National Geographic: Representations of Black Africans
Abstract
The National Geographic Magazine (NatGeo) is an icon publication that began its influence in 1888. It is revered as the preeminent scientific and educational periodical that opened up the world to us. But, according to co-authors Catherine A. Lutz and Jane L. Collins, NatGeo is not just an educational scientific magazine, but instead had an underlying agenda to reinforce existing social constructions of race and was designed to maintain the Western social and cultural hierarchy established by the dominant class and served to affirm a national identity. This essay examines the agenda of NatGeo and the notions of race it promoted, particularly the African race, through its patterns of photographic imagery. Further, this essay explores the