“Imagine if every single “black” African that came to Canada (or America) took photos of themselves sitting by homeless, emaciated and hungry individuals with the tag lines “my journey in North America” written beneath their newly updated facebook photos, how differently the world would regard North America.
Well North Americans would surely respond with the following:
“What a false presentation of North Americans! Not every single North American is homeless! And, stop calling us North Americans! We’re Canadians, not Americans…we have our own bloody identity!”
Of course they would be right. My lovely fellow students and activists and humanitarians, try to think of this when you travel to anywhere in Africa or Latin America again.
Not only do your images perpetuate stereotypes about these regions, but it also homogenizes the peoples experiences, stifles their voices, and inarguable propagates this Western Savior narrative. I understand that this is not your objective and your travels are undertaken for the purpose of your learning experiences and personal enlightenment, but when all the rest of the world perceives are hungry, naked children via the images you bring back, well…
”
