“Manufacturing Hate: How Africa Was Demonized In Western Media” explains the history of demonization of Africa, and by extension descendants of Africa, in Western media–books, newspapers, and magazines–from the 17th century to our contemporary era, and the lingering ramifications of centuries of demonization.
The book takes the reader on a sweeping journey, critiquing the so-called “journals” of the European trespassers who traveled to Africa beginning in the 17th century to “discover” and arrogantly rename lakes, rivers, mountains, and even countries that already had African names.
The early European travelers were agents of imperialism. They mapped out Africa for later colonial conquest. Their “journals” demonized Africans in order to justify conquest, colonization, and exploitation of Africa–the people and the resources–under the false narrative of “civilizing” Africa.
Join author, Milton Allimadi as he discusses the book’s critique of dozens of articles dating from decades ago in publications such as The New York Times, National Geographic magazine, Time magazine, and The New Yorker. Allimadi will show how these media outlets inherited their racist depictions of Africa from the European travelers’ “journals.”
