The ultimate other versus the inferior other: an Afrocentric analysis of ethnic-stereotyping and Afrophobia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using an Afrocentric perspective, this paper investigates the concept of ethnic stereotype, the divergent experiences of white and black migrants, and how negative stereotyping of Africans has contributed to the xenophobia against black migrants in Africa and across the globe. One critical question addressed in this paper is why Africans hate migrants from other African countries but respect white migrants. The answer to this question is the same reason black migrants in Western nations are oppressed and discriminated against by their white hosts. This paper shows that this problem is rooted in the longstanding malicious stereotype of black inferiority that developed in the context of slavery and colonialism. If stereotyping is about creating ‘otherness,’ then the white man has assumed the position of the ‘ultimate other’ in the African mind. The internalization of colonialism and oppression also makes many Africans consider their fellow black men the ‘inferior other.’ The paper demonstrates that deconstructing anti-black stereotypes is key to addressing Afrophobia. This will require deliberate efforts to regain the African mind from the colonial-fabricated lies about Africa and the denigration of black people that have pervaded the global epistemological space. Positive pictures of African culture and history must be projected, which calls for the decolonizing of the media and the formal education system. This paper also traces the origins of anti-black stereotyping, an important history that must be uncovered to restore the self-esteem of black people.