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My South African sister in-law who recently immigrated to America said that her black peers in grade school would sometimes refer to themselves as African Ameri

My South African sister in-law who recently immigrated to America said that her black peers in grade school would sometimes refer to themselves as African American. Cultural hegemony complete.

tibbydudeza 3y ago
Heard my daughter using the n-word for her school mates (they ain't black) - they all listened to rap music and obviously our schooling system don't cover American history i.r.o slavery. Had to explain to her why it would not be good idea to do that in the US. I never believed in the idea of embracing an offensive word and somehow "taking out the sting" like rappers did. We have a similiar word - the k word for blacks - it is fortunaly banned and if you used it on social media you clearly identify as a racist.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
I'm a little confused - are you talking about Black South Africans? Hmm. I foolishly expected that people like Elon Musk could be truthfully called "African-American", but I did a survey of the definitions, and most all of them agreed that an African-American must be Black (and I'm not sure how that is recursively defined, or whether it has to do with race, ethnicity, or simply color of skin: it must be the latter if it has any meaning separate from "African"!)
- sidibe 3y ago
  Typically, African-American means black AND, unintuitively, American for generations IME. Maybe it shouldn't mean that but that's kind of assumed where I live at least. For first or second generation Americans you might use the country (eg Nigerian-American). For other races from Africa you'd also rarely hear them referred to as African American.
  - maratc 3y ago
    But "Caucasian" is (was?) used for people who for many generations weren't anywhere near Caucasus Mountains.
  - fennecfoxy 3y ago
    It's a bit weird from the outside tho cause if you're a white south-african and you hear the phrase used in America you'd be like "oh, I should refer to myself as an African-American" although unlike Americans, people generally only refer to themselves as being from the place once they have citizenship (and would therefore have learnt the intricacies of the American phrase) and even then many people choose not to. American: "I'm Irish" Me: "No, you're not"
  - cuteboy19 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - crooked-v 3y ago
    Of course, part of the issue here is that there isn't really a good shorthand term for "the group of American Black people of diverse African origin whose cultures were oppressed and destroyed by the white majority for centuries, leading to a mélange culture intentionally constructed out of the remaining scraps".
deleted 3y ago
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worklaptopacct 3y ago
It's not too surprising in America, but I know a person who would refer to any Black person as African American in Europe. In most cases, neither party would have had set their foot in America in their lives.
- qwerty456127 3y ago
  For good or bad, in many underdeveloped places where black people are rare, they are intuitively perceived as Americans (which stereotypically means rich, cool, free and capable of teaching you great English) and treated with additional respect because of this.
- jgilias 3y ago
  I think parent talks about people in South Africa referring to themselves as ‘African American’.
  - mensetmanusman 3y ago
    Yes, this was happening in classrooms in South Africa.
- knewter 3y ago
  I had a South African friend in middle and high school. They fled the country when it became popular to put a tire around a white person's neck, full it with gasoline, and light it. Mandela's wife promoted doing this. They gained American citizenship. She became my African American friend. Everyone told me I was terrible for talking that way.

My South African sister in-law who recently immigrated to America said that her black peers in grade school would sometimes refer to themselves as African American. Cultural hegemony complete.

tibbydudeza 3y ago

Heard my daughter using the n-word for her school mates (they ain't black) - they all listened to rap music and obviously our schooling system don't cover American history i.r.o slavery. Had to explain to her why it would not be good idea to do that in the US. I never believed in the idea of embracing an offensive word and somehow "taking out the sting" like rappers did. We have a similiar word - the k word for blacks - it is fortunaly banned and if you used it on social media you clearly identify as a racist.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

I'm a little confused - are you talking about Black South Africans? Hmm. I foolishly expected that people like Elon Musk could be truthfully called "African-American", but I did a survey of the definitions, and most all of them agreed that an African-American must be Black (and I'm not sure how that is recursively defined, or whether it has to do with race, ethnicity, or simply color of skin: it must be the latter if it has any meaning separate from "African"!)

sidibe 3y ago
Typically, African-American means black AND, unintuitively, American for generations IME. Maybe it shouldn't mean that but that's kind of assumed where I live at least. For first or second generation Americans you might use the country (eg Nigerian-American). For other races from Africa you'd also rarely hear them referred to as African American.
- maratc 3y ago
  But "Caucasian" is (was?) used for people who for many generations weren't anywhere near Caucasus Mountains.
- fennecfoxy 3y ago
  It's a bit weird from the outside tho cause if you're a white south-african and you hear the phrase used in America you'd be like "oh, I should refer to myself as an African-American" although unlike Americans, people generally only refer to themselves as being from the place once they have citizenship (and would therefore have learnt the intricacies of the American phrase) and even then many people choose not to. American: "I'm Irish" Me: "No, you're not"
- cuteboy19 3y ago
  [flagged]
- crooked-v 3y ago
  Of course, part of the issue here is that there isn't really a good shorthand term for "the group of American Black people of diverse African origin whose cultures were oppressed and destroyed by the white majority for centuries, leading to a mélange culture intentionally constructed out of the remaining scraps".

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

worklaptopacct 3y ago

It's not too surprising in America, but I know a person who would refer to any Black person as African American in Europe. In most cases, neither party would have had set their foot in America in their lives.

qwerty456127 3y ago
For good or bad, in many underdeveloped places where black people are rare, they are intuitively perceived as Americans (which stereotypically means rich, cool, free and capable of teaching you great English) and treated with additional respect because of this.
jgilias 3y ago
I think parent talks about people in South Africa referring to themselves as ‘African American’.
- mensetmanusman 3y ago
  Yes, this was happening in classrooms in South Africa.
knewter 3y ago
I had a South African friend in middle and high school. They fled the country when it became popular to put a tire around a white person's neck, full it with gasoline, and light it. Mandela's wife promoted doing this. They gained American citizenship. She became my African American friend. Everyone told me I was terrible for talking that way.