Confessions of an African American Mzungu: The Ugandan view on Afro American Culture

Happy Black History Month!

It's that time of the year when African Americans in Canada and the U.S. start to celebrate and remember the unique past of being an African American. I knew it was something mainly celebrated by Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. to an extent; however, many Ugandans don't know about it or they have a pretty interesting view of what it means. I have taken it upon myself to enlighten some Ugandans about the African American Culture because I've come to realize that they believe what they see in music videos and bad press.

First point: Our culture is not our religion
One Rotaractor asked me if I was fasting for this month. I was a bit confused by that statement at first (since he was trying to brag that he was eating lunch at the time), and I had to explain that it's quite a secular month that is meant to remember, celebrate, and even discuss important topics in the Afro American culture. I then realized that in Uganda, many people confuse Culture and Religion (my research is clarifying this point exactly!). I had to explain to some Ugandans that not all Black people are Christian or even Muslim. The United States is a diverse country with everything under the sun. This month is meant to pay tribute to all of those that we feel have made an advancement in American History and for African Americans (i.e. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Cornell West, Pauly Murray, etc.).

Second point: The N word is still an offensive word
While at RYLA-Uganda, I had a rotaractor discover that I was African American and she proceeded to talk to me about how rude Black people are and how we don't appreciate anything. Instead of saying "Black people" or "African Americans", she said the N word. I know people hear this word in movies and music over here and think that all Afro Americans use the term, but that's not the case. That word has a bad history to it, and although there seems to be a group of Afro Americans that still use it even in joking terms, saying that word to me in that context isn't apporpriate. AND as for the rudeness of Black people, you can find rude people anywhere, it all depends on where you're going. Please don't classify a group of based on a few that you may have encountered. That's a universal lesson.

Third point: For the most part, we don't dress or talk like that...
Another interesting thing I observed and was a bit offended by at RYLA-Uganda was the fashion show of cultures. The young men went on stage and said they were from the hood and were trying to "talk ghetto" and the girls were wearing skimpy skirts (like what you would see in a music video about going to the club). I laughed it off mainly, but when I had rotaractors coming up to me saying "you don't have swag. Are you really African American?" I started to get a little offensive. I realized that they really do believe what they see in the music videos. Luckily, I was able to explain to a rotaractor that just like Ugandans get upset or offended when Americans bring up Idi Amin and classify Uganda based on the movie "The Last King of Scotland", African Americans get the same way when you think that we're all like what you see in music videos and movies.  But worry not, that's what I'm here for, to break those barriers and show Americans, African Americans, and Ugandan/East Africans that what is represented on TV is not necessarily true.

Fourth point: Similarities between Afro Americans and Africans
This point is mainly about Blacks in the States and Ugandans. I have come to realize many similarities as much as I've come to realize differences. Although some things are cultural, like family structure and  food, there are certain mannerisms that are quite similar. Dancing for example. Rotaractors seems to always be surprised that I know how to dance! I don't understand that really, and usually my joking response to them is "well, I'm black! It comes naturally!". In all seriousness though, the dancing style isn't that much different from what we do back in the States. That actually is a quite a relief to me!

These Confessions of an African American Mzungu are starting to become a little theme of mine, if you have anything that you would want to answer or further investigate, please let me know. I would be more than happy to include outsider questions to this mini-series.

Until next time, kuwa na siku njema!

Slow down & Smell the Roses

What a week! Physically, mentally, and emotionally, I am exhausted! All the travelling and running around caught up to me this week. I should start with last Saturday, the wedding. Apparently love is in the air in Uganda…or perhaps just weddings. But whatever the case, it was more than I could handle. The wedding I attended last Saturday was too extravagant for my taste (and not to mention extremely long).  I have come to find that I truly am a simple person, especially compared to the weddings over here. There isn’t much of a difference in the wedding industry with the fancy cakes and big dresses, but usually there are two parts to the wedding: the introduction (where the bride introduces the man she is going to marry to her clan and to her father for approval) and the “western” wedding (in a church with the white dress). I’ll explain more on the wedding in another post, this post has a lot more to do with the differences in lifestyles.

If Saturday didn’t do me in, then Sunday and Monday certainly did! The Uganda Rotary Clubs hosted the Rotary run on Saturday which was quite successful in raising 100 milling Ugandan Shillings! All going to the cancer ward at a hospital. I was too tired to run (since I was at a wedding all day the day before) so I walked with my co-host Rotarian Florence. It was a good way to see the city and take in some fresh air without the exhaust from Boda Bodas and cars. But shortly after we completed the run, she and I went home and I slept. Apparently it wasn’t good sleep because I woke up the next morning even more tired, with a long day ahead of me. I wasn’t expecting to stay on Makerere’s campus all day, but that’s what happened. It was a good thing and bad thing to be on campus that long. It seems that everywhere I go, something is contributing to my research. I was able to observe gender relations between the college age students on campus and in that one day, I learned a lot. 

By that night, when attending my host Rotary Club’s meeting, I began to feel really weird. Cold sweats, headache, aching muscles but brushed it off as dehydration. Even though the day was long, the evening ended very well with fellowship with my host Rotarians and receiving some beautiful Rose Tubers.  They smell amazing! Few people know this but, I adore flowers. Back home, I started to grow flowers and tend to them every day like a spiritual ritual. My host club figured this out from my bio that I sent them and connected me with a Rotarian that has a flower farm. As great as the Rose Tubers were to my morale, they didn’t help me sleep that night. Tuesday evening, I met with my new roommate and had some hot chocolate with her. And I should have known then that something was wrong, because I almost fell asleep while talking to her.  But I pressed forward and attended the Bukoto Rotary Club fellowship where I started to feel extremely sick. I told one of the Rotarians from my host club (that drove me to the fellowship) and he took me to the local clinic. We just wanted to make sure that I didn’t contract Malaria, we all suspected I didn’t but just wanted to confirm. As it turns out, I was suffering from fatigue. I’ve had this before, but I feel as though I actually learned a lesson with this one…there’s no need to do everything all at once, during the same week, or even the same month. I need to slow down and smell the Rose Tubers, take in what’s around me and not stress out. Things will get done in due time.

I have many friends and colleages back home that run around stressed out as much as I do, but do they actually pay attention to what’s going on around them? I know I didn’t every time I was running around. As I’ve come to realize over these past few weeks, it’s extremely unhealthy. Ugandans call cancer and diabetes “western” diseases because it’s very rare for someone to develop these diseases with the typical Ugandan way of life. It’s usually the Ugandans that adopt the “western” lifestyle that get those types of diseases. They think that westerns put themselves through unnecessary stress, and I suppose this week I’ve proved them right! So now that I’m recuperating from my exhaustion of the past couple of weeks, I’ve adopted the mentality of slowing down and smelling the roses. I'm sure I'll be able to take in more of the culture that way too.

 

Africa and the Media

Every now and then I come across something that stricks me as interesting or worth sharing with others. This pariticular blog post from The New Yorker I found to be very interesting. With the negative stereotypes about Africa from the news or even people who do not bother to try to learn more about African countries, this post highlights some important things that were not mentioned in great detail in the American media. Check it out!

10 Biggest Positive Africa Stories of 2011