Yesterday at Barnes and Noble, my third home, I decided yet again to check out the Africa travel guide section in the hopes that maybe I would be able to get my hands on a book on Ghana. Yet again, to my dismay, there was no book on Ghana. Even worse, there weren’t nearly enough books in the Africa section to cover even a quarter of the countries on the continent. And when I say “Africa section” what I really mean is the “Africa/Middle East/Israel” section because that is exactly what it’s titled. So what other books are filling almost the entire travel section, you might be asking. Take a guess. Yup, the United States and Europe. Upon considering this situation, I whipped out my handy dandy iPhone to finally document this imbalance and to make it visually apparent that there is really something wrong here.
"Africa/Middle East/Israel" section
"Europe" section, which overflows into the top three quarters of the bookshelf that the "Africa/Middle East/Israel" section is on
Well that’s not very even, is it? Especially considering the relative size of the geographies in question to each other. Actually, India, the United States, Argentina, and Western Europe combined could essentially fit inside the continent of Africa in terms of land space and still leave room. Obviously, that’s not the measure Barnes and Noble is using to decide which books make it onto their shelves.
found at http://haha.nu/entertainment/the-size-of-africa/
Now, understandably Barnes and Noble has to stock merchandise that is going to make a profit for them. If that’s true, that means that literature on Africa and many other countries in the world that aren’t the United States or in Europe is apparently not desired by consumers. So maybe this gross misrepresentation isn’t the fault of Barnes and Noble, but perhaps our, the consumers’, own? We’re so interested in the European countries and the United States that there simply isn’t a need to for chain bookstores to carry books on other countries. Without demand, there is no need for supplying.
I am not saying that there is anything wrong with traveling or being interested in Europe or the United States. I think those places are wonderful and deserve to be researched and read about, absolutely. But I also think that considerations need to be made about why things are the way they are. Why the under-representation of such a large percent of our world in bookstores? Where else is this misrepresentation or other such misrepresentations present? Why so much interest in Europe? Is it our doing that these imbalances exist or is it in fact the larger chains and the commercial market? Is it both? What do we do to change this? Why would it matter if we did change this? Why? Why? WHY?!
Please let me know what you think about this. Clearly, I have not made up my mind completely on this and am still wrestling with all the different aspects that come into play. Have you ever noticed this or something similar? Any other ideas or theories? Share your thoughts. 
I wonder if this is a Barnes and Noble issue — or a Barnes and Noble in Alamance County issue?
For Ghana, you have to go with the Bradt guide to Ghana. I don’t think Lonely Planet even makes a book. Which I also think is notable. There is an “Africa” Lonely Planet book, but no “Ghana” book. I am not even sure that they have many African countries separated. It’s interesting to me that obviously there is enough information out there to make one book entirely devoted (as Bradt has done), but the effort has not been made by Lonely Planet. There is an under-representation on that level as well.
I am going to ask my brother, in Illinois, to check out the African book situation in the travel section at Barnes next time he is there, as well as my grandma, in Sarasota. Maybe we’ll see a pattern or maybe it will be helpful in determining if it’s a regional thing or not.
Katie–
first of all, it was nice to see you yesterday.
Secondly, I took your suggestion and the Bradt guide to Ghana is now sitting on my bookshelf! I haven’t looked completely through it yet, but I’m really excited. And I am disappointed in Lonely Planet
I am usually such a strong proponent. Maybe there is a letter to the editor/whoever is in charge over there in store?