Kony 2012: Tapping into the Hype, Teaching About and Beyond It

(While the hype is fading, Kony 2012 has stirred up so much excitement among young people that teachers would be amiss if they failed to tap into it. There is a now a vast library of online resources on this topic–all that verbiage unleashed by reporters, pundits, and scholars-- much of it highly critical of the film, the filmmakers, and the organization behind it. I have to admit that I’ve gotten lost there. These critiques deserve close readings, serious reflection, and careful responses that I’m not yet prepared to share. In the meantime, I’m offering a few suggestions and some "places to start" resources.)

INTRODUCTION

The Kony 2012 video was produced by Invisible Children for a specific purpose--to recruit viewers who would then become participants in its "Stop Kony in 2012" campaign. What began as a bold experiment in using social media to reach a young audience has elicited an often contentious online conversation. This is a conversation, in reality a donny-brook of a controversy, that we’ll be mulling over for a very long time. If a conversation-cum-controversy had been the goal, who would now question the film’s astounding success?

As a piece of advocacy film-making Kony 2012 succeeded far beyond what its creators could have imagined–since they’d hoped for 500,000 views over several months--but surpassed the 100 million mark in just six days. As the most viral video in history (for now, at least) it will surely enter world history textbooks as a stand-out event in a Cyber Age that is still at a formative stage. Even the stats for the sequel, Kony 2012-Part II (less flashy, more informative), are remarkable: more than two million viewers, whose curiosity was either piqued or undeterred by the controversy and the harsh attacks on Invisible Children. This suggests that there were a significant number of people who wanted to be better informed (though of course we’d like to know what else they viewed or read, how avidly they searched, what content and points of view most impressed them). (1)

For educators at nearly all levels–from upper elementary classes to graduate seminars-the controversy swirling around Kony 2012 (since its launch on March 5th) and the dismal turnout for Cover the Night (the action on April 20th) have opened up unprecedented opportunities to tap into the hype. Using concepts and content related to the controversy, teachers can nurture critical thinking and, along the way, nudge students into learning more about African issues and what Africans and we might do about them. While the primary goal of Kony 2012 was to increase awareness about Joseph Kony’s crimes and to mobilize public support for current effort to capture him, the emotions aroused by the call to "Stop Kony" may serve as a gateway. This would be a gateway to learning more–not just about the challenges facing people living in eastern and central Africa, but about their achievements (as stressed by Ugandans and plenty of other critics). (2)

Certainly, conflict, horrific crimes, and their toll on innocent civilians–especially children–are attention-getting topics. Kony 2012 did get the attention of young people and others (such as their parents) who had little or no interest in Africa, probably couldn’t find Uganda on a map, and couldn’t have cared less about those living outside the cocoon of their own privileged lives. Think of awareness as a gate that these youngsters passed through. What will happen on the other side? Will they lapse into cynicism and passivity? Will their enthusiasm prompt them to expend time and resources in unproductive or unwise (even offensive) enterprises?  

Our task as teachers is to enable a positive outcome, ideally a life-long engagement with the complexity of what’s happening out there in the world–to seeing how our everyday issues and those of peers across the globe are not really so different and, perhaps more importantly, how these issues are interconnected. Teachers can provide a pivot--from the emotionally intense and gory to a more realistic understanding of what goes on in the world--the ONE world we all inhabit. In other words, I’m firmly in the camp of those arguing that, whatever unintended "damage" this video has wrought, the controversy itself has had a tremendous impact by initiating a global conversation. This is now occurring among people who were previously disconnected from each other. Let’s build on that.

Teaching About and Beyond the Controversy

"Teaching the controversy" is by now a well-tested means of inserting difficult topics into the classroom. Teaching "both sides" rather than "taking sides" protects teachers (to a limited degree?) from irate parents, administrators, local politicians, and assorted ideologues. For teachers in the US and elsewhere in the West, discussing the merits of Kony 2012 as a film–as well as the motives and strategies of Invisible Children and other West-based charitable organizations–is potentially risky. That’s because these discussions, if entered into openly and honestly, will stir up issues of race, colonialism, Western hegemony, and globalization–especially if all of these are tied (as inevitably they must) to human rights, conflict and peace-making, poverty and economic development, democratic values and repressive governments. Delve into these deeply and we can’t help but run headlong into inconvenient, unsettling points of view about how the West and the Rest relate to each other (3).

Nevertheless, there are lots of mind-tickling ways to bring Kony 2012 into the classroom. In a global studies class, it could be the centerpiece of a unit on conflict, competition for resources (oil, rare metals), and the positive/negative activities of international NGOs working on humanitarian and development projects. In a history class, a discussion could proceed from the highly specific (the LRA and conflict in northern Uganda from 1986 to 2005) to other contemporary cases, then go deeper into the past for historic examples. This would help students realize that when we talk about imperialism, colonialism, nationalism, and postcolonialism, we are dealing with something more serious than global historians’ conceptual cubby-holes. Drawing on the Kony 2012 controversy we can put into our lessons the content that make it easier for students to connect these themes with long-term consequences that are visible today in the lives of real human beings.

In a communications class, the rapid spread not only of the video itself but also of certain memes expressed in critiques of the film and the diversity voices taking part in the online conversation could serve as jumping off points for exploring how networks emerge in our cyber-connected world. It is easy to imagine how computer, communications, or sociology teachers could collaborate with their math and statistics counterparts to design projects in which students use statistics to tease out various aspects of the Kony 2012 phenomenon. Tools are out there to generate the required quantitative data (see the literature on "digital humanities" as well as that in the fields of communications theory and the social sciences). Through such projects students might uncover issues related to topics in their economics, business, or consumer studies classes. There’s lots of room for cross-cutting creativity. (I know, I know, you wonder where you’ll find the time to do the necessary planning).

Here in the US the school year is almost over. Teachers, are you looking for ways to hoist students out of their end-of-the-year doldrums?2 A little experimenting now could make it easier to insert Kony 2012-related material into next year’s lesson plans or to plan an entire unit around it. Select a strategy that best suits your students, your local community, and your field or discipline.

Social Media, Framing, and Narrativity

Since today’s students are avid participants in SOCIAL MEDIA, they might perk up their ears if a lesson begins by asking how Facebook and Twitter could turn a 30-minute video into a viral, record-breaking event in just a few days. This approach can serve the much broader purpose of getting them to think about what they are accomplishing–or not– by spending so much time posting on Facebook or sending out tweets. What do they know about "how quickly the Internet is altered by the people who are on it"? Do they agree or disagree about "how much responsibility each of us should bear in the search for truth" when deciding how to react to what we come across in cyberspace? (4). Creating a lesson using Kony 2012 as an example allows us to go beyond the kind of analysis that can be applied to online advertising. We can introduce a big, much debated theme, which is "the nature of advocacy in the digital age" (5).

Some of the students caught up in the Kony hype, feeling embarrassed by what they now perceive as their gullibility, are at risk of becoming hyper-cynical. This is not the kind of transformation I’d like to see (though a few of the most strident critics would appear to welcome it). Quite frankly, I think that teachers have a responsibility to help students process what they’ve been exposed to–in ways that push them along the path from awareness to sustained attention and, perhaps, to well-thought out forms of advocacy and activism. In other words, shouldn’t we strive to nurture savvy social media participants and and knowledgeable "do-gooders." Let me clarify what I’m trying to say here: I’m not suggesting any particular bandwagon but a sense of citizenship that extends outward, from following current events to becoming well-informed about issues at home and abroad, which may lead to action (6). Isn’t the alternative just letting young people regress to the complacency of a "well, whatever, who cares?, doesn’t concern me" attitude?

Here are some questions to explore:

• How did Kony2012 spread so quickly? What kind of data do we need to figure this out? What part did Twitter and Facebook play? What does this suggest about the importance of pre-existing networks? How had Invisible Children nurtured these networks in the years preceding the release of Kony 2012? How important was it that certain celebrities got on the "Stop Kony" bandwagon?
• What kind of film is Kony 2012? Is it really a documentary in the usual sense or something else? In what ways is it more like a a very long political campaign ad? How do the characteristics of the genre to which it belongs help to explain its success? (Disclosure: I don’t consider it a documentary. It is an advocacy film, having more in common with advertisements of any kind.)
• In what ways is the sequel (Kony 2012–Part II) different from the first film? Why is it different?
• Do you think social media should serve as platforms for solving problems at the local, national, regional, or global level? If so, should advocates aim to produce "slick" videos, fully utilizing what we know about telling stories in ways that manipulate viewers emotions? (This, of course, bleeds into issues of framing and ethics, discussed below.)

What is slackivism? Are you a slacktivist? Is it fair to say that Invisible Children is promoting slacktivism? Note that in Kony 2012, Jason Russell asked viewers to contact "culturemakers"–which takes more initiative than just ordering a bracelet, T-shirt, or kit. And celebrities did respond to these young advocates, so even this minimal action had an effect. But "Cover the Night" (the April 20th event) required a commitment to go out and do something. Why did it "fizzle"? To what extent did the success of the video and/or the negative buzz about it inhibit young people’s enthusiasm for what was supposed to be a heady night of activism? (7)

An approach that might work well in a literature or film class would focus on FRAMING and NARRATIVITY. Like other advocacy videos, Kony 2012 owes much of its effectiveness to how the narrative is framed. As Cheryl Contee explains, "It’s about tapping into ancient myths that don’t tell us something new but make us fell we’ve remembered something we’d forgotten" (8). Jason Russell’s prominence in the footage is mostly perceived by critics as detrimental (because he usurps the agency of its authentic subjects, who should be telling their own stories), but from a purely technical point of view it is part of what makes the film so seductive. Russell tells the story of own journey, how he met Jacob Acaye (a former child soldier in the LRA) and promised him that he would do whatever he could to stop Kony. In the arc of a narrative that is still incomplete, Russell is the hero in an epic duel between good and evil. For many critics, however, this good versus evil framing (good white/Westerner versus bad black/African) is a big problem (9).

In so many respects the story is a simplification (intentional, according to Russell himself) that it compels us to ask: how simple is too simple? (10). There is no simple answer to this question! While I’d argue that , to be fair, we keep in mind both the film’s genre (it’s not a documentary) and its intended audience, others have no qualms about pointing to oversimplification as one of its major flaws.

A few broader questions suggest how Kony 2012 could be brought into almost any classroom discussion of narrativity (treating film-making as story-telling):

• How is storytelling different or similar across various media and from one genre to another? Consider oral versus written forms, audio/visual/audio-visual media, and differences between prose and poetry and between fiction and non-fiction.
• What narrative strategies (actualized as specific film-making techniques) were put to good use by the producers of Kony 2012?
• How does fore-knowledge of the intended audience shape the framing of any narrative? Why is framing so important when making an advocacy film? Why did so many young people respond to Kony 2012 so enthusiastically? (11)
• If "very simple" attracts a certain kind of viewer, how might it raise the hackles of other viewers? What about too much complexity? (Reminds me of Goldilocks.)
• Michael Wilkerson asserts that "the debate is not about whether Kony’s crimes should be spotlighted, it is about how Western charities frame stories about Africa" (12). Why does he make this claim? What supports it?

Thinking about Wilkerson’s comment might prompt us to focus on when teaching the Kony controversy: how is Africa framed and presented--in the US, the West in general, or anywhere outside the continent. This is probably a good strategy for several reasons: it introduces the important concept of framing; it allows us to discuss concerns raised by Ugandan journalists and community leaders; it articulates with debates among humanitarian/development "experts" about what they should or should not be doing; and it gives students with tools that they can apply to other situations in which Western-based NGOs are working to improve health, further economic development, or resolve conflicts.

Stereotypes and "Doing Good"

Framing is closely related to what historians have long referred to as "the image of Africa" in the West (13). This means we cannot avoid talking about the common stereotypes of Africa and Africans that may have influenced not only the framing of Kony 2012, but reactions to it. Teachers in the US will need to deal with the how Americans imagine Africa (and other "less-developed" parts of world). You might begin this discussion by showing excerpts from the video and asking students if they can identify any stereotypes.

There are STEREOTYPES and MYTHS about Africa that Americans can’t seem to shake themselves loose from: the notion that "Africa is a country"; it’s a continent with more wild animals than people; Africans live in huts in dirt-poor rural villages, not in mansions in booming cities (unless, of course, the topic is corruption); Africans belong to "tribes" and value these identities more than any others (ignoring, for example, class differences); their ancient religious beliefs are merely "superstitions"; and it is OK to refer to them as "natives" even when there is absolutely no need to make such a distinction (14). These do seem somewhat less sticky than in the past, however.

In mainstream media Africa is still often depicted as a continent of perpetual conflict and poverty. As a result Africans are stereotyped as needy victims, unable to solve their own problems, so overwhelmed that outsiders must come and rescue them.

This is purely anecdotal but perhaps you’ve run into a teacher like the one whose classroom I visited, nearly ten years ago, as a substitute teacher. These seventh-graders had just finished a unit on Africa. Now they were ready to move on to Europe and it was my job to show a touristy travelogue that promoted Europe as a fun place to visit. During a free period I had a chance to look through some of their recently finished portfolios, each on a different African country. As a culminating activity, apparently, the students had been asked to write about the problems in their respective countries and what could be done about them. Almost invariably they suggested sending money and/or Americans to build schools, set up clinics, install irrigation projects, etc. I didn’t see much evidence that they had read about any grassroots initiatives. In fact, I saw little in these portfolios about African-led projects or, for that matter, African cultural achievements . One student (judging from the quality of the writing, a better-than-average student) had selected Uganda. The content was way-off. Uganda’s big problem, according to this student, was that it lacked water! Of course, becoming familiar with more than 50 different countries is a daunting task for any teacher (but then why not limit choices to ten, for example, so that reading up on them and supervising students research is more manageable). Obviously this teacher, probably unintentionally, was absorbed in a curriculum that was reinforcing stereotypes.

For Africans in Africa and in the diaspora it is extremely frustrating to come face to face, day after day, with such stereotypes. I think that is why so many Ugandans (Kagumire, Ruge, Izama) and others (Cole and Mengistu) had such visceral reactions to Kony 2012 and why the intensity of their responses did a lot to fuel the controversy (15). With great urgency they were determined to point out flaws in the video and in the strategy of the Stop Kony campaign. They criticized Invisible Children and extended that critique to include a wide range of international NGOs. Teddy Ruge is very blunt when he writes: Let me be honest, Africa is not short of problems, epidemics and atrocities. But it is also true that it is not short of miracles, ingenuity, and a proclivity to surprise. We Africans, especially the Diaspora, are waking to the idea that our agency has been hijacked for far too long by well-meaning Western do-gooders with a guilty conscious, sold on the idea that Africa’s ills are their responsibility. This particular affliction is called "white man’s burden" in some circles. (16)
Here we come full-circle, to thinking once again about how local organizations, the building blocks of CIVIL SOCIETY, may find themselves dis-empowered by international NGOs. This theme is at the center of debates about the ETHICS OF NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS. It would be useful to take a close look at several large international NGOs and to compare their activities with those of a variety of smaller ones. (17). 

• Why is it necessary to listen to local voices? What do local people think they need? What are they doing to solve their problems? What kinds of assistance, if any, do they think will work best for them?
• Are there grassroots organizations already working in an area? Would they accept support making it possible for them to get on with work that they think is important? (Note that Ugandans have suggested that Westerners shift their attention away from IC and consider how they might help Ugandan organizations.)
• What can smaller, locally or regionally focused NGOs do better than the large ones?
• How can externally-funded NGOs function as partners rather than overseers?

Critical Thinking and the Critiques

Perhaps you will draw on one of the above approaches to get a conversation started in your classroom. Then, if time permits, you may want to continue with a more thorough examination of the CONTROVERSY. Here are a few more recommendations.First, make sure that students understand the importance of learning more about what Invisble Children–as well as its partners and supporters--are saying and doing. They can’t just focus on the critics and their critiques. If they go to the Invisible Children website, they’ll find a number of informative articles in the blog section (18). After sampling a variety of online critiques (from the somewhat critical to the mostly negative), I recommend that students return to the Invisible Children website to read their response and to watch Kony 2012–Part II, which seeks to clarify what was misleading in the original video.

Students will need to consult background material as well: profiles and FAQs about Kony and the LRA, timelines (for an overview of the history of the LRA), and maps of northern Uganda and the Tri-Border region (where the LRA is currently operating). At this stage, however, it is not necessary to get too tangled up in the details of Ugandan political history; they can search online search specifically for whatever they find confusing.

• In general terms, what does it take to think critically about any controversial issue? When opinions are being tossed back-and-forth, what can we do to maintain or restore civility? Or isn’t civility necessary? If you think it is, what kind of rhetoric crosses the line?
• Is it possible to think critically while also preserving an open mind? What does it mean to be fair? balanced? objective? Or, perhaps everything is always subjective? Are there degrees of subjectivity? (I aim for fair and "objective" but recognize that objectivity is an ideal never perfectly achieved.)
• Are critiques appearing in mainstream media necessarily more, or less, reliable than those in the so-called "alternative press"? What constitutes "reliability"?
• What "facts" do we need to know in order to assess what a critic is saying? Beyond POV (point of view) what knowledge and first-hand experiences seem to inform what a critic is asserting? (Look for clues in the text, but don’t expect to always find them. Urge students to expand the search.)
• What critiques emerged as trend-setters, their themes and memes showing up repeatedly down the line? How did this happen? What effect, if any, do you think the mostly negative critiques in Grant Oyston’s viral blog Visible Children have had? Was the result an "echo chamber" that rocked the controversy? (19)
• How far into the blogosphere should we pursue the controversy? In other words, as we hop from link to link, do we get farther and farther away from those who know what they’re talking about?
• Why do some critics rant while others choose their words carefully and present well-crafted arguments? Among the reporters and pundits, who might be grandstanding?
• An argument may seem logical but what information is being used to back it up? Where is that information coming from? How can we go about evaluating it?
• What, if anything, can we learn from reading the comments to opinions (editorials, essays, blogs) posted online?
• Are there instances in which the controversy itself appears to have changed a critic’s initial impression of the video? (See RESOURCES for pairs of items by Izama, Ruge, Wegner, and Wilkerson.)

Since so much of the controversy is centered on external versus internal approaches to resolving conflict in Africa and ameliorating its impact, it is essential that Ugandan and other African voices figure prominently in any analysis. This means listening to local, indigenous voices and how they express views that emphasize storytelling and framing, the working being done by people in their local communities, and limited role that international NGOs should have in solving Ugandan/African problems, and the ethics of supporting these organizations. That’s why I’ve listed Ugandan critiques separately in the RESOURCES section, where you’ll also find a roster of Ugandan advocacy and community development organizations. (I’m already working on a post that will discuss in more detail Ugandan responses to the video, the campaign, and the controversy.)

These questions return us to framing and narrativity, (as discussed above):

• In Kony 2012, who is telling the story? How does this influence the content of the story? Where in in the film do we hear Ugandan or Central African voices? Is this imbalance one of its major flaws?
• What can we learn from Ugandan and African critics? Is there a detectable political dynamic in their critiques?
• How representative are the Uganda voices readily available online? What points of view might be missing?
• What stories do Ugandans want to tell? How would these stories change how others view the situation in northern Uganda today? How might they influence accounts of Uganda’s history since the late 1970s?

To wrap this section up: encourage students to reading widely, to include Ugandan and African points of view, to compare opinions across a broad ideological spectrum, and to pay attention to the quality of supporting evidence. It is not enough to think critically only about the video itself: insist that students apply their skills to the critiques and then to the critiques of the critiques. Remind them that being a critical thinker involves more than just dissecting a document or an argument to finds its flaws: critical thinkers can reach positive assessments. In short, expect them to do whatever it takes to avoid becoming part of an online or offline "echo chamber."

Assessing Consequences

As a follow-up to lessons built around any of the above strategies, a class could try to ASSESS THE IMPACT of Kony 2012 and especially its UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. If a previous lesson has focused on identifying its purpose–as Invisible Children defined it (whereas numerous critics would have preferred other purposes), ask students to assemble news about US Congressional resolutions, the African Union (AU) announcement that its sending additional troops, reports about the activities of Ugandan troops and American advisors in the Tri-Border region, and the turn-out for Cover the Night on April 20th (20). For an open-ended, ongoing discussion, consider these questions:

• What was the goal? To what extent did Kony 2012 achieve that goal?
• Were there unintended positive consequences? Unintended negative consequences? And what is the apparent balance between these?
• Did some critics expect the film to achieve goals other than those intended by its producers? What were these goals? Is the Kony controversy having an impact in ways that neither Invisible Children nor it critics could have foreseen? If this is the case, isn’t that ironic?
• Is Invisible Children trying to address issues raised by its critics? For example, are they trying to move beyond awareness? What has been the impact of Kony 2012–Part II? Note that IC is planning actions scheduled for June and November (21). 

This is certainly a topic worth revisiting after the dust has settled, perhaps a few months from now (early on in the next academic year) or in January 2013–when we’ll know whether Kony was stopped in 2012.

History and Politics

In Kony 2012–Part II Ben Keesy explains that Invisible Children wants viewers to find out more about Kony and about the conflict and how it might be resolved: "We want people to dig deeper into this conflict and actively engage in the solutions." Of course, what to research and how to go about it depends on who’s going to do it: what will work at the college-level probably isn’t going to work very well in a middle school. In any case, I recommend beginning with any of the above approaches (depending on your discipline) before plunging students into a DEEPER EXAMINATION of the history and politics of modern Uganda.

In an advanced history or political science class it may be possible to examine the CONFLICT IN EASTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA in much greater depth and from perspectives that consider Ugandan domestic POLITICS as well regional GEOPOLITICS and INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. This requires shifting attention to the particularities of Joseph Kony’s activities and examining the LRA as a case study, but only as one chapter in Uganda’s turbulent history since independence in 1962. It means seeing Kony and the LRA as part of a regional arena that includes Sudan and South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda, and Rwanda (because LRA violence is part of the broader conflict in the Great Lakes and eastern Congo, ignited by the Rwandan genocide).

Critics have alleged that Kony 2012 is flawed because it pits Joseph Kony, the "bad guy" against Jason Russell and others who want to stop him, the "good guys." The only way to get beyond this narrative is to look for a more complex understanding of what was going on in Uganda the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. What led to the emergence of such a "bad" actor? How did the LRA emerge from the political turmoil that ensued after the military dictator Idi Amin was overthrown? Of course, it’s obvious that the story of President Yoweri Museveni’s climb to power constitutes at least half of that story. Why did so many Acholi and other northerners resist the NRA (Museveni’s forces)? What is the source of the animosity between northerners and southerners in Uganda? Or is this perhaps a highly misleading way of framing the question? To what extent are contemporary Ugandan politics, and in particular the politicians who’d like to get rid of Museveni, shaping critiques of Kony 2012? It seems that the controversy has given the anti-Museveni crowd a platform to express its loathing of the current president. (22)

Taking a closer look at regional geopolitics will lead us right to the office door of President Omar Bashir of Sudan. After the LRA withdrew from Uganda, President Bashir recruited Kony and the LRA to spread violence in the western part of what is now the new nation of South Sudan. Over the past few weeks hot border disputes have pushed Sudan and South Sudan to the brink of war, so it is not inconceivable that the Sudanese government might reach out to Kony. The Sudanese know that the LRA could, potentially, inflict much damage on people living in their former southern territory. Although the LRA would play only a supporting role in a full-blown conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, if refugees crossed into northern Uganda (as almost certainly they would), Uganda would feel the impact. (23)

In middle and high school classes teachers should consider providing students with a few clearly written accounts of current events in Uganda and the region. These might suffice to convey a sense of the complexity of the situation. Such exposure to complexity might prove very beneficial, serving to innoculate students who might otherwise accept too uncritically a simplified story (regardless of who is telling it). This assumes (and I believe) that it’s possible to convey a sense of the complexity without requiring mastery of arcane details. For both teachers and students, mere awareness of the complexity of any historical process (by definition, a process is always historical because it unfolds over time) increases the likelihood that they will ask more probing questions. This is a skill that we need to nurture. (Though I could write much more about complexity, and about Ugandan and Great Lakes history, I’ll stop here and pick it up another day.)

　

A Review of Selected Resources

A very good place to start is "React and Respond: The Phenomenon of Kony 2012, a five-part guide put together by African Studies scholars for the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association. Here's an overview:

• Part I: Patrick Vinck provides a very concise account of the origins of the LRA, the context in which it emerged, and the violence in northern Uganda. He confirms that the Ugandan army engaged in revenge killings in the north in 1986 and serious human rights abuses as it tried to put down rebellions in the north and to eliminate the LRA. What he does not explain is the chaotic context in which President Museveni came to power and why there were elements within the Ugandan army seeking revenge. Like so many critics of Kony 2012, who are also critics of the Museveni government, history seems to begin in 1986.
• Part II: John Metzler’s "Guidelines for Teaching about Issues Raised by Kony 2012" covers "stereotypes of particular concern" (from a continental perspective, with links to quality resources about Liberia, Rwanda, and South Africa). He also suggests how to help students "complicate" their analysis.
• Part III: Barbara Brown’s "Media Literacy Inquiry" consists of two excellent sets of questions: "Analyzing the Video" and "Analyzing Social Media as a Political & Educational Tool." Brown suggests doing a content analysis of Kony 2012, a great idea for a class project. There are also questions designed to find out what students already know about Africa or Uganda. Others point them towards positive examples of leadership, such as African recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, to help erode negative images.
• Part IV: Christine Root has assembled two pages of carefully vetted resources. This collection is more manageable than others listed in RESOURCES and students could start their research here.
• Part V: "What Can We Do about Uganda and the LRA" could be used as a hand-out, especially to pull together a class discussion of the controversy.　

The Guardian Teacher Network has assembled material for use in the classroom, which is free but you need to register. Access the network from Emily Drabble’s article. I especially recommend "Debating ‘Kony 20102'" which features 5 critiques (activities and UK curriculum on p. 2) but much of this format could be adapted to a sampling of your choice. A worksheet diagram (the "Why, Why, Why?" Chain, p. 3) will help students understand why Invisible Children created Kony 2012. A similar diagram could be used to trace content and characteristics of the film through a chain of critiques. It could be adapted for use with many other issues.

To teach the controversy with a focus on the awareness versus action debate I strongly recommend starting off with views of activists, including the Ugandans Angelo Izama and Teddy Ruge, collected in Room for Debate (part of The New York Times website). These are short essays, suitable for reading in class (if divvied out to small groups). A mix of mostly constructive criticism, these essays are conducive to a sedate setting. But from here you could go on to more provocative opinions by Izama, Kagumire, Ruge, Cole, Fisher, Mengistu, Wilkerson, and others.

If you have time to together your own set of readings, there are several major compilations in RESOURCES: KONY 2012: Resource Collections and Guides.


How the Lynx Reacted 

If only for the sake of transparency, I want to say something (briefly) about my own initial reaction to Kony 2012. It is really difficult for me, since I’ve been learning and thinking about Africa for more than forty years, to imagine how novices might misconstrue what they see in a video or read in a document. I tend to fill in the blanks and mentally erase the stereotypes. I seem to zero in on whatever I interests me and almost immediately start thinking about how it might serve a pedagogical purpose. Also, as I’ve already mentioned, I did not hold it to the same standards as a documentary because, instinctively, I knew it was belonged to another genre. I call it an advocacy video.

Nevertheless, it is a flawed film. I would emphasize three major flaws that seem responsible for much of the heat it provoked among commentators:

• The delay in explaining where Kony is operating today until the half-way mark in the film (about 15:00 mins.) resulted in a lot of confusion among viewers who knew little or nothing about Kony. Moreover, it misled many others, including many Ugandans, who assumed that Kony 2012 was about their experience. Since Kony was no longer in Uganda, Ugandans thought the focus ought to have been on their current situation, all the challenges of rebuilding their communities.
• The lack of Ugandan voices is perhaps the most perplexing flaw. Jacob Acaye, who appears as a boy, would have been such an asset if given a chance to speak as an adult (as he does in CNN footage). Jolly Okot, who speaks so clearly in her Youtube video, could have explained why stopping Kony now is important--from her point of view as a former abductee and as a participant in IC’s programs in northern Uganda, where she is IC’s grassroots director.
• The failure to consider how Kony’s victims might respond to the graphic images of Kony’s crimes. True, northern Ugandans were not the film’s targeted audience but it was naive and insensitive not think about how they might react, what terrible memories would be stirred up.

