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Western hysteria over killing of Cecil the lion! Othering from the Zimbabwean gaze

Western hysteria over killing of Cecil the lion! Othering from the Zimbabwean gaze The Western media exploded in August 2015 because of a lion killed in Africa. Politicians, conservationists, civil society, musicians, sports stars, talk show hosts and ordinary people were outraged by the killing of a lion called Cecil in Zimbabwe. Interestingly there was not much focus on the reaction of Zimbabweans who were most injured by Cecil’s death. If anything, Zimbabweans were surprised by the blanket coverage of Cecil. In this essay, Zimbabweans’ reaction to the Western media coverage was analysed within the broader context of Edward Said’s concept of ‘Othering’. Viewing the concept of Othering through the Zimbabwean lenses deepened and widened the traditional definition of Othering to include self-Othering and what I termed reverse-Othering. The Zimbabwean gaze must be understood and contextualised. Without this understanding, the ultimate outrage over Cecil, which is about sustainable wildlife management, might not be won for local people must be partners in the sustainability endeavour. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Tourist Studies SAGE

Western hysteria over killing of Cecil the lion! Othering from the Zimbabwean gaze

Chimuka, Garikai
Tourist Studies , Volume 19 (3): 21 – Sep 1, 2019
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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019
ISSN
1468-7976
eISSN
1741-3206
DOI
10.1177/1468797619832316
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Western media exploded in August 2015 because of a lion killed in Africa. Politicians, conservationists, civil society, musicians, sports stars, talk show hosts and ordinary people were outraged by the killing of a lion called Cecil in Zimbabwe. Interestingly there was not much focus on the reaction of Zimbabweans who were most injured by Cecil’s death. If anything, Zimbabweans were surprised by the blanket coverage of Cecil. In this essay, Zimbabweans’ reaction to the Western media coverage was analysed within the broader context of Edward Said’s concept of ‘Othering’. Viewing the concept of Othering through the Zimbabwean lenses deepened and widened the traditional definition of Othering to include self-Othering and what I termed reverse-Othering. The Zimbabwean gaze must be understood and contextualised. Without this understanding, the ultimate outrage over Cecil, which is about sustainable wildlife management, might not be won for local people must be partners in the sustainability endeavour.

Journal

Tourist Studies – SAGE

Published: Sep 1, 2019

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