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Africa: Tolerance and Intolerance in Perspective
AfricaFocus Bulletin
March 16, 2016 (160316)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"
In results published on Zero Discrimination Day (1 March),
Afrobarometer reports that survey respondents in 33 countries
exhibit largely tolerant attitudes toward social differences, with
the major exception of homosexuality. Even so, homophobia is not a
universal phenomenon in Africa: At least half of all citizens in
four African countries say they would not mind or would welcome
having homosexual neighbours. Tolerance scores vary widely by
country/region, and analysis points to education, media consumption,
and exposure to a diverse population as major drivers of increasing
tolerance on the African continent." - Afrobarometer
According to these survey results, on average 91% of respondents in
these 33 countries are tolerant of different ethnicities, 87% of
different religions, 81% of immigrants or foreign workers, 68% of
people living with HIV/AIDS, but only 21% of homosexuals. As noted
in the full Afrobarometer report, this data from 2014-2015 does not
cover all African countries, while trend data is not available for
the same question to show changes over time.
Questions about the differences between what people say and what
they do are appropriate for all public opinion surveys, in Africa as
for the United States and any other part of the world. But contrary
to popular perceptions, polling in Africa, pioneered by
Afrobarometer and now emulated by many other agencies, including
Gallup, is now well-institutionalized, despite the difficulties
associated with interviewing in many languages and multiple other
logistical challenges.
What one finds notable about these results depends on what one
compares them with. But there is no doubt that the base of 33
countries shows large variations, including between countries,
between rural and urban areas, and by levels of education. This, the
authors of the report contend, shows the potential for change.
[Comparable data with countries outside Africa is limited, since
finding comparable questions for many countries is a challenge.
However, wave 6 of the World Values Survey (http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org)
has a somewhat comparable question: who would you not like to have
as neighbors? Detailed data are available and could be used for some country comparisons.]
This editor's note (and editor's time) is far from adequate for such
a detailed comparison. But a quick review of data would suggest that
under some circumstances, opinion can change rapidly. For example,
in the United States, according to the NORC surveys from 1973 to
2010 (http://tinyurl.com/j7bk5vg), in 1973, 79% of respondents said
homosexuality was "always wrong" or "almost always" wrong. By 2010
that percentage was down to 46.9%, and has almost certainly dropped
since then. On the World Values Survey wave 6 (2010-2014), only
20.4% of Americans said they "would not like" to have homosexuals as
neighbors, as compared to 39% in 1989-93.
For extensive background data on the Afrobarometer surveys as well
as analyses of multiple other topics covered by the surveys, visit
http://www.afrobarometer.org
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
Africans tolerant on religion, ethnicity, nationality, and HIV, but
not on homosexuality, Afrobarometer survey finds
News Release
Maputo, Mozambique, 1 March 2016
http://afrobarometer.org/press/tolerance-in-africa
[Excerpts below have text only. For graphics and full report go to
the link above.] Contrary to common portrayals, Africans express
high degrees of tolerance for people from different ethnic groups,
people of different religions, immigrants, and people living with
HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), newly released Afrobarometer survey findings show.
In results published on Zero Discrimination Day (1 March),
Afrobarometer reports that survey respondents in 33 countries
exhibit largely tolerant attitudes toward social differences, with
the major exception of homosexuality. Even so, homophobia is not a
universal phenomenon in Africa: At least half of all citizens in
four African countries say they would not mind or would welcome
having homosexual neighbours.
Tolerance scores vary widely by country/region, and analysis points
to education, media consumption, and exposure to a diverse
population as major drivers of increasing tolerance on the African
continent.
The report, titled "Good neighbours? Africans express high levels of
tolerance for many, but not for all," is available in English,
French, and Portuguese at http://www.afrobarometer.org.
Key findings
- Across 33 countries, large majorities of African citizens exhibit
high tolerance for people from different ethnic groups (91%), people
of different religions (87%), immigrants (81%), and people living
with HIV/AIDS (68%).
- Tolerance levels are particularly high in regions and countries
that are ethnically and religiously diverse, suggesting that
experience is an important factor in inculcating an attitude of
tolerance among African citizens.
- Similarly, tolerance for people living with HIV/AIDS is highest in
countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence, providing further evidence
that intolerance and stigmatization can be unlearned through
personal encounters.
- *A large majority of African citizens, however, are intolerant of
homosexual citizens.
- Across the 33 countries, an average of 78% of respondents say they
would "somewhat dislike" or "strongly dislike" having a homosexual
neighbour.
