I went to school with a Malagasy girl. She looked Filipino but often identified as Black because of her African pride. Black in the US seems to be a complex political construct rather than a racial category, because actual ebony skinned afro-descended people from other countries often don't identify as Black but as their ethnic group or tribe, especially those from spanish-speaking countries. (No race "owns" a color or can be reduced to a color. That is a European fantasy lol. The African race is made up of various phenotypes, as is the European one. Chinese people are also white skinned. Does this make them white? White is a color. Black is a color. To be more honest, most Africans are brown dark brown or medium brown). Racializing people by color is silly and anti-scientific. The title of this thread is wonderful because it doesn't fall into the color fallacy. It stays scientific: African and Asian, and then specifies what African and Asian categories

just throwing in my 2 cents I had first hand interactions with Malagasy people and they're like any other. I saw the very filipino-looking ones. Mango-colored skin and straight black hair.

also, people don't just darken due to climate. If so, all South African European people would be deep brown by now and not suffering from the 2nd highest skin cancer rates in the world. Same goes for the Europeans of Australia. Shocking rates of skin cancer. That Iranian Indian story sounds suspect. The genes for darker skin would have to be present initially in the Iranian. It can't just develop. Light cannot create dark. A Tanzanian can give birth to an albino, but a European cannot give birth to a Tanzanian. Not to say euros and albinos are the same, but I'm focusing on color genes.

AkanIgbo:


What you wrote is completely untrue. African Americans are deeply interested in their culture and they have been amongst the most active group of Africans anywhere in leading Africans everywhere out of this mess that we have found ourselves in. To begin with most African Americans trace their ancestry to Igbo, Akan, Mande and Yoruban people; but particularly to Igbo and Akan.

What a lot of Africans from the Continent don't know and seem happy to not know is that it was against the law for African Americans to speak any of their ethnic languages or to pass down anything about your culture. Against the law as in "being tortured and killed." So most African Americans never knew anything about Africa, because there was never anybody to teach them and the White man convinced African Americans that Africa was a jungle; the people where cannibals and they didn't have any history. Who was there to teach African Americans any different?

The good thing is that a lot of African Americans have roots in the Southern part of the United States and we learned a lot from our old relatives about family, customs and culture. We didn't realize that they were actually passing on African lineage to us. They may not have even been aware of it, but used words, phrases and music clearly connects African Americans back to the continent of Africa. However, we had no way of connecting to any particular group because that was not something within our ancestors knowledge.

Now if you want to discuss how the Cuban-Africans; Bahamian-Africans; Brazilian-Africans; Cuban-Africans; Jamaican-Africans, etc.; knew more about Africa than African-Americans, then here is your answer: those groups were kept on large plantations and they could keep speaking their languages and practicing their African religions like Santeria. The vast majority of African-Americans were not kept on large plantations; they were by and large kept on small farms and they lost all contact with their heritage. The few groups of African-Americans that were kept on large plantations in States like Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana and Georgia ended up keeping a lot of their African customs and culture and you will see many Igbo, Yoruba and Gullah settlement in all of those places. But by and large African Americans were kept on smaller farms and it was common to have their mothers, fathers, grandparents and siblings sold off to other farms in other States. So how was a little baby supposed to know anything about Africa or Africans if the people to teach them were gone?

As for your initial post, it is fully of conjecture that you know is not true if you know the history of African Americans. One most watched programs in US History was "Roots." Which was a program about a Mandika taken from Gambia to Virginia. The show follows his descendants as they take their American journey from Virginia to North Carolina and eventually into Tennessee. That is show is what typically happened to Africans taken in the slave trade. How was Kunta Kinte's relatives supposed to keep up with African culture once Kunta Kinte died? As it was they kept up with words and phrases, but as the television show showed; without other African people there how were the descendants of Kunta Kinte supposed to know much about Africa when all that that they had around them were Europeans?

Here is the thing; African Americans set up their own universities even when they were not allowed to attend White universities. Scholars like WEB DuBuois, Malcolm X and numerous other Americans knew the history of Africa and African Americans; so in later times we became knowledgeable about Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Songhan, Oyo, Nri and Akan people . So African Americans have always studied African history, but without anyway to connect it to your experiences then it is hard to understand the people and languages. And it didn't and still doesn't help when Africans come to school in America and act all arrogant as Hell and act as if African Americans are beneath them because we don't understand the history, language and people of Africa. Here is a newsflash; African Americans don't understand the history of Africa, because the ancestors of the Africans that come to America for school sold the ancestors of African Americans into slavery. So if someone is going to look down on something or someone; then African students should be looking down on their own ancestors because they were the heartless ones that caused all of us to be lost and the ancestors actions eventually allowed the Europeans to colonize Africa, because the Ancestors virtually depopulated Africa by selling slaves. That is the reason that all Africans are in the position that they are in right now. And it wasn't just the people of Dahomey or the Bini people; it was the also the Aro-Confederacy, an Igbo people that sold out of Calabar and the Bights of Benin and Biafra.

