Anti-African sentiment

Last updated

Anti-African sentiment, Afroscepticism, or Afrophobia is prejudice, hostility, discrimination, or racism towards people and cultures of Africa and of the African diaspora. [1]

Contents

Prejudice against Africans and people of African descent has a long history, dating back to ancient times, although more prominently during Atlantic slave trade and the colonial period. Following the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, Africans were often portrayed as uncivilised and primitive, with colonial conquest branded civilising missions, and, due to their reverence for the spoken word and emphasis on oral history, and subsequent lack of written histories, they were portrayed as having no history at all, despite having a long, complex, and varied history. [2] In the United States, it was manifested in the form of Jim Crow laws and segregated housing, schools, and public facilities.[ citation needed ] In South Africa, it was manifested in the form of the apartheid system.[ citation needed ]

In recent years, there has been a rise in Afrophobic hate speech and violence in Europe and the United States.[ citation needed ] This has been attributed to a number of factors, including the growth of the African diaspora in these regions, the increase in refugees and migrants from Africa, and the rise of far-right and populist political parties.[ citation needed ]

In October 2017, the United Nations' Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGEPAD) told the Human Rights Council that the human rights situation of Africans and people of African descent remained an urgent concern, citing racist violence, police brutality and killings, and systemic racism. [3] Earlier that year, WGEPAD had recommended the term Afrophobia be used to describe "the unique and specific form of racial discrimination affecting people of African descent and African Diaspora". [4]

Terminology

Anti-African sentiment is prejudice or discrimination towards any of the various traditions and peoples of Africa for their perceived Africanness. [5] [1] It is distinct from, but may overlap with, anti-Black racism or Negrophobia, which is contempt specifically for Black people of African descent , excluding other Africans such as white Africans or North Africans. [6] The term Afrophobia may be used to describe both anti-Black racism and anti-African sentiment more broadly. [7] [8] [5]

Afrophobia

Afrophobia, or Afriphobia, is often used to describe racism (particularly systemic racism) against Black people of African descent, such as by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR). [9] [10] Others use Afrophobia to describe racism and xenophobia against all or some people of African descent, and especially indigenous Africans, for their perceived Africanness. This may also include prejudice against African traditions and culture. For example, Afrophobia is used to describe xenophobia in South Africa against people of other African nationalities for being too racially Black, too culturally African, or both. [11]

The opposite of Afrophobia is Afrophilia, which is a love for all things pertaining to Africa. [1]

Afroscepticism

Anti-African sentiment and Afroscepticism are comparable terms to anti-Europeanism and Euroscepticism. Afroscepticism is positioned as an opposition to Africanity (the idea of a shared African culture), Africanisation or Afrocentrism , often seen as facets of Pan-Africanism. [12] [13] [14] Afroscepticism may include embracing Afropessimism, and rejecting traditional African practices or "African Indigenous Knowledge Systems". [15] [16] [17] The Afropessimist view sees Africa in terms of "the negative traits described by AIDS, war, poverty and disease", and thus as unable to be helped. [18]

Anti-Black racism

Anti-Black racism was a term first used by Canadian scholar Dr. Akua Benjamin in a 1992 report on Ontario race relations. It is defined as follows:

Anti-Black racism is a specific manifestation of racism rooted in European colonialism, slavery and oppression of Black people since the sixteenth century. It is a structure of iniquities in power, resources and opportunities that systematically disadvantages people of African descent. [19]

Negrophobia

The term racism is not attested before the 20th century, [20] but Negrophobia (first recorded between 1810–1820; often capitalised), and later colourphobia (first recorded in 1834), [21] [22] likely originated within the abolitionist movement, where it was used as an analogy to rabies (then called hydrophobia) to describe the "mad dog" mindset behind the pro-slavery cause and its apparently contagious nature. [23] [24] [25] [26] In 1819, the term was used in U.S. Congressional debates to refer to a "violent aversion or hatred of Negroes". [27]

The term negrophobia may also have been inspired by the word nigrophilism, itself first appearing in 1802 in Baudry des Lozières's Les égarements du nigrophilisme. [28] Noting the shift of -phobia terms to cover prejudice and hatred rather than mere fear or aversion, J. L. A. Garcia refers to negrophobia as "the granddaddy of these ‘-phobia’ terms", preceding both xenophobia and homophobia. [25]

