Afro-pessimism in the western imaginary: social representations of secondary school students

Abstract

This paper analyses the social representations held by secondary school students in the Canary Islands participating in the project Teaching Africa: A Positive Outlook, focusing on their preconceived ideas about Africa. Particularly, it examines the Afro-pessimistic component by identifying their prejudices and negative stereotypes and explores how these perceptions can influence their construction of identity in ways that could foster racist attitudes. The methodology is qualitative and uses Atlas.ti to analyse the content of an open question. The sample consists of 1,008 secondary school students. The results reveal three distinct views, with most students falling into an Afro-pessimistic discourse in which negative stereotypes prevail. It is concluded that understanding the social representations of students is essential for understanding and reflecting on how they think about the African continent, the consequences this has for the formation of personal and social identity, and for addressing teaching and learning that promotes a critical attitude towards racism and hate speech associated with African people.