- But not all of Africa is homophobic. Majorities in four countries
(Cape Verde, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa), and more than
four in 10 citizens in three other countries, would like or not mind
having homosexual neighbours.
Afrobarometer
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that
conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic
conditions, and related issues across Africa. Five rounds of surveys
were conducted between 1999 and 2013, and findings from Round 6
surveys (2014/2015) are currently being released. Afrobarometer
conducts face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent's
choice with nationally representative samples that yield countrylevel
results with margins of error of +/-2% (for samples of 2,400)
or +/3% (for samples of 1,200) at a 95% confidence level.
Interested readers should watch for additional findings to be
released over the coming months (see http://afrobarometer.org/countries/results-round and follow the
conversation at #VoicesAfrica on Twitter).
[33 countries with this question included in Round 6, 2014-2015:
Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Côte
d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia,
Madagascar, Malawi , Mali , Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique,
Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra
Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda,
Zambia, Zimbabwe
...
For more information, please contact:
Brian Howard , Afrobarometer , Telephone: 001-713-624-0373 , Email:
bhoward@afrobarometer.org
Good neighbours? Africans express high levels of tolerance for many,
but not for all
Afrobarometer Dispatch No. 74 | Boniface Dulani, Gift Sambo, and Kim
Yi Dionne
March 1, 2016
About the authors:
Boniface Dulani is a senior lecturer in the Department of Political
and Administrative Studies at the University of Malawi and
Afrobarometer's operations manager for fieldwork (southern and
francophone Africa). Email: bdulani@afrobarometer.org.
Gift Sambo is a research associate at the Institute of Public
Opinion and Research in Zomba, Malawi. Email: sambogift@gmail.com.
Kim Yi Dionne is Five College Assistant Professor of Government at
Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. Email:
kdionne@smith.edu.
Summary
Scholars have argued that tolerance is "the endorphin of the
democratic body politic," essential to free political and cultural
exchange (Gibson & Gouws, 2005, p. 6). Seligson and Morino-Morales
(2010, p. 37) echo this view when they contend that a democracy
without tolerance for members of other groups is "fatally flawed."
In this dispatch, we present new findings on tolerance in Africa
from Afrobarometer Round 6 surveys in 33 countries in 2014/2015.
While Africa is often portrayed as a continent of ethnic and
religious division and intolerance, findings show high degrees of
acceptance of people from different ethnic groups, people of
different religions, immigrants, and people living with HIV/AIDS
(PLWHA). Proximity and frequent contact with different types of
people seem to nurture tolerance, as suggested by higher levels of
tolerance in more diverse countries and a strong correlation between
acceptance of PLWHA and national HIV/AIDS prevalence rates.
A major exception to Africa's high tolerance is its strongly
negative attitude toward homosexuals. Even so, while the discourse
on homosexuality has often painted Africa as a caricature of
homophobia, the data reveal that homophobia is not a universal
phenomenon in Africa: At least half of all citizens in four African
countries say they would not mind or would welcome having homosexual
neighbours.
Analysis using a tolerance index based on five measures of tolerance
points to education, proximity, and media exposure as major drivers
of increasing tolerance on the African continent. This is consistent
with socialization literature that suggests attitudes and values are
not immutable; instead, they can be learned and unlearned.
...
The State of Tolerance in Africa
A common narrative of Africa is that most citizens are intolerant of
people who are different whether that difference be based on
ethnicity, religion, nationality, political affiliation, or sexual
orientation. Responses to the Afrobarometer questions on tolerance
suggest that this generalization is incorrect. Instead, majorities
in the 33 countries say they would like or would not mind living
next to people from four of five categories: someone from a
different ethnicity (91%), someone with a different religion (87%),
an immigrant or foreign worker (81%), and a person living with
HIV/AIDS (68%). It is only on the question of homosexuality that a
majority (78%) of Africans exhibit deeply intolerant attitudes
(Figure 1).
...
Respondents were asked: For each of the following types of people,
please tell me whether you would like having people from this group
as neighbours, dislike it, or not care: People of a different
religion? People from other ethnic groups? Homosexuals? People who
have HIV/AIDS? Immigrants or foreign workers?
[The possible answers were: Somewhat dislike / Strongly dislike /
Would not care / Somewhat like / Strongly like]
...
On a continent that has become synonymous with ethnic conflict, it
is telling that the least- disliked group liked or tolerated as
neighbours by nine of 10 respondents are people of a different
ethnicity. While this does not imply the end of ethnic conflicts, it
suggests that decades of close interaction and inter-marriage could
gradually be helping to dilute the power of ethnicity as a source of
division and conflicts.
Only slightly more respondents object to living next to people of a
different religion or next to immigrants; both are accepted by more
than eight in 10 Africans. Considerably fewer citizens though
still a two-thirds majority would like or accept having neighbours
who are living with HIV/AIDS, which suggests that there is still a
significant level of stigma attached to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in
some parts of the continent.
At the negative extreme, the average citizen in the 33 countries is
opposed to having homosexual neighbours. This is perhaps not
surprising, given that a majority of the continent's countries
criminalize homosexual activities. Only about one in five
respondents (21%) say they would not be opposed to having
homosexuals as neighbours. (For detailed response frequencies, see
Appendix Tables A.2-A.6.)
The data show marked differences in tolerance between urban and
rural Africans, with the former exhibiting higher degrees of
tolerance on all five measures (Figure 2].
...
Tolerance for people of a different ethnicity
The discourse on African politics often highlights how ethnic
fractionalization contributes to political polarization and interethnic
conflicts. These inter-ethnic rivalries threaten democratic
consolidation, undermine nation-building efforts, and impair
economic performance (Posner, 2004; Branch & Cheeseman, 2009;
Bertocchi & Guerzoni, 2012; Jackson, 2002; Berman, 1998; Easterly &
Levine, 1997; Goren, 2005; Bratton, 2011). While this perspective
suggests high levels of intolerance for people from different ethnic
groups, Afrobarometer findings show that this is not the case.
Instead, 91% of respondents across 33 countries say they would not
mind or would actually like having people from a different ethnic
group as their neighbours. The lowest proportion of respondents who
express tolerance for people of different ethnic groups is 74% in
Morocco and Swaziland, while nearly every Senegalese and Gabonese
citizen (99%) would welcome or accept non-coethnic neighbours
(Figure 4).
...
Tolerance for people of a different religion
Among Afrobarometer Round 6 respondents, 55% identify as Christians
while 32% identify as Muslims. Of all 36 countries surveyed in Round
6, 25 have a majority Christian population, 10 have a majority
Muslim population, and one (Mauritius) has a Hindu majority.
Although most African countries have a dominant religion, most also
have a sizeable number of citizens who belong to minority religions.
2 In half of the 36 surveyed countries, at least 10% of the
population belong to a minority religious grouping. Within this
context of religious pluralism, tolerance for people belonging to
different religions is crucial for social harmony and peaceful
coexistence.
While almost nine in 10 Africans (87%) express tolerance for people
belonging to different religions, citizens in majority Muslim
countries, especially countries with low religious diversity, are
relatively less tolerant of having neighbours of different
religions. This is particularly true for Niger, Tunisia, and Morocco
(all with 100% Muslim populations), as well as Guinea (88% Muslim)
(Figure 6).
...
Tolerance for immigrants
Although very few African countries are net recipients of
immigrants, the findings suggest that there is a high level of
acceptance of immigrants among citizens on the continent. Overall,
81% of Africans say they would like or not mind having neighbours
who are immigrants or foreign workers (Figure 7). This places
Africans among the most migrant- tolerant people in the world. For
example, in the most recent wave of the World Values Surveys
(2010-2014), more than one-third of Middle Easterners (36%) and
Asians (34%) expressed opposition to having migrant neighbours,
compared to less than one-fifth of Africans.
Only in a handful of African countries do sizeable minorities
express rejection of immigrants: Lesotho (42%), Zambia (35%),
Mauritius (34%), Madagascar (33%), Morocco (33%), and South Africa
(32%). The case of Lesotho is particularly interesting, as a large
proportion of the country's male workforce is employed as migrant
labour in neighbouring South Africa, and yet more than four in 10
citizens don't want to live next to immigrants. South Africa, which
in recent years has experienced widespread xenophobic attacks
against foreigners, illustrates the violent implications of antiimmigrant
attitudes (Chingwete, 2016).
...
Tolerance for people living with HIV/AIDS
The notion that proximity and regular interaction between different
groups can help to break down intolerant attitudes is also reflected
in tolerance levels for HIV-positive people. In 26 of the 33
countries surveyed, a majority of citizens say they would like or
would not mind having PLWHA as their neighbours (Figure 8).
This still leaves substantial proportions of the population (31% on
average) who would object to having HIV-positive neighbours, an
indication of the continued power of HIV-related stigma. Moreover,
almost eight in 10 respondents in Niger (79%) and Madagascar (77%)
express intolerance for PLWHA, which is also the majority view in
Sierra Leone (73%), Guinea (69%), Morocco (57%), and Mali (53%).
Tolerance for PLWHA is strongly correlated with HIV/AIDS prevalence
at the country level. 3 Put simply, citizens in countries that have
high HIV/AIDS prevalence tend to exhibit high tolerance levels for
PLWHA. This is perhaps not very surprising, as among countries where
HIV/AIDS prevalence is very high, especially in the Southern Africa
region, intolerance for PLWHA might be tantamount to rejecting one's
close family members or friends. Although the strong correlation
between tolerance and prevalence does not imply causality, we
speculate that proximity and frequent interaction might be important
in influencing tolerant attitudes toward PLWHA.
...
Tolerance for homosexuals
Africa's negative attitudes toward homosexuals are documented in the
news media and, to a lesser extent, the academic literature (Reddy,
2001, 2002; Potgieter, 2006). Afrobarometer survey data suggest this
narrative to be true, as only 21% of all citizens across the 33
countries say they would like or would not mind having homosexual
neighbours (Figure 9). However, there are important country-level
differences that may be overlooked in the aggregate numbers.
In four African countries, a majority of citizens express acceptance
of neighbours who are homosexual: Cape Verde (74% who would
strongly/somewhat like or would not care), South Africa (67%),
Mozambique (56%), and Namibia (55%). In three other countries, more
than 40% of citizens say they are not opposed to having homosexual
neighbours: Mauritius (49%), São Tomé and Principe (46%), and
Botswana (43%). The portrayal of Africa as universally homophobic is
thus not supported by these findings. Still, intolerance toward
homosexuals remains widespread, reaching near-unanimity in Senegal
(97%) as well as Guinea, Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Niger (all 95%).
The case of Mozambique offers an interesting demonstration of how
policy change may interact with popular attitudes. In 2014,
Mozambique adopted a new penal code that decriminalizes
homosexuality (BBC News, 2015). Since there are no available data on
Mozambicans' attitudes toward homosexuals prior to
decriminalization, we may debate as to whether relatively high
acceptance precipitated decriminalization or the legal reform has
had the added benefit of influencing attitudinal change among the
wider citizenry. The two countries expressing the highest tolerance
for homosexual citizens, Cape Verde and South Africa, also do not
criminalize homosexuality. However, in some cases, ordinary citizens
are ahead of law reform by embracing LGBTQ rights at a time when
some practices are illegal in their countries. This is true in
Namibia and Mauritius, two countries with comparatively high
acceptance of homosexuals despite legislation that make
homosexuality a crime.
Drivers of tolerance
In addition to the likely positive effects of proximity and contact
mentioned above, tolerance appears to be driven, at least in part,
by several socio-demographic characteristics (Figure 12). Education,
in particular, shows an important effect in inculcating a culture of
tolerance. Overall, people who have at least a secondary school
education tend to exhibit higher tolerance than the less educated.
The younger generation exhibits higher tolerance than its elders.
Similarly, men and urban residents express higher tolerance levels
than women and rural residents.
Another variable that shows a positive, albeit weak, relationship
with tolerance is media exposure. On average, African citizens who
are regularly exposed to news through radio, television, newspapers,
the Internet, and social media are more likely to demonstrate
tolerant attitudes than those who have no or low media exposure.
These findings suggest important policy lessons in the quest to
promote tolerant attitudes on the continent. First, investment in
education matters in nurturing a tolerant population. Second, news
media with broad coverage can play an important role in promoting
tolerance among African citizens.
With regard to religion, the findings suggest substantial
differences in tolerant attitudes between Africans who identify as
Christians and those who identify as Muslims. The mean tolerance
scores for Christians (3.19) and Muslims (2.87) reflect a 10%
difference between the continent's two main religious groups.
...
Conclusion
Africans express high levels of tolerance for people of different
ethnicities, religions, and nationalities. A large majority also
express tolerance for people living with HIV/AIDS, though HIVrelated
stigma remains a reality in most countries. Africans are far
less tolerant of homosexuals, though even on this issue, countrylevel
variations prevent the continent from being painted as
uniformly intolerant.
While our data do not yet permit analysis of trends over time, the
findings of this study tell us that tolerance in Africa is not a
constant. Rather, it can be nurtured and learned. In addition to the
likely effects of contact with people of different backgrounds,
education and news media exposure are drivers of a tolerant society,
as more educated individuals and those who have greater exposure to
the media tend to embrace more tolerant attitudes. The fact that
younger citizens are more tolerant than their elders also bodes well
for an increasingly tolerant future in Africa.
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providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
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