Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

In-Between Violence and Humanitarian Mercy: Western Media Portrayals of Albinism in Tanzania

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Disability and Media - An African Perspective

  • 38 Accesses

Abstract

A series of violence and assaults on people with albinism in various African countries and, specifically, Tanzania have attracted the attention of national and international media companies, humanitarian organizations, and various political institutions since the early 2000s. Journalistic reports, documentaries and films have focused on such events describing life experiences of persons with the condition and their socio-cultural milieus in diverging ways. Through the examination of two of the most relevant documentaries produced by media companies from the Global North, the present chapter explores how media productions display issues related to albinism in the African continent. Related points of analysis regard the ways these two documentaries portray “traditional” healing practices and humanitarian activities carried out by international and national NGOs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • AFP. (2017, November 16). Albino Attacks Drop in Tanzania, But Grave Vandalism Rises: NGO. News24. Retrieved November 23, 2019, from https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/albino-attacks-drop-in-tanzania-but-g

  • Ansell, N. (2002). Using Films in Teaching About Africa. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 26(3), 355–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, C. (2011a). Enduring Negativity: Representations of Albinism in the Fictional Work of Didier Destremau, Patrick Grainville and Williams Sassine. Oxford: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, C. (2011b, July 12–14). Representing “the Tribe of Ghosts”: Stereotypes of Albinism Emerging from Reports of Recent Attacks in Tanzania and Burundi. 1st Global conference Images of Whiteness: Exploring critical issues, Mansfield College. Retrieved June 13, 2018, from http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wpcontent/uploads/2011/07/cbakerepaper.pdf

  • Baker, C. (2022). Literature as Advocacy: Fictional Representations of Albinism in the African Contexts. In C. Baker & E. Imafidon (Eds.), Cultural Representations of Albinism in Africa: Narratives of Change (pp. 15–36). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, C., Lund, P., Nyanthi, R., & Taylor, J. (2010). The Myths Surrounding People with Albinism in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 22(2), 169–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, C., Imafidon, E. (eds.). 2022. Cultural Representations of Albinism in Africa: Narratives of Change. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blankenberg, N. (2000). That Rare and Random Tribe. Critical Arts, 14(2), 6–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braathen, H. S., & Ingstad, B. (2006). Albinism in Malawi: Knowledge and Belief from an African Setting. Disability and Society, 21(6), 599–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brocco, G. (2015). Labelling Albinism: Language and Discourse Surrounding People with Albinism in Tanzania. Disability and Society, 30(8), 1143–1157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brocco, G. (2016). Albinism, Stigma, Subjectivity and Global-Local Discourses in Tanzania. Anthropology and Medicine, 23(3), 229–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brocco, G. (2019). (Un)Categorizing Albinism. In M. Friedner & T. Zoanni (Eds.), Disability From the South: Toward a Lexicon. Somatosphere. Retrieved July 2, 2019, from http://somatosphere.net/2019/uncategorizing-albinism.html/

  • Brocco, G. (2020). Notes of Despair and Consciousness: Performativity and Visibility of Albinism in Musical Practices. Disability & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2019.1609422

  • Brocco, G. (2022). Sparks of Otherness: Producing Representations of Albinism in Documentary Films from the Global North. In C. Baker & E. Imafidon (Eds.), Cultural Representations of Albinism in Africa: Narratives of Change (pp. 115–132). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryceson, F. D., Jonsson, J. B., & Sherrington, R. (2010). Miners’ Magic: Artisanal Mining, the Albino Fetish and Murder in Tanzania. The Journal of Modern Africa Studies, 48(3), 353–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burke, J., Kaijage, T. J., & John-Langba, J. (2014). Media Analysis of Albino Killings in Tanzania: A Social Work and Human Rights Perspective. Ethics and Social Welfare, 8(2), 117–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carnegie, C. V. (1996). The Dundus and the Nation. Cultural Anthropology, 11(4), 470–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Beer, A. S. (2010). News from and in the “Dark Continent”. Journalism Studies, 11(4), 596–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, G. (2015). ‘The Boy From Geita’ Director: UN Rep’s Criticism of Docu Is Political Move. Deadline/Hollywood. Retrieved June 22, 2018, https://deadline.com/2015/10/the-boy-from-geita-movie-albinos-tanzania-united-nations-1201585459/

