Lesson 17: Introduction to Northern Africa
First thing's first. Africa is a CONTINENT not a country. There are 54 countries on the continent known as AFRICA. Though many of the countries have similarities, each country has different culture and history from the next. For some reason it seems hard for some people to make that connection.
We talked about stereotypes before, and it seems that there are plenty of stereotypes about Africa that we need to get rid of. You've heard things like "Eat your vegetables, there are children starving in Africa who don't get any food", and you've seen pictures of these starving children from African countries.
Andrew Mwenda is a Ugandan journalist who has something to say on that subject:
"There are two things we need to connect. How the media covers Africa in the West (that's us, we're considered 'western') and the consequences of that. By displaying despair, helplessness and hopelessness, the media is telling the truth about Africa... however the media is not telling us the whole truth. Because despair, civil war, hunger, and famine although they are a part and parcel of our African reality, they are not our only reality."
He goes on to talk about how countries cannot be successful if they depend on people giving them money and charity. Andrew talks about this in a TedTalk, which you can choose to watch when you do the assignment.
We talked about stereotypes before, and it seems that there are plenty of stereotypes about Africa that we need to get rid of. You've heard things like "Eat your vegetables, there are children starving in Africa who don't get any food", and you've seen pictures of these starving children from African countries.
Andrew Mwenda is a Ugandan journalist who has something to say on that subject:
"There are two things we need to connect. How the media covers Africa in the West (that's us, we're considered 'western') and the consequences of that. By displaying despair, helplessness and hopelessness, the media is telling the truth about Africa... however the media is not telling us the whole truth. Because despair, civil war, hunger, and famine although they are a part and parcel of our African reality, they are not our only reality."
He goes on to talk about how countries cannot be successful if they depend on people giving them money and charity. Andrew talks about this in a TedTalk, which you can choose to watch when you do the assignment.
Firstly, when we talk about countries in Africa let's try not to lump them together. When we're talking about Sudan let's say 'Sudan' instead of 'Africa'. Just like when we talk about Mexico we refer to it as 'Mexico' instead of 'North America'. Let's look at the different countries in the northern part of Africa:
Here is the blank map of Africa to fill out:
![](http://education.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/rtf.png)
blank_map_of_africa.docx | |
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For this lesson (17) you're only going to label the northern countries. Here's the list of countries and capitals to label:
MOROCCO capital Rabat
ALGERIA capital Algiers
TUNISIA capital Tunis
LIBYA capital Tripoli
EGYPT capital Cairo
SUDAN capital Khartoum
SOUTH SUDAN capital Juba
ERITREA capital Asmara
CHAD capital N'Djamena
NIGER capital Niamey
BURKINA FASO capital Ouagadougou
MALI capital Bamako
MAURITANIA capital Nouakchott
WESTERN SAHARA capital Laayoune
SENEGAL capital Dakar
GAMBIA capital Banjul
GUINEA-BISSAU capital Bissau
GUINEA capital Conakry
SIERRA LEONE capital Freetown
LIBERIA capital Monrovia
CÔTE D'IVORIE capital Yamoussoukro
GHANA capital Accra
TOGO capital Lomé
BENIN capital Porto Novo
NIGERIA capital Abuja
CAMEROON capital Yaoundé
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC capital Bangui
ETHIOPIA capital Addis Ababa
DJIBOUTI capital Djibouti
SOMALIA capital Mogadishu
Here is a physical map of Africa:
Eleven countries in Africa have parts of the Sahara desert in their borders. That's why it is important to talk about REGIONS as well as POLITICAL BORDERS. Political borders are borders of countries, but a region might be bigger or smaller than a political border. A region is an area that shares a characteristic. In this case the SAHARA DESERT REGION shares the characteristic of being part of the same desert where most of the desert receives less than 1 inch of rainfall each year. Watch this short video about the Sahara and then do assignment 17.
Assignment 17
Choose one of these 3 TedTalks about Africa and then write 2 paragraphs about what you learned from the TedTalk :
-Andrew Mwenda: Aid for Africa? No Thanks.
-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story
-Ngozi Okonjo Iweala: Want to help Africa? Do business here
Standard 2 Objective 1 A