That is a long rambling answer, but African Americans are taking DNA test at all time, to locate where their ancestors are from. African Americans also visit Africa a lot, especially Ghana, because the Ghanain government has apologized for there role in the slave trade and Ghana's first president and all the rest of the that Country's President has come to America and made appeal after appeal to African Americans to come as tourist to visit the slave forts and castles and to invest in the Country. Is there any mystery as to why so many African Americans know so much about Ghana and why people from Ghana know so much about African Americans or why Ghana is doing so well economically? There are African Americans that live in and retire to Ghana and now they are looking to do the same thing in the Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Cameroon is another place that African Americans are visiting more. Look for more investments to go there.

The question I have is why hasn't Nigeria made a plea to African Americans to come as tourists? Why hasn't Nigerian cultural officials come to American Historically Black Universities, grammar and high schools to talk to kids about the slave trade and explain how most African Americans ancestors originated in Igboland, Yorubaland or in what is now Cameroon. Why aren't the slave ports in Calabar, Biafra become a tourist attraction; because African Americans want to know? What haven't Nigeria's government over the years made it a point not to align with African Americans the way the Ghana has? Long rambling answer but there is a lot of crap floating around about African Americans that is not true and a country like Nigeria is not doing all it can to repair relations with African Americans. Fwiw, my DNA test results are 48% Igbo and 36% Akan.

hello I apologize 100%. My comment was very ignorant. Since I posted that I've done a lot of research and have realized that AAs are the most innovatively African group of all of them. While other groups stayed stagnant in our cultures, AAs have actually a more diverse multi-ethnic culture that pulls from more African lineages all at once, and have catapulted these ancient inheritances into the future like no other group has done (besides Jamaicans and maybe Brazilians).

I was completely wrong back then. It was part of the arrogance many Caribbeans are raised to have just because we are exposed to the ghetto, which isn't the core of AA culture but a recent phenomenon caused by racist housing policies, KKK destruction of affluent Black towns and gentrification.

so please accept my apology sis/bro. These days I praise AAs

the Blues thus Rock N Roll and its offshoots have direct links to Mali, Senegal, etc. It was AAs that revolutionized African musical styles and changed the sound of the world. Not even racists can deny this. I believe racist should stop listening to rock music which is rooted in the tribal rhythms of our ancestors and stick to square dance and Mozart.
Jazz, ragtime, the banjo, modern dance, the hair styles cornrows etc, even Li huistic patterns and accents, the turning of the "th" into "d" is almost universal for west African people.

The great thing about time and passion is that knowledge finds us all if we look hard enough and are patient. So I admit my ignorance at the time. Peace!

pkjag:

Sadly i don't think many african americans want to be indentified with africa, or are interested in the place, it is ironic that white people are more interested than them, you can also see this in the tourists we receive each year. I mean what's wrong, they'd rather go to paris or rome for holiday because they do not want to be identified with black people, it's really sad .

But what i've seen is increasingly many carribean people who do identify with africa, there are more reggae artists that make multiple visits to africa and not just developed parts like in South africa where most hiphop artists frequent but really poor countries, like Konshens has been to Kenya twice in a span of less than 5 years, alaine has been here about thrice in the same amount of time, same with cecille, I can not recall the last time a hiphop artist came to Kenya and probably none has ever visited twice, could you shed some light on this?

afro-Americans are much less connected to African culture as a whole because America is a racially biased European country. Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad etc are African-based countries. We Caribbeans know who we are, we even speak with African words and know what tribes were from (those of us who actually care unlike the Americanized ones). You'll find more afro-conscious Americans in the south like Louisiana. Or places like Nea York where groups of the diaspora mingle (and where culture revivals have happened like in Harlem and Brooklyn).

in America, Africa is seen as devil-land. Whereas in Jamaica, Africa is seen as home. In Haiti, Africa is Ginen (Guinea) land of the Ancestors. We have love for the motherland. But don't worry, more Aframs are waking up and reconnecting with their culture. They are more diverse than Caribbeans (they mixed with too many diff tribes to name) but I have questions....

In Jamaica we call okra "okra", an Akan word. But the Americans call it Gumbo which I hear is Congo (Bantu). Is this true? Both words are used in Haiti (Haiti has a significant Congo influence besides Fon and Wolof).

Anyone here recognize deity names Simbi, Ganga? The Congo ancestors were included into the Haitian variant of Vodou, alongside the Fon deities

Most definitive African history site www.africanholocaust.net

every single African on earth, home or diaspora, should be getting educated on that site. It has helped me tremendously. They reject pseudo-history and fairy tales, giving us the full facts. It is also not curated by cheesy outsiders but Africans from around the world. So you won't find hotep BS, Mexican rocks or Cambodian scraggles. Just African.

