by Geraldine Amakihe, Contributing Writer
Sudanese model Alex Wek
Ethiopian Liya Kebede
I didn’t know I was African until I left Africa.
A loaded statement coming from a Nigerian; an Igbo girl. Nonetheless, it is exactly the way I used to feel, before my family relocated back to the States from Nigeria. Before I left the confines of my father country, declaring me an African person was redundant- a statement of the obvious – so I never had to consciously think about it. In Nigeria, particularly in my Igbo culture, my father’s name and my education were the two most important cultural indicators.
When I moved back to the US I quickly realized that I was now “African” and was constantly expected to represent a billion people. And that being anything other than “that African girl” was considered an upgrade.
Countless numbers of people thought they were complimenting me with reassurances that I didn’t “look African”. Some would wonder about my last name, and upon discovering that I was Nigerian, would give a range of responses;
“Oh wow! You’re African??”
“I thought you were just ‘regular’ black”.
“Oh! So, THAT explains your features!”
I remember an instance when a teacher told me that he just knew I was African because of my “big features”. I also remember cringing inwardly as he emphatically stressed that my African look basically boiled down to my full lips. That day, as I sat in his classroom, I fiercely wished that I could be the complete opposite of what he thought was the African look. I wanted to be thinner lipped and lighter skinned, solely to force him to recognize that his so-called African look, as dominating as the idea was, was a fallacy.
Whenever the African phenotype is mentioned, the stock image is usually the stereotypically flat description of dark skin, full lips and backsides, wide noses, and highly textured hair. To delve into the misconception even further, let’s lay out all the cards and attach “poor”, “dirty”, “backwards” and “starving” to the description. People seem to find it difficult to reconcile the notion that there are just as many people who might look this way, as there are people throughout the continent who don’t, but still identify as African, and that these people fall into all levels of social status. It’s irritating when we allow ourselves to mindlessly gorge on misinformation dispensed by myths and media, and continue to dismiss people for not fitting a narrow margin of the supposed African look.
Shouldn’t it go without mention that different people identify as African, and the current categories should be expanded? However, common sense ideas often seem to be the hardest to understand or implement. For instance, with a country like Nigeria, which is an arbitrary amalgamation of hundreds of ethnicities from Fulani to Igbo, facial features and body types vary incredibly. If we step outside of Nigeria, Alex Wek and Liya Kebede are both from East Africa.
They look amazingly different, and yet, by looking at them, people would assume only Alek as the “pure African”. None of these regions are homogenous, and prevailing features run the gamut from the deepest to the fairest of complexions.
Let’s continue to extrapolate that example and apply it to Africans in the diaspora; Colombians to Canadians, Americans to Argentinians and the catch-all African phenotype begins to dissolve. The African look is a multi-dimensional one, and we shouldn’t rely entirely on the media to provide accurate information. We should constantly challenge ourselves to think outside the proverbial box and to question ourselves, because in doing so, we can expand our familiarities, and in turn, challenge the status quo. It is also our responsible, as black people, to stop associating certain African features with poverty and backwardness.
We need to totally rethink Africa and, by extension, our perception of African beauty.
” Countless numbers of people thought they were complimenting me with reassurances that I didn’t “look African”.”
Yep !
What’s more, I must COMPLETELY agree with what you mentioned about how the media conditions our minds to percieve a certain group of people. The woman who I consider my adopted sister is from Ethiopia, and she looks nothing like the “stereotypical” Ethiopian woman (tall, thin, big and curly hair, thin nose, thin lips), and she finds it frustrating when people don’t believe her when she tells them that is where she is from. Such a shame. We are all such beautiful women but our minds have been distorted to think otherwise.
Great article!
So very true. Africa i one of the most diverse continents ever and we are not all born from the same ‘Mama Africa’. Even being Igbo and living in the UK, I get similar comments.
Got a similar comment from an annoying aquaintance, and I said ‘of course I look African! My parents and grand parents are African dumbass!’ What the hell am I supposed to look like, Chinese???
I guess I offended them but they need to think before they talk. I guess they meant it in a derogatory way. I am proud of my full lips, big nose, thick hair and thick hips. It is who I am and I am very proud of my ancestry.
