The Single Story of Africa : Perceptions of the Finnish African Diaspora in Relation to NGO’s Visual Imageries

The colonial legacy of development aid has been widely discussed in academia. This study uses postcolonial theory to shed light upon how one Finnish NGO’s visual imageries affect the representation of the African continent. The thesis adds underexplored perspectives by highlighting the perceptions of five Finnish African diaspora members in Finland, giving a voice to the subaltern. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews combined with the photo-elicitation technique the study emphasizes through thematic analysis that the NGO’s visual imageries affect the everyday lives of the Finnish African diaspora by reproducing imageries that reflect colonial undertones. Results also indicated that the photos reproduce the single story of Africa in the Finnish society, affecting how the Finnish majority perceives the diaspora members. The diaspora members felt disappointed by the misrepresentation of the African continent, but they also provided solutions to overcome these very existing hierarchies.