Reel Africa? Global Film Media and Foreign Policy Towards Africa

This panel interrogates the complex interplay between foreign policy directed towards Africa and its representation in global media. We seek to critically examine how diverse fictional and non-fictional media forms—including television, social media reels, and film—construct narratives about foreign policy toward Africa and African countries by both Western and non-Western actors. Furthermore, we aim to scrutinize the repercussions of these portrayals on the formulation and implementation of foreign policy. The panel is open to a variety of perspectives and invites scholars to submit abstracts addressing themes such as the representation of foreign policy on Africa in television and film, analytical frameworks for understanding how global media in various regions depict foreign policy on Africa, and empirical case studies of specific events or periods where film, television or social media has influenced public opinion and policy. We are particularly interested in critical assessments of the portrayal of Africa and foreign policy in fictional films and television from both Western and non-Western perspectives, along with in-depth analyses of how these portrayals reinforce or subvert stereotypes and political narratives.