The funny thing is that one usually hears these ignorant comments ONLY/MOSTLY from other ‘black’ people. Will peoples pereptions and ideas ever change?
Great article and I agree with the conclusion. I do want to play the devil’s advocate though.
I think that when you adapt to a foreign country (I am Kenyan living in UK for ages!), you essentially become part of the community. I have never not once been handed an immigration form when entering UK from another country. The hostesses always say to me that the forms are not required for British citizens. Do I regard this as a negative? Actually no this is a sign of a progressive nation where skin colour, facial features and hair are not determinants of nationality. I think the fact is my accent sounds British so they assume me to be.
In Kenya most people actually identify me as American because I am apparently ‘too confident’……..so what is that about?
In short I think that we don’t always have to judge people’s misjudgements as negative. I take great pride in telling people that I from Kenya and it is always a great conversation starter.
Yes! To everything! I usually feel especially disheartened when black people (from across the diaspora) hold this exoticised, imperialist view of Africa. I remember when I first moved to the UK, a popular insult among the black school kids was ‘you african!’ (cue my confused face).
Yes! this article hit it right on the tip of the nose! Growing up people always said to me oh..u dont look african u look like a regular balck girl. Until they heard my last name then they would start to ask questions.But now as i get older people are always asking me what my nationality is..
I have gotten these kinds of “you must be African” statements all of my life because I have full features and wear my hair in its natural state. The funniest/saddest incident that happened to me based on other people’s ignorance was at a music festival in Atlanta a few years back. Some “Afrocentric” dude saw me sitting with three other sistas and started doing some weird bowing and scraping with fist pumps, Egyptian hieroglyphic-like movements to me b/c I suppose he needed to acknowledge me as the “African Queen” because I am dark-skinned with Afro-textured hair and the other sistas did not share these features. The irony of his behavior was that two of my friends were Zulu women from South Africa but because they were lighter in hue than me, he did not even acknowledge their “Africaness.”
Thanks for such a timely and spot-on piece.
Great write-up. As an Igbo woman born and raised in the states, I’ve been the recipient of all sorts of comments that indicate that I am different, “the other.” As a secure adult, I take pride in how my heritage in all the ways in which it manifests itself, both physically and culturally, regardless of the ignorance i might encounter. In furtherance of this theme, is the must see TED talk of the Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie who discusses the “danger of a single story,” specifically in what it means to be an African.
http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html
@ RB: why isnt charlize theron African? Her frist language is Afrikaan and she lived in South Africa until she was 16… I actually think she’s the PERFECT example of why this whole ‘looking African’ thing is an ignorant mess…
*first
Pingback: Tweets that mention What does it mean to "look African"? #naturalhair #blackbeauty -- Topsy.com
It angers me when anyone makes a distinction between African and black people. There is no difference! You are an African-American — a person of African descent whose family has settled in North America. The use of the words “black” (Negro), “white” (Caucasian), “yellow”(Asian) and “red” (Native American) stems from an ignorant system of human classification created by ignorant European individuals. Stop calling yourselves black. That term was used for the sole purpose of creating inferiority in comparison to Europeans. Black is always deemed scary, dangerous and untrustworthy (Children are always afraid of the dark, right? People are warned not to go outside when it’s too late, right?) We as African Americans must stop categorizing ourselves with words that have such a hateful and degrading meaning. You are, unknowingly, perpetuating the cycle of self-hatred amongst our African-American community. Stop it!
+1
” Countless numbers of people thought they were complimenting me with reassurances that I didn’t “look African” i couldn’t agree anymore. I don’t know why people think that saying that is a compliment.
I’m congolese girl living in the UK but most people tend to tell me ”oh u don’t look African” or ”u look Jamaican or carribean” and the best one is ”oh u r too light skin u can’t be 100% African tell he truth” and I had a bajan/guyanese classmate who used to nag me for 3yrs to tell him what am mixed with bcs i couldn’t possibly be pure bred African i don’t look it. And then when he found out i was a 1/4 something else he was like ” i knew u couldn’t be 100% African it’s impossible Africans are mostly dark-skinned with big butts, lips and LOUD” can u imagine my shock at that comment. Africa is very diverse when i look at myself, my cousins, my Nigerian friends and my algerians friends we’re all called Africans but so different in everything. I wish people will learn more about Africa other than what the media portrays. Great article
Being that I live in Harlem,NYC which seems like the mecca of all brown immigrants, I do understand why people say “regular black”, but I think its rude! Being called Black in America (at least here) means you’re not an immigrant or decendent of, english is your first and only language unless taught by school, and you don’t have any other blood relatives that originated from other countries. (I’m not talking about a cousin or uncle that married a Jamaican and moved to Jamaica. lol) I mean all your family originates from America. I take pride in being Black because I know there’s not one single race like it! BTW- Black American history is written in the Bible if anyone is interested. But before you go searching you must dismiss the notion as if man knows the beginning of time and be very intelligent. There is so much to say about this topic but I leave with this “read, read, and read! I hate conspiracy theory type notions but if you read the Bible like a history book instead of a book of religion, you’ll know a lot more about “Blacks aka Hebrews, Isrealites, and Gentiles” over anything else! You don’t have to agree, just food for those who eat!
This post was well written, I especially agree with your statement in some situations:
“Whenever the African phenotype is mentioned, the stock image is usually the stereotypically flat description of dark skin, full lips and backsides, wide noses, and highly textured hair. To delve into the misconception even further, let’s lay out all the cards and attach “poor”, “dirty”, “backwards” and “starving” to the description.”
I am 1/2 Ethiopian and 1/2 Kenyan and before I went to College and people ( really just Black people)made those same assumptions about me because I was African. But once I entered College being African was a totally different thing those misconceptions disappeared and other’s arised I got ” highly intelligent”, “hard-working”, “more civilized” and “a more serious student”. I had several professors tell me to my face ” I figured you were African because you are so smart” or “Oh you are Ethiopian and Kenyan, that explains why you do so well in my course” and these weren’t any African studies course. In College, professors and even some students seemto think the fact that I am African I am academically superior to “regular” blacks which I know is full of shit lol.
Thanks for the article, I even understand where you are coming from, however all the things you list as being stereotypically African, happen to be things most Black people (American and continental)are ashamed of having.
There is nothing wrong with being perceived as stereotypically Black. If Black people were considered beautiful or our features were referred to as classic or refined we would take pride in them.
Sorry, I am not downing your article or even saying that people are not wrong for ignorantly assuming, but I really find nothing wrong with having the majority of the features some rail against. It is actually a reason to say I am a part of a larger group. A group that looks somewhat like me.
@serenissima …well to be clear, sure Charlize Theron is African in the realm of nationality, maybe even under the umbrella of ethnicity (although, knowing many South Africans white and black, they make a big distinction between black africans and british, afrikaans, etc.) And as an aside, Afrikaans is 95% dutch (read dutch)…let’s not be confused. I just think it’s silly to bring her up in the context of this article. There are races in this world…namely African, European and Asian. Each has many varieties. To say Charlize Theron is an African variety is ridiculous.
This happens to me all the time. It’s like a chapter out of the story of my life, but I deal with it. I don’t have a problem with people assuming that I don’t look African because I understand their predetermined notions of what an African looks like and where they come from. I can’t fault that. What I don’t like is when people refuse to believe me and try to tell me what I am supposed to be. “You’re too light to be African”. Both my parents a Nigerian (Igbo). Just accept me as I am.
Sorry, couldn’t ignore this:
“If we step outside of Nigeria, Alex Wek and Liya Kebede are both from East Africa.”
Greetings Everyone!
Thank you all for commenting on the article the way you have. I’ve dealt with aspects of this issue my entire life, and I knew that there were other people who would probably identify very closely to it. The BGLH readership is so intelligent and sharp, so I was eagerly waiting to read all of your thoughts.
@DBCO and DaliSalvadorAde: You both concretely illustrate the point of the article.
@serenissima: Initially, I actually was going to include Charlize, but I felt that her case was a pandora’s box, and perhaps, needed its own article.
@HR Professional: I appreciate your comment. The article wasn’t stating that there was anything wrong with having “stereotypical features”, instead, it was discussing the necessary inclusion of other people who might not look this way, but who still identify as Black or African.
Again, I really appreciate BGLH, for the opportunity, and the readers for all their insightful comments.
Igbo Kwenu!
Africa Kwenu!
Uwa n’ile Kwezonu!!