Beats of No Nation

“Go back to where you came from” gets thrown around on social media with the furry of a draw four during a competitive game of Uno. But in the rise in popularity of afro beats, the romanticization of the continent of Africa, and the overall availability of African Studies programs across the United States, has this insult become less effective? Has the unapologetic embrace of Afrocentrism by those of the diaspora and eagerness to learn where we have come from changed the insult into a challenge to enter a stage of self-discovery? Or even a quest to fill the missing pieces we didn’t lose, but instead was ripped from out of our puzzle box?

Living abroad on the continent of Africa as a member of the African diaspora is a different black experience, one that is unique, fulfilling, insightful, and exhilarating but also introduces the longing for a deeper connection. While we connect in blackness, we are still a muzungu, a foreigner. A closeness to whiteness that many of us apart of the African diaspora are unprepared and reluctant to accept.

However, accepting our proximity to whiteness in the African context, we have a greater ability to collaborate and create meaningful change. Rather, we want to accept it, as black Americans in this context; we have privilege and have grown up and been exposed to systems and ideologies that, when unchecked, can do harm. While we could have anti-imperialistic sentiments, if we don't make ourselves aware of the way we move, think, and operate, we could further push the idea of European supremacy. Can growing up in a white world have us behaving white abroad? The complex answer to that is yes, not the you're invited to the cookout white, but a Karen-level white.

Working abroad takes self-awareness, open-mindedness, and consistently checking what we consider professional, polite, and the norm. We have to be aware we are not locals, that we don't have all the answers, and that to make a meaningful impact, it takes comradery and collaboration. While we are black, may have taken an ancestry test, and majored in African Studies, there is so much we do not know.