Anti-African sentiment

Anti-African sentiment is prejudice or discrimination towards any of the various traditions and peoples of Africa for their perceived Africanness. The term Afrophobia may be used to describe both anti-Black racism and anti-African sentiment more broadly. Afroscepticism may include embracing Afropessimism, and rejecting traditional African practices or "African Indigenous Knowledge Systems". The Afropessimist view sees Africa in terms of "the negative traits described by AIDS, war, poverty and disease", and thus as unable to be helped. Anti-Black racism The term racism is not attested before the 20th century, but negrophobia (first recorded between 1810–1820; often capitalised), and later colourphobia (first recorded in 1834), likely originated within the abolitionist movement, where it was used as an analogy to rabies (then called hydrophobia) to describe the "mad dog" mindset behind the pro-slavery cause and its apparently contagious nature. J. L. A. Garcia refers to negrophobia as "the granddaddy" of terms such as xenophobia, Islamophobia and homophobia. and colourism (prejudice against people with darker skin), especially in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. == By location ==

It has been observed that writing and terminology about racism, including about Afrophobia, has been somewhat centered on the US. In 2016, "Afrophobia" has been used as a term for racism against darker-skinned persons in China. In such usage, that is an inexact term because the racism is directed against darker-skinned persons from anywhere, without regard to any connection to Africa. Conversely, Chinese views for lighter-than-average skin are more positive, as is reflected in advertising. ==Scientific racism==

Scientific racism represents a pseudoscientific justification for the discriminatory treatment of Africans that gained popularity in the 19th century, following the publication of Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species (1859) and his concept of natural selection. Although his work focused primarily on the evolution of animal species, Social Darwinists such as Herbert Spencer later applied the principle of "survival of the fittest" to human society. The so-called "fittest" were considered innately more capable of survival amongst competition due to physical and intellectual superiority, providing an explanation for the comparative success of European empires against African societies at the time. The "father of the eugenics movement," Francis Galton, believed heavily in the biological importance of heredity and encouraged reproduction amongst the Anglo-Saxon population, and discouraged it amongst those he deemed "unfit" (often people of color) for the betterment of Western society. This was combined with beliefs about the superiority of the White European (called "Aryanism" or "Teutonicism," and later "Nordicism") over other races, including the African, to produce scientific racist thought closely related to the emerging eugenics movement. ==Colonial historiography==

Most African societies used oral tradition to record their history, meaning there was little written history. Colonial histories focussed on the exploits of soldiers, colonial administrators, and "colonial figures", using limited sources and written from an entirely European perspective, ignoring the viewpoint of the colonised under the pretence of white supremacism. Africans were considered racially inferior, supporting their "civilising mission". Oral sources were deprecated and dismissed by most historians, giving them the impression Africa had no history and little desire to create it. Some colonisers took interest in the other viewpoint and attempted to produce a more detailed history of Africa using oral sources and archaeology, however they received little recognition at the time. ==Stereotypes of Africa==

To overcome any perceived "Afrophobia", writer Langston Hughes suggested that European Americans must achieve peace of mind and accommodate the uninhibited emotionality of African Americans. Author James Baldwin similarly recommended that White Americans could quash any "Afrophobia" on their part by getting in touch with their repressed feelings, empathizing to overcome their "emotionally stunted" lives, and thereby overcome any dislike or fear of African Americans. Originally established in 1998 by "approximately 150" organisations from across the European Union, the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) aimed to combat "racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism — the accepted categories of the anti-racist struggle at that time". However, Afrophobia wasn't specifically named as a focus of the network until 2011, at the behest of Black civil rights activists. ==In academia==

Some Afrophobic sentiments are based on the belief that Africans are unsophisticated. Such perceptions include the belief that Africans lack a history of civilization, and visual imagery of such stereotypes perpetuate the notion that Africans still live in mud huts and carry spears, along with other notions that indicate their primitiveness. Afrophobia in academia may also occur through by oversight with regards to lacking deconstruction in mediums such as African art forms, omitting historical African polities in world cartography, or promoting a eurocentric viewpoint by ignoring historic African contributions to world civilization. ==See also==