We all at some point have scrolled through our phone and come across pictures of white celebrities or unqualified college kids posing with children in African countries, smiling with an emotional caption about how amazing the experience was to them. Or maybe you’ve heard of Stacey Dooley from Comic Relief and her Instagram post with a young African child captioned “Obsessssssssed (insert broken heart emoji)”. They are seemingly providing ‘aid’ to these people in communities that are not as fortunate in terms of wealth and available resources. Most people identify this to be good Samaritan work because the good in helping poorer countries is a commonplace. Even in our own local communities, helping and trying to do our part is a good thing and has always been widely considered so.

Where does this ideology falter?

It falters in how and in what way one civically engages with these communities of people.

The issue of ‘white saviours’ is something that has been prevalent for decades. When a white person provides help to non-white people but in a manner that is self-serving and inherently enforcing ideas that are damaging to non-white communities, they are behaving out of a white saviour complex. The No White Saviours campaign based in Uganda, led by a majority female, majority African-American group has been working to bring awareness to this pressing issue in civic engagement. They identify that volunteer work is largely praised but they unveil the ideas that constructed this commonplace and how to shape them differently so that their damaging nature is understood and changed. Their tagline “If you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not listening.” is jarring and urges people to rethink and pick apart their confirmation bias. By sharing emotional stories(pathos), while supporting their arguments with facts from their own research, they accomplish their purpose of slowly breaking down the white saviour complex. They enforce the idea that people aren’t voiceless just because someone isn’t listening. Drawing attention to the biases and cultural attitudes behind commonplaces is important to recognise, and their campaign is a good example of how persuasive techniques can challenge many widely believed views.

As Teju Cole from The Atlantic says, “if we are going to interfere in the lives of others, a little due diligence is a minimum requirement”.

References

Cole, T. (2013, January 11). The White-Savior Industrial Complex. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/

If you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not listening. (2020, April 27). Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://nowhitesaviors.org/

Pepper, M., Posts, R., About the Authors Mark D. Pepper is an Assistant Professor of English at Utah Valley University where he teaches courses in First-Year Composition, & Name:*. (2013, October 18). Why So Hostile?: The Relationships among Popularity, “Masses,” and Rhetorical Commonplaces. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://www.presenttensejournal.org/volume-3/why-so-hostile-the-relationships-among-popularity-masses-and-rhetorical-commonplaces/