What does it mean to “look African?"

I didn’t know I was African until I left Africa. A loaded statement coming from a Nigerian; an Igbo girl. Nonetheless, it is exactly the way I used to feel, before my family relocated back to the States from Nigeria. Before I left the confines of my father country, declaring me an African person was redundant- a statement of the obvious – so I never had to consciously think about it. In Nigeria, particularly in my Igbo culture, my father’s name and my education were the two most important cultural indicators.

What does it mean to “look African”?
Words Geraldine Amakihe, Contributing Writer from Black Girl With Long Hair

(Sudanese model, Alek Wek)

(Ethiopian model, Liya Kebede)

When I moved back to the US I quickly realized that I was now “African” and was constantly expected to represent a billion people. And that being anything other than “that African girl” was considered an upgrade.

Countless numbers of people thought they were complimenting me with reassurances that I didn’t “look African”. Some would wonder about my last name, and upon discovering that I was Nigerian, would give a range of responses;

“Oh wow! You’re African??”

“I thought you were just ‘regular’ black”.

“Oh! So, THAT explains your features!”

I remember an instance when a teacher told me that he just knew I was African because of my “big features”. I also remember cringing inwardly as he emphatically stressed that my African look basically boiled down to my full lips. That day, as I sat in his classroom, I fiercely wished that I could be the complete opposite of what he thought was the African look. I wanted to be thinner lipped and lighter skinned, solely to force him to recognize that his so-called African look, as dominating as the idea was, was a fallacy.

Whenever the African phenotype is mentioned, the stock image is usually the stereotypically flat description of dark skin, full lips and backsides, wide noses, and highly textured hair. To delve into the misconception even further, let’s lay out all the cards and attach “poor”, “dirty”, “backwards” and “starving” to the description. People seem to find it difficult to reconcile the notion that there are just as many people who might look this way, as there are people throughout the continent who don’t, but still identify as African, and that these people fall into all levels of social status. It’s irritating when we allow ourselves to mindlessly gorge on misinformation dispensed by myths and media, and continue to dismiss people for not fitting a narrow margin of the supposed African look.

Shouldn’t it go without mention that different people identify as African, and the current categories should be expanded? However, common sense ideas often seem to be the hardest to understand or implement. For instance, with a country like Nigeria, which is an arbitrary amalgamation of hundreds of ethnicities from Fulani to Igbo, facial features and body types vary incredibly. If we step outside of Nigeria, Alex Wek and Liya Kebede are both from East Africa.

They look amazingly different, and yet, by looking at them, people would assume only Alek as the “pure African”. None of these regions are homogenous, and prevailing features run the gamut from the deepest to the fairest of complexions.

Let’s continue to extrapolate that example and apply it to Africans in the diaspora; Colombians to Canadians, Americans to Argentinians and the catch-all African phenotype begins to dissolve. The African look is a multi-dimensional one, and we shouldn’t rely entirely on the media to provide accurate information. We should constantly challenge ourselves to think outside the proverbial box and to question ourselves, because in doing so, we can expand our familiarities, and in turn, challenge the status quo. It is also our responsible, as black people, to stop associating certain African features with poverty and backwardness.

We need to totally rethink Africa and, by extension, our perception of African beauty.

Tags: African, Afro-punk, Black Girl With Long Hair, beauty, race

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Comment by K on August 11, 2011 at 4:49pm: Good Post, how long did you stay in Naija? I miss it, I will be traveling back next year I hope. America is stuck in a box and I am tired of trying to make people see the light about Africa. It makes me laugh when they say 'you look African' or you 'look black American' what the heck does that mean any way? I will say Nigerian look so varied to the point that siblings often vary greatly in complexion and features. I had an ex who is Yoruba who looked Asian but his skin was Alex Wec's complexion.

Americans are too caught up on race rather than culture and nationality.

Comment by Audrey Johnson on July 15, 2011 at 11:15am: I never actually got this attitude, but because of my french accent( the only language i speak beside English) People ask me where I come from when they do not assume that I am Haitian. They seem surprised when I tell them where I'm from. I don't see why people are still thinking that having a dark skin, wide nose, nappy hair etc are bad features.

