This is our final project for Screening Africa, an English/Black Studies course at Amherst College exploring how Africa figures in popular culture. We chose to analyze a number of different internet phenomena related to Africa. Our forms of our projects are as diverse as the aspects of the internet that they cover. 

A pinch of Trickery, a dash of Ignorance, and a little number called 419, by Mary-Ann Juma, explores the phenomenon of scam emails originating mainly from Nigeria. These scam (or 419) emails have exploded in the past few years, and the Nigerian scam industry has become a huge (but illegal) source of revenue, generating about $500 million annually. Although the major reason why these scams have been successful is greed, Mary-Ann has chosen to analyze another possible reason: ignorance as a result of stereotypes popularized by the media.

The Role of ICTs in Higher Education in Africa , by Kuhuk Bhushan, explores the role Information and Communication Technologies have started to play in higher education in Africa. While the full potential of ICTs is yet to be exploited due to financial constraints and questions of sustainability of the model, ICTs promise to bring sweeping change in the sector of higher education by joining Africa to the global information network.

Problematic Bug Nets, by Daniel Edelman, looks into why fundraising campaigns for anti-malarial bug nets for African children have become so popular recently among American audiences.  In addition, the project looks into how new internet technologies are being harnessed for these organizations and the dubiously charitable motivations behind some of their famous sponsors.

Political Cartoons and Censorship in the age of Internet, by Nicholaus M, looks at works of two East African (Kenya and Tanzania) political cartoonists. Looking at both their published cartoons and censored works self published online, the project attempts to highlight the level of censorship present in the two countries.

The Distance to Amherst: How Far Is the Internet?, by Rachel Greenberg, is a multimedia presentation exploring how the Internet collapses distances and makes historic connections more apparent by juxtaposing pictures of her daily life in Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts with the music she listens to, African pop music from the blog Benn Loxo du Taccu.

 

Enjoy!