Image Of Africa Research Articles

ON THE PROSPECTS OF THE UK-AFRICA COOPERATION AFTER BREXIT

UK’s interests in Africa are driven by economic perspectives and natural resources. This becomes more relevant in the age of global transformation of contemporary system of international relations. In 2018 British government set to become the biggest investor to Africa among G7 countries. On the eve of formal withdrawal from the EU, London hosted the first UK-Africa Investment summit confirming British commitment to strengthen economic and business cooperation with Africa in post-Brexit age. After leaving the EU, the UK is free to pursue its own international trade agenda, the authorities pledged to boost UK position in Africa in light of growing competition. The UK’s historical ties with the region is an advantage (19 out of 53 members of Commonwealth is located in Africa). The author concludes that the African countries expect that London will liberalize its internal market for African products and migration rule for African people. Of particular importance in the dialogue with the countries of the Black Continent is the rhetoric of promoting the environmental agenda and assistance in combating epidemics. Discussion remains, however, about the extent to which Britain's humanitarian programmes and international development assistance can contribute to London's strategic objectives in Africa. In light of COVID-19 pandemic London has a chance to enhance its image in Africa.

"Threads of the Orientalist/Procolonial Discourse in John Updike's Novel The Coup"

This paper is an attempt to point out how John Updike’s novel The Coup (1978) conforms to the traditional Western notions and conventions about Africa and Africans. The methodology of this paper involves a textual analysis of The Coup whereby significant passages from the novel are cited and elucidated with regard to the ideas of Orientalism as a discourse to reveal how Updike employs such a discourse to render a distorted image of Africa and African cultures as he draws heavily on stereotypes and traditional prejudices as embodiment of the darker side of the human psyche. At the same time, this paper is meant to point out the seemingly authoritative stance of Updike through the sources he consults and the techniques he utilizes to endow his negative discourse with a tone of authority, knowledge, and expertise. This seemingly authentic stance provides Updike with the means to adopt a superior, Western voice of power in the creation of truth with regard to Africa as a nation and to the East/West relationship as a dichotomy. As the novel relates, Updike not only justifies the American intervention in Africa, but he does injustice to the humanity of the African personality which he diminished through racist stereotyping. It is, therefore, through utilizing this Orientalist/postcolonial approach and relevant data that this paper concludes that Updike displays absolutely no insight into the characters involved in this novel. Instead, he weaves African colonialism, Islam, the Cold War, socialism, capitalism, and exploitation of every variety into a novel with a few too many characters that are explored just enough to make them into two-dimensional cartoons of real human beings. As such, Updike's The Coup is no more than an attempt to assert the authority of the West, specifically the United States, as a superpower that surpasses the Soviet Union in its control over Africa and African resources. Keywords: Africa; Updike; Imperialism ; Postcolonialism; Orientalism; Otherness; Exoticism

Beijing-Style Soft Power: A Different Conceptualisation to the American Coinage

This article examines China’s unique soft power conceptualisation, which differs from the American coinage. It contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating how soft power is theorised by Chinese academicians and policymakers in a distinct way. That means, according to China’s own tradition, predating the term. Unlike in America, where soft power is largely developed freely, in China, it is highly centralised. As a rising power, the People’s Republic initially concentrates on building domestic soft power, primarily through socialist culture and virtuous governance. These are in turn displayed to the outside world. Beijing uses multiple channels to tell the China story and has been setting up international platforms to portray itself as a responsible global actor. Several soft power indexes show that China holds a relatively positive image in Africa and South America. In Asia, views are mixed, while in Europe and North America, they remain low.

THE DOUBLE VISION OF JOSEPH CONRAD: „HEART OF DARKNESS“, A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS

This article aims to explore the background of the dispute started by Chinua Achebe in his famous essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”. The novel in ques- tion has become the subject of the dispute on whether it is deserving of being considered a great work of art. The reasons behind Achebe’s claim that it is not are the dehumanization of Africans found in various scenes throughout the novel, as well as the depiction of Africa itself as the barbaric and hostile other to civilized Europe. As in any such claim, while some support it, others find it faulty. There are those such as Achebe who would judge Conrad for the same reasons others, such as Bratlinger, Said, Mnthali, or Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, see him as the product of his time. This article will attempt to explore some of these claims and, if possible, determine the extent of their validity.

