White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture

White on Black is a compelling visual history of the development of Western stereotypes of black people over the last two hundred years. Its purpose is to show the pervasiveness of prejudice against blacks in Europe and America as expressed in stock-in-trade racist imagery and caricature. Reproducing a wide range of powerful illustrations - from engravings and lithographs to advertisements, chocolate wrappers, biscuit tins, dolls, posters and comic strips - the book exposes the hidden assumptions of even those who view themselves as unprejudiced. Jan Nederveen Pieterse sets Western images of Africa and blacks in a chronological framework, analysing representations from medieval times, from the colonial period with its explorers, settlers and missionaries, from the eras of slavery and abolition, and from the present day. He examines the persistence of stereotypical images in the multicultural societies of the twentieth century, and in their relations with Africa. Pieterse reveals the key images bywhich Blacks have commonly been depicted in the West: as servants, entertainers, and athletes, and as mythical figures such as Sambo and Uncle Tom in the United States, Golliwog in Britain, Bamboula in France and Black Peter in The Netherlands. Looking at conventional portrayals of blacks in the nursery, in the area of sexuality, and in commerce and advertising, Pieterse explores the conceptual roots of these recurring stereotypes. The images presented in the book, selected from a substantial collection of negrophilia from around the world, have a direct and dramatic impact. They raise disturbing questions about the expression of power within popular culture, and the force of caricature, humourand parody as instruments of oppression.Jan Nederveen Pieterse is the author of 'White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture', published 1992 under ISBN 9780300050202 and ISBN 0300050208.