Africa stereotyped! Yet again
1 May 2014 7:14 PM GMT
Is the entire continent of Africa bathed in an eternal orange sunset? And in every country’s landscape in the continent stands a lonesome acacia tree? If the books set in Africa are to be judged by their
covers, the answer is YES!
Africa, with NO due respect to its rich natural endowment, rich culture and vast expanses spread across 54 countries, is reduced to a vague acacia tree-image by the book cover designers world over. Topics: varied. Writing style: equally divergent. Authors: African or otherwise, even several Nobel Prize winners. Plot Geography: Nigeria to Botswana or South Africa. No matter which African country the book’s plot is based on – chances are you will spot the book’s African-ness before you know its name or author.
But why such a cliché in cover design for books out of Africa?
Recently ‘Africa Is a Country’, a blog that derides western misconceptions on Africa, came up with an interesting epiphany. It published a meme that ignited debate on such designers’ non-creativity. The blog mooted, ‘The covers of most novels ‘about Africa’ seem to have been designed by someone whose principal idea of the continent comes from The Lion King’. Corroborating this, a follower of the blog Simon Stevens tweeted a collage of 36 covers of books from or on Africa. While Jeremy Weate’s tweet jeered, ‘Funny that. Nigeria is not known for its acacia trees.’
Isn’t it more like serving new wine in an old, used bottle? Peter Mendelsund, associate art director of Knopf and an accomplished cover designer, explained the tiredness of such book covers as ‘laziness, both individual or institutionalised’. He adds, ‘We’re comfortable with this visual image of Africa because it’s safe. It presents ‘otherness’ in a way that’s easy to understand.’
Such irony this! For what is design, that does not live up to functionality/originality of the product?
covers, the answer is YES!
Africa, with NO due respect to its rich natural endowment, rich culture and vast expanses spread across 54 countries, is reduced to a vague acacia tree-image by the book cover designers world over. Topics: varied. Writing style: equally divergent. Authors: African or otherwise, even several Nobel Prize winners. Plot Geography: Nigeria to Botswana or South Africa. No matter which African country the book’s plot is based on – chances are you will spot the book’s African-ness before you know its name or author.
But why such a cliché in cover design for books out of Africa?
Recently ‘Africa Is a Country’, a blog that derides western misconceptions on Africa, came up with an interesting epiphany. It published a meme that ignited debate on such designers’ non-creativity. The blog mooted, ‘The covers of most novels ‘about Africa’ seem to have been designed by someone whose principal idea of the continent comes from The Lion King’. Corroborating this, a follower of the blog Simon Stevens tweeted a collage of 36 covers of books from or on Africa. While Jeremy Weate’s tweet jeered, ‘Funny that. Nigeria is not known for its acacia trees.’
Isn’t it more like serving new wine in an old, used bottle? Peter Mendelsund, associate art director of Knopf and an accomplished cover designer, explained the tiredness of such book covers as ‘laziness, both individual or institutionalised’. He adds, ‘We’re comfortable with this visual image of Africa because it’s safe. It presents ‘otherness’ in a way that’s easy to understand.’
Such irony this! For what is design, that does not live up to functionality/originality of the product?
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