The Influential Factors of Chinas Image in Africa by the Economic-Trade Approach

Since the foundation of People's Republic of China, a deep friendship has been forged between China and Africa. As a consequence, China's aid to Africa is growing, which gradually result in a selfless image. After the reform and opening up of China, China's economy have developed quickly. At the same time, China and Africa’s policy adjustment were aggressively implemented to strengthen the trade and investment cooperation. During this period, the image in terms of the mutual reciprocity was gradually formed in Africa. At the beginning of the 21st century, the first session cooperation forum of China and Africa had been established.

Place branding sovereignty: re-marketing Africa's investment narrative from 1619-2019

The enduring nature of negative branding distorts Africa's image. This is emblematic of the problematic nature of brand Africa, albeit normalised and treated ahistorically and uncritically in extant literature. This paper analyses the origins, causes and effects of negative branding of Africa and proposes novel sovereign (self-determination-based) strategies for rebranding the continent. The study practices literature mapping and historical institutionalism as a two-pronged approach for probing and highlighting the important historical stages in marketing strategies that are partly responsible for relegating Africa to the bottom of a global caste-based branding system. We synthesise extant literature about the role of imagery, urban myths, deceptive marketing and pejorative media/academic portrayal of Africa as being dependent on the eleemosynary gestures of others. We analyse the extent to which these issues obfuscate our understanding of the institutional reforms, numerous positive macro-economic indicators and political changes which are favourable conditions for MNCs and diaspora entrepreneurship to thrive.

Place branding sovereignty: re-marketing Africa's investment narrative from 1619-2019

The enduring nature of negative branding distorts Africa's image. This is emblematic of the problematic nature of brand Africa, albeit normalised and treated ahistorically and uncritically in extant literature. This paper analyses the origins, causes and effects of negative branding of Africa and proposes novel sovereign (self-determination-based) strategies for rebranding the continent. The study practices literature mapping and historical institutionalism as a two-pronged approach for probing and highlighting the important historical stages in marketing strategies that are partly responsible for relegating Africa to the bottom of a global caste-based branding system. We synthesise extant literature about the role of imagery, urban myths, deceptive marketing and pejorative media/academic portrayal of Africa as being dependent on the eleemosynary gestures of others. We analyse the extent to which these issues obfuscate our understanding of the institutional reforms, numerous positive macro-economic indicators and political changes which are favourable conditions for MNCs and diaspora entrepreneurship to thrive.

Hierarchies of Editorial Power in International NGOs

ABSTRACTInternational non-governmental organisations (INGOs) have long been recognised as major contributors to the construction of Africa's image in the West through their impact stories, fundraising and advocacy campaigns. Yet although there has been considerable academic inquiry into these messages, research focusing on the editorial processes that produce them is still limited. Moreover, the few studies that exist tend to focus on the finished products as seen at the INGOs' Western headquarters. This is particularly curious, given that most of these stories originate from the INGOs' fields of operation in the Global South and are initially collected, written and edited by communication staff in national offices. This paper explores the various editorial power centres in the INGO story production process from the perspectives of global South staff. Based on data collected from five INGOs operating in East Africa, the paper draws three key conclusions; that INGO editorial processes are dynamic, contested and heterogeneous, field office staff possess underappreciated agency in the story editing process, and the extent to which INGOs can be said to speak on behalf of those they claim to help is in part linked to the amount of agency that communication staffers in the global South possess.

An open source solution to a common collection problem: the Africa image and map portal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Africa image and map portal (AIMP) project’s origins and development, along with its applications to date. This paper includes methods and a step-by-step appendix so that the project can be reproduced at other institutions. Design/methodology/approach AIMP was created with a suite of free and open source software, including QGIS, Mapbox.js and GitHub. Built around the concept of an interactive index map, AIMP allows for geographic searching of maps, posters and images from Indiana University’s (IU) African Studies collections. This paper presents a case study for the use of this geographic discovery tool at an academic library. Findings AIMP has allowed comparison of collection strengths with research interests of IU African Studies affiliates and to make strategic collection development decisions that will best serve the authors’ patrons. The instruction applications of AIMP are also full of potential. To date, the Librarian for African Studies has used the portal to familiarize faculty, as well as undergraduate and graduate students, with the range of image and map resources available to them, in a variety of settings. Social implications AIMP allows researchers around the world to discover materials through a geographic search, dramatically connecting and increasing access to and discoverability of these important collections. The use of free and open source geospatial software (foss4g) means that the interface does not rely on an institution’s proprietary software-licensing agreements, making it replicable for other institutions. This use of foss4g widens access to maps, spatial data, images and posters of Africa held by IUL to a global audience. Originality/value While interactive index maps are popular among map libraries, AIMP uniquely acts as a discovery portal for a variety of media, including images and posters. In this way, AIMP works to overcome institutional silos and increase discoverability of these important collections to a global audience.

Creating the Archive of African Women’s Writing

Abstract This essay is a reflection of the monumental Women Writing Africa project by one of the project’s three editors. Over the course of two decades, the project published four volumes documenting the history of literary expression by African women throughout the continent, including the stories of dispossession that mark the harrowing start of the slave routes. This intimate account engages with the context of feminist praxis on the continent and the politics of African feminist research and publishing. Women Writing Africa was a project of cultural renewal that restored African women’s voices to the African canon and redrew the map of African literature. In their work, the editors and contributors confronted the intractable reductiveness around images of Africa—even within feminist circles—and addressed what it means to be “African” in the contemporary world. The editors’ hope was to generate new readings of Africa’s history by shedding light on women’s writing and, in doing so, change assumptions of how knowledge is shaped.

Inter-scallop separations of the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve: an important cause of \u2018pathological\u2019 mitral regurgitation in rheumatic heart disease screening

SummaryThe 2012 World Heart Federation (WHF) criteria for echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) identify that the finding of ‘pathological’ mitral regurgitation (MR) in a screened individual increases the likelihood of detecting underlying RHD. Cases of isolated ‘pathological MR’ are thus identified as ‘borderline RHD’. A largescale echocardiographic screening program (Echo in Africa) in South Africa has identified that inter-scallop separations of the posterior mitral valve leaflet (PMVL) can give rise to ‘pathological’ MR. The authors propose that this entity in isolation should be identified and excluded from the WHF ‘borderline RHD’ category. In this case report, we present two examples of ‘pathological’ MR related to inter-scallop separation from the Echo in Africa image database. We further provide screening tips for the accurate identification of this entity.

International News Coverage of Insecurity and Human Suffering in Africa’s Great Lakes Region

This article examines news coverage of insecurity and human suffering in Africa’s Great Lakes region. Drawing on news reports collected through LexisNexis, it discusses how international news reports use place differences to give prominence to certain events in the region, making them key referents of human insecurity and suffering. The discussion is guided by the assumption that, “images are, on the one hand, reproductions, but they have a second meaning as well: a mental picture of something not real or present” (Gamson et al., 1992, p. 374). To highlight how stereotypical images of Africa still dominate international news reports, with hard-line opinions and “frame-fit” inscriptions, the article focuses on image representations and conveyed meanings rather than factual inferences. Overall, the events discussed should be read as part of the broader narratives feeding into the stereotypical image of Africa as an insecure place, marred by trauma and horror.

African Drone Stories

The process of normalizing drones throughout Africa has received little scholarly attention. Discussions of drone proliferation tend to assume that the drone industry is a monolithic, geographically concentrated entity, and that drone use will look the same and engender the same controversies, regardless of geography. The article aims to think through African drone proliferation by analyzing how drones and Africa are being construed as solutions to each other’s problems, and by exploring the interface between images of Africa and the notion of the drone as a game changer for development and security. The article also reads the African drone in the context of the early deployment of surveillance drones in Africa in the 1970s, as well as the legacy of technological imperialism and colonial airpower. The perception of Africa as being in need of external drone intervention dovetails with the drone industry’s efforts to identify and promote good uses for drones—efforts that are central to increasing the legitimacy of drones in the eyes of the Global North. Hence, the article argues that the ‘African drone’ has become a vehicle for the production and distribution of norms, resources, and forms of legitimacy that have implications for drone proliferation, both within and outside Africa.

