Benin History & Research Centre in Diaspora

Modern people seem to remain youthful and live longer than people in pre-modern societies. Many people seem to adopt the ideals of life extension and youthfulness and thus conform to society’s expectations. As a result, anti-aging products have become imperative in order to combat the physical signs of aging on the body.  Youthfulness is defined in terms of body maintenance and related products and activities form a vital feature of consumer societies. But consumer society is linked to science and medicine.  This has created new markets because human bodies can be reconstructed through plastic surgery and science can interfere with genetic structures and move internal organs from one body to another. Indeed, the more we know about bodies, the more we are able to control, intervene, and restructure them . However, not everybody will be able to afford life extension. I argues that public policy, the cultural and social contexts of aging, and the unequal power relationships between people

(This article was featured by Bronzepage Magazine in the US in 2016).  Written by Nekpen Obasogie  False Stereotypes of Africans: My Lived Experience in Canada When many African immigrants are migrating out of their various countries they have little knowledge of what they will encounter or how they will be perceived outside their homelands. Most often, they are confronted with different types of unexpected stereotypes and misconceptions about Africans in their host countries. Being an African can expose black people to labels that exclude and marginalize African immigrants once they step on the shores of new lands. As an immigrant woman from Nigeria, I have been a victim of stereotypes in Canada. It’s clear that some people are still carrying with them some outdated information about Africa and its people. In 2009, for instance, when I was still a very new immigrant in Canada, there was a man who usually drove my friend and me around the city of Montreal. He w