Panashe Chigumadzi makes the case that stereotypes can be frustratingly hard to shake off, sometimes even for the very people they victimise. Africans especially, suffer from a 300 year old negative colonial narrative that has shaped not only how the world sees them, but in many ways also how they see themselves. In the hands of the colonial masters, the media has been a powerful and highly effective tool in this development. With technology and social media the landscape has changed. Increasingly, power is now more evenly distributed. Africans need to use that power to repair the damage and redefine what it means to be Black African. Africans need to deprogramme their colonized minds with good, compelling programming.
Panashe Chigumadzi is a young storyteller from Zimbabwe on a mission to ”redefine and reaffirm the African identity”. Inspired by untold African stories and agitated by African narratives that veer into “poverty porn”, her literary and other works move the conversation forward. Panashe organises African Film Club and has produced the documentary ‘Africa’s Upstarts’. In her day job she reports for CNBC Africa.