Learning the American Way: Sports International and American Soft Power

From 1962 to 1968, the United States Government along with private entities funded the training of athletes from developing nations through a non-profit organization named Sports International. Led by former Peace Corps member David Dichter, Sports International sought to enhance America’s image in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The initial aim of the programme was to train athletes to compete at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The theory behind Sports International centred on the notion that helping developing nations achieves athletic success would influence them to view the United States more favourably. The idea to form Sports International came in the midst of the Cold War as the United States and the Soviet Union battled on a multitude of fronts. This article argues that American leaders worried about the presence of the Soviet Union in developing countries and sought ways to maximize American influence in those areas. The theory of soft power, a concept most prominently explicated by American international relations theorist Joseph Nye, forms the framework for this study. By analysing Sports International through this lens, this article demonstrates several problems which might ensure should one overemphasize the effect of sport on a nation’s soft power.

Chinua Achebe by Jago Morrison, and: Achebe and Friends at Umuahia: The Making of a Literary Elite by Terri Ochiaghia

Reviewed by: Chinua Achebe by Jago Morrison, and: Achebe and Friends at Umuahia: The Making of a Literary Elite by Terri Ochiaghia Chengyi Coral Wu (bio) Jago Morrison. Chinua Achebe. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2014. Pp xi, 272. £30.00. Terri Ochiaghia. Achebe and Friends at Umuahia: The Making of a Literary Elite. Rochester: James Currey, 2014. Pp ix, 218. US$80. Chinua Achebe has been recognized as the founding father of African literature for his internationally acclaimed novel Things Fall Apart (1958). His essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” (1975) also established him as a leading postcolonial studies critic. Two posthumous studies of Achebe, Jago Morrison’s Chinua Achebe and Terri Ochiagha’s Achebe and Friends at Umuahia, re-examine and challenge the conventional and widely held notions about Achebe’s scholarship. Morrison revisits the notion that Achebe is a “cultural nationalist” whose literary writing promotes Nigerian anti-colonial nationalism. For Morrison, far from endorsing Nigeria, the trajectory of Achebe’s novels questions the very premise of Nigerian nationalism. Ochiagha reviews Achebe’s status and relation to his closest contemporaries, including the poet Christopher Okigbo and the novelists Chukwuemeka Ike, Elechi Almadi, and Chike Momah, arguing that Achebe should not be treated as a “founding father” of African literature and thus his contemporaries should not be regarded as his “followers.” Against the notion of “the Achebe School” that has been used to understand Achebe and his contemporaries, Ochiagha foregrounds the “companionship” and “friendship” among them (9). Chinua Achebe begins by elaborating on Achebe’s career as a broadcaster and an editor in the 1950s and 1960s, both occupations which were developed in the context of Nigerian independence. Achebe’s position as the director of the broadcasting program “Voice of Nigeria” required him to promote the ideal of “One Nigeria” (Morrison 11). In the meanwhile, his position as the general editor of the African Writers Series for Heinemann Educational Books aimed to promote the national literature of Nigeria and many other African [End Page 176] countries. Achebe’s public image as a promoter of Nigeria and Nigerian literature thus ties him to the notion that his literary writings provide examples of Nigerian national literature. Morrison highlights contradictions between the contexts of Achebe’s career and the texts he composed (mainly his novels) and argues that Achebe was ambivalent about Nigeria as a political and cultural concept. Morrison’s analyses of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease (1960), and Arrow of God (1964) show paradoxes of Achebe’s representations of British colonization of Igboland in different time periods and his Igbo characters’ resistance against it. Morrison argues that Achebe’s novelistic critiques of colonialism are often oblique and his representations of British colonization of Igboland are, to some extent, not true to history. Instead, Achebe’s novels, Morrison emphasizes, focus more on weaknesses and conflicts existing within Igbo culture—including the Igbo’s passive resistance against British colonialism, the obsession with masculinity (as dramatized by Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart and Ezeulu in Arrow of God), the clannishness and corruptions associated with this obsession (as in No Longer at Ease), and the excess of intra-tribe competition (as dramatized by Ezeulu and his rival Nwaka). Those problems, Morrison argues, highlight Achebe’s reflection on the self-destructive nature of Igbo culture rather than his rebellion against colonial oppression and conquest. In foregrounding Achebe’s portrayals of the internal problems of an indigenous culture, Morrison does not intend to question Achebe’s anti-colonial attitude. Achebe’s novels demonstrate the richness and complexity of the Igbo cultural system in opposition to colonial representations of African indigenous cultures. However, Achebe’s identification with the Igbo does not make him a “nationalist.” Morrison’s analyses of Achebe’s novels about post-independence Nigeria, including A Man of the People (1966) and Anthill of the Savannah (1987), highlight the author’s pessimism about the validity of the Nigerian Federation. Morrison shows how in these two novels Achebe targets the corruption of the Nigerian (male) national and educated elites—a ruling class the author represents as being unable to change the status quo due to their obsession with...

