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Africa Through British Eyes: the Changing Representation of the D _________________________________________________________________________Swansea University E-Theses Africa through British eyes: The changing representation of the D. R. Congo in the London Times, 1885-2006. Djongana, Faustin Chongombe How to cite: _________________________________________________________________________ Djongana, Faustin Chongombe (2012) Africa through British eyes: The changing representation of the D. R. Congo in the London Times, 1885-2006.. thesis, Swansea University. http://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa42657 Use policy: _________________________________________________________________________ This item is brought to you by Swansea University. Any person downloading material is agreeing to abide by the terms of the repository licence: copies of full text items may be used or reproduced in any format or medium, without prior permission for personal research or study, educational or non-commercial purposes only. The copyright for any work remains with the original author unless otherwise specified. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder. Permission for multiple reproductions should be obtained from the original author. Authors are personally responsible for adhering to copyright and publisher restrictions when uploading content to the repository. Please link to the metadata record in the Swansea University repository, Cronfa (link given in the citation reference above.) http://www.swansea.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/ris-support/ AFRICA THROUGH BRITISH EYES: THE CHANGING REPRESENTION OF THE D. R. CONGO IN THE LONDON TIMES, 1885-2006 FAUSTIN CHONGOMBE DJONGANA SUBMITTED TO SWANSEA UNIVERSITY IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2012 ProQuest Number: 10805433 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10805433 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT This thesis seeks to respond to the on-going complaints from both African and western scholars that Africa is negatively represented in the western media. The findings showed that news stories, opinions and commentaries expressed throughout the coverage of the Congo, including editorials and letters and from pre-colonial to modem Congo, were written by western journalists and correspondents from the London Times and associated correspondents, while four other news agencies Agence France Press (AFP), Associated Press (AP), the Belgian news agency (Belga) and Reuters were the main sources for The Times newspaper. News makers in Pre-Colonial and Colonial periods were almost exclusively westerners and references to the Congolese people appeared in generic terms. In Post-Colonial and Modem periods, Congolese people did appear by name but only in a limited capacity. The thesis also identifies differences between the coverage in each period, for example highlighting the critical engagement with the Congo that characterised the reporting of 1908. The Congo was represented over the periods sampled with negative stereotypes such a ‘primitive’, ‘backward’, ‘barbaric, ‘dangerous destination,’ ‘place for business,’ ‘natives to be civilised, evangelised and educated.’ Recurring themes such as forced labour, civil war, corruption, child exploitation, poverty, refugees, witchcraft, dependency and mismanagement prevail in the reporting. The research investigated the changing representations of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the western media by examining its coverage in the London Times from a historical context that included four key historic years in the Congo’s development, namely 1885, 1908, 1960 and 2006, referred to as the Pre-Colonial, Colonial, Post-Colonial and Modern Congo periods. The London Times, which used to be one of the leading western newspapers and the British newspaper of record, was selected. Content and discourse analysis were used to evaluate and categorise the news items published in the sampled periods to distinguish the emerging themes, to identify the sources, and to interpret the language used in the coverage. The findings have shown that since its inception to the modem period, the reporting of the Congo in The Times has avowedly been through western eyes, and, as with much journalism, has not offered any real context to the stories. The poor benighted heathens thus continue in their war-torn arbours. Declaration This work has not been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed > • # * • • . (Candidate) Date ...&.1.1.11.1&9J1............................................................... Statement 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes give explicit reference. A bibliography is appended. Signed ... (Candidate) D ate ALULl. (Jr............................................................... Statement 2 I hereby give permission for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ..........^.......................................................................Candidate Date .... .4 / . 1 . /. I. i /. ............................................................. CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................ ii Declaration ...................................................................................................................iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................ vii List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................viii Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... ix Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: Historic Overview of the DR Congo ................................................. 10 Chapter Two: History of The Times .......................................................................... 36 Chapter Three: Historic Representations of Sub-Saharan Africa in the Western News Media.................................................................................................................56 Chapter Four: Research Methodology .....................................................................83 Chapter Five: Images Of The Congo From The Times Newspaper ......................111 Chapter Six: Discussion of the Findings .................................................................199 Chapter Seven: Conclusion ......................................................................................229 Appendix: Full list of The Times Articles & Commentaries Selected and Coded 227 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................280 v List of Tables Table 1: Pre-Colonial By-lines .................................................................................103 Table 2: Post-Colonial Commentaries Sources .......................................................104 Table 3: Pre-Colonial Themes ..................................................................................110 Table 4: Pre-Colonial News Authors/By-lines ........................................................110 Table 5: Pre-Colonial News Sources ....................................................................... 112 Table 6: Pre-Colonial News Sources ....................................................................... 127 Table 7: Commentaries ............................................................................................ 129 Table 8: Colonial Commentaries Sources ............................................................... 131 Table 9: Colonial News Themes ..............................................................................135 Table 10: Colonial News Authors/By-lines ............................................................136 Table 11: Belgian Colonial News Sources ..............................................................137 Table 12: Anglo Saxon and other Colonial News Sources ................................... 138 Table 13: Colonial Stereotypes ................................................................................151 Table 14: Post-Colonial Commentaries Authors/By-lines .....................................153 Table 15: Post-Colonial Commentaries Sources .....................................................153 Table 16:Post-Colonial News Authors/By-lines .................................................... 159 Table 17: Congolese News Sources .........................................................................164 Table 18: Foreign Post-Colonial News
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