{"id":15,"date":"2025-06-11T08:08:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T08:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/?p=15"},"modified":"2025-06-11T08:08:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T08:08:43","slug":"new-report-reveals-uk-and-us-still-see-africa-through-a-lens-of-poverty-corruption-and-nature-but-there-is-a-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/?p=15","title":{"rendered":"New Report Reveals UK and US Still See Africa Through a Lens of Poverty, Corruption, and Nature \u2013 But There Is a Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LAGOS\/LONDON \u2013 June 11, 2025\u00a0\u2013<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0A new groundbreaking report reveals that everyday perceptions of Africa in the UK and the US are still largely shaped by outdated and negative stereotypes \u2014 with profound consequences for how people engage with the continent culturally and economically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Titled <\/em><\/strong>Stereotypes About Africa in Britain and the United States: A Social-Psychological Study of Their Impact on Engagement with Africa<\/a><\/em><\/strong>,<\/em><\/strong> the report is a collaboration between Africa No Filter and Dr. Adam Hahn from the University of Bath in collaboration with researchers from the United States and German<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It surveyed 1,126 participants in the UK and the U.S. to explore how people think about Africa and how interested they are in engaging with it. Specifically, study participants were asked to write down three thoughts that came to mind when thinking about either Africa or continental Europe, as well as to rate their interest they are in both continents\u2019 products and cultures. An additional 863 U.S. participants were surveyed to examine how negative views might be reshaped through positive narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, over half (57.9%) of the responses about Africa mentioned wildlife or nature, with many describing the continent as hot, dangerous, or uninhabitable. In contrast, Europe was associated with modernity, architecture, and pleasant landscapes. Africa\u2019s society and economy were linked to corruption, instability, and poverty, while Europe was seen as stable and prosperous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, stereotypes linking Africa to political instability and poverty instead of culture and modernity were found to directly explain respondents\u2019 reduced interest in African goods and cultural experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis report shows that Africa still exists as an abstract concept for many \u2014 one that is defined more by animals and hardship than by people, progress, or potential,\u201d said Dr. Adam Hahn, lead researcher and senior lecturer in social psychology at the University of Bath. \u201cIt\u2019s not just what people think, it\u2019s how their thoughts shape what they do \u2014 including their willingness to buy African products or engage with African cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the report also presents a powerful insight: introducing positive and accurate narratives \u2014 not just correcting false ones \u2014 can meaningfully shift attitudes and increase interest in Africa\u2019s cultures, travel, and products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe now have hard data showing that the stories told about Africa \u2014 and the ones left untold \u2014 have real-world consequences,\u201d said Moky Makura, Executive Director at Africa No Filter. \u201cThis research is a wake-up call and a roadmap. It tells us that we must go beyond economic data and media headlines \u2014 we must reframe how we talk about Africa to truly unlock its potential and opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full report is available for download here: <\/em><\/strong>https:\/\/www.africanofilter.org\/<\/em><\/strong><\/a>stereotypes-about-africa-us-uk<\/a> -english<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media Contacts:
Lerato@africanofilter.org<\/a>; +2783 553 4623<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAGOS\/LONDON \u2013 June 11, 2025\u00a0\u2013\u00a0A new groundbreaking report reveals that everyday perceptions of Africa in the UK and the US are still largely shaped by outdated and negative stereotypes \u2014 with profound consequences for how people engage with the continent culturally and economically. Titled Stereotypes About Africa in Britain and the United States: A Social-Psychological Study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-independance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africadiplomacy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}