Looking for Lovedu: A Woman’s Journey Through Africa is a riveting story about Ann Jones’s journey through Africa. Throughout the novel, Ann Jones’s mentions the “Western World’s view on Africa. Not only do most westerners have a negative view on Africa, but a completely misunderstood point of view on Africa. Africa is a beautiful continent with fascinating cultures and amazing people, yet most of the western world fails to see the beauty that is Africa. Based on Ann Jones’s novel, most westerners have a misconception about Africa, and view it as unhealthy, a dark continent, unimportant to history, and unresourceful.
Most westerners believe that all of africa is aid ridden and disease stricken, but they are wrong. According to Ann jones, “it;s the hard-times Africa you read about:… disaffected Western journalist whose secret woe is that the AIDS epidemic makes it too risky to to get laid. ” (37) This shows that the shallow minds of western culture do not realize the major problem of the epidemic, they only realize that they can not get what they want because of it. In addition, they not realize that AIDS is in a SMALL part of africa, they, we, assume it has taken over the whole continent.
Many people in the western world believe that everyone in Africa is AIDS stricken. Because we are unaware and incapable of properly interpreting certain ideas, it limits our ability to see the whole picture. The whole picture is that Africa is for the most part is a healthy and thriving continent, us westerners just focus on the negatives. Not to mention, the epidemic of malaria continues to soil the westerns view on africa. People like us westerners, who fail the see the bigger picture, think that every mosquito is carrying a deadly disease and therefore you shouldn’t even set foot in Africa.
This is just as false as someone believing everyone in Africa has AIDS. AFrica, overall is a healthy continent, but the lack of cooperation of us westerners to understand Africa, leads to negitive views. Not only do people misinterpret africa in a sense of health, but many Westerners believe Africa is a “dark” continent, which is anything but the truth. As said by Jones, ‘What makes africa ‘dark’ is our own ignorance of the place. ” (35) The saying of “dark continent” was created by the europeans in the 19th century because Africa was unknown to them at that time.
Now it considered as an offensive name. It is offensive because the Europeans thought they they were the almighty rulers of everything, and because Africa was unknown to them, that it was completely unexplored and uncultured. This again leads back to the incapacity to realize the truth by us westerners, and therefore causes a fail to comprehend of the beautiful continent. Also, many westerners believe that Africa has no importance in history, which is not true. As said by Jones, “Nevertheless, when Europeans arrived, it suited them to say that Africa had no history and no civilization. (34)
This once again ties to the disregard of westerners to open their eyes and see what the truth is. The truth is that Africa is the root of all life. It is a well known fact that the first humans most likely came from Africa. The African continent is home to some of the earliest civilizations like Ancient Egypt. Not to mention, most of the 19th century was a race to colonize and settle in Africa. So many events in history were created because of the battle of African land. Without Africa, many dates in our world’s history would have never happened.
Once again, the ignorance of our culture (western) is causing us to improperly understand africa. Lastly, people in the west think that most of Africa is uneducated, which is not nearly true. Most westerners believe that Africans do not use their resources to their fullest potential, because they are not as advanced in some areas as the western world. But little do they know that Africans use every resource that they can get to their fullest potential. Even then, Africans still take their time to enjoy and respect the land. As Jones quotes the president of Uganda, “You westerners consume all he world’s resources- except air. ” (254).
This quote to me means that when westerners use their resources to what they feel like is to its maximum, but they do not take a minute to relax and take in the beautiful earth. Westerners misunderstand africa and the way they use their resources. The western world is very judgmental to the continent of Africa. The novel Looking for Lovedu: A Woman’s Journey Through Africa is a perfect example of that. Things such health, importance, history, and resourcefulness of Africa are completely misunderstood by Westerners.
Africa is a beautiful, breathtaking continent and everything about it is inspiring. From the way the people treat outsiders, to the way the environment and land collide; the traditions of music and the everyday life of cultures. Africa is fascinating and riveting. And the westerners of modern society need to realize, and understand the beauty that Africa holds. They, us, we, need to open our eyes and understand Africa, the way that Ann Jones learned to do in Looking for Lovedu: A Woman’s Journey Through Africa.