South Africa's image problem in Africa

When Nelson Mandela was sworn in as president on 10 May 1994, South Africa enjoyed an unprecedented global standing. Much of the international community, particularly Western states, saw the new South Africa as well equipped to play a dynamic and dominant role on the continent; promoting conflict resolution, economic development, and acting as a standard-bearer for democracy and human rights.Yet, throughout the presidencies of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, South Africa has failed to deliver on this early promise. Its continental primacy has been circumscribed by its own reluctance to lead, combined with widespread African hostility to its economic expansion, antipathy towards its democratic ideals and scepticism about its suitability as Africa’s global representative. With an onerous domestic agenda, as it continues to tackle the profound socio-economic legacies of apartheid, and with its military power also on the wane, South Africa must now adapt to an emerging multipolarity on the continent. This transition – which may produce a new concert of African powers working in constructive collaboration or lead to fragmentation, discord and gridlock – is likely to determine Africa’s prospects for decades to come.This Adelphi book squarely challenges the received wisdom that South Africa is a dominant power in Africa. It explores the country’s complex and difficult relationship with the rest of the continent in the post-apartheid era and examines the ways in which the country has struggled to translate its economic, military and diplomatic weight into tangible foreign policy successes and enduring influence on the ground. The conclusions of this book will be valuable to academics, policymakers, journalists, and business leaders seeking to understand the evolution and trajectory of South African policy in Africa.

Images of Africa? Portuguese films and documentaries related to the former colonies in Africa (first half of the 20th century)

This paper analyses films and documentaries produced in Portugal based or inspired on the former African colonies. During the Estado Novo, the creation of a positive image of the “empire” and of the colonial policy led to the prohibition of films that depicted physical abuse of African-origin individuals, the struggle between “white” (colonisers) and “black” (colonised), movements that fought for the ascension of the Afro-American population in the U.S.A. or exalted pacifist or antimilitarist concepts. Many documentaries emphasise Africa’s potential (natural and human). Some deal with the creation of structures that would allow the education and evangelization of the African people, while others try to portray its “uses and customs”. Others show evidence of the African people’s work strength in the construction of a promising future. That work is always guided by the “white”, that is, the technical knowledge of the “white” is added to the strength of the African. Africans are represented as examples of a unified whole (they are all called “indígenas”), but there is an attempt to identify distinctive characteristics between them. Images that denote an idea of modernization, in cities such as Luanda or Lourenço Marques, overshadow the “colonised”. These films are often a tool of propaganda rather than a means of information, or an ethnographical document, and their objective is to convey a colonial conscience.

Africa Antetranslation

The publication of African language literature is more firmly established in the 21st century than ever before. Yet as African language literature forges ahead, its translation lags behind. The greatness of African literature in European languages is inestimable, but how could African language literature, both in its original languages and in translation, be any less and not much more? Still, African language literature remains in a state of antetranslation—a small and not the main part, as it naturally could be, of African literature. Achebe’s “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” (1977) relates the incalculably adverse legacy of colonialism and neocolonialism, but its near universal assent might also reinforce the antetranslation status quo. Achebe scorns the “African woman who has obviously been some kind of mistress to Mr. Kurtz,” but what if she were invoked as a patron saint or nkisi n’kondi to move beyond antetranslation?

