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The imagined Africa of the West: a critical perspective on Western imaginations of Africa

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  • Rune Larsen
  • Stig Jensen

Abstract

This debate piece discusses how exceptionalised images of Africa are reproduced in contemporary Western discourse and imagination, and argues that these exceptionalised depictions of Africa enable Western consciousness to escape a confrontation with its own dysfunctionalities, hereby projecting all the excremental features characterising human existence on to its African Other. This is interpreted as a way for Western subjects to alter themselves into a position of idealised and imagined advanced civilisation – thus legitimising contemporary acts of neo-colonial exploitation in Africa.

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  • Rune Larsen & Stig Jensen, 2020. "The imagined Africa of the West: a critical perspective on Western imaginations of Africa," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(164), pages 324-334, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revape:v:47:y:2020:i:164:p:324-334
    DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2019.1660155
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    Cited by:

    1. Apfel, Dorothee & Haag, Steffen & Herbes, Carsten, 2021. "Research agendas on renewable energies in the Global South: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).

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