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Abstract
Two total solar eclipses in Africa are the setting for this study of the representations of black scientists in the international media, focusing on newspaper articles, Internet sites and television broadcasts. Careful consideration of the eclipse coverage in 2001 and 2002 led to the decision by these scientists to assume control of their own images during the 2006 eclipse, with some success. The simulcast of the 2006 eclipse was initially a collaboration between National Society of Black Physicist (NSBP) members and their host institutions, the Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute (EBASI), the University of Cape Coast in Ghana and Cable News Network (CNN). During the final weeks before the eclipse event, this collaboration fractured into two independently funded efforts with differing agendas. The second group broadcast images of the Sun exclusively, which was meant to represent ‘pure’ science, while the first group presented a broader picture of astronomy that included interviews with African and African-American astronomers, interviews with University of Cape Coast students, and Ghanaian cultural astronomers. This latter cohort focused on local Ghanaian fishermen and their use of celestial objects for navigation, horology and weather predictions. That the larger group fractured in two is reflective of the debates of who defines science, who has the authority to speak about science, and who controls the images of science and scientists. This example is unique because it occurred within the ethnic space of African-American astronomers and physicists; it physically takes place in Africa and it captures the physical impact of cross-discipline encounters in this case.