The African Student Association tried to combat stereotypes and create dialogue about the world’s second-largest continent last week using a variety of methods: dialogues, bake sales and Facebook trivia questions.
The second annual Africa Awareness Week was entitled “We are more than,” focusing on combating widespread misconceptions about the continent.
Attendance during the week’s events was greater than last year, and students were more excited about the week’s activities, said Nancy Fru, a Communication sophomore and the group’s president.
“I think it was a success,” Fru said. “We’ve had pretty good attendance and people have been pretty interested in our events.”
Fru said more planning went into this year’s week than last year’s, adding that holding the 2007 event was a “last-minute decision.”
This year, the group members were able to create a more cohesive and structured series of events because they planned the week well in advance, she said.
“We had more time to plan our message,” Fru said.
Having a central theme for the week allowed students to gain a more complete understanding of the issues, making the events more meaningful for everyone involved, she said.
One of the greatest obstacles to overcoming problems in Africa is mitigating the public’s long-held biases, said Liz Grossman, the group’s publicity chairwoman.
“We’re trying to combat the stereotypes that people have about Africa,” the Communication junior said.
One of the ways the week challenged stereotypes was through friendly debate. On Wednesday evening, a group of more than 15 students gathered to participate in an “Afrilogue,” where attendees discussed various issues in Africa and how they felt about them.
African-born students, those with African ancestors and students without ties to Africa other than an interest in the continent’s politics attended the Afrilogue.
During the event, students were able to introduce and discuss any issue they felt was interesting. Some shared personal stories of successful political reforms in their home countries.
The conversation soon shifted to continent-wide issues, such as the looming presence of multinational corporations throughout Africa and the possibility of a “United States of Africa.”
Organizers also put a daily trivia question on Facebook throughout the week, with a new one posted each day on the Africa Awareness Week event page. Students could send in the answer to be entered into a drawing for a grand prize at the end of the week.
ASA knowingly placed the questions on a site where people could cheat by looking up the answer, Grossman said. Knowing the answer offhand was not important – “the point is to be aware,” she said.
Though they hardly expected to remedy public misconceptions about Africa in one week, the students of ASA said they felt their events helped enact change, even if only in small ways. For example, ASA sold baked goods and desserts from different African cultures during a bake sale on Thursday. The bake sale offered students a cheap way to expand their palates.
“How often do you get to buy African desserts for such a good price?” Fru said.
