Maternal White savior narratives in Louise Linton's In Congo's Shadow

In 2016, Scottish actress Louise Linton released her self-published memoir entitled In Congo's Shadow: One Girl's Perilous Journey to the Heart of Africa , detailing her few months volunteering in Zambia in 1999. Zambian observers quickly critiqued an excerpt of her book for its White savior undertones. After reviewing the controversy surrounding Linton's romanticized biography using grey literature from the Global South, we analyze one of the only available copies of Linton's book through the concept of "maternal white savior narrative". To do so, we define and examine four indicators: centering oneself as the central motherly character of the story; ‘Africa’ as savage and dangerous for women; reinforcing racial hierarchies; and distancing oneself from overt discrimination. This research is based on a discourse analysis of Linton's memoir, supported by public commentaries and 140 tweets (social posts) since 2016.