Also, it takes a mature person to read their articles. Read their piece on agency. It is eye opening.

pkjag:

What about the bantus in cameroon and south eastern nigeria if there are any, has there been any study comparing them to the others? Also what happened to the Nok culture in central Nigeria, what have the white men found? I really wish more Africans would be interested in this stuff, we would make more headway if we carried out our own archaeological projects, these white people come and take away our relics then display them in their museums.

this is so true!!! With all the resources in America, afro-Americans should be DYING to study African archeology alongside brothers and sisters on the continent. It would stop foreigners from tying to claim our achievements and hide them from us. Have you heard what silly people are speculating about the Nok? I even heard one claim "but they had admixture". Admixture?? What?.....

the Nok and Igbo-Ukwu are MYSTERIOUS and obviously very African! It's very obvious. The crazy trolls blog I scathingly nickname "Madildo's Anthropology Blog" claims west African phenotype didn't exist beyond 10,000 years. Is this true? And who is to say this is solid fact? We share common origins, this is for sure. And why do the people of Andaman islands and Melanesia resemble us? Dark skin with beautiful kinky hair and strong features must be very ancient indeed.

We have a common origin. All of us. But changed and warped with time and location.

This is very very very fascinating. I'm of Benin descent and Cameroon. My moms DNA test had a small percentage, very small of Bantu. But I wish it was more! Maybe after testing my dad I will find out. Bantu cultures are probably the most fascinating and defining in all of Africa. The West focuses too much on Egypt, which to me, becomes VERY boring after so many invasions by Greek then Roman the Arab conquest. Those cultures are watered down, non-mysterious and cold/rigid. The older the Egyptian stuff is more cool than the most recent. Today it's hardly interesting at all.
The life blood and soul of Africa is Bantu. The best music is Bantu. Zimbabwe has the best music. The shona have the best sculptures. The ndebele have the best dolls. Zulus have the best sounding language and beautiful traditional clothing. Kenya has by the far the most lovely cultures and people. Kongo has a rich history and strong people.

this is not to put down others because I uplift mostly West African cultures too. But the least boring are the Bantu groups. I'm "west African biased" haha. But at the end of the day, BANTU RULES FOREVER.
All Africans should unite, mingle, trade amongst each other, and eliminate the need for outside interference. It's very embarrassing to be the neediest continent and diaspora on earth (according to mainstream knowledge, anyway. In my opinion, Indigenous Australia is worse off. So is Oceana in general even India and parts of Asia)

Respect from a Haitian. Proudly African by DNA!

I want to purchase designs created by Africans ONLY. How can I be able to tell which designs or brands are African (besides the obvious like the beautiful mudcloth fabrics etc). Also, is Ankara different from the vlisco fabrics? I'm serious about putting money into indigenous pockets, so please do help. I find those patterns up there quite dull. Ashanti kente is much nicer. But I understand kente cloth is expensive. And adinkra cloth too. I don't know why adinkra isn't as popular. It better in my opinion and less contrived.

Ogobara:

The Black American negropeans are the only group of people on earth that take pride of being mixed, they suffer some of the worst form of low self self esteem and eager more than anyone for cross breeding in order to wash away their Nigerian/Ghanaian/Senegalese/Beninese genes (that they hate more than anything )from their progeny, and have a great obsession toward (caucasian feature; hair that they call "good hair" and Horn African women : Somali/Ethiopian/Eritrean for their non-stereotypical "African feature"

do you understand how painful being mixed can be sometimes? I'm a Jamaican/Haitian and all I want to do is find out what African tribes I come from. I don't care about the European or southeast Asian. I used to hate myself because I didn't know where I fit in. But to be honest I identify more with my African ancestry. I have no respect for the whole "negropean" thing. My hair is natural and I don't bleach.

who should I marry? Am I too tainted to marry someone pure?? I think the whole self hate thing turns into a suicidal tendency. They want to "kill" their African aspects through weaves, bleaching and marrying whites.

Omarbah:
I think Fulaman, Fulbe will have a hard time telling others that they aren't a mixed ethnic group since we tend to be different when compared to our other West African brothers and sisters. I can easily pick a Pullo among others, light skin or not. I remember back in college I saw this Fula girl whose mother is Jamaican. Without knowing her name or anything about her, I easily figured out her ethnicity.

I am mystified how did this happen? Jamaican mother, Fulani father? I'm jamaican/Haitian in the USA... I'm guessing they met in the US?

Anyway I think the Fula people are very very lovely. I think the Woodabe men are stunning. There should be a thread on male beauty in Africa, because the patterns are seen throughout... Let me stop before I derail the thread

This is trolling, no? Why promote such self hate... Wow! Here I am wishing I was darker