We had a vivid branch of discussion within the anthropologosphere recently triggered by the African Village event in Augsburg, Germany and this years worldwide Live Aid events that focussed on Western views of Africa and the continuity of racialization processes that one or the other way contribute to a culture of white aka western supremacy. Many different questions are linked to the academic reflection of the phenomenon and yet an interdisciplinary variety of approaches with focus on past and presence, to cut short.
A contemporary commercial that I ve seen on german tv something about two weeks ago connects some questions within this field as well as different approaches to it, for example the questions of what images are there, how do they circulate through space and time and what do they represent. The Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co.KG chocolate company, known by its famous trademark Ritter Sport, started a new project in cooperation with the humanitarian organization unicef in July this year. "Ab Juli 2005 startet das „Schulprojekt für Afrika“ von Ritter Sport. Pro verkaufter Mini-Packung Quadrago und 100 Gramm Tafel Ritter Sport Quadrago, der quadratischen Schokolade mit Sorten für Kinder, fließen 1,4 Cent in das Hilfsprojekt für Kinder in Afrika. Soviel kosten dringend benötigte Schulmaterialien für ein Kind pro Tag. Denn schon für fünf Euro kann Unicef einem Kind in Ländern wie Angola, Malawi und Ruanda Hefte, Stifte, eine Tasche und eine Schiefertafel für ein ganzes Jahr zur Verfügung stellen." [Schulprojekt fuer Afrika"]
The quote says the following: From each special ed. "Quadrago" chocolate bar sold 1,4 eurocent will flow into the unicef aid program for children in Africa. This is said to be the monetary equivalence to the material need of an african pupil per day. In countries like Angola, Malawi and Ruanda yet with five €, they say, unicef could make exercise books, pens, a satchel and a slate available to one child for a whole year.
In Savage Minds entry live8 - naughty or nice the question of different kinds of aid has been controversively discussed which is very worth reading. Kerim within the commentary was so kind to link to three studies that go further into critical analysis of aid programs, targetting the question of which uses of Africa Aid money help best to reduce poverty. Now what do you think on "making available a satchel and a slate to an African child for one year" ? And can we reflect such an example critically without being accused to blame a humanitarian organization?

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