Finally, let me say to those who’d like to counterpunch the cynicism of the more vociferous, negative critiques, I share your concerns. First, we need to dispel the notion that awareness doesn’t count for much. Listen to what Asch Harwood, an Africa researcher at the Council of Foreign Relations, has to say about that: "the interest in, and debate about Africa that it inspired, even if just for a handful of young people, is as success in itself" (24). He is speaking here as someone whose been working hard for years to bring Africa from the margins to a more central place in the cognitive maps of American citizens. We need to know more and we need to know better.

Let me end with a few words from Jolly Okot, "Now we have the opportunity to work together as a global community to help resolve this issue" (25). Of course, the difficulty is deciding how to get on with the task.
RESOURCES


Since this is a very long list, I’ve divided into three sections:

• RESOURCES-I: THE LORD’S RESISTANCE ARMY, begins with background items but includes a set of very interesting primary sources placed just before the "Deeper Background" of mostly printed items.
• RESOURCES–II: KONY 2012, which pulls together analysis and critiques across a broad range of POVs, contains several sections. It includes items "Especially for Middle and High School Teachers" though I’d recommend them more generally, too. This is followed by what are the most essential reading/viewing, under the heading "Ugandan Voices" (an incomplete listing), followed by "Ugandan Advocacy and Community Organizations." For the immense Tri-Border region, where the LRA has been active since leaving Uganda, it is much more difficult to find online "voices" but I’ve gathered a few for the next section. Since so many critiques trend towards the negative, I decided that more positive ones would be easier to find if they were set off as "Responses to Critiques."  
• RESOURCES-III: SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACTIVISM, covers this topic very inclusively. Look here for graphs and charts to use in PowerPoints or to distribute for students to analyze.

RESOURCES-I: THE LORD’S RESISTANCE ARMY

See also items in "Resources on Uganda, the LRA, and Central Africa," Association of Concerned Africa Scholars, (Updated 5 May 2012): http://concernedafricascholars.org/uganda-lra-central-africa


Reference

TIMELINE: "LRA Timeline." Enough Project:
http://www.enoughproject.org/files/publications/LRAtimeline.pdf

PROFILE: "Joseph Kony: Profile of the LRA Leader." BBC News (8 March 2012): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17299084

PROFILE: "Joseph Kony." Al Jazeera (15 October 2011): http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/10/2011101582435154748

"LRA Crisis Tracker." Invisible Children/Resolve: http://www.lracrisistracker.com/

MAP: "2011 LRA Attack Heat Map." In "Peace Can Be," Report by Resolve (February 2012), p. 33 (PDF: see below).

AUDIO SLIDESHOW: "Living in Fear." BBC News (16 February 2011): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12472574

PHOTO ESSAY: From "Peace Can Be" Report Series. Resolve (5 March 2012): http://www.theresolve.org/blog/archives/3071032193

• 2 slides (see esp. #2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, which document the vulnerability of Tri-border residents)

PHOTO ESSAY: "Photos from the Ground." Invisible Children Blog (10 January 2012): http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/2012/01/10/photos-from-the-ground/

• 6 photos related to IC’s work in DRC (showing "coming home" flyers and T-shirt, staff/partners working on new FM station in Dungu, prospective partners in Bas Ulele Early Warning expansion); posted prior to the release of Kony 2012, these photos document IC’s efforts to promote defections from the LRA and to protect civilians (work that numerous critics of IC have willfully ignored).

FAQ: "What Can We Do About Uganda and the LRA?" Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (27 March 2012): http://concernedafricascholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ACAS-What-can-we-do.pdf

• Makes an excellent one-page (two-sided) HAND-OUT

FAQ: "Fact Sheet: U.S. Support to Regional Efforts to Counter the Lord’s Resistance Army." U.S. Government: HumanRights.gov (14 October 2011): http://www.humanrights.gov/2011/10/14/fact-sheet-u-s-support-to-regional-efforts-to-counter-the-lord%E2%80%99s-resistance-army/


Background

Fisher, Max. "The Bizarre and Horrifying Story of the Lord's Resistance Army." The Atlantic (17 October 2011): http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/the-bizarre-and-horrifying-story-of-the-lords-resistance-army/246836/

• Clear, concise account of a very complicated history–though some Ugandans would contest the narrative at certain points. While I object to his reference to Kony’s and his predecessor’s deeply rooted indigenous religious beliefs as "superstitions"–at least he includes this dimension (which many commentators avoid). (The possession cults of western Uganda, which influenced religious traditions in the north, were at the center of my 1989 dissertation.)

Taube, Amanda, ed. Beyond Kony 2012 (Leanpub, 2012): http://leanpub.com/beyondkony2012

• See esp. Adam Branch, "How Civilians Became Targets: A Short History of the War in Northern Uganda"; and Ayesha Nibbe, "The Making of a ‘Humanitarian Emergency’: Night Commuters, Invisible Children, and the Business of Aid and Advocacy."
• This e-book also has several essays about issues raised by the Kony 2012 controversy, including two by Ugandans.

DOCUMENTARY: "War/Dance." Dir. Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine (2006). Go to http://www.wardancethemovie.com/

• Truly powerful, inspirational story of courage and healing: an Academy Award Nominee in 2008 and winner of numerous awards. When I saw this film at the Milwaukee Film Festival, it resonated because, while living in Uganda, I’d witnessed the excitement and great performances Uganda students at the National Theatre in Kampala. 
• Netflix (https://signup.netflix.com/movie/War-Dance/70059550): "Set in civil war-ravaged Northern Uganda ... three youngsters who attend school in a refugee camp and find hope through a rich tradition of song and dance."

DOCUMENTARY: "Lord’s Children." Wide Angle: PBS (12 July 2011): http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/lords-children/introduction/1769/

• Tells the story of three LRA soldiers (abducted as children) who escaped and how they are trying to rebuilt their lives while living at a rehabilitation center

Items by Mollie Zapata on the Enough Project site--short, factual, with many links to supporting material (esp. "Enough 101"):

• "The Lord’s Resistance Army: Who Are They?" Enough Project (8 November 2011): http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/lords-resistance-army-who-are-they
• "The LRA and U.S. Policy: May 2010 to Present." Enough Project (15 November 2011): http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/lra-and-us-policy-may-2010-present
• "Enough 101: The Lord’s Resistance Army in the Congo." Enough Project (29 March 2012): http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/enough-101-lords-resistance-army-congo

     
Reports

"Trail of Death: LRA Atrocities in Northeastern Congo." Human Rights Watch (28 March 2010): http://www.hrw.org/node/89324

• Links to press release and report (67 pp.)–download as PDF
  Important as "first detailed documentation of the Makombo [remote area in Haute Ulele district, Democratic Republic of Congo] massacre and other atrocities by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Congo in 2009 and early 2010 ... based on a Human Rights Watch fact-finding mission to the massacre area in February"
• Other HRW reports available (2003, 2009)

    
"The Lord’s Resistance Army: End Game?" Africa Report No. 182. International Crisis Group (17 November 2011): http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/central-africa/182-the-lords-resistance-army-end-game.aspx

• Link to PDF of 21 page, detailed report (even Chris Blattman recommends it)

"Peace Can Be: President Obama’s Chance to Help End LRA Atrocities in 2012." Resolve (February 2012): https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/images/Peace%20Can%20Be%202012.pdf

• Resolve, an advocacy organization that partners with Invisible Children, supports US collaboration with regional governments to bring Kony and LRA commanders to justice.
• Report (37 pp.) assesses LRA’s present tactics, dynamics facing US advisors, regional cooperation, efforts to protect civilians, displacement of populations, emergency aid and long-term strategies for recovery; 100 citations to supporting material.

"Africa: KONY 2012, Military Realities." Africa Focus Bulletin (14 March 2012): 
http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/kon1203b.php

• Excerpts from June and August reports by Philip Lancaster, from Resolve’s "Peace Can Be" report (February 2012); plus "Uganda; Questions Over Progress Against the LRA." IRIN News (24 February 2012).

Primary Sources

VIDEO (15:40 mins.): "Meeting Joseph--Kony 2006." Uploaded by JourneyPictures. YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWiF9hSgyoU

• Apparently the full segment–as broadcast on theBBC on June 29^th; see article by Sam Farmer (who conducted the interview): "Uganda Rebel Leader Breaks Silence." BBC News: Newsnight (28 June 2006): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/5124762.stm
• TITLE AS IT APPEARED WHEN I CHECKED IT AGAIN (8 MAY 2012) IMPLIES THAT THE INTERVIEW WITH KONY OCCURRED IN UGANDA BUT IT DID NOT! The footage begins in Uganda but Kony was interviewed in southern Sudan.
• Shorter versions (such as those uploaded by Humanitariancareug on 18 May 2010 and by WeAreDarkEmpire on 7 March 2012), with little or no context, probably have misled many viewers as to the date of the interview. 

VIDEO: "An Interview with Bishop Ochola of the ARLIPI." YouTube (17:45 mins.). 

• Access from Stephen Oola’s article (below); treat as "oral history" document about peace-making negotiations and a poignant account of what led to the Bishop’s work with the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative.

AUDIO REPORT (4:26 mins.): "'Forced to Kill' in Cold Blood." BBC News (15 February 2011): http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/listen_again/newsid_9397000/9397933.stm

• "Correspondent Mike Thomson meets a former child soldier who was made to kill civilians, and even a close friend, during three years in the bush with the LRA." Treat this testimony as oral history source.

"Letter to President Obama from the Population of Rafai, Central African Republic." Letter dated 23 July 2010 (French text): http://www.hrw.org/en/node/94226

• Image of letter (text in French); English translation: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/11/11/car-letter-president-obama-un-and-car-government-population-rafai-lra

"Letter to President Obama." Democracy in Action (dated 7 March 2012): https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/images/Kony%202012%20-%20Letter%20to%20Obama.pdf

• "Leaflet used to Encourage LRA Fighters to Surrender." In "The Lord’s Resistance Army: End Game?" (International Crisis Report No. 182, 17 November 2011), PDF, p. 23; see above, under "Reports."
• Shows illustrated leaflet with text in Pazande (language of major ethnic group in Tri-Border region), Lingala (long-time lingua franca in the region, esp. in Democratic Republic of Congo), and Acholi; English translation provided.

"Association of Concerned Africa Scholars–Statement to the U.S. Government." ACAS (14 March 2012). Posted: Making Sense of Kony (29 March 2012): http://making senseof kony.org/?p=627

"Call for Solidarity with the Populations of Central Africa." Human Rights Watch (20 April 2012): http://www.hrw.org/node/106633 (Use link below photo to download as PDF.)

• Letter from 16 "Civil Society Organizations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic" (see related article under "News")

Deeper Background

VIDEO (52 mins.): The Regionalisation of the Lord’s Resistance Army." Lecture by Associate Professor Ronald Atkinson (5 May 2010): 
http://www.nai.uu.se/events/multimedia/atkinson_100505/

• Atkinson, Director of African Studies at the University of South Carolina, is an historian with deep knowledge of pre-colonial Acholi society and culture, who has returned to study the area’s recent history and current circumstances.
• See also Atkinson, "From Uganda to the Congo and Beyond: Pursuing the Lord’s Resistance Army." International Peace Institute (2009): http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/IPI_FromUgandaToCongo_PursingTheLRA.pdf

Allen, T. And K. Vlassenroot, eds. The Lord’s Resistance Army: Myth and Reality. London: Zed Books, 2010.

Behrend, H. Alice Lakwena & the Holy Spirits: War in Northern Uganda 1986-97. Oxford: James Curry; Kampala: Fountain, 2004.

Dolan, Chris. 2009. Social Torture: The Case of Northern Uganda, 1986-2006. New York: Berghahn Books.

Eichstaedt, Peter. First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army. Lawrence Hill Books, 2009.

• See esp. Ishmael Beah’s review in The Globe and Mail (8 May 2009): http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/book-review-a-child-soldiers-story/article1131728/

Prunier, Gérard. "Rebel Movements and Proxy Warfare: Uganda, Sudan and the Congo (1986–99). African Affairs (London) (2004) 103 (412): 359-383.

Schomerus, Mareike. "A Terrorist is Not a Person Like Me: An Interview with Joseph Kony." In Tim Allen and Koen Vlassenroot, eds., The Lord's Resistance Army (see above).  

News

"Lord’s Resistance Army Update." Sudan Security Baseline Assessment (22 February 2012): 
http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/facts-figures-armed-groups-southern-sudan-LRA.php

"UN Warns of Increasing Attacks by Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa." UN News Centre (30 March 2012):  
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41673&Cr=LRA&Cr1=

Gettleman, Jeffrey. "Uganda Enlists Former Rebels to End a War." New York Times (10 April 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/africa/11lra.html

• Link to VIDEO (3:28 mins.): "On the Hunt for Joseph Kony"; Gettleman, in the Central African Republic with the Ugandan army, includes footage in which Patrick Opiyo Makasi, a former LRA fighter, speaks about Kony.

"Central African Republic: LRA Attacks Escalate." Human Rights Watch (20 April 2012): http://www.hrw.org/print/news/2012/04/20/central-african-republic-lra-attacks-escalate
          
"U.S. Special Forces Team Up with African Forces in Hunt for Wanted Warlord Joseph Kony." Washington Post/AP (29 April 2012): http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/us-special-forces-team-up-with-african-forces-in-hunt-for-wanted-warlord-joseph-kony/2012/04/29/gIQAtaKnpT_story.html

 "South Sudan Expects Uganda’s Backing Against Khartoum." The Daily Star [Lebanon] (8 May 2012):
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/May-08/172624-south-sudan-expects-ugandas-backing-against-khartoum.ashx?utm_source=Main+List&utm_campaign=e927d1ba7c-Sudan_Briefing_2012_05_09&utm_medium=email#axzz1uMImfIHe

"Uganda Denies Support of Sudan Rebels, Says Claim Diverts Attention from Sudan Sheltering Kony," Washington Post/AP (9 May 2012): http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/uganda-denies-support-of-sudan-rebels-says-claim-diverts-attention-from-sudan-sheltering-kony/2012/05/09/gIQAC5F4CU_story.html


RESOURCES-II: KONY 2012

VIDEO: "Kony 2012: Part I" (29:59 mins.) and Kony 2012: Part II–Beyond Famous" (19:48 mins.). Produced by Invisible Children. URL: http://www.kony2012.com

• Scroll down (passing "What’s Next") to access both films.
• View with subtitles: 38 languages (including English) http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/WTG5QrL19LFu/info/kony-2012/

Invisible Children: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/

Enough Project: http://www.enoughproject.org/

Resolve: http://www.theresolve.org/

Making Sense of Kony: http://makingsenseofkony.org


FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/invisiblechildren
TWITTER HASHTAGS: #Kony2012 #StopKony #coverthenight

#Uganda2012 #UgandaSpeaks #StopStopKony

　

　

Resource Collections and Guides

Brown, Barbara B., John Metzler, Christine Root, and Patrick Vinck. "React and Respond: The Phenomenon of Kony 2012." Written on behalf of the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association. Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (13 April 2012): http://concernedafricascholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Kony-React-Respond.pdf

"Resources on Uganda, the LRA, and Central Africa." Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (Updated 5 May 2012): http://concernedafricascholars.org/uganda-lra-central-africa

"Africa: KONY 2012, Selected Reflections." Africa Focus (14 March 2012; updated 23 April 2012): http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/kon1203a.php

• Rosebell Kagumire, transcript of "My response to KONY2012"
• Mahmood Mamdani, "What Jason Did Not Tell Gavin and His Army of Invisible Children: The Downside of the Kony 2012 Video"
• Alex de Waal, "Central Africa: Don't Elevate Joseph Kony.

African Youth Initiative, "AYINET to Suspend Further Screenings of Kony 2012"
"Responses to Kony 2012." Africa Focus (updated in April): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AmuLg_ibyd1ldF9PME9Kb2JYb2RzMDlDNlNUeWRJeWc&output=html

• Five spreadsheets: 1) Added in April; 2) Ugandan Voices; 3) Other General Commentaries; 4) Military Option(s); 5) Regional Perspectives

　 Curtis, Polly and Tom McCarthy. "Kony 2012: What’s the Real Story?" The Guardian (8 March 2012): http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story

• Links to major critiques (Michael Wilkerson, Angelo Izama, Rosebell Kagumire, Teddy Ruge) plus other POVs (Arthur Larok, Liz Wainwright, Simon Rawles, Ida Sawyer, Peter Bradshaw, Rory Carroll)
• Statistics chart and map (note esp. evidence of early viewing in China and India)

Rigby, Brendan. "A Reader’s Digest of KONY 2012." Whydev.org (8 March 2012):
http://www.whydev.org/a-readers-digest-of-kony-2012/

• Begins with items going back to 2004-; updated to include items from late April. Many commentaries, but a range of POVs

"Fighting War Crimes, Without Leaving the Couch?." Room for Debate: New York Times (9 March 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/09/kony-2012-and-the-potential-of-social-media-activism

• Six short essays, included two by Ugandans (Izama, Ruge); see comments the near end of this post’s long Introduction.

Visible Children: http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

• Blog created by Grant Oyston, a political science major at Acadia University (Nova Scotia, Canada); he’s only 19, so comparable to a first-second-year college student and not exactly an expert in the history and politics of eastern Africa).
• Mostly negative critiques--but kudos for promoting the African Studies Association’s guide

"React and Respond" (see above, under Brown, Metsler, Root, and Vinck)

"FAQ: Making Sense of Kony." Making Sense of Kony: http://makingsenseofkony.org/

• Seven 7 questions, each answered with a short essay–plus either "Further Reading" or links in text (plenty of background material here, much of it online)
• Abundant resources on rest of this site but note its animosity towards Invisible Children and other international NGOs and towards the Ugandan government, and President Museveni. Most contributors have track-records of opposing US military intervention in Africa, which they argue fosters the militarization of Africa.

Especially for Middle and High School Teachers

Drabble, Emily. "How to Teach ... Kony 2012." The Guardian (23 April 2012):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/apr/23/kony-2012-teaching-resources?newsfeed=true

• From this article, access the Guardian Teaching Network and, after registering, access "Debating ‘Kony 20102'" a PDF lesson (7 pp.) created by ActionAid.

　 Dillenberg, Margie. "For Educators, Kony 2012 Video Can Be a Priceless Teachable Moment." Boston Globe (4 April 2012): http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/blogs/the_angle/2012/04/invisible_child.html

Kavanaugh, Sarah, Holly Epstein Ojalvo, and Katherine Schulten. "Activism or Slactivism? The Kony 2012 Campaign as a Teachable Moment." New York Times (13 March 2012): http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/activism-or-slactivism-the-kony-2012-campaign-as-a-teachable-moment/

• Directs teachers to NYT resources, but see for discussion questions and activities.
• But "Understanding the Situation in Uganda" (while not inappropriate) would reinforce the misconception that the Stop Kony campaign is about Uganda–when it is really aimed at stopping the violence in the Tri-Border region.
• World History teachers, see esp. "Comparing Campaigns" and "Looking into History" for comparative projects.