Both at the time, and since, critics of the terms negrophobia and colourphobia have argued that, although their use of -phobia is rhetorical, if taken literally they could be used to excuse or justify the behaviour of racists as mental illness or disease. John Dick, publisher of The North Star, voiced such concerns as early as 1848 while legal scholar Jody David Armour has voiced similar concerns in the 21st century. [25] [9] Nevertheless, negrophobia had a clinical and satirical edge that made it popular with abolitionists. [25] [26] In 1856, abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe published Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, a novel which explored the fear of Blackness within negrophobia via the titular character Dred, a Black revolutionary Maroon. [29]

By location

It has been observed that writing and terminology about racism, including about Afrophobia, has been somewhat centered on the US.[ citation needed ] In 2016, "Afrophobia" has been used as a term for racism against darker-skinned persons in China. In such usage, that is an inexact term because the racism is directed against darker-skinned persons from anywhere, without regard to any connection to Africa. Conversely, Chinese views for lighter-than-average skin are more positive, as is reflected in advertising. [30]

Scientific racism and colonial historiography

The academic discipline of history arrived with the discovery and colonisation of Africa and involved the study of Africa and its history by European academics and historians. [31] Prior to colonisation in the 19th century, most African societies used oral tradition to record their history, including in cases where they had developed or had access to a writing script, resulting in there being little written history, and the domination of European powers across the continent meant African history was written entirely from an European perspective under the pretence of Western superiority supported by scientific racism. [32] This predilection stemmed from the perceived technological superiority of European nations and the decentralization of the African continent with no nation being a clear power in the region, as well as a perception of Africans as racially inferior. [33] Another factor was the lack of an established body of collective African history created in the continent, there being instead a multitude of different dialects, cultural groups and fluctuating nations as well as a diverse set of mediums that document history other than written word. This led to a perception by Europeans that Africa and its people had no recorded history and had little desire to create it. [34]

Stereotypes of Africa

Stereotypes about Africa, Africans, and African culture are common, especially in the Western World. [35] [36] European imperialism was often justified on paternalistic grounds, portraying Africa as less civilized, and Africans as less capable of civilizing themselves. [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] As of the 2010s, these stereotypes persisted in European media. [42] [43]

Activism

To overcome any perceived "Afrophobia", writer Langston Hughes suggested that European Americans must achieve peace of mind and accommodate the uninhibited emotionality of African Americans.[ citation needed ] Author James Baldwin similarly recommended that White Americans could quash any "Afrophobia" on their part by getting in touch with their repressed feelings, empathizing to overcome their "emotionally stunted" lives, and thereby overcome any dislike or fear of African Americans. [44]

Originally established in 1998 by "approximately 150" organisations from across the European Union, the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) aimed to combat "racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism — the accepted categories of the anti-racist struggle at that time". However, Afrophobia wasn't specifically named as a focus of the network until 2011, at the behest of Black civil rights activists. [7]

In 2016, Tess Asplund made a viral protest against Neo-Nazism as part of her activism against Afrophobia. [45]

In academia

Some Afrophobic sentiments are based on the belief that Africans are unsophisticated. Such perceptions include the belief that Africans lack a history of civilization, and visual imagery of such stereotypes perpetuate the notion that Africans still live in mud huts and carry spears, along with other notions that indicate their primitiveness. [46] [47]

Afrophobia in academia may also occur through by oversight with regards to lacking deconstruction in mediums such as African art forms, omitting historical African polities in world cartography, or promoting a eurocentric viewpoint by ignoring historic African contributions to world civilization. [48]

See also

Related Research Articles

Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political systems that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices. The ideology underlying racist practices often assumes that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as inferior or superior. Racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social life. Associated social actions may include nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, supremacism, and related social phenomena. Racism refers to violation of racial equality based on equal opportunities or based on equality of outcomes for different races or ethnicities, also called substantive equality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xenophobia</span> Dislike of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange

Xenophobia is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression which is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-group and an out-group and it may manifest itself in suspicion of one group's activities by members of the other group, a desire to eliminate the presence of the group which is the target of suspicion, and fear of losing a national, ethnic, or racial identity.

Islamophobia is commonly defined as an irrational fear of, hostility towards, or prejudice against Islam or Muslims. Such sentiments are sometimes expressed through stereotypes that portray Muslims as a geopolitical threat or a source of terrorism. Academics, authors and policymakers continue to debate the exact meaning of the term.

