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This is a conceptual paper that explores critiquing picturebooks set in Africa. The paper is grounded in BlackCrit (Black Critical Theory) and Racial and Ethnic Socialization (RES). Using pragmatism as a method, we offer a detailed analysis of 3 carefully selected books, on the broad basis of authenticity, accuracy, and respectfulness. A deeper dive into the books looks for hidden messages that dehumanize, oversimplify, exotify, and generally present Africa from a Eurocentric lens. The critique goes beyond the books by looking at how they are shared on YouTube and other forums that offer pedagogical ideas for sharing the books with children. Overall, from the critique we find that books authored by cultural insiders are favorable while the reverse is, in most cases, true with authors who are cultural outsiders. The paper emphasizes the power of accurate, authentic, and respectful pro-Blackness representations as beneficial for all children in developing positive behaviors, attitudes and agency toward pro-Blackness and antiracist rhetoric. We also found that there is an urgent need for more pro-Black books on our educational shelves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the perceptions of an African audience of books written on Africa published but mostly sold in the West, based on the assumption that these books primarily target a Western audience. Drawing insights from postcolonial and children's literature scholars, the study sought to bring into the conversation the voice of the otherwise marginalised population--African (Tanzanian) audience--who are represented in these texts. Based on ethnographic studies conducted in Dar es Salaam amongst primary school students, students and staff from the University of Dar es Salaam, and some staff from the Children's Books Project (CBP) of Tanzania, the study focused on Mollel Tolowa's seven books with to gather perceptions of a Tanzanian audience. Even though both young and older readers alike highly spoke of the books' quality and for having a relatively fair representation of Tanzania, these participants observed incidents of the books either pandering to stereotypes and/or offering inaccurate information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feminist scholarship sees African society as traditionally patriarchal, while the colonists saw traditional African leadership as lacking in values such as democracy, tolerance, and accountability, until these were imposed by Europeans. Using Afrocentricity as a theoretical basis, this article examines African leadership as portrayed in the Shona ngano [folktale] genre and concludes that, in fact, leadership was neither age- nor gender-specific and was democratic, tolerant, and accountable. It recommends further research into African oral traditions as a way of arriving at more positive images of traditional Africa and her diverse heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some scholars of the genre of the folktale have argued that since time immemorial, folktales have been children's literature created by adults for children's pleasure. The main attraction in so describing African folktale as children's literature was that this form afforded children entertainment as they listened to the stories narrated mostly by the adults, and some sometimes by the children, to other children. Other scholars agreed that folktale are stories of what can happen, but did not actually happen, also worked as a conduit for socialising African children into the cultural values of their society, which values were invariably created by the older generation. Both views are to some extent correct. However, in reducing the impact of folktales on children to entertainment and social conformity, a myth was also promoted that fails to appreciate that children listening to stories can decode certain meanings from the folktales. The aim of this article is to highlight the significance of folktales as sources of aesthetic pleasure for children and also as imaginative sources that aid socialisation of children to the community's mores. But the article complicates this instrumentalist approach of the role of folktales, whose meanings go beyond descriptions of them as an artistic force-field that merely secure the purchase of domesticating children for adult interests. Children are not passive listeners of stories, and as such can construct alternative worlds that provide useful critiques to society through its folktales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the political, social and cultural aspects of Africa as published in the 2014 issue of the periodical "Africa Research Bulletin." It mentions the abduction of more than 200 girls by Boko Haram in April 2014, which trigger local and international outrage. It also discusses the deportation undertaken by Congo authorities for its illegal immigrants.