"Dangers in stereotyping the developing world as helpless victims"
on Wednesday, January 09 @ 13:55:39 EST

By Wole Akande
YellowTimes.ORG Columnist (Nigeria)

(YellowTimes.ORG) – The images of wretchedness in the developing world projected by the electronic media and the overseas aid charities is both dangerous and misleading, according to the Voluntary Service Organization (VSO), a United Kingdom based development agency in its latest report published January 7th 2002 titled “the Live Aid Legacy,” a comprehensive research study about how Britain sees the developing world.

During the extensive study, VSO researchers interviewed over one thousand UK adults, visitors from developing countries and expert commentators including author and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, documentary filmmaker Sorious Samura and Paddy Coulter, Reuters Chair, Oxford University amongst others.

As the first consumer poll on the developing world conducted post-September 11th, the VSO report expresses concern that commonly used images of famine and Western aid are 16 years out of date and relate to only a minority of people in the developing world. The researchers found that the power of the "Live Aid" image fuels a belief that the developing world and its people are helpless victims; creating a psychological relationship that is often well intentioned, but revolves around an implicit sense of superiority and inferiority.

According to the report, eighty percent of the British public strongly associates the developing world with doom-laden images of famine, disaster and Western aid. Sixteen years on from Live Aid, Band Aid and the Ethiopian famine, these images still maintain a powerful grip on the British psyche. The charity expresses concern that stereotypes of deprivation and poverty, together with images of Western aid, can lead to an impression that people in the developing world are dependent victims. Furthermore, seventy-four percent of the British public believes that these countries “depend on the money and knowledge of the West to progress.”

The danger of stereotypes of this depth and magnitude is the psychological relationship they create between the developed and the developing world, which revolves around an implicit sense of superiority and inferiority. The VSO’s Live Aid Legacy report defines the roles in the relationship between the developed and the developing world. Western nations like Britain are powerful, benevolent givers; the developing countries are grateful receivers. Consequently, there is no recognition that Britain may have something to gain from the relationship.

"The Live Aid images that were once such a force for good have left a legacy that hangs like a cloud over our relationship with the developing world," says Chief Executive of VSO Mark Goldring.

"There is an urgent need to rebalance the picture. We must ensure that nurturing this grotesque lack of reality - that the majority of the world is one block of disadvantaged, poverty-stricken people - is not the legacy of our generation," he explained.

Naturally, the role of the media is crucial in forging a more balanced view of the developing world. Unfortunately, due to the competition for audience ratings, TV programs that give Western people a sense of the culture, the environment and the way of life of developing countries are dropped off. “What has survived is the news... and news is largely bad news,” says Paddy Coulter of Reuters.

News is increasingly the main source of information and education in this sphere. British consumer research pointed to a belief that news programming promotes one-dimensional stereotypes. However, Western people, who have had the opportunity to live and work in the developing world, usually move beyond the stereotypes and claim the experience has a huge positive impact on their lives. “I wouldn't have become a journalist if it hadn't been for being exposed to other cultures,” said Jon Snow, the presenter of Britain’s Channel 4 news bulletin. Most importantly, real life experience of living in developing countries appears to shatter any perceived feelings of false Western superiority or smugness.

Building better race relations and creating a British population more willing and able to engage in global issues are two of the reasons given by the expert commentators on why breaking down the stereotype is important to Britain's future. Accordingly, any dilution of the powerful giver/grateful receiver model would have a positive impact on racial tensions and misunderstanding or fear of immigration. Furthermore, it opens up the potential to look to other societies in a bid to reclaim values that are considered to be weak or lost in modern Western societies like Britain. “I look at how youngsters treat elders here - they don't show respect. In Africa, this is something that we have managed to keep,” says Sorious Samura from Sierra Leone.

Breaking down stereotypes forges stronger associations with individuals rather than an amorphous mass of victims. In turn, this is likely to lead to a more informed population able to engage in real global issues - such as international trading laws, environmental policies and international debt relief – realizing that working with other countries can bring economic benefit and cultural enrichment.

The events of September 11 have thrown into sharp relief our interdependence with countries all around the globe. Thankfully, the VSO report found that seventy-eight percent of British adults agree that our future security depends on understanding other cultures and countries better.

Overwhelmingly VSO’s research proves that in a time when no country can remain isolated, and our interdependence with the developing world is non-negotiable, no one wants to be fundamentally deceived. Not surprisingly, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The report – “The Live Aid Legacy” is available from the VSO, 317 Putney Bridge Road, London, SW15 2PN, United Kingdom.

Wole Akande encourages your comments:  wakande@YellowTimes.ORG

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