From paternalism to ethnocentrism: images of Africa in Gorbachev’s Russia

Abstract

An analysis of the content of three publications, Pravda, Izvestiya and Novoe Vremya, from 1985-1992 shows how news coverage of Africa was increasingly marginalised as Gorbachev’s ‘glasnost’ reforms took hold. The stance adopted towards Africa changed from communist paternalism to outright negativity as the continent was used by politicians and journalists as a metaphor for poverty and backwardness. The result was rising racism against Africans living in Russia.