  • Franks, S. (2013). Reporting Disasters: Famine, Aid, Politics and the Media. London: Hurst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, M., & Mesaki, S. (2005). The Birth of the ‘Salon’: Poverty, ‘Modernization,’ and Dealing with Witchcraft in Southern Tanzania. American Ethnologist, 32(3), 371–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanchey, J. N. (2016). Agency Beyond Agents: Aid Campaigns in Sub-Saharan Africa and Collective Representations of Agency. Communication, Culture & Critique, 9, 11–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harding, F. (2003). Africa and the Moving Image: Television, Film and Video. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 16(1), 69–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Härting, H. (2008). Global Humanitarianism, Race, and the Spectacle of the African Corpse in Current Western Representations of the Rwandan Genocide. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 28(1), 61–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ibelema, M. (2014). “Tribal Fixation” and Africa’s Otherness: changes and Resilience in News Coverage. Journalism & Communication Monographs, 16(3): 162–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Imafidon, E. (2019). African Philosophy and the Otherness of albinism White Skin, Black Race. London, New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Imafidon, E. (2022). Challenging Traditional Understandings: Embedding accurate Knowledge of Albinism in African Cultures. In C. Baker & E. Imafidon (Eds.), Cultural Representations of Albinism in Africa: Narratives of Change (pp. 15–36). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langwick, S. A. (2011). Bodies, Politics, and African Healing: The Matter of Maladies in Tanzania. Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Machoko, C. G. (2013). Albinism: A Life of Ambiguity—A Zimbabwean Experience. African Identities, 11(3), 318–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsland, R. (2007). The Modern Traditional Healer: Locating ‘Hybridity’ in Modern Traditional Medicine, Southern Tanzania. Journal of Southern African Studies, 33(4), 751–765.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nichols-Belo, A. (2018). “Witchdoctors” in White Coats: Politics and Healing Knowledge in Tanzania. Medical Anthropology, 37(8), 722–736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Njogu, K., & Middleton, J. (Eds.). (2009). Media and Identity in Africa. Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogunyemi, O. (2014). The Impact of Ethnocentric News Values on the Framing of Africa: A CASE STUDY of African Diasporic Press in the United Kingdom. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 35(1), 9–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ojo, T. (2014). Africa in the Canadian Media: The Globe and Mail’s Coverage of Africa from 2003 to 2012. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 35(1), 43–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olaiya, K. (2022). Debuking Stereotypes or reinforcing Them? The Representation of Albinism in Three Nigerian Films. In C. Baker & E. Imafidon (Eds.), Cultural Representations of Albinism in Africa: Narratives of Change (pp. 61–68). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saffitz, J. (2018, May 3). Albinism and the Unseen in Tanzania. Anthropology News website. Retrieved August 1, 2018, from https://doi.org/10.1111/AN.841

  • Schühle, J. (2013). Medicine Murder of People with Albinism in Tanzania—How Casino Capitalism Creates Rumorscapes and Occult Economies. CAS Working Paper 2, Center for Area Studies, Freie Universität.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steeves, H. L. (2016). Cartographies of Communication and Critique: Forging a Dialogue on Africa, Media, and Globalization. Introduction from the Special Issue Editor. Communication, Culture & Critique, 9, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroeken, K. (2012). Moral Power: The Magic of Witchcraft. Epistemologies of Healing. Berghahn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrall, T., Stecula, D., & Sweet, D. (2014). May We Have Your Attention Please? Human-Rights NGOs and the Problem of Global Communication. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 19(2), 135–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsikata, P. Y. (2014). The Historical and Contemporary Representation of Africa in Global Media Flows: Can the Continent Speak Back for Itself on Its Own Terms? Communicatio, 40(1), 34–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UTSS. (2019). Reported Attacks of Persons with Albinism—Most Recent Attacks Included by Under The Same Sun (UTSS) Canada & Tanzania. Retrieved November 22, 2019, from https://www.underthesamesun.com/sites/default/files/Attacks%20of%20PWA%20-%20extended%20version_0.pdf

  • Wahutu, S. (2017). ‘In the Case of Africa in General, There is a Tendency to Exaggerate’: Representing Mass Atrocity in Africa. Media, Culture & Society, 39(6), 919–929.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wan, N. (2003). Orange in a World of Apples: The Voices of Albinism. Disability and Society, 18(3), 277–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wasserman, H. (Ed.). (2011). Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Giorgio Brocco

Authors
  1. Giorgio Brocco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Athena Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Tafadzwa Rugoho

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Brocco, G. (2024). In-Between Violence and Humanitarian Mercy: Western Media Portrayals of Albinism in Tanzania. In: Rugoho, T. (eds) Disability and Media - An African Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40885-4_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation