We tend to have a visceral response to someone we think is dirty. But Stephanie Newell argues that judging other people as dirty is more in our minds than it is about medical reality. Through examples ranging from the travel diaries of colonial British traders in West Africa to the surprising ways Nigerian popular culture makes comedy out of disease, Stephanie shows how judging people to be dirty always involves a failure to understand them – but sometimes can also spark empathy.
Bonus clip
Click here to listen to a bonus clip of Steph discussing how the British caused more disease by building supposedly hygienic toilets in colonial Africa, and click here for another clip describing a Kenyan song about the Obamas that mocked the racist international response to Ebola.
Works mentioned
Further reading
Two African artists working on the theme of dirt: Yusuf Durodola and Fabrice Monteiro
Sweeping against the odds – video from Guardian Nigeria on street sweepers
Laura Barnett at The Guardian – Another view on Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life
Andy Borowitz at The New Yorker – Study: Fear of Ebola Highest Among People Who Did Not Pay Attention During Math and Science Classes
Breanne Schnell at Medium – Stop Comparing Nollywood to Hollywood: Reorienting Western Understanding of Nigerian Cinema
Nick Haslam at The Conversation – Why it’s so offensive when we call people animals