Racism has been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices, and actions against "racial" or ethnic groups, throughout the history of the United States. Since the early colonial era, White Americans have generally enjoyed legally or socially sanctioned privileges and rights, which have been denied to members of various ethnic or minority groups at various times. European Americans have enjoyed advantages in matters of citizenship, criminal procedure, education, immigration, land acquisition, and voting rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereotypes of African Americans</span> Generalizations and stereotypes linked to racism against African Americans

Stereotypes of African Americans are misleading beliefs about the culture of people with partial or total ancestry from any black racial groups of Africa whose ancestors resided in the United States since before 1865, largely connected to the racism and the discrimination to which African Americans are subjected. These beliefs date back to the slavery of black people during the colonial era and they have evolved within American society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Black sentiment</span> Fear, hatred or extreme aversion to Black people and Black culture

Anti-Black sentiment, also called anti-Black racism, anti-Blackness, colourphobia or Negrophobia, is characterised by prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination or extreme aversion towards people who are racialised as Black people, especially those people from sub-Saharan Africa and its diasporas, as well as a loathing of Black culture worldwide. Such sentiment includes, but is not limited to: the attribution of negative characteristics to Black people; the fear, strong dislike or dehumanization of Black men; and the objectification of Black women.

This is a list of topics related to racism:

In the United States, economic competition and racial prejudice have both contributed to long-lasting racial tensions between African Americans and Hispanic and Latino Americans. There have also been inter-racial tensions between African Americans and Asian Americans.

Anti-Albanian sentiment or Albanophobia is discrimination and prejudice towards Albanians as an ethnic group, described primarily in countries with a large Albanian population as immigrants, seen throughout Europe.

Racism in Poland has been a subject of extensive study. Ethnic minorities made up a greater proportion of the country's population in the past, right from the founding of the Polish state through the Second Polish Republic, than they did after World War II when government statistics showed that 94% or more of the population self-reported as ethnically Polish.

Racism is a concern for many in the Western lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities, with members of racial, ethnic, and national minorities reporting having faced discrimination from other LGBT people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racism in the United Kingdom</span>

Racism in the United Kingdom has a long history and includes structural discrimination and hostile attitudes against various ethnic minorities. The extent and the targets have varied over time. It has resulted in cases of discrimination, riots and racially motivated murders.

Racism in Thailand is a prevalent problem but is only infrequently publicly discussed. The United Nations (UN) does not define "racism"; however, it does define "racial discrimination": According to the 1965 UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, "...the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life." Thailand has made two submissions to the Convention, with ongoing issues including government policy towards ethnic groups, especially the Thai Malays, and the country's lack of racial discrimination legislation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-racism</span> Beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism

Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate actions which are intended to create equal opportunities for all people on both an individual and a systemic level. As a philosophy, it can be engaged in by the acknowledgment of personal privileges, confronting acts as well as systems of racial discrimination and/or working to change personal racial biases. Major contemporary anti-racism efforts include the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and workplace anti-racism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural racism</span> Alleged type of racism that discriminates people for being culturally different

Cultural racism, sometimes called neo-racism, new racism, postmodern racism, or differentialist racism, is a concept that has been applied to prejudices and discrimination based on cultural differences between ethnic or racial groups. This includes the idea that some cultures are superior to others or in more extreme cases that various cultures are fundamentally incompatible and should not co-exist in the same society or state. In this it differs from biological or scientific racism, which refers to prejudices and discrimination rooted in perceived biological differences between ethnic or racial groups.

Anti-Somali sentiment or Somalophobia refers to fear, hostility, or other negative attitudes towards Somalis or Somali culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xenophobia in the United States</span> Dislike of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange within the United States

Xenophobia in the United States is the fear or hatred of any cultural group in the United States that is perceived as being foreign or strange or un-American. It expresses a conflict between an ingroup and an outgroup and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, and beliefs and goals. It includes a desire to eliminate their presence, and fear of losing national, ethnic, or racial identity and is often closely linked to racism and discrimination.

Xenoracism is a form of prejudice that resembles racism but is exhibited by members of a racial group towards other members of it, or it is exhibited towards members of an otherwise mostly indistinguishable racial group which may have no phenotypical differences but is perceived as being alien, foreign, other, or culturally inferior.

In the Western world or in non-Asian countries, terms such as "racism against Asians" or "anti-Asian racism" are typically used in reference to racist policies, discrimination against, and mistreatment of Asian people and Asian immigrants by institutions and/or non-Asian people.

