Everyday Africa Curriculum

A Pulitzer Center guide to using the "Everyday Africa" project in the classroom Peter DiCampo, Austin Merrill, Tracy Crowley, Mark Schulte, Amanda Ottaway, and Carey Averbook


Everyday Africa, a collection of images shot on mobile phones across the continent, is an attempt to re-direct focus toward a more accurate understanding of what the majority of Africans experience on a day-to-day basis: normal life. Conceived by Peter DiCampo and Austin Merrill, and featuring numerous contributing photographers, the project is a response to the common media portrayal of the African continent as a place consumed by war, poverty, and disease. As journalists who have lived and worked on the continent for years at a time or who are native to Africa, we at Everyday Africa find the extreme not nearly as prevalent as the familiar, the everyday. 

-Info page, Everyday Africa website


Inspired by the popularity and sharability of Everyday Africa -- @everydayafrica -- as a social media initiative on Tumblr and Instagram, journalists Austin Merrill and Peter DiCampo expanded into education. Everyday Africa educators work with students to dissect traditional media representations of Africa and of the students’ own communities. Students then take their own local “everyday” photos with smartphones or other simple cameras, telling their neighborhood stories while learning and eventually showcasing valuable visual and cultural literacy skills.

Program Objectives

  • Using contemporary photographs of everyday life in various African communities through the Everyday Africa Instagram account and online platform, and by discussing and taking photographs of their own communities, students will:
  • Learn about life/culture/customs in African nations via photography, breaking down stereotypes and misconceptions in the process.
  • Explore photography as a medium of communication
  • Learn basic visual literacy skills. 


This lesson is an adaptation of the full “Everyday Africa and Beyond” curriculum, created in partnership with The Learning About Multimedia Project in New York, NY. It also includes language and ideas from Tracy Crowley and the education team at Community Consolidated School District 21 in Wheeling, IL.


Objectives:

  • Explore traditional representations of Africa and of students’ home community.

Assignment ahead of Step 1: Have students each find one news article about Africa. They should bring their articles with them and be prepared to discuss. Do not specify how they should find their articles, or what the articles should be about.

Activity 1:

  • Important that this discussion comes first: Have students share the first word or impression that comes to mind when they think of Africa. Record their responses. 
  • Have students share their news articles. 

Discussion questions:

  • Where did you get your news article? How did you find it? How does it portray Africa?


Activity 2: 

  • Compare/contrast traditional media representation of Africa (war, malnutrition, wildlife) with the work of Everyday Africa. If students' news articles are applicable here, use them.

Discussion questions:

  • What do you think of when you think of Africa?
  • What information/story does each set of photographs communicate? Why do we see so many "traditional" images and not more "everyday" images in the media? Discuss other viewers' comments on Everyday Africa photos.


Activity 3: 

  • After looking at the Everyday Africa photos, what new words come to mind when you think of Africa? Talk about perception shift.
  • Define your community.

Discussion questions: 

  • What do you like about your community? What do you dislike? What do other people think your community is like? Do you wish they thought about it differently? How can you play a role in people's perceptions of your community?


          Objectives:

          • Explore the role and responsibility of the photographer.
          • Research photographic representations of the [local city/community].

          Assignment before Step 2: Each student shoots at least one photo from their everyday lives, to be shared and discussed/peer-critiqued at this session.

          What is the role of the photographer in photojournalism?

          Activity: 

          Working in pairs, students search online for images of people and places from the [local city/community]. Each pair finds at least two examples of a negative portrayal and two of a positive portrayal. Students should conduct research to find out all the information they can about the photographs – name of the photographer, where and when it was published, why it was taken.

          Discussion Questions:

          • Why do photographers take photos?
          • Is everything you see in a photograph real?  
          • Is it okay for a photographer to stage a shot?  
          • What if someone doesn’t want his or her photograph taken?
          • Is it fair to portray someone in an unflattering way?  
          • Is it wrong to use Photoshop or other editing software to change the way someone or something appears to the audience?
          • What is the role of the photographer in photojournalism?