　 "Teaching Resources: Responsible Advocacy, Kony 2012, Invisible Children, and Humility." Building a Better World (14 March 2012): http://buildingabetterworld.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/teaching-resources-responsible-advocacy-kony-2012-invisible-children-and-humility/

"Kony 2012–An Exercise in Thinking Critically." Communication and Development (16 March 2012): http://communicationanddevelopment.com/?p=302

"Learning from Kony 2012." CIHA Blog (28 March 2012): http://cihablog.com/learning-from-konypart-1-of-4

• Part 1: Lynch, Cecelia, "After Kony 2012: Three Ways NGOs Can Work with Africans as Equals"; Part 2: Lentfer, Jennifer, "Fumble and Bumble: A Review of Ruth Stark’s book, How to Work in Someone Else’s Country"; Part 3: Lentfer, Jennifer, "How Are the Game Changers Spending Their Time"; Part 4: Teju Cole, "White Savior Industrial Complex" (orig. published in The Atlantic)

Kligler-Vilenchik, Neta. "Why Youth Are Drawn to Invisible Children: Prefiguring Kony 2012." Aca-Fan (12 March 2012): http://henryjenkins.org/2012/03/why_youth_are_drawn_to_invisib.html Ugandan Voices

Project Diaspora: http://projectdiaspora.org (Where Teddy Ruge blogs)

Uganda Speaks: http://ugandaspeaks.com/

• See esp. VIDEO: "A Life Without Kony" (12:40 mins.)

Uganda Correspondent: http://www.ugandacorrespondent.com

　

"Uganda Reacts to Kony 2012." Canadian International Council (11 March 2012): http://www.opencanada.org/features/uganda-reacts-to-kony2012/

• Links to several Ugandan responses early on in the controversy

　 VIDEO (0:57 mins): "Jacob Acaye: "‘Kony 2012' Critics Unfair." CNN footage posted on YouTube (0.57 mins.): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1gYRkQzHO4

• David McKenzie talks with Jacob Acaye, who was abducted by the LRA but escaped. Acaye, a boy when Jason Russell met him in Gulu.

Acaye, Jacob. As quoted in Julian Borger, John Vidal, and Rosebell Kagumire (in Kampala), "Child Abductee Featured in Kony 2012 Defends Film's Maker Against Criticism." The Guardian (8 March 2012): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/08/jacob-acaye-child-kony-2012

Bigombe, Betty (posted by Joshua Keating post). "Negotiator Betty bigombe on Kony’s 15 Minutes." Foreign Policy (14 March 2012):
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/14/negotiator_betty_bigombe_on_konys_15_minutes

Bulamu, Angella. "Teacher in Uganda: Why Give Celebrity Status to a Killer in Kony 2012?" Christian Science Monitor (16 March 2012): http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/0316/Teacher-in-Uganda-Why-give-celebrity-status-to-a-killer-in-Kony-2012
Capnall, James. "Joseph Kony Victims Back Online Campaign." BBC News (19 March 2012): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17432481

Izama, Angelo. "A Flawed Call to Action." Room for Debate: New York Times (10 March 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/09/kony-2012-and-the-potential-of-social-media-activism/a-flawed-call-to-action

Izama, Angelo. "Kony Is Not the Problem." New York Times (20 March 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/opinion/in-uganda-kony-is-not-the-only-problem.html?ref=josephkony

• Izama, a Uganda journalist, grew up near the Uganda/South Sudan border.
• This op-ed places the LRA in its regional context and explains (from his POV) why people in northern Uganda reacted "with anger, frustration and fear" to a screening of Kony 2012 (based only on the event in Lira, however)

Kagumire, Rosebell: VIDEO (06:21 mins): "My Response to KONY2012." YouTube (7 March 2012): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLVY5jBnD-E&feature=youtu.be

• For video plus transcript go directly to LYBIO: http://lybio.net/rosebell-kagumire-my-response-to-kony2012/people/

Mao, Norbert. "Guest Post: I've Met Joseph Kony and Kony 2012 Isn't That Bad." Foreign Policy (21 March 2012): http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/21/guest_post_ive_met_joseph_kony_and_kony_2012_isnt_that_bad

• Mao, a lawyer and politician, was a presidential candidate in 2011. After serving in n Parliament (1996-2006), he became head of the Gulu Local Government (2006-2011) and during that time traveled to LRA bases in South Sudan and Congo as part of peace-making efforts.

Mamdani, Mahmood. "What Jason Did Not Tell Gavin and His Army of Invisible Children: The Downside of the Kony 2012 Video." Makerere Institute of Social Research (12 March 2012): http://www.misr.mak.ac.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=188:mamdani-on-kony-2012-video&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

Ochen, Victor. "A War Victim’s Opinion on Invisible Children’s KONY 2012." African Youth Initiative (10 March 2012): http://www.africanyouthinitiative.org/war-victims-opinion-on-invisible-childrens-kony-2012/

Okot, Jolly: VIDEO (2:11 mins): "To Critics of Kony 2012." YouTube (8 March 2012): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQABpjCalJk&feature=related

• Emphatic statement by director of IC’s programs in northern Uganda

　

Oola, Stephen. "Beyond Kony 2012: Local Peacebuilders Advice to Invisible Children." Insight on Conflict (26 March 2012): http://www.insightonconflict.org/2012/03/local-peacebuilders-advice-invisible-children/

• See embedded VIDEO (17:45 mins.): "An Interview with Bishop Ochola of the ARLIPI," about the failed peace negotiations (2003, 2008); LRA atrocities now in neighboring countries; and his personal experience of losing his daughter and wife.
• Text includes summary of main points in letter that ARLPI sent to Invisible Children

Pflanz, Mike. "Kony 2012: 75 Million Viewers Later, Some Ugandans Get First Glimpse of Film." Christian Science Monitor (13 March 2012): http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2012/0313/Kony-2012-75-million-viewers-later-some-Ugandans-get-first-glimpse-of-film

Ruge, TMS. "A Peace of My Mind: Respect My Agency!" Project Diaspora (8 March 2012): http://projectdiaspora.org/wp-content/2012/03/08/respect-my-agency-2012/

• Ugandan social entrepreneur and co-founder of Project Diaspora, which promotes the African diaspora’s role in Africa’s development
  

Ruge, TMS. "'Kony 2012' Is Not a Revolution."  Room for Debate: New York Times (14 March 202): http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/09/kony-2012-and-the-potential-of-social-media-activism/kony-2012-is-not-a-revolution

"Legacy Scholarship: Jackline’s Success." Invisible Children (7 May 2012):
http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/2012/05/07/legacy-scholarship-jacklines-success/

• A beneficiary of IC’s Legacy Scholarship Program, which "provides merit-based scholarships and mentoring to motivated and talented secondary and university students from northern Uganda who were affected by the conflict," shares her story. At present there are "590 secondary students and 250 university students" in the program.

VIDEO (58:56): "Kony 2012: Ugandans Criticize Popular Video for Backing U.S. Military Intervention in Central Africa." Democracy Now (18 April 2012): http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/18/kony_2012_ugandans_criticize_popular_video

• Interview (begins at about 43:00 mins.) features Milton Allimadi (publisher/editor-in-chief of Black Star News) and Victor Ochen (survivor of the LRA and director of the African Youth Initiative Network, based in northern Uganda).

Ugandan Advocacy and Community Organizations

The Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Project: http://www.arlpi.org/

• "Response to the Deployment of US Military Advisors to LRA Affected Regions." Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Project (2011): http://www.arlpi.org/response-to-the-deployment-of-us-military-advisors-to-lra-affected-regions

African Youth Initiative Network: http://www.africanyouthinitiative.org/

• "We are a grassroots non-governmental organization working in Uganda. We work directly with victims and their communities to ensure a future of peace, justice and dignity for all."

 Educate!: http://www.experienceeducate.org/

Friends of Orphans: http://frouganda.org/

Hope North: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFRPYyOH9

HURIFO: http://www.hurifo.org/

• Human Rights Focus (HURIFO) was formed in 1994 to promote "the cause of human rights in the conflict affected the northern Uganda, a region whose people have experienced gross human rights violations and untold suffering." Website posts news about its programs, research reports, and photos.

　
Women of Kireka: http://womenofkireka.com/blog/

Baines, Erin. "#Ugandans 2012." Canadian International Council (12 March 2012): http://www.opencanada.org/features/ugandans2012/

• Baines is a co-founder of the Justice and Reconciliation Project: http://justiceandreconciliation.com/. This response to the Kony 2012 hype "highlights the work of many local organizations in northern Uganda who have been working tirelessly for peace and justice for conflict-related atrocities." See JRC’s list of partners.

