Public Issues

Many popular images of Africa are based on stereotypes that present fragmented, inaccurate, and at times fallacious, images or representations of Africa. These images and misrepresentations become the basis of knowledge for the vast majority of the population of how they think and feel about "Africa". The area of famine has been conventionally associated with Africa, and portrayed visually through stereotypes. People don't seem to understand that all of Africa is not suffering from famine, it is a big continent and some of Africa is quite wealthy as it is unevenly distributed. What tends to happens with images like this is that it portrays negative stereotypes to areas of Africa and gives the rest of the world the wrong image of what the entire continent is really about. These negative stereotypes are everywhere from magazines to televisions to posters in schools. With the lack of positive stories it can often seem as though "Africa" is surrounded by only orphans, hunger and poverty.

The image i chose is about a malnourished boy who is at a feeding center in Ethiopia. What the image is trying to show is that as climate changes due to global warming in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the percentage of kids that will be vulnerable to food shortages will increase. As this image is used to promote awareness about famine in Africa i feel as if the target audience will use this image to generalize the entire continent of Africa in being an area of famine. The image shows a young boy covered in flies which can already misinterpret what the real message of this photo is really about. Also it shows the child in which looks like a poor area sitting on steps all alone. The reader may automatically get the assumption that all children live in the slums, as well as not being able to get a decent meal. What i think needs to change about this image is firstly incorporating a sub-heading onto the picture indicating what part of Africa this image is referring too. Also...