(Re)conceptualizing Africa: transgressing historical patterns of misrepresenting the continent

The project (Re)Conceptualizing Africa gives a platform to voices that criticize dominant narratives and (mis)representations of the continent. In a recent event, journalist Seada Nourhussen talked about racism in the media. 

Seada Nourhussen (right) talked about racism in media. The event was moderated by Nina Köll.

The project was launched at University College Utrecht in Spring 2018 and hosted a wide array of speakers, performers and activists both from Africa and from the African diaspora who reside in the Netherlands. 

Seada Nourhussen, editor-in-chief of the Dutch media platform OneWorld showed her audience the subtle workings of racism in the media. She questioned the omnipresent pictures of dead African bodies in western media outlets after a natural disaster or terrorist attack while western victims’ dignity and privacy is in similar cases protected. 

Among other (Re)Conceptualizing Africa events are guest lectures by visiting academics and activists, a theatre play, films, an Afrobeat dance workshop, an East African music night at the UCU Bar and a presentation by Yaden, a team of youth activists and performing artists from Kenya. 

Interconnectivity

“One of our aims is to counter the stereotypes or one-sided stories which still prevail in the Western media and that do not do justice to the richness, complexity and global interconnectivity of the continent,” says Rhoda Woets, Lecturer in Anthropology, who coordinates the project together with her Anthropology colleague Corey Wright and Media Studies Lecturer Nina Köll.

“It is impossible to define what Africa is but we hope to achieve is that students and staff challenge their own conceptions and create more Afro-centric understandings. A good example was the stage adaptation of Kafka’s novel ‘The Trial’ by the Ghanaian theatre group Men on Black, which we and the three actors brought to campus in Fall 2018. It presented a powerful critique of contemporary xenophobia.” 

 

The next event takes place on 30 April: An evening with two amazing DJ’s in the campus bar. 

(Re)Conceptualizing Africa is financed by University College Utrecht’s Seneca Fund for special projects. 

To stay tuned, visit (Re)conceptualizing Africa’s Facebook page.