Anti-Americanism has been a recurring theme among several influential African American political organizations and activists due to racism against African Americans domestically, and against other non-white people internationally. African-American anti-Americanism can be contrasted with African-American patriotism, although the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive antonyms.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kivuto Ndeti; Kenneth R. Gray; Gerard Bennaars (1992). The second scramble for Africa: a response & a critical analysis of the challenges facing contempory [sic] sub-Saharan Africa. Professors World Peace Academy. p. 127. ISBN   9966835733 . Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  2. Cooper, Frederick (2000). "Africa's Pasts and Africa's Historians". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 34 (2): 298–336. doi:10.2307/486417. JSTOR   486417.
  3. "Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent to the Human Rights Council: the Human Rights Situation of Persons of African Descent Remains an Urgent Concern". United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2022-10-02. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  4. "Statement to the media by the United Nations' Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, on the conclusion of its official visit to Germany, 20-27 February 2017". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2017-02-27. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  5. 1 2 Koenane, M.L.J. and Maphunye, K.J., 2015. Afrophobia, moral and political disguises: Sepa leholo ke la moeti. Td: The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 11(4), pp.83-98.
  6. The Congregational Review, Volume 2. J.M. Whittemore. 1862. p. 629. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  7. 1 2 Privot, M., 2014. Afrophobia and the ‘Fragmentation of Anti-racism.’. Visible Invisible Minority: Confronting Afrophobia and Advancing Equality for People of African Descent and Black Europeans in Europe, pp.31-38.
  8. Momodou, J. and Pascoët, J., 2014. Towards a European strategy to combat Afrophobia. European Network Against Racism, Invisible visible minority: Confronting Afrophobia and advancing equality for people of African descent and Black Europeans in Europe, pp.262-272.
  9. 1 2 Privot, M., 2014. Afrophobia and the ‘Fragmentation of Anti-racism.’. Visible Invisible Minority: Confronting Afrophobia and Advancing Equality for People of African Descent and Black Europeans in Europe, pp.31-38.
  10. Momodou, J. and Pascoët, J., 2014. Towards a European strategy to combat Afrophobia. European Network Against Racism, Invisible visible minority: Confronting Afrophobia and advancing equality for people of African descent and Black Europeans in Europe, pp.262-272.
  11. Koenane, M.L.J. and Maphunye, K.J., 2015. Afrophobia, moral and political disguises: Sepa leholo ke la moeti. Td: The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 11(4), pp.83-98.
  12. Oloruntoba-Oju, T., 2014. Location of African culture: Beyond Afroscepticism and the new cosmopolitan exotic. Culture and the Contemporary African, pp.120-53.
  13. Horsthemke, K., 2006. The idea of the African university in the twenty-first century: Some reflections on Afrocentrism and Afroscepticism. South African Journal of Higher Education, 20(4), pp.449-465.
  14. Nikolaidis, A.C. and Thompson, W.C., 2023. Epistemic injustice: complicity and promise in education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 57(4-5), pp.781-790.
  15. Gbogi, T., 2022. Against Afropolitanism: Race and the Black migrant body in contemporary African poetry. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, p.00219894221113767.
  16. Nokuzola, G.G. and Gqeba, L.M., 2023. Is Afrosceptism at the Core of the Deaths of South African Boys at Initiation Schools? The Contributory Effects of Undermining African Indigenous Knowledge Systems. African Renaissance, 20(4), p.367.
  17. Endong, F.P.C., 2021. Images as Afro-positivist narratives and counter hegemonic strategy: A study of# TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShowsYou. International Journal of Modern Anthropology, 2(16), pp.601-628.
  18. Bodziany, M. and Nowakowska, M., 2020. “Heart of Darkness” and “Dark Continent”: Africa and its Nations in Polish Media and Social Perception. Social Psychology & Society, 11(2).
  19. Husbands, Winston; Lawson, Daeria O.; Etowa, Egbe B.; Mbuagbaw, Lawrence; Baidoobonso, Shamara; Tharao, Wangari; Yaya, Sanni; Nelson, LaRon E.; Aden, Muna; Etowa, Josephine (2022-10-01). "Black Canadians' Exposure to Everyday Racism: Implications for Health System Access and Health Promotion among Urban Black Communities". Journal of Urban Health. 99 (5): 829–841. doi:10.1007/s11524-022-00676-w. ISSN   1468-2869. PMC   9447939 . PMID   36066788.
