An image of Africa: racism in The Heart of Darkness of Conrad

Una imagen de África: racismo en El corazón de las tinieblas de Conrad

In the fall of 1974 I walked from the Department of English at the University of Massachusetts to a parking lot. It was a beautiful autumn morning that encouraged me to be friendly with the strangers I encountered. Vigorous young people struggled in all directions; it was obvious that many of them were first semester students in their initial outbursts of enthusiasm. An old man that it was going in the same direction as mine turned to me and pointed out that they were younger and younger. I agreed. Then he asked me if I was also a student. I said no, I was a teacher. What did he teach? African literature He said that was funny because he knew a guy who also taught the same thing or, perhaps, African history at a nearby university. He was always surprised, he continued, because he had never thought that Africa had such things, you know. By then I was walking much faster. Oh well, I heard him saying, behind me, "I guess I have to take his course to find out."