Africanisms

By Al-Yasha Ilhaam

I was at The Post’s satellite office, also known as Robben Island, about to have a drink at the behest of its owner and a few folks from the paper. As I poured a bit of my Guinness on the ground, Elvis Tah asked what I was doing.  “A little something for the ancestors”, I told him.  Looking shocked, he said, “You know about ancestors?”

Sure, I even have some myself.  I’ve travelled and studied in Africa for many years and I’ve picked up some African expressions and habits along the way.  But that’s not how I learned about offering a drink to the ones who’ve gone; there are lots of “Africanisms” in African American culture, most of which go unidentified as such.  In fact, you’re likely to find more “Africanisms” in people who’ve never been out of the neighborhood than in an itinerant Africana scholar like me.

You can find distinct elements of African culture in the Southern rural U.S. and in Northern cities, in the Caribbean and in Black communities across the Diaspora. These behaviours, called “unconscious Africanisms” are usually just thought to be part of Black culture.  Sometimes we don’t identify our behaviours as African because we simply can’t tell the difference between which practices are retentions (from Africa), which are inventions (which we made up in America), and which are appropriations (borrowed from European or indigenous cultures).

A pontificating cultural nationalist might give you a lecture about the purpose of libation and the recitation of a lineage in Yoruba culture, whereas a gangster in a sentimental moment will “tip the 40” and mention the names of his “dead homies.” You can get confused talking to a cultural nationalist who used to be a gangster (of which there are many) since you can’t always be sure which came first; the intellectual awareness of African culture or the unrecognised African practice.

Valantin Ojo writes that African retentions account for a lot more of African American culture than people realize, claiming for instance that “many linguistic usages among mainstream African American can ultimately be traced back to unconscious retentions of Africanisms, since such usages are rarely encountered among the white population. A good example is the frequent use of 'Hi, Brother,' 'Hi, Sister,' 'you all,' etc. among African Americans.” In addition to language, Ojo also mentions music, dance, family structure and respect for elders, religious worship and other forms of African American culture which derive directly from African traditions.

Call Anywhere in USA for 1¢ a minute - No Connection Fee! @ CallingCards.com

 Sometimes Africanisms can take modern and mysterious forms. A film by David LaChapelle called Rize shows the dance innovations of a man called Tommy the Clown, who hails from southern California. Tommy is a reformed gangster whose primary unconscious Africanism is his love for “krumping”, or masquerade dance.

He dresses - you guessed it - as a clown, in makeup, multicoloured wigs and baggy trousers, a look you think most teens in America would run from. However, Tommy the Clown’s style has become so well known that literally thousands of young people have followed his trend, wearing makeup and forming dance crews that “battle” for the title of best “krump” dancer. 

While La Chappelle might overstate the point with stock footage of African dancers to highlight the comparison, it is obvious to the Cameroonians I’ve shown the film to that African American street dance in California borrows heavily from African traditional dances and that proves we’ve retained our sense of style, whether we realize it or not.

Carl Jung once said “man's task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.” Perhaps one of my reasons for travelling and studying in Africa is to become conscious of the unconscious Africanisms in my own behaviour, to better understand how African Americans became a displaced people with such peculiar yet familiar ways. If you see me walking around Buea wearing a clown costume, just know that I’m expressing my African heritage- as I remember it.