The perception of Africa by African Americans in the predominantly black community of East St. Louis, Illinois, USA

Abstract

The dominant image of Africa in the colonial discourses of Western explorers has been persistently negative, stereotypical, and demeaning. The unauthenticated negative images are the largest influencer of Western perception of Africa because as long as the misrepresentation lingers on in Western media and film, the dominant white attitude toward African Americans as inferior could be rationalized and sustained. Moreover the real impact of such misrepresentations on how African Americans see and relate to their ancestral homeland remains grossly under studied. Through purposive sampling, this study interviewed 55 East St. Louis African Americans on the meaning of Africa to them. The results show that they had very positive perceptions of Africa and prided themselves as Africans despite centuries of negative Western portrayal of the continent. Their most important positive images included: Africa as the ancestral home of black people, African festivals and attire, African history and traditions, and African spirituality and belief systems. Through factor analysis, seven underlying dimensions that structure how African Americans construct their perceptions of Africa emerged – including: their Black African heritage, their fantasy of going back to Africa, their inerasable African identity, Connecting Africa to the world, African heroes, keeping the Black pride alive, and the failed stereotypic portrayal of Africa over the centuries.

Keywords:

• African heritage
• representations of Africa
• African Americans’ ethnic identity
• perception of Africa
• Africa stereotypes