When asked what came to their minds when they heard the word Africa, Curtis Keim and Carolyn Somerville in ‘Mistaking Africa’, say their students came up with coup, poverty, ignorance, drought, famine, tragedy and tribalism.
These professors of history and political science argue that Africa has mistakenly been thought of as a primitive place “full of trouble, wild animals and in need of help.” This state of horror alternates occasionally with images of a wild safari, a spear-wielding warrior and a grass-thatched, mud-walled hut.