Comment by Afrakoma on November 15, 2010 at 1:34pm: Thanks for the article and letting me know that I'm not crazy in noticing these things. I totally can relate not only being here in the US but also in Ghana....The first time I went to Ghana, I spent a year there for an exchange program. I shocked many of my relatives in Ghana when I met them for the first time because they assumed that I would be of a lighter complexion and have more Euro features (I guess the American air was supposed to kick in or something...but skipped me...lol). When I had traveled with some other students outside of the capital city, Accra, I remembered a woman saying with such pride in Twi (one of the languages over there) "..even though you are American I'm even lighter than you", little did she know that I understood her insult.....lol. I also had many of my relatives over there try to encourage me to use skin lighteners and perm my hair so that I didn't look so "African" so that I would be more accepted....I already knew how to stand out in a crowd, so I decided against these suggestions...lol. Myself and some of my other friends I traveled with noticed a pattern too, people would come up to us and start speaking specifically to my friends and totally act as if I was invisible (It didn't matter if the friends I was with were white or African American). However, once they heard me speak with an American accent, they would get confused and then decide to include me in on the conversation. I just found the shallowness to be so sad, yet not surprising. I guess it was a bit of a disappointment to me in some ways because I had already gone through and dealt with the negative views of being African in the US, but to go to a country where you look like everyone else yet you are looked down upon for not having a lighter complexion or "nicer" features (whatever that means) was a little disheartening....Sorry for being so lengthy.....lol...

Comment by Chaeya on August 25, 2010 at 1:28am: What's funny about Egypt was that Ptolymic Empire was Greek, the one with Cleopatra that white people love to claim. Egypt had run pretty downhill by the time these guys came into power. Thutmose III and Rameses, clearly Nubian, was Egypt's heyday. Black people get mad about Cleopatra and the lady they should be claiming is Queen Hatshepsut, she was the most powerful woman queen Egypt had. She ruled as a pharoah, something a woman had never done for the time. Yet black and white people keep having this racial tug-o-war over Cleopatra. Hell let them have her. Her only claim to fame really is hooking up with babydaddy Caesar who came to take power, a smart move, so she could stay in power, but she was nothing compared to Queen Hatshepsut.

Comment by Jessica on August 25, 2010 at 12:11am: That Egypt thing in public schools seriously pissed me off. Not sure if they taught it the same in private institutions but what the hell!? They make so much of the Egyptian culture and their achievements seem completely separate from Africa as if it were a completely different area. I even remember being so confused for a little over this, while growing up.

Comment by Bellalephantay on August 24, 2010 at 11:54pm: I'm all for rethinking Africa! I feel as though the western education system has completely fucked up our views of what Africa actually is. For example, in middle school social studies we always get a separate lesson for Egypt and then one for the "rest" of Africa. What the FUCK is that? Since when is Egypt not an African country? This is where all this bullshit about 'looking African' or having 'African features' comes from. Its really a bit ridiculous.

Comment by Chaeya on August 21, 2010 at 3:18pm: Very good article, and I'm sorry you have to put up with such stupid shit, especially from our own people. When I was growing up I was teased because I was very light skinned and mixed (half white Indian) while my friend was teased for being very dark (Africaaaaaan). So my WTF moment came early on because it was like brown skinned black people were putting themselves in some kind of elite, and if you were too light or too dark, you didn't fit. But then these same people would get mad, crying and making ruckus because some white person said something racially insensitive, but would go back to teasing people for being too dark or looking "African." I've heard black comedians talk about white people one minute and then make fun of Africans. It amazed me how I was always catching crap for my skin color, my likes and my dislikes and how I was doing "white people stuff", but then these same people would make fun of African people. I never understood that.

Comment by The Millenial Ooze on August 17, 2010 at 11:09pm: Well I mean I dont mind being told I look African. I bet a white person wouldn't mind being told that they look European. But people thinking that Africans having all dark skin, wide nose, broad lips, coarse hair are just as ignorant as those who think that Europeans all have thin pointy noses, fair skin, light eyes, and straight flowing hair. And people who associate African features with extreme poverty,uncouthness, and unintelligence are just as narrow minded as those who associate Europeans features with high class, wealth and chivalry. You should have corrected your teacher. And don't be ashamed, theres nothing wrong with your features. It's just the society that misunderstands them is wrong.

Comment by mizz.prince on August 17, 2010 at 6:15pm: This was a very well written article - thank you! I am SO sick of people asking me if i'm a "real African"...wth does that mean? (i'm being facetious - of course i know what they're getting at, but it's annoying) I hate feeling like I have to quantify any identity. My grandfather is from Angola, and I completely rep it, but I've never been there, and cannot draw from any experience he had as a "real African" in Africa. I think this statement it's a combo of people trying to exoticize as well as just figure out why certain black people look different. Regardless of what they're doing, it's whack.

Comment by Monet on August 17, 2010 at 12:42pm: Thank god!!!
And everyone, both African AND Black Americans please take note of this article. I am black amer. i.e. my ancestry goes back to slavery. I used to get offended when people thought I was African, I look VERY different in general. The main reason I was offended was because would it matter???
Would I be treated any better or worse...

Your skin color does have something to do with how you are treated here, I think, globally we all know this.