PAST AND PRESENT: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA IN EUROPEAN PERCEPTION

The aim of this article is to look at the complexity of the condition of past and present sub-Saharan Africa, as it is seen from the perspective of Europeans. By pointing to the contemporary, historical, social, anthropological and political studies on Africa, there is an attempt to overcome two widespread cliches on Africa that are being perpetuated, particularly by the media, opinion makers and to a certain extent through the public education system. The crucial question raised here is whether an ordinary inhabitant of the Western World can understand todays' sub-Saharan Africa , that is characterized by ongoing poverty, pandemic diseases, armed conflicts, political mismanagement, but also by Africa's current endeavour to resolve all these predicaments by adopting a vision of a rebirth of Africa: the African Renaissance.