Tri-Border Voices (South Sudan, DR of Congo, Central African Republic)

"Letter to President Obama from the Population of Rafai, Central African Republic." Letter dated 23 July 2010 (French text): http://www.hrw.org/en/node/94226

• Image of letter (in French); English translation: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/11/11/car-letter-president-obama-un-and-car-government-population-rafai-lra

　
"Letter to President Obama." Democracy in Action (dated 7 March 2012): https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/images/Kony%202012%20-%20Letter%20to%20Obama.pdf

Shannon, Lisa. "Kony’s Victims and the Kony 2012 Video." On the Ground:New York Times (9 March 2012): http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/konys-victims-and-the-kony-2012-video/

Branham, Lindsay and Jocelyn Kelly. "Engaging African Voices on Kony." On the Ground: New York Times (21 March 2012): http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/engaging-african-voices-on-kony/


Other Critiques

Wegner, Paul. "The Invisible Children Advocacy Campaign to Catch Kony." Justice in Conflict (7 March 2012): http://justiceinconflict.org/2012/03/07/kony-2012-the-invisible-children-advocacy-campaign-to-catch-kony

Wegner, Patrick. "Kony 2012–How 100 Million clicks Went to Waste." Justice in Conflict (17 March 2012): http://justiceinconflict.org/2012/03/17/kony-2012-how-100-million-clicks-went-to-waste/

Wilkerson, Michael. "Joseph Kony Is Not in Uganda (and Other Complicated Things)." Foreign Policy (7 March 2012): http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/guest_post_joseph_kony_is_not_in_uganda_and_other_complicated_things

Wilkerson, Michael. "No Longer Invisible." Foreign Policy (23 March 2012): http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/23/unintended_konysequences

Cole, Teju. "The White Savior Industrial Complex." The Atlantic (21 March 2012): http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/

• Begins with Cole’s 7-part response via Twitter on March 8^th (real "button pushers") but the essay presents issues very much worth discussing

Fisher, Max. "The Soft Bigotry of Kony 2012." The Atlantic (8 March 2012):
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-soft-bigotry-of-kony-2012/254194/

Tharoor, Ishaan. "Why You Should Feel Awkward About the ‘Kony2012' Video." Global Spin: TIME (8 March 2012): http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/03/08/why-you-should-feel-awkward-about-the-kony2012-video/

Edwards, Scott. "#Kony2012 and the Warping Logic of Atrocity." Amnesty International (9 March 2012): http://blog.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/kony2012-and-the-warping-logic-of-atrocity/

Olopade, Dayo. "The Kony Kerfuffle." Latitude: International Herald Tribune (9 March 2012): http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/kony-2012-is-a-distraction-from-issues-ordinary-ugandans-care-about/

Vokes, Richard. "‘KONY 2012' and a Military Solution to the LRA Crisis." The Africanist (9 March 2012): http://theafricanist.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/kony-2012-and-military-solution-to-lra.html

Mengestu, Dinaw. "Not a Click Away: Joseph Kony in the Real World." Warscapes (undated: March 12, 2012?): http://warscapes.com/reportage/not-click-away-joseph-kony-real-world

• Journalist who met Kony and LRA commanders in 2006–brief encounter but rare firsthand reporting combined with discussion of Kony 2012

Kristof, Nicholas. "Viral Video, Vicious Warlord." New York Times (15 March 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/opinion/kristof-viral-video-vicious-warlord.html?_r=4&src=tp

Finnstrom, Sverker. "‘KONY2012' and the Magic of International Relations." 
Making Sense of Kony (30 March 2012): http://makingsenseofkony.org/?p=1


Responses to Critiques

"Critiques." Invisible Children: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html

"Joseph Kony 2012: Invisible Children CEO Responds to Criticism as Viral Video Breaks Records." The Telegraph (12 March 2012): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/joseph-kony/9139603/Joseph-Kony-2012-Invisible-Children-CEO-responds-to-criticism-as-viral-video-breaks-records.html

• Embedded VIDEO (1:03 mins): Ben Keesy defending IC–helps to balance negative criticism but also consult text of detailed response on IC website

　Beaton, John Rudolph. "Visible Children: Viewed Critically." Facebook (7 March 2012): http://www.facebook.com/notes/john-rudolph-beaton/visible-children-viewed-critically/10150614970287933

• Beaton’s personal response to http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/

Burns-Knight, Margy. "Influence Of 'Kony 2012' Video Needs Moderation." Teaching Tolerance (4 April 2012): http://www.tolerance.org/blog/influence-kony-2012-video-needs-moderation

Finck, Adam. "Foreign Policy: Invisible Children Responds." Invisible Children Blog (16 March 2012): http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/2012/03/16/foreign-policy-invisible-children-responds/

• Finck, IC’s Director of Programs, was in DR-Congo last October and working there when the film was released; prior to spending two years in DRC and CAR, he had lived for two years in Uganda.

Gerson, Michael. "The Controversy over Kony 2012." Washington Post (10 March 2012): http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/the-controversy-over-kony-2012/2012/03/10/gIQAzc6M3R_blog.html

Jouglet, Nicole (IC’s Communication Director). "Comments on KONY 2012–Help Raise Awareness and Stop Joseph Kony." Reddit (two months ago): http://www.reddit.com/user/noellejouglet

Farmar, Sam (interviewed by Chris Wirasinha). "I Ate Doughnuts With Joseph Kony: Tracking Down the Most Wanted Man in Africa." Pedestrian TV (13 March 2012):
http://www.pedestrian.tv/arts-and-culture/features/i-ate-doughnuts-with-joseph-kony-tracking-down-the/67668.htm

Manthey, Chris. "Kony Baloney: Why Invisible Children’s Critics Are Wrong." Huffington Post (15 March 2012): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-manthey/kony-baloney-why-invisibl_b_1346377.html?

Naidoo, Jay. "Leave No Hiding Place for the Predatory Elites Who Prey on the Innocent and the Poor." Jay Naidoo (5 April 2012): http://www.jaynaidoo.org/theres-a-light-in-the-get-kony-campaign/#more-1050


RESOURCES-III: SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACTIVISM

CHART: http://visual.ly/kony-2012-triumph-video-advocacy-infographic

　
Hesse, Monica. "The Mirror That Is the Internet." Washington Post (20 April 2012): http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-mirror-that-is-the-internet/2012/04/20/gIQA5wjpVT_story.html

• Briefly mentions Kony 2012–amid other allusions that should be familiar to students. Useful introduction to issues (read to prime discussion before moving on to Kony 2012?); ASK: what does she mean "The Internet isn’t Oz. The Internet is Kansas."? How has the viral Kony 2012 changed the Internet? 

Dailey, Kate. "Kony2012: The Rise of Online Campaigning." BBC News (9 March 2012): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17306118

• Use to discuss online activism and international issues/problems

Goodman, J. David and Jennifer Preston. "How the Kony Video Went Viral." New York Times (9 March 2012): http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/how-the-kony-video-went-viral/

• See Isaac Hepworth’s chart for Twitter’s role in the making of a viral video; includes copies of several early tweets, including Oprah’s.

Cohen, Noam. "A Video Campaign and the Power of Simplicity." New York Times (11 March 2012): http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/business/media/kony-2012-video-illustrates-the-power-of-simplicity.html

Boyd, Danah. "The Power of Youth: How Invisible Children Orchestrated Kony 2012." Huffington Post (14 March 2012): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danah-boyd/post_3126_b_1345782.html?ref=world&ir=World

• Boyd, a senior research at Microsoft Research and assistant professor at New York University, provides a brief, cogent explanation of the video’s attention-getting architecture.

Gregory, Sam. "Kony 2012: Juggling Advocacy, Audience and Agency When Using #4Video4Change." Witness (17 March 2012): http://blog.witness.org/2012/03/kony-2012-juggling-advocacy-audience-and-agency-when-using-video4change/

• A "go-to" resource if you want to discuss storytelling, agency, and activism–which treats Kony 2012 as an example of video advocacy (rather than a documentary)

Lotan, Gilad. "KONY2012: See How Invisible Networks Helped a Campaign Capture the World’s Attention." Social Flow (14 March 2012): http://blog.socialflow.com/post/7120244932/data-viz-kony2012-see-how-invisible-networks-helped-a-campaign-capture-the-worlds-attention

• Excellent data analysis–with evidence in graph form (use visuals in class)

　 Meek, David. "Kony 2012: ‘The Rules Have Changed.’" Antipode Foundation (16 March 2012): http://antipodefoundation.org/2012/03/16/kony-2012-the-rules-have-changed/

• Brief, constructive discussion of issues raised by critics (while staying close to how the film itself frames its main idea); see discussion questions at end of (suitable for advanced students)
• Includes excellent bibliography of works on "the convergence of social networking and political change"–from a geographer’s perspective

　 Zuckerman, Ethan. "Unpacking Kony 2012." Ethan Zuckerman (8 March 2012):
http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2012/03/08/unpacking-kony-2012/

• Zuckerman’s experience in and knowledge of Africa an asset
• Clearly re-states IC’s goal for its StopKony campaign: "focuses on the idea that the key to bringing Josephy Kony to justice is to raise awareness of his crimes" AND unlike most other critics, he mentions IC’s services to the displaced in northern Uganda and provision of radio networks in the Tri-Border region.

