Racialised representations of Black African poverty in INGO communications and implications for UK African diaspora: Reflections, lessons and recommendations

Abstract

AbstractWhile the role and implications of representations of global poverty and inequality in contemporary humanitarian and international development communications is well established in mainstream development studies. Less considered are the broader comprehensions around how racialised representations of Black African poverty in, for example, charity advertisements and attendant publicity materials uniquely affect UK‐situated African Diaspora communities, in ways that are complex and distinct from seemingly monoracial donor publics. Using interview and focus group evidence with UK Nigerian diaspora as a case study, this article engages in a reflective discussion on the multiple and differentiated ways that International Non‐Governmental Organisation (INGO) fundraising communications of Africa(ns) inform how, why and with what effects these Black racialised minorities adopt resistant and counterstereotypic identities. Taking lessons learned from these reflections, I suggest recommendations for how INGOs, specifically communication professionals, can adequately construe, negotiate and address perceived tensions around, and implications of, their visual communications for the UK African diaspora.