Hello readers,
Something that struck me from the joint lecture on the 15th of September was my lack of knowledge of what took place here in Canada regarding the treatment of Japanese post Pearl Harbor. This got me thinking about how media plays a large roll in how and what we remember and the role geographical location plays. I am from Kenya, so moving to North America for the last couple of years has really opened my eyes to how media from different places affects our perception of the world. Things that are regarded as important in the western world are relayed to the media in Kenya as being important to us whereas only what is regarded as having the possibility to affect the western world is prevalent in the western media. This is most likely due to the dependence Kenya as a developing country has towards the western world, as issues that affect the west will inevitably affect us as well.
Unlike Kenya, I have noticed in North America the focus on international news is a lot smaller and targeted mostly to other first world countries. The media narrative towards Kenya or Sub-Saharan Africa in general is usually negative in a somewhat exaggerated way. For example, I recently had a conversation with my American roommate who was surprised to find out that although malaria isn’t fun, it is not necessarily a death sentence and that I know multiple people who have had malaria more than once and are completely fine. She grew up with media that taught her that she, as an American, was in a place to help the less fortunate children of Africa and media that was full of charity organizations that constructed their advertising to be a tool that incentivizes people like her to donate. The media was a big part of what helped form her perception of Kenya
Finding out about the treatment of Japanese people after Pearl Harbor, or the recent and terrible history of the treatment of indigenous peoples in Canada and the residential school system I realized that what even though Kenya’s media is highly focused on the western countries, countries like the USA and Canada can still filter exactly what information we get to receive. What is seen in the media can have a large effect on the memories we form of events and what becomes History. History books in the US and Canada that bring up Pearl Harbor are less likely to teach a history that portrays Americans and Canadians in a negative light, or teach what they tried to forget by keeping it out of the media (I have never taken a history class in North America though so this is mostly based on speculation).
I am left to wonder if such a thing as a global history exists. So much has been left out of media and forgotten that I find it difficult to believe that we will ever have accurate memories. But to what extent is forgetting a bad thing?
Some helpful links:
Video watched in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8jGdYMmwfQ