          Step 3:

          What makes a good photograph?

          In this gallery, you can find examples of different kinds of shot sizes, camera angles, and compositions. Also consider the framing. What is in the frame? What is left out of the frame? Click through the dots or use the arrows to see them all. 

          Example: Wide shot size

          Example: Medium shot size

          Example: Close-up shot size | A type of shot that tightly frames a person or objects. This shot is commonly used to show detail. 

          Example: Eye-level camera angle | The camera is placed at the subject’s eye level, so he/she/they don’t look up or down. 

          Example: High level camera angle | The camera is placed above the subjects and the shot is looking down. This angle can be used to make the subjects appear vulnerable or powerless. 

          Example: Low angle camera angle | The camera is placed below the subjects' eye line and the shot is looking up. This angle can be used to make the subject appear strong and powerful.

          Example: "Dutch"/"tilt"/"canted" camera angle | Horizon line of the shot is not parallel with the bottom of the camera frame.

          Example: Bird's-eye camera angle | This is an elevated or aerial view of a scene from the perspective of a bird. 

          Example: Worm's-eye camera angle | This is a low view of a scene from the perspective of a worm. 

          Example: Rule of thirds | When you are composing your photo, the idea of the "rule of thirds" is that the subjects of an image should be placed along the lines of an imaginary grid which divides the frame into nine equal parts, three vertically and three horizontally.

          Example: Rule of thirds | When you are composing your photo, the idea of the "rule of thirds" is that the subjects of an image should be placed along the lines of an imaginary grid which divides the frame into nine equal parts, three vertically and three horizontally.

          Objectives: 

          • Explore basic visual literacy: lighting, framing, the importance of each aspect of the photograph to the overall story.
          • Practice taking photographs, with an emphasis on shot sizes, angles, and composition, and the importance of each whole image telling one or many stories.

          Activity:

          Students practice framing the various shot sizes and angles explored in the presentation, then venture out into the neighborhood and take turns capturing the various shots using their smart phones or other basic cameras. Each group should capture an example of each shot size and angle. Peer critique. 

          Objectives: 

          • Students will shoot more “everyday” photos between Steps 3 and 4.

          • Students will make preliminary selections for an exhibition.

          Assignment before Step 4: By this point, students should be shooting their communities consistently and have a collection of “Everyday” photos ready to share and discuss during step 4. Make sure students make note of the location, date and time they took the photo as well as other context that might be helpful for a caption later (subjects’ names if applicable, what was happening outside the frame).

          Activity:

          • Whole-class share of images. Students viewing the images will respond to the following:
          Why was the image selected?
          Did the image communicate the message the photographers intended?
          What could other people learn from this image?
          What feeling/perspective is the image trying to communicate
          Does it do that successfully?
          • Students should discuss their image selections in small groups or as a class before making their final selections.
          • Have students write captions for their images. In the style of an AP (Associated Press) caption, students’ captions should in the first 1-2 sentences explain the who, what, when, where and why of the picture. After covering the “5Ws,” students can add relevant descriptive context, details and/or quotes to their captions.
          • Students should also be able to describe how their picture represents the "Everyday-ness" of their communities.

          Objectives: 

          • Exhibit and critique work in a live exhibition, within the class, in the school community or online. Solicit questions and comments. Students critique each other’s images and field questions about their images and process from facilitators and guests.
          • Students reflect, in writing or in person, on their experiences of creating their ‘Everyday [local city/community]’ photos and their final thoughts on media representation of Africa and the [local city/community].

          Discussion questions: 

          • What challenges did they run into? 
          • What did they like about the experience? 
          • What did they learn? 
          Everyday Africa Curriculum
          1. Everyday Africa: Curriculum Introduction
          2. Step 1:
          3. Step 2:
          4. Step 3:
          5. Step 4:
          6. Step 5: