Interrogating colonial narratives about genocide and war in Africa: perspectives from Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract Western media portrayals of Africa have often reduced this diverse, expansive continent to tropes about hunger, poverty, disease and war. The essays in this forum section challenge these colonial and imperial narratives about Africa. In this introduction, we present the framing of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Western media coverage as useful for understanding how Africa has historically been framed in news media reports. The essays cover issues such as the ecological implications of war and decolonial approaches to examining media narratives in the DRC. In Sudan, we see how the United Arab Emirates deploys soft power to entrench their colonial and extractive interests in the country. Through incisive and biting satire, we learn about how to write about Sudan. In communication and media studies, Africa has been presented as a continent mired in suffering and struggle that is in constant need of saving from the West.