American Perception of the Ivory Coast

            While interviewing students on campus about the Ivory Coast, it intrigued me that no one had heard much about the current conflicts and political problems the country is facing. I’ll be honest though, before I was assigned the Ivory Coast as my country for the quarter, my knowledge of the land was very limited. However, upon research, I learned that the events taking place should not be ignored and need to be brought to the attention of the American audience.

Although most interviewees could name the location of
the Ivory Coast, no one could name it's capital: Yamossoukro.
(Picture taken from worldtravels.com)

            Thankfully, when asked the basic question, “what continent is the Ivory Coast on?” all but one person answered correctly. Yet, this was the only question my interviewees were confident responding to. When asked the follow up question, “what is the capital of the Ivory Coast,” only Kelly Russell, a 21-year-old Child Development major came close. “I think it starts with a Y,” she said. Most people seemed uninterested in even finding out the answer, which is Yamoussoukro. Although others, like Modern Languages and Literature major Suzanne Heller, gave humorous guesses such as “Djaraima.”

            I followed this question with another which I had hoped would show what stereotypes the Ivory Coast maintains. When asked, “what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear about the Ivory Coast?” I got many different answers. Mike Chang, an environmental engineering major, said he thought of his 11^th grade French class because that’s the language they speak in the Ivory Coast. Other answers I received included “hot,” “hunger,” and “where slaves come from to America.” It was surprising that no one even brought up their unstable government or the continuous violence taking place. It is clear that the news stories from the Ivory Coast don’t even make the pages of America’s newspapers.

Most newspapers draw readers in with stories about
celebrities or entertainment, rather than hard hitting news stories
(Picture taken from southbaymobilization.org).

 

This is why, while talking to people, I decided to add an extra question to the end of my interview: Why do you think the Ivory Coast is not covered in the news? One theory that many of the interviewees brought to light revolved around the fact that what’s happening in the Ivory Coast does not have an effect on the American people. Therefore, we are uninterested. “They don’t have oil. So we don’t really care. Obama isn’t shooting missiles at them, so no one is calling him out about it, so no one is covering the people calling him out for it,” Chang stated. Heller added to this argument by saying that the reason we don’t hear about the Ivory Coast is because, “the U.S. isn’t invested in them.” Russell mentioned the same idea. “It’s not a story that will make America money. If we help them, they don’t help us. When it comes to the cost-benefit scenario, we don’t get anything out of it,” she said referring to the fact that we hear about news based on the countries we are involved with. 

Hopefully, in the future, the Ivory Coast’s troubles will enlighten the American public. And, let’s just hope that this time it doesn’t come as a result of firing missiles at them, as Chang suggested happens with other countries America reports on. It would be great for the United States to learn more about the most recent conflict in the Ivory Coast; a dictator not wanting to give up his power, and the new president trying to smooth things over. However, it seems like it will be awhile before the ethnocentrism dies down in America and people focus on problems regarding other countries that we are not involved with. Until then, the students of jour470 will be the educators to the Cal Poly campus and beyond about the global issues concerning many people throughout the world. One day we will learn about other countries as they learn about the United States.

Interviewees:

1. Mike Chang, 21, male, environmental engineering major, Asian

2. Suzanne Heller, 21, female, modern languages and literatures major, Caucasian

3. Sara Shoff, 21, female, watershed hydrology major, Caucasian

4.  Guadalupe Alegira, 20, female, business major, Hispanic

5. Kelly Russell, 21, female, Child Development major, Caucasian

6. Vanessa Rodriguez, 21, female, Food Science and Nutrition major, Hispanic

Dictators Inside and Outside of the Ivorian Household

Though the Ivory Coast is considered a republic where men and women are given free reign to vote, it appears that the country has become susceptible to the cruelty of dictatorships within their governments and at home. This form of government first afflicted the Ivorians about 10 to 11 years ago when ex-President, Laurent Gbagbo came into power. However, there is more than one dictator in the Ivory Coast. Many women are oppressed and subjected to some type of control by their spouses in the West African country. The power that comes from the government is translated into the everyday lives of the people of the Ivory Coast and used to separate two genders.

Women and girls of the Ivory Coast are slowly becoming equal
to their male counter parts, starting with an education.
(Picture taken from Unicef).

Throughout history, it is plain to see that women have struggled to gain rights in the Ivory Coast. In the 1960’s, a family code was enforced which brought a substantial amount of inequality between the two genders. Yet, in 1983, the National Assembly amended the family code, eventually giving women back the rights they had lost twenty years prior. According to the Journal of Social History, the National Assembly, “granted women equity with their husbands within legal marriages as well as greater economic autonomy.” Women created profits for themselves off of services and crafts they made and sold to others.

In addition, throughout the country’s history, it is customary for women to get married at a young age. These girls, 11 to 14-years-old, are getting married to men twice their age. However, this is now illegal and has been since the first family codes of 1964. In the early 1990’s, the Washington Post wrote an article about the lives of these young girls post-illegal matrimony. The article states, “Constance Yai, a prominent women's rights activist in this West African country, sees only tyranny in the tradition. Her battle to eradicate childhood marriage is for her a struggle between an oppressive Africa tied blindly to traditions versus one urgently seeking to embrace the modern world.” An increasing amount of women are raising their voices in order to gain rights.

An Ivory Coast woman exercises her right to vote.
(Picture taken from Radio Netherlands Worldwide Africa).

Previously, Ivory Coast was considered a one-party state. However, today, as the Journal of Social History said, “it is now a multiparty democracy, and new, politically active women’s groups are now emerging whose leaders are not culturally based or politically dependent upon the nation’s leadership.” Women are coming out in numbers to vote and show their dominance, which could result in forthcoming government changes. In the future, Ivorian politics will create parallel changes in the family structure. As women have more influence, they will also gain more power  within their republic.

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