africa as continent with a child-like intellectual capacity which was a sentiment to justify colonialism (47). He notes that this sentiment continues today in the form of