| Summary |
The purpose of this thesis is to explore how the British construction of black Africans developed in the nineteenth century and how it affects African identity today. The method is to explore three popular stereotypes of Africans through the media of visual discourse, literature, and shows and exhibitions. The first stereotype is the image of the black African as an innocent, infantile victim of European slavery. This originated from the eighteenth-century British abolition movement and British paternalistic benevolence during the first half of the nineteenth century. The second stereotype is the image of a wild, uncivilized African savage, which was current throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. This image was codified by the rise of the 'new sciences', such as anthropology and Social Darwinism, which espoused particularly racist beliefs. Both of these images were visually manipulated and codified to appeal to the middle and working class British public. The third stereotype was also directed specifically at the lower class patronage and was the image of a thick-lipped, black-faced entertainer. This image developed in the middle of the nineteenth century and became the epitome of black Africans for many of the British lower classes. Events in British history, such as Darwinism and African wars, have helped to entrench these images rather than challenge them. This thesis will attempt to show that by the twentieth century Africans had lost their self-identity. This issue continued throughout the century, so that by the twenty-first century challenges within decolonized African countries are often perceived with Eurocentric ideology. This thesis will conclude with a discussion of the dichotomous condition Africans find themselves in as a result of trying to reconcile inherited European policies with old African tradition, while also trying to define a new positive African self-identity. |
