This blog really made me think about a few things that I'm going to share with you in this post:
What does it mean to you to be African?
When you say I'm African, what do you think people think? most importantly what do you think?
There have been times when I've said I'm African and people have asked me "Do you have a safari in your backyard?" "Do you have lions as pets" or people start to treat me differently, like I'm stupid. A few people have said to me "Your English is very good". Like we don't speak English in Africa or we don't go to schools . People also have this idea of Africans being poor and so people are more generous or sympathetic.
There is this portrayal of African females in the media and I don't know whether it's positive or negative. A typical African female in the minds of some Western cultures is half naked, with hanging boobs, an obedient woman who cooks and cleans for her husband and is very submissive. Now this may be true for some women, this is very traditional view which either existed in rural areas or still exists to this day. There is even a show called Umoja that portrays this image all over the world. It is an amazing show, I truly recommend it.
This image though is not how all African females are, being African means something different to all of us, we can be white, black, asian, traditional, modern so even though we have these stereotypes we need to stay true to who we are.
What is your opinion on stereotyping and labelling?
