Africa 2 Australia: Do I really belong here? is an online documentary about the experiences of Africans who have now settled in Australia. It’s quite interesting to hear/read their stories, but at the same time I think another chapter needs to be added! What about the children who were born in Australia to African parents? People say we have had the easy life. From the outside, it looks like our parents lived the struggle – they suffered to get here, make a home for us, financially support us and now we are reaping the rewards from the struggle with no fuss. But that is not the case! We have had our own struggle!!! We had/have our own identity battles which have been slipped under the rug!
I am so glad that 2011 has been marked as the UN’s International Year for People of African Descent! I think this is a good opportunity to share our stories and experiences.
Today I went to the FORUM – for 2011 International Year For People of African Descent hosted by the African Women Australia Inc. (AWAU Inc.). At the forum, a very heavy question was asked. What has being in the diaspora done to your identity?
Being of African descent living in the diaspora has brought confusion with my identity, and as I said, we have faced some battles! So I would like to answer the question by sharing my experience with you.
When I was in primary, I considered myself Australian and my parents were the Ghanaian ones. I didn’t really like linking myself to Ghana. Even though I was immersed in the Ghanaian culture, eating the food, going Ghanaian/African church and attending Ghanaian community events all the time. I didn’t want to make that link. I justified not being Ghanaian by the fact I was born here, I sounded Australian, I thought I always acted Australian and I hadn’t been to Ghana. Also, when I turned on the TV, I would see World Vision or charity advertisements suggesting that the whole of Africa was in poverty and everyone was so hungry that they were eating rubbish and rats. That wasn’t me, therefore I must be Australian. But there was always that uncertainty of where I stood. But I never really addressed it. Funnily enough, my skin colour wasn’t a factor in my justification. I never thought of myself as white, but my reasons seemed more than enough for me to classify myself as Australian.
Third day of high school in art class, a not so bright girl asked me where I was from. I told her Australia. She asked me again where I was from. I told her Australia. Then she asked me again with a bit of frustration. I responded with an equal amount of frustration and said Australia. Then she said ‘No but you are ……….’ she paused. She directed her hand to her arm trying to refer to skin colour. I looked at her and said I was born here and my parents are Ghanaian. She responded, ‘So yeah you aren’t really Australian’. I didn’t say anything to her because I realised that she wouldn’t be able to comprehend the whole issue. But I went home and took a good look at myself in the mirror and I thought who am I kidding, I am Ghanaian. I may sound Australian, but my visual appearance matches Ghanaian! I eat Ghanaian food most times and I hold the traditions and practices in high regard. So I decided from that day I would just say I am Ghanaian. I thought it would save me from getting all the questions.
That decision, brought me even more questions. Someone would ask me where I was from, and I would respond with Ghana and then they would say ‘But you have a strong Australian accent’. I would then say, it’s because I was born here. Then they would tell me, ‘No that means you are Australian’. These scenarios would often make me confused. It got to a point where it felt as if I would wake up and say to myself, ‘Today I will tell anyone who asks that I am Australian and then next week I will say Ghanaian!’.
Going to Ghana in 2004 for the first time was a turning point for me. It felt like home, the place of my roots, the place where I was eating proper Ghanaian food and no Australian substitutes!!! The place where my parents grew up, the place where my Grandparents grew up, the place where everything was authentically Ghanaian!!! At the same time, to the Ghanaian people, I was Australian. This was justified by the fact that I looked different, I dressed differently, my English sounded different and my Akan sounded like a different language to them. But after two months in Ghana, I returned to Australia and pretty much wore a sign on my forehead saying ‘I am Ghanaian. Who cares that I was born in Australia. I am Ghanaian!!!’ This seemed to frustrate my high school friends. They couldn’t understand why I would refuse to call myself Australian. They felt like I was disowning the soil that cultivated me. I didn’t see it like that. I just saw it as me trying to situate myself into the right identity group.
About two years ago, my best friend and I came to the conclusion that we are African-Australian. We may think we tilt to one side more than the other, but at the end of the day it balances out. We are the product of the Australian and Ghanaian culture. We can’t hide from that!
It will take time for people to understand the term. The term needs to be coined for our generation. It needs to be part of our cultural terminology. We are waiting for the day when we can just say African-Australian or Afro-Australian like people say African-Americans with no questions asked.
Another thing which adds to our African identity issue in Australia, is that we are misrepresented around the world. People seem to think that there are no Africans in Australia!! I blame mostly Australian shows/movies which have gone international like Home & Away, Neighbours and Crocodile Dundee which make/made no reference to African-Australians. That however doesn’t mean we don’t exist!
When I went to the UK, some of my housemates couldn’t comprehend the fact that I was born in Australia. It didn’t seem possible.To them an Australian was Anglo looking, beach-loving with blue eyes and blonde hair. I wasn’t blonde. I wasn’t a fan of the beach (I don’t even live close to the beach) and I don’t surf. So that meant I wasn’t Australian. Then I would have Skype conversations with a fellow Ghanaian-Australian speaking a combination of Akan with broken English sprinkled with Australian slang. That was confirmation for my housemates to label me as Ghanaian. However, I would go out to the shops and say one word and a sales person or passerby, would say ‘WOW you are Australian. Wait….there are actually black people in Australia?’ Or people hear my accent and assume that I am American, because that’s probably the only place I could possibly be from with such a heavy Western accent. Same thing when I went to the States on holidays in 2009. People automatically thought I was British because they couldn’t imagine the connection with Australia.
Defining my identity has been a mixture of confusion, frustration and pride. It has taken time for me to understand who I am and where I am from. Although it has been emotionally taxing, it is an experience which I now share with a positive attitude and sense of humour. For me now, the battle is maintaining that identity for myself and my children, educating and projecting it to the world that African-Australians are alive and kicking!
The question of ‘How do we maintain our identity?’ was also posed at the forum.
Apart from practicing the Ghanaian traditions, eating the food and wearing the clothes, I try to stay in-tuned with Ghana and Africa by reading, researching, asking my Mum and Dad a billion questions just to keep abreast. I also use my creativity as a way to to maintain my identity. I like to think of myself as an Afro-African creative. I mix what I have learnt from my Western education with my African culture. A classic example of that is this blog!
I only hope that Afroklectic continues to be a platform to project our work, thoughts and experiences with the rest of the world. I am currently working on transforming this blog into a hub for my final major project. A creative online space for collaboration and promotion still focusing on creative Africans in Africa and the diaspora, especially on people of Afro-Australian descent!
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