The Current13:09Fighting stereotypes about Africa — with sarcasm
When journalist Charity Ekezie started posting TikTok videos of her life in Nigeria in 2020, she noticed comments from Western viewers that left her exasperated.
“I was getting a lot of … ‘I thought Africa was a jungle. How did you guys get cell phones?'” Ekezie told The Current’s guest host Mark Kelley.
Ekezie said some commenters thought Africa was a country, not a continent — and others thought Africa was just a tribe. Others asked if there was water anywhere on the continent, or whether Africans knew man had been to the moon.
“It’s just the mindset that Africa is a big bush or a big forest, with just humans roaming around in it without any technology or lifestyle,” said Ekezie.
“I guess I was just tired of the ignorance … [so] I decided that it was time to just get back at them by being sarcastic.”
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The 32-year-old started posting satirical replies, dispelling stereotypes about Africa. A few short years later, she’s gained close to five million followers across her social media channels, with some of her videos racking up tens of millions of views.
She said the assumption she sees most is that Africa has no water, that it’s “just completely dry land.” In one video, she responds that it’s true, Africa is dry and people must drink their own saliva, which is collected in a public spitting festival every month.
“In this festival, all the men do a spiritual chant, led by the wizard of the community. And then all the women and girls take turns to spit in the drum,” Ekezie says in the video, a stack of water bottles in the background, before taking a big swig from one.
When one comment expressed surprise that there are houses in Africa, she told viewers that houses fall from the sky once a request is made to the gods — making the joke in a video filmed at a construction site.
“I always try to find a way to make sure that the real thing or the truth … is at the back of the background,” she said.
“So you kind of understand, ‘OK, she’s just making a joke.'”
Ekezie said, at first, using humour was just a way to push back against “haters” making racist comments, but she decided to stick with the approach when she saw it resonate with viewers.
“It passes my message, educates people and also entertains them at the same time — and I’ve noticed that people don’t forget anything they learn with humour,” she said.
How Western media portrays Africa
The bulk of people making these assumptions come from the U.S. and U.K., Ekezie said. By contrast, she said that Canadians she encounters have largely understood what she’s trying to do, and told her about similar misconceptions around what life is like in Canada.
She said part of the problem comes down to poor Western education about Africa, but she also thinks “Africa has zero PR” and isn’t promoted enough on the world stage.
“If I want to know what is going on in Canada, in the United States, in U.K. right now, I can just turn on my TV and just get access to everything Western all in my face, every single day,” she said.
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But there isn’t the same media representation of Africa in the West, where so much of the coverage is focused on “hunger and strife and famine and war,” she said.
“Why don’t we also talk about the growth of Africa, the beauty of Africa, the culture, the people?” she asked.
Ekezie wants people to know that Africa is a hotbed for innovation, with determined people working hard to solve the world’s problems.
How Africans see the West
In Africa, Ekezie says the prevailing stereotype about the West is that it’s “a land of milk and honey” where everyone is rich.
“That’s why a lot of people travel out thinking that leaving the continent is going to give them a better life in the West,” she said.
“When they reach there and realize that there are also poor people … they get shocked.”
She hopes she can travel around Africa to make videos in different countries — and maybe one day even get her own TV show.
“I have a lot on my plate, but I’m not going to stop dispelling stereotypes and showing people how beautiful Africa is,” she said.