Hailing from Kenya, Tracy Tinga, KLN ’19, already had a long-standing interest in how the media represents African countries when she joined the Klein College of Media and Communication’s Media and Communication doctoral program in the fall of 2014. However, most of the scholarship she encountered on the topic seemed to focus on negative portrayals of the continent. She started to wonder whether alternative narratives existed. That’s when she came across news stories about the Africa Rising discourse.
“[Africa Rising] immediately caught my attention and became the focus of my work,” said Tinga, now an assistant professor in the Department of Media and Communication Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
This early interest morphed into her dissertation project, From Afro-pessimism to Africa rising: Anglo-American media representations of Africa, that traced how representations of Africa by Anglo-American media transformed in relation to different historical moments.
Tinga’s advisor during her doctoral program, Patrick Murphy, professor of media studies and production, was impressed by her “advanced capacity to understand, synthesize and apply theory to help address questions about the media’s role in ‘big picture’ issues.” He encouraged her to revise the dissertation into a book.
“She certainly took this idea to heart,” Murphy said. “Because of her drive, focus and tenacity, she has been able to realize this goal.”
As the project further evolved, Tinga became interested in how the Africa Rising discourse spread beyond traditional media. She also became increasingly curious about how Africans themselves were engaging with, contesting and reshaping the discourse.
“I especially enjoyed examining how different social actors, from institutions to individuals, took up and adapted the discourse in diverse ways,” she said. “This project highlights the power of media discourse in shaping how Africa is understood both within the continent and globally.”
Turning the dissertation into a book was not an easy task.
“The audience is different and broader,” Tinga explained. “So, figuring out what to include, add, leave out felt daunting at first.”
Tinga credits many key figures in her life, both professional and personal, who helped her on her journey of transforming her dissertation into a book. Murphy as her advisor, as well as her committee members, Klein Professors Fabienne Darling-Wolf and Brian Creech, and her external reader, Professor Herman Wasserman from the University of Cape Town, were central to shaping the project. She also credits her colleagues at UMBC, her thoughtful research participants and her two dogs, Cinnamon and Coconut, in helping her bring her project to completion.
The book, The Africa Rising Discourse: Tropes, Trophies and Social Actors, was published by Routledge in February 2025.
Tinga hopes that the book will “spark conversations about the importance of centering African voices in shaping the continent’s present and future by foregrounding the Global South, and Africa in particular, as central to conversations about representation, power and global imaginaries.”
Tinga will discuss the book in a Graduate Speaker Series event on October 10 from 1 - 2:30 p.m. in Annenberg Hall, Room 003. Register now for the event!