  20. "Definition of RACISM". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  21. "Definition of COLORPHOBIA". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  22. "Colourphobia | Colorphobia, N., Etymology." Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/9131678901.
  23. "Negrophobia, N., Etymology." Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/5704106894.
  24. "Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Garcia, J. L .A. "Racism and the Discourse of Phobias: Negrophobia, Xenophobia and More---Dialogue with Kim and Sundstrom". SUNY Open Access Repository. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  26. 1 2 "The Anti-Slavery Roots of Today's "-Phobia" Obsession". The New Republic. ISSN   0028-6583 . Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  27. "Negrophobia | Etymology of Negrophobia by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  28. Une Autre Histoire (13 January 2015). "Négrophobie". une-autre-histoire.org. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  29. McLaughlin, Don James (2019). "Dread: The Phobic Imagination in Antislavery Literature". J19: The Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists. 7 (1): 21–48. doi:10.1353/jnc.2019.0001. ISSN   2166-7438.
  30. Roberto Castillo (August 12, 2016). "Claims of "China's Afrophobia" show we need new ways to think about race and racism". (posted originally at The Conversation, with the title Of washing powder, Afrophobia and racism in China, August 11, 2016)
  31. Manning, Patrick (2013). "African and World Historiography". The Journal of African History. 54 (3): 319–330. doi:10.1017/S0021853713000753. ISSN   0021-8537. JSTOR   43305130. S2CID   33615987.
  32. Roberts, A.D. (1978). "The Earlier Historiography of Colonial Africa". History in Africa. 5: 153–167. doi:10.2307/3171484. ISSN   0361-5413. JSTOR   3171484. S2CID   162869454.
  33. Fanon, Frantz (December 2007). The wretched of the earth. Philcox, Richard; Sartre, Jean-Paul; Bhabha, Homi K. New York. ISBN   9780802198853. OCLC   1085905753.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  34. Cooper, Frederick (2000). "Africa's Pasts and Africa's Historians". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 34 (2): 298–336. doi:10.2307/486417. JSTOR   486417.
  35. Grinker, Roy Richard; Lubkemann, Stephen C.; Steiner, Christopher (17 May 2010). Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History and Representation. John Wiley & Sons. p. 98. ISBN   9781444335224 . Retrieved 16 May 2017 via Google Books.
  36. Tamale, Sylvia (23 June 2011). African Sexualities: A Reader. Fahamu/Pambazuka. ISBN   9780857490162 . Retrieved 16 May 2017 via Google Books.
  37. "Afrophobia: Europe should confront this legacy of colonialism and the slave trade". Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  38. Amy Clarke (June 2012). "People of African Descent in Europe : A UKREN Briefing Paper" (PDF). Ukren.org. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  39. Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (4 February 2017). "Opinion - The History the Slaveholders Wanted Us to Forget". The New York Times . Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  40. "Invisible Visible Minority" (PDF). Kisa.org. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  41. Abbattista, Guido. "European Encounters in the Age of Expansion European Encounters". Ieg-ego.eu. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  42. Olusoga, David (8 September 2015). "The roots of European racism lie in the slave trade, colonialism – and Edward Long - David Olusoga". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  43. "Africa Stereotypes in the European media". En.ejo.ch. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  44. Washington, Robert E. (2001). The Ideologies of African American Literature. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 272. ISBN   9780742509504.
  45. Crouch, David (2016-05-04). "Woman who defied 300 neo-Nazis at Swedish rally speaks of anger". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  46. Mays, Vickie M. (1985). "The Black American and psychotherapy: The dilemma". Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 22 (2S): 379–388. doi:10.1037/h0085518.
  47. Marongwe, Ngonidzashe; Mawere, Munyaradzi (2016). "Violence, Identity and Politics of Belonging: The April 2015 Afrophobic Attacks in South Africa and the Emergence of Some Discourses". In Munyaradzi, Mawere; Ngonidzashe, Marongwe (eds.). Violence, Politics and Conflict Management in Africa: Envisioning Transformation, Peace and Unity in the Twenty-First Century. Langaa RPCIG. pp. 89–116. ISBN   978-9956-763-54-2.
  48. Skinner, Ryan Thomas (24 April 2018). "Walking, talking, remembering: an Afro-Swedish critique of being-in-the-world". African and Black Diaspora. 12 (1): 1–19. doi:10.1080/17528631.2018.1467747. S2CID   149746823.