Zuckerman, Ethan. "Useful Reads on Kony 2012." My Heart’s in Accra (14 March 2012):
http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2012/03/14/useful-reads-on-kony-2012/

• See for embedded Lotan tweet chart
• Link to Jason Mogus, "Why Your Non-Profit Won’t Make a Kony 2012"

Gurri, Martin. "The Unsettling "Simplifications" of Kony 2012." Fifth Wave (21 March 2012): http://thefifthwave.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/the-unsettling-simplifications-of-kony-2012

Gurri, Martin. "Kony 2012 and the Art of Going Viral." The Fifth Wave (26 March 2012): http://thefifthwave.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/kony-2012-and-the-art-of-going-viral/

• See chart: "Days to 100 Million Views" (plus two YouTube stats charts)
• Two video excerpts, featuring "Jacob" (4:34 mins.) and "Gavin" (9:25 mins.)
• Network visual from Social Flow (Gilad Lotan’s blog

Quilty-Harper, Conrad. "Kony 2012; Stats Breakdown of the Viral Video." The Telegraph (9 March 2012): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/joseph-kony/9134431/Kony-2012-Stats-breakdown-of-the-viral-video.html

• Most useful for capturing early stages of the video’s spread: graph (updated to March 13) from IC and snapshot of YouTube stats page--with list of significant events (e.g. first view from a mobile device), audience age/gender profile, and map

Curtis, Polly. "Has Kony 2012 Changed Anything?" The Guardian (16 April 2012):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/apr/16/has-kony-2012-changed-anything?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

• Place to start an investigation of into the video’s impact

Flock, Elizabeth. "‘Kony 2012' Campaign Dies Down, but LRA Impact Remains." Washington Post (12 April 2012): http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/kony-2012-campaign-dies-down-but-lra-impact-remains/2012/04/12/gIQAEaPuCT_blog.html

• Interview with Adam Finck, IC’s Director of Programs
• Photo of flyer produced by Invisible Children 　

Tromsness, Rebecca. "Kony 2012's Digital Message Stumbles on the Streets." Globe and Mail (21 April 2012): http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/kony-2012s-digital-message-stumbles-on-the-streets/article2410067/

Garber, Megan. "How Kony 2012's Big Event Fizzled Out." The Atlantic (April 2012): http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/how-kony-2012s-big-event-fizzled-out/256261/

NOTES

1) Invisible Children was founded in 2004 by three young Americans, all with film-making talents and training, after a trip to eastern Africa prompted them to action (their story is told in IC’s first video, "Raw Cut"). The more than 100 million views statistic combines views on YouTube, Vimeo, and IC’s website. For Part II see Jennifer Preston, "Sequel to ‘Kony 2012’ Video Addresses Critics and Outlines Call for Action." The Lede: New York Times (5 April 2012): http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/sequel-to-kony-2012-video-addresses-critics-and-outlines-call-for-action/?scp=1&sq=room%20for%20debate%20kony&st=cse; and
George Murumba, "#Kony2012: NGO Releases Damage Limitation Video." Uganda Correspondent (9 April 2012): http://www.ugandacorrespondent.com/articles/2012/04/kony2012-ngo-releases-damage-limitation-video/

2) See TMS Ruge, "A Peace of My Mind: Respect My Agency!" Project Diaspora (8 March 2012); also Erin Baines, "#Ugandans 2012," Canadian International Council (12 March 2012): http://www.opencanada.org/features/ugandans2012; and organizations listed in RESOURCES: Ugandan Advocacy and Community Organizations.

3) Long before Niall Ferguson’s Civilization: The West and the Rest (Penguin Press, 2011), this pithy phrase appeared in Chinweizu, The West and the Rest of Us: White Predators, Black Slavers, and the African Elite (Random House, 1975).
4) Quoting from Monica Hesse, "The Mirror That Is the Internet," Washington Post (20 April 2012).

5) As Ethan Zuckerman suggests in "Unpacking Kony 2012," Ethan Zuckerman (8 March 2012). See also Kate Dailey, "Kony2012: The Rise of Online Campaigning." BBC News (9 March 2012) and other items in RESOURCES: SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACTIVISM.

6) For college students having aha-moments about global issues only AFTER arriving on campus): Marc Parry, "‘Supersizing’ the College Classroom," Chronicle of Higher Education (29 April 2012): http://chronicle.com/article/How-One-Instructor-Teaches/131656/ . Jason Russell has visited John Boyer’s classroom but whether this was before or after Kony 2012 release is unclear.

7) For a lesson, see Sarah Kavanaugh, Holly Epstein Ojalvo, and Katherine Schulten. "Activism or Slactivism? The Kony 2012 Campaign as a Teachable Moment," New York Times (13 March 2012). For April 20th see esp. Rebecca Tromsness, "Kony 2012's Digital Message Stumbles on the Streets," Globe and Mail (21 April 2012); Megan Garber, "How Kony 2012's Big Event Fizzled Out." The Atlantic (April 2012). For a broader view, Evgeny Morozov, The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom (Public Affairs, 2011). Noam Cohen sees it differently in "A Video Campaign and the Power of Simplicity," New York Times (11 March 2012), where he points to how "the untaped power of the viewer" is changing politics.

8) Cheryl Contee, contributing to "Kony2012: What Do 70+ Million Views Mean," Notes from SXSW Panel (14 March 2012): ttp://www.iccnow.org/documents/Kony2012SXSWPanelnotes.pdf

9) Angleo Izama, "Kony Is Not the Problem," New York Times (20 March 2012); Teju Cole, "The White Savior Industrial Complex," The Atlantic (21 March 2012).

10) See Zuckerman, "Unpacking Kony 2012," (#5 above) but this meme appears throughout the debate. Angelo Izama attributes the negative Ugandan response to how the film oversimplifies Kony’s evil. See also Michael Wilkerson, "No Longer Invisible," Foreign Policy (23 March 2012).

11) Danah Boyd, "The Power of Youth: How Invisible Children Orchestrated Kony 2012," Huffington Post (14 March 2012) and esp. Neta Kligler-Vilenchik, "Why Youth Are Drawn to Invisible Children: Prefiguring Kony 2012." Aca-Fan (12 March 2012).

12) Michael Wilkerson, "No Longer Invisible," Foreign Policy (23 March 2012).

13) Robert Mackey’s overview in "African Critics of Kony Campaign See a ‘White Man’s Burden’ for the Facebook Generation," The Lede: New York Times (9 March 2012): http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/african-critics-of-kony-campaign-hear-echoes-of-the-white-mans-burden/. Also Max Fisher, "The Soft Bigotry of Kony 2012," The Atlantic (8 March 2012) and Teju Cole, "The White Savior Industrial Complex," The Atlantic (21 March 2012).

13) Philip Curtin, ed., The Image of Africa (University of Wisconsin Press, 1964); Mai Palmberg, ed., Encounter Images in the Meetings between Africa and Europe (Nordic Institute, 2001).

14) As John Metzler indicates in Part II of "React and Respond: The Phenomenon of Kony 2012,"), stereotypes are a large part of the problem. Also consult , esp. if you teach in elementary or middle schools, "Criteria for Evaluating Materials on Africa," Boston University: African Studies Department (undated): http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/resources/criteria/ ; and "I Didn’t Know There Were Cities in Africa." Teaching Tolerance (No. 34, Fall 2008): http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-34-fall-2008/i-didnt-know-there-were-cities-africa .

15) See entries in RESOURCES: KONY 2012 (in "Ugandan Voices" OR "Critiques").

16) Ruge, "A Peace of My Mind: Respect My Agency!" (#2 above). But compare with his later, somewhat calmer, "Kony 2012' Is Not a Revolution" in Room for Debate: New York Times (14 March 2012).
17) See esp. "Learning from Kony 2012," CIHA Blog (28 March 2012): http://cihablog.com/learning-from-konypart-1-of-4 (in RESOURCES-II: KONY 2012: "Especially for Teachers’). Also Nikki Halpin, "Start With Listening, Not Talking," in Room for Debate: New York Times (9 March 2012). There are specific criticisms of NGOs in several items in the "Uganda Voices" section.)

18) See information on IC’s program page and articles in its blog section, for example: "The Worth of Water," (12 February 2012), "Teacher Exchange: Connecting Worlds," (23 March 2012), "Schools for Schools: Study with All Your Heart," (28 March 2012), and "The Story of a 19-Year-Old Girl Who Escaped the LRA," (7 May 2012). Since IC partners with Enough Project and Resolve, I recommend also going to their websites. A well-regarded joint IC/Resolve project

19) As suggested by Zuckerman in "Unpacking Kony 2012," (#5 above).

20) Consult Polly Curtis, "Has Kony 2012 Changed Anything?" The Guardian (16 April 2012); Elizabeth Flock, "‘Kony 2012' Campaign Dies Down, but LRA Impact Remains." Washington Post (12 April 2012); and Rebecca Tromsness, "Kony 2012's Digital Message Stumbles on the Streets," Globe and Mail (21 April 2012). These items are listed in RESOURCES–III: SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACTIVISM.

21) "Cover the Night Has Ended–But the Advocacy Is Just Beginning," Invisible Children Blog (21 April 2012): http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/2012/04/21/cover-the-night-has-ended-but-the-advocacy-is-just-beginning/ (includes short VIDEO: "Kony 2012: What’s Next?"). Rebecca Davis, "Uganda: Kony Who?" Daily Maverick (23 April 2012 ): http://allafrica.com/stories/201204240188.html

22) To keep up with current Ugandan politics follow the news on AllAfrica (http://allafrica.com). Museveni is now disliked even by a significant portion of the NRM and there is a active opposition led by Kizza Besigye, plus other, smaller opposition parties. Ugandans, however, value stability and so Museveni may last until 2016. See Zach Warner, "Uganda: Looming Coup or More Museveni?" Think Africa Press (28 February 2012): http://thinkafricapress.com/uganda/looming-coup-or-continuity

23) Izama considers the regional context, briefly, in "Kony Is Not the Problem," New York Times (20 March 2012). These tensions are bound to keep popping up in the news: "South Sudan Expects Uganda’s Backing Against Khartoum." The Daily Star [Lebanon] (8 May 2012); "Uganda Denies Support of Sudan Rebels, Says Claim Diverts Attention from Sudan Sheltering Kony," Washington Post/AP (9 May 2012).

24) Asch Harwood, "Kony 2012 ‘Cover the Night’ a Flop?" Africa in Transition: Council on Foreign Relations (23 April 2012): http://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/2012/04/23/guest-post-kony-2012-cover-the-night-a-flop . See also Adrian Hong’s and Sarah Margon’s views in Room for Debate: New York Times (9 March 2012):
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/09/kony-2012-and-the-potential-of-social-media-activism

25) As quoted in George Murumba, "#Kony2012: NGO Releases Damage Limitation Video." Uganda Correspondent (9 April 2012), note #2.