A simple and powerful lesson opener: Which Continent?

Help your students questions the assumptions they have about Africa using a simple photo viewing activity.

1. Ask students to call to mind the world’s continents.  (You might have them list the continents and brainstorm words or pictures they associate for each continent in their learning logs.)
2. They will view photographs in either of the linked powerpoint below and attempt to identify the continent in which the photograph was taken.  This is a silent, written activity.  Have them number their papers based on the number of pictures.  You can tell them that some of the photographs may seem easy to identify and others more of a challenge, but simply to make the best educated guess they can using clues in the pictures.
3. Project the photograph and ask students to share their answers, and what clues in the photograph contributed to their responses.  (Here’s a good place to work in movement: Stand up if you thought this photo was Europe…)
4. Students will eventually discover the pattern:  all photographs are from Africa!
5. What made some photos easy to identify and others a challenge?  Another pattern typically surfaces: rural village scenes are generally correctly identified as Africa, whereas urban settings and images of wealth are attributed to Europe or North America.  What does this tell us about our current images of Africa?  Where do our images come from?   Are these sources reliable?  What questions arise from this activity for further inquiry?

“Which Continent?” copyright 2011 Amy Lake.  Contact lake@kelloggschool.org

Which Continent? Powerpoint File  by Amy Lake, 2011, This file uses photos from Egypt and Tanzania, the two nations visited in 2010 with Fulbright/Hayes Group Project studying Islam and Muslim Communities.

Which Continent? Powerpoint File updated by Elsa Wiehe, 2022 This file uses photos from across the continent.

Photos featured from Egypt and Tanzania by Amy Lake: