I am African

Where are you from originally?

I get asked this question or some version of it all the time by people I meet. This subject usually comes up after they hear me speak and realise that I sound different. (By the way, I don’t have an accent, you do!). This sounds like a really simple question. But for me it isn’t. I mean, do you mean where did I live before I move here (i.e. where I live now)? Or before that? Or before that (i.e. before the first that)?

I once told a friend I met here that I was from one of the bigger cities in Massachusetts. That’s true. That’s where I lived during my undergrad (or at least close to it). That is where I lived my first three years in America. That’s where I lived before I moved here. I thought it made for a simple response. But I am not really from Massachusetts.

I grew up in Africa. In one of the western countries. In the capital city of said country. And so I could say I come from there, you know, from that city. And sometimes I do say that. After all, I lived there my entire life before moving here. And so to an American, I talk about my country and maybe the city I grew up in.

But if I was asked that same question at home (i.e. my home country), I could never get away with that. Even though I had lived there all my life, the city I grew up in isn’t where my ancestors are from. My ancestors (my parents’ families) are from someplace else. A smaller town away from where I grew up. And so that is where I am from. Even though I have never spent more that a few weekends there my entire life. This is my response to people from my country.

But where do I think I come from? The world? Planet Earth? The answer is not that simple. I am a woman of the world. Not really from one place but from all over, every place I have lived. Never really at home in any place but not exactly a foreigner either. I believe that when people ask about my origins, they want some idea of what my experiences have been. They wonder what events have shaped my views. I spent my first 19 years in Africa, so a lot of my basic ideals are shaped by my experiences there. But all my mature and more recent thoughts on social, cultural and political issues have been formed in my time living here. These more grown up values were formulated and clarified and tested after I lived on my own. Away from the bubble of “Mum and Dad can fix anything so do not think too much for yourself.”

And why does where I come from matter anyway? Because in subsequent posts, I may discuss African politics, or current American legislation, or whatever. I want you to understand where I am coming from. What my inherent (and so unintentional) biases stem from. Maybe why I have some opinions. Sometimes it is easier to just say I am African. Because I am, and I am proud of that.