Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2010
Capstone Advisor
Professor Richard Bryer
Honors Reader
Professor Tula Goenka
Capstone Major
Television-Radio-Film
Capstone College
Public Communications
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Creative
Subject Categories
Film and Media Studies | Television
Abstract
The media is a business, but unfortunately has the greatest impact on society. Today, most people get their information from the Media and tend to believe everything it presents without much of a critical analysis or reflection. Africa is a continent filled with many natural resources, a unique culture, a rich history, and more. However when one turns on the Television in the western society, all that is presented is the negative side of Africa. We see the starvation and aids epidemic, we see the tribal wars, corruption, and more. There is always the presentation of the need for charity and rarely anything positive about the continent. Unfortunately because of the Media’s ability to influence people’s minds, this presentation have dominated society’s perception of the continent of Africa
As someone who was born in Ghana, I have beautiful memories of the place but these memories are tarnished by the way that African is perceived. When someone meets me, the first thing that probably comes into his or her mind is how poor I am because I am an African. This has become one of my biggest concerns in society today and so I decided that the best way to bring awareness to it is by making a documentary the shows the side of Africa that we don’t normally see in the media.
My Documentary is called “Homecoming,” and it is about my journey back home to Ghana and why I decided to take this trip. In this documentary I discuss some of the problems that young African Immigrants face in the United States and how the representation of Africa in the Media affects the way that Africa is viewed. I am the main subject in this documentary as I talk about some of the things that I encountered growing up in Italy and in the United States as a young African Immigrant and how I became ashamed of whom I was.
Recommended Citation
Appiah, Sandra, "Homecoming" (2010). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 325.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/325
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