Introduction

Introduction Jim Hicks THE CALENDAR OF A QUARTERLY — at least this quarterly — is marked up most heavily in its moments of overlap. For instance, today, this day in early spring, as I ruminate over a table of contents that will come fully into the world next summer, I am accompanied on my side table by our first issue of the year, an arrival little over a week old. Much of its contents commemorate a lecture first read publicly in Amherst in 1975, then published in these pages a few years after. And so it is that Chinua Achebe now stands solemnly before me, gracing our cover with gravitas that only a photograph by Jerome Liebling could capture, causing me to wonder one thing only: what the hell will this rag ever do to equal that? Nothing. That much is clear. When Achebe’s “An Image of Africa” ripped up and riposted Joseph Conrad’s dark heart, what we now refer to as postcolonial studies gained a lodestone and touchstone, and certain truths became self-evident. No editor with any sense of literary and cultural history would ever predict that any pages — no matter how apparently worthy, exuberantly expressive, insouciantly innovative, or roughshod rebellious — could someday have such multiplier effects. What I will suggest is one way in which, having learned our best lessons from the Igbo master, we strive to continue his work. In our last issue, with typically understated elegance, Caryl Phillips demonstrated how conversations with Achebe ultimately caused him “to rethink [his] diasporan relationship to Africa and, by extension, to the whole African diasporan family.” The title of Phillips’s essay, like that of the panel where he presented it, was taken from Achebe himself: “It is the Storyteller who makes us see what we are.” The “fractured and difficult,” “less romantic, more nuanced, and more challenging” legacy of Atlantic triangular trade is, of course, the great subject of Phillips’s own virtuoso storytelling: that the encounter with Achebe gave new energy and meaning to this theme shows his essay earned its title. Q.E.D. In the present issue, nearly all of these stories, essays, and poems place their wagers in or on the backslash between one place and another. In [End Page 208] Alicia Ostriker’s “Cinco de Mayo,” for example, Mexico sprouts forth in a Nueva York green world; elsewhere, Naira Kuzmich meditates on loss, with a translatio that carries her Armenian across and behind English lines. In Nil Santiáñez’s exegesis of modernist war writing (the first installment of a two-parter), the backslash divides and articulates soldierly telling from showing a century ago, on either side of the Maginot line. An excerpt from Igiaba Scego’s Adua (translated by Frederika Randall, who recently brought us Giacomo Sartori) portrays two generations of Somali immigrants in Italy, with their distance from home measured by triangulation, using a Bernini elephant and obelisk as focal points. The art fantastique of Allison Schulnik melts and morphs, troubling conventions of mode and media. Contributing editor Peter Bush trades on another triangle, sending us from the UK three translations of stories by the Cuban poet, translator, and film critic Jorge Yglesias. Aatif Rashid tells a tragic tale of Ottoman conquest in Hungary, whereas Kenan Orhan traces fault lines across the border war between Turkey and Syria today. Closer to home, a poem from Kathleen Kelley bridges time and distance in crossing to the Cape, while characters by Colin Fleming come of age way out here in the wilds of Western Mass., and hipster Brion Dulac entombs an unknown hitchhiker in his truly uncommon commune. As is his wont, Bob Dow sums it all up, sending it sailing in a rumination on the border between skull, mind, and memory. I could go on — with Quinn, Fortenberry, or Fishbane, for example, each offering us specimen days chock-full of stories, telling us what we are — but by now you get the point. There are no equals to Achebe, here or elsewhere. Yet the stories, poems, and pictures continue to move us forward, and through that motion, we are made to see what we are. The point is to follow Achebe, not...

The current Afro-optimism – A realistic image of Africa?

This chapter raises the question whether the current Afro-optimism can be considered a construction of a realistic image (situational) and a narrative (process) of Africa. It does so primarily by analyzing the 180 degree turn-around of the prestigious and influential magazine, The Economist, on Africa within the time span of a decade. In May 2000 the magazine claimed that Africa was a continent without hope, whereas in December 2011, Africa, according to The Economist, could be considered a continent of hopeful economies – where “the sun shines bright.” The chapter identifies and analyses the key editions of The Economist with reference to this complete turn-around on Africa. Three major pillars are identified in the analysis of The Economist in relation to the changes in Africa, (i) the economic pillar (economic growth, investments and trade), (ii) demographic change and (iii) conflict, governance and democratization. Within each pillar a presentation of The Economist’s description and analysis is put forward to be followed by critical reflections by the author. The presentations and reflections also have reference to the analysis/empirical studies on Africa by key research institutions. In the concluding reflections of the chapter, the importance of culture for the understanding of African change - only mentioned in passing by The Economist - is put forward through concrete examples. The findings are that the Afro-optimist images/narrative put forward by The Economist and others do not hold together even if analysed from within its own frame. The analysis of The Economist and the Afro-optimist narrative also shows that it becomes fragile when confronted with an understanding of Africa that integrates cultural perspectives. The Afro-optimist narrative of The Economist has been constructed within a limited knowledge and timeframe that has restricted a deeper understanding of Africa. The conclusion of the chapter is that the way The Economist has constructed its arguments for Africa-optimism has helped create a narrative that aims at legitimising the continued exploitation of Africa.