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"TASP has changed the way I look at history, society, and even myself."
- Sasha-Mae Eccleston,
student
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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN PROGRAM
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The History and Images of Hollywood’s Africa
The University of Texas at Austin
June 29-August 9, 2008
Faculty: James Wilson, Department of History, and Keith Robinson, Department of Sociology,
both of The University of Texas at Austin
Factota: Michael Barany, Cornell University, and Jennifer Green, Washington University, St. Louis
This seminar examines Hollywood’s representation of Africa and explores the myths and stereotypes that have been used to justify
white rule and control of Africa. In the era of mercantilist empires, Africa became the repository of slave labor and the object of racist
ideologies to justify the slave trade. During the nineteenth century, Africa was the “heart of darkness,” a mysterious virgin territory
awaiting European conquest, and throughout the twentieth century, Hollywood created a history of imperial and racist images of Africa
as the land of exotic jungles, home of Tarzan, and “primitive tribes” longing for civilization and “uplift” from the white race.
We will consider the objections of Afrocentric theorists, who have converted Africans into kings and queens, substituting a new set of myths
for the old standards. We will question why images of war, disease, poverty, AIDS, and corruption continue to dominate representations
of Africa in Hollywood films.
This seminar will critique Hollywood’s understanding of Africa and will examine the treatment of the following
topics: African culture, pre-colonial Africa, the slave trade and its impact on Africa, the colonial experience, African nationalism,
the critical development of postcolonial nation-building, as well as the racial and civil strife of Southern Africa. Each week, a film
will be viewed and critiqued.
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