This thesis engages with the scholarly debate on how African resource wars are presented in written western media. It tests the theoretical application of Afro-pessimism and the Westphalian filter...Show moreThis thesis engages with the scholarly debate on how African resource wars are presented in written western media. It tests the theoretical application of Afro-pessimism and the Westphalian filter on western (UK and US) media coverage of the Sierra Leonean and Angolan civil wars in the year 2000. Afro-pessimism refers to a frame of African representation in western media that is said to have been prevalent in the 1980s until the early 2000s. It is characterised by overwhelmingly negative reporting on the continent, where violent events throughout the continent are discussed as one “African mess,” and their causes are seen as indicative to an inherent “Africanness.” The Westphalian filter refers to a frame of African resource war reporting that focuses merely on state-level actors and ignores non-state actors who have economic stake in the conflict, rather than a political one. Both civil wars were (re-)ignited in early 1990s and diamond mining and trading played an instrumental role in financing and sustaining both wars. In the year 2000, media coverage on the wars was often more reflective and sought to explain the causes and developments of the wars. By conducting a critical discourse analysis of these reflective sources, this thesis concludes that neither frame is as dominant in western reporting on the African resource wars as their proponents claim. While features of both frames are visible in the analysis, neither can be seen as the prominent frame through which African resource wars were communicated in the year 2000. The thesis conducts exploratory research that provides a strong base for further research.Show less
