Entry 12: I am Africa
![Picture](/uploads/1/5/4/6/15462974/4314139.jpg?364)
This summer, while I was binge watching Youtube videos I came across Tony Awards opening number videos. One such opening number was the song Hello from the satirical musical The Book of Mormon. It was quite funny. It made fun of the Mormon Church by exaggerating its values and mission. I then watched the entire musical. (It was a pretty slow summer) It followed a young man named Kevin Price, or Elder Price as he is referred to throughout the play, and his mission to spread the Mormon faith in Uganda. The musical ridicules blind faith, racism, homophobia, and cultural misconceptions. I greatly enjoyed the musical: it was funny, extremely inappropriate, had catchy songs and a pretty good story. I do not believe that this musical is in anyway an accurate representation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The only song from it that wasn't satirically horribly offensive and I believed I could blog on was the song I Am Africa.
In this song, the Elders (Mormons on mission) have just finished baptizing an entire Ugandan village and are feeling very satisfied with themselves. The song describes how they have become the essence of Africa- the whole thing- using stereotypes of the continent including but not limited to:
The Lion King;
A monkey with a banana;
A tribal woman who doesn't wear a bra;
and the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Clearly the Elders have no understanding of the continent they are on, the country they are in, or the people they have converted to their religion. Another aspect of the musical that adds to the hilarity of this song is when in the beginning of the musical, Elder Price's parents pay a black woman to sing- or rather butcher- the opening song of the Lion King while dressed in their perception of "traditional African clothing". It shows that no real effort to understand the culture had been made, even when the Elders encountered difficulty converting villagers.
The sense of cultural superiority the Elders demonstrated in the musical was also hilarious, but also reminiscent of the cultural superiority that Europeans have felt and acted upon in previous centuries. (No, racism did not only exist in Europe, but European actions in Africa are good examples of this). While the Elders believe that their religion is superior and that that fact justifies their cultural invasion, they know little about Africa and Uganda: they only know the uncivilized, under-developed generalization of Africa they were exposed to. This feeling of superiority leads them to believe that, as they start to change the single Ugandan village, they become the essence of and force of change upon the entire continent: they know what is best for Africa. When Europeans colonized African regions that have now become countries, their sense of cultural superiority prevented them from learning or caring about what they learned of the different peoples of all over Africa. They simply took what and who they wanted, and created countries based on their own needs.
The song got me thinking about how little most people know about Africa, the fact that it is not a single country, and the diverse cultures and peoples within. I have spoken to Canadians who believed that Africa was a single country or who simply did not care enough to distinguish them. I myself have only learned in recent years a portion of the ethnic and territorial conflicts that many African nations face (ex. Somalia which has no government). There is so much that we don't know and don't understand about the continent, yet we ignore it until there is oil and other riches in an certain area, we can exploit it for farming, or the next big humanitarian crisis.
To put this song and its suggestions into TOK context, the WOKs and AOKs must be identified.
This issue is part of the following AOKs:
The Arts;
Religious Knowledge;
The Human Sciences;
and Ethics.
The following WOKs can be applied to this issue:
Language;
Emotion;
Reason;
and Memory.
The following knowledge statements can be made about the song:
a) The musical The Book of Mormon uses language to communicate a message about cultural ignorance.
b) The Book of Mormon's use of humor encourages viewers to use reasons to find flaws in the Mormon faith.
c) Actions committed with a sense of cultural and racial superiority, such as those made by European colonizers, can have detrimental consequences.
The following knowledge questions can then be formed based on these statements:
a) To what extent can art be used to communicate themes from the human sciences?
b) How can language in art be manipulated to target reason?
c) To what extent can perspective influence history?
To briefly explore the first question, this song makes it clear that, despite its satirical nature, art can definitely be used to communicate themes from the human sciences. This song ridicules cultural ignorance and superiority, and stereotyping, two important issues in the study of culture in the human sciences. In the song, the Elders sing their good-natured and completely racist ode to Africa and themselves. The absurdness of their feelings could not be as well communicated through a third-person lecture on the issue. The song communicated important themes in the human sciences while making it entertaining for the audience. In this case, art was an extremely effective medium for communicating themes in the human sciences.
Another issue to which the first knowledge question can be applied is art as a medium to depict depression. The picture below shows a girl with sad, empty eyes and blood running down her face, creating the image if hair. This image is used to depict the hopelessness and helplessness of depression that cannot be understood with those words. Looking into the girl's eyes feels like sadness and loss. As your soul bleeds with no apparent cut , but an unending rush of feeling until you wish you were numb or could never feel again at all. This painting allows an understanding of a mental illness that cannot be understood through words alone. Art makes people feel and understand the unfathomable. According to PsychologyToday a depressive disorder is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It interferes with daily life, normal functioning, and causes pain for both the person with the disorder and those who care about him or her. It is an issue in the human sciences that affects 8% of Canadian adults in their lifetime. This picture shows what is feels like to have depression in a way that words cannot understand. In this case, this picture is a wonderful example that art can be well used to demonstrate themes in the human sciences.
Works Cited:
The Book of Mormon by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Robert Lopez
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/452752568765990295/
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/depression-signs-and-symptoms.htm
https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/depressive-disorders
In this song, the Elders (Mormons on mission) have just finished baptizing an entire Ugandan village and are feeling very satisfied with themselves. The song describes how they have become the essence of Africa- the whole thing- using stereotypes of the continent including but not limited to:
The Lion King;
A monkey with a banana;
A tribal woman who doesn't wear a bra;
and the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Clearly the Elders have no understanding of the continent they are on, the country they are in, or the people they have converted to their religion. Another aspect of the musical that adds to the hilarity of this song is when in the beginning of the musical, Elder Price's parents pay a black woman to sing- or rather butcher- the opening song of the Lion King while dressed in their perception of "traditional African clothing". It shows that no real effort to understand the culture had been made, even when the Elders encountered difficulty converting villagers.
The sense of cultural superiority the Elders demonstrated in the musical was also hilarious, but also reminiscent of the cultural superiority that Europeans have felt and acted upon in previous centuries. (No, racism did not only exist in Europe, but European actions in Africa are good examples of this). While the Elders believe that their religion is superior and that that fact justifies their cultural invasion, they know little about Africa and Uganda: they only know the uncivilized, under-developed generalization of Africa they were exposed to. This feeling of superiority leads them to believe that, as they start to change the single Ugandan village, they become the essence of and force of change upon the entire continent: they know what is best for Africa. When Europeans colonized African regions that have now become countries, their sense of cultural superiority prevented them from learning or caring about what they learned of the different peoples of all over Africa. They simply took what and who they wanted, and created countries based on their own needs.
The song got me thinking about how little most people know about Africa, the fact that it is not a single country, and the diverse cultures and peoples within. I have spoken to Canadians who believed that Africa was a single country or who simply did not care enough to distinguish them. I myself have only learned in recent years a portion of the ethnic and territorial conflicts that many African nations face (ex. Somalia which has no government). There is so much that we don't know and don't understand about the continent, yet we ignore it until there is oil and other riches in an certain area, we can exploit it for farming, or the next big humanitarian crisis.
To put this song and its suggestions into TOK context, the WOKs and AOKs must be identified.
This issue is part of the following AOKs:
The Arts;
Religious Knowledge;
The Human Sciences;
and Ethics.
The following WOKs can be applied to this issue:
Language;
Emotion;
Reason;
and Memory.
The following knowledge statements can be made about the song:
a) The musical The Book of Mormon uses language to communicate a message about cultural ignorance.
b) The Book of Mormon's use of humor encourages viewers to use reasons to find flaws in the Mormon faith.
c) Actions committed with a sense of cultural and racial superiority, such as those made by European colonizers, can have detrimental consequences.
The following knowledge questions can then be formed based on these statements:
a) To what extent can art be used to communicate themes from the human sciences?
b) How can language in art be manipulated to target reason?
c) To what extent can perspective influence history?
To briefly explore the first question, this song makes it clear that, despite its satirical nature, art can definitely be used to communicate themes from the human sciences. This song ridicules cultural ignorance and superiority, and stereotyping, two important issues in the study of culture in the human sciences. In the song, the Elders sing their good-natured and completely racist ode to Africa and themselves. The absurdness of their feelings could not be as well communicated through a third-person lecture on the issue. The song communicated important themes in the human sciences while making it entertaining for the audience. In this case, art was an extremely effective medium for communicating themes in the human sciences.
Another issue to which the first knowledge question can be applied is art as a medium to depict depression. The picture below shows a girl with sad, empty eyes and blood running down her face, creating the image if hair. This image is used to depict the hopelessness and helplessness of depression that cannot be understood with those words. Looking into the girl's eyes feels like sadness and loss. As your soul bleeds with no apparent cut , but an unending rush of feeling until you wish you were numb or could never feel again at all. This painting allows an understanding of a mental illness that cannot be understood through words alone. Art makes people feel and understand the unfathomable. According to PsychologyToday a depressive disorder is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It interferes with daily life, normal functioning, and causes pain for both the person with the disorder and those who care about him or her. It is an issue in the human sciences that affects 8% of Canadian adults in their lifetime. This picture shows what is feels like to have depression in a way that words cannot understand. In this case, this picture is a wonderful example that art can be well used to demonstrate themes in the human sciences.
Works Cited:
The Book of Mormon by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Robert Lopez
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/452752568765990295/
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/depression-signs-and-symptoms.htm
https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/depressive-disorders