How Petit Afro's YouTube Dance Videos Express Being Afro-Dutch & Promote African Culture, Part III (Comments About Facial Expressions As Part Of Dance Performances)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series that explores how Petit Afro's YouTube dance videos express being Afro-Dutch & promote African culture.

Part III presents selected comments about certain facial expressions that Petit Afro's dancers make as part of their dance performances.

The YouTube videos where these comments are found are embedded in this post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos.html for Part I of this series.Part I includes quotes from the journal article that was featured in this pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/excerpt-from-2014-journal-article.html "Excerpt From 2014 Journal Article "Styling Africanness in Amsterdam" By Marleen de Witte".

Part I also includes my editorial statement and a list of ways I believe Afro Petit's videos express being Afro-Dutch and promote African culture. Selected comments from five of Petit Afro's YouTube videos are also included in this post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos_22.html for Part II of this series. Part II features five Petit Afro YouTube videos. Selected comments from these videos were featured in Part I of this series.

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/facial-expressions-other-aspects-of.html for a related pancocojams post entitled "Facial Expressions & Other Aspects of "Attitude" In Some African American Contemporary Group Movement Arts".

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The content of this post is presented for cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Petit Afro and Petit Afro's dancers for their cultural legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to Orokana for filming this video.

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Petit Afro - Afro Dance || Prod By. IFvckChris & Moris Beat



Petit Afro Official, Published on Oct 26, 2017
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Example #2: Petit Afro & Reis Fernando || Jozo - Erin Eruit (Shinna's Afro Mix) Orokana Film



Petit Afro Official, Published on Nov 3, 2017

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Example #3: Petit Afro Presents - #PetitAfroChallenge || Afro Dance || Video By HRN



Petit Afro Official, Published on Sep 1, 2018
-snip-
A related pancocojams post entitled "Attitude And Facial Expressions In Certain African American Contemporary Movement Arts" will be published ASAP and that link will be included in this post.

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SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AS PART OF DANCE PERFORMANCES
These comments are gleaned from some of Petit Afro's YouTube videos, including the two that are showcased above. I've added numbers for referencing purposes only.

Selected Comments #1
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sueuOezi8FQ
Petit Afro - Afro Dance || Prod By. IFvckChris & Moris Beat, published by Petit Afro Official on Oct 26, 2017 [This is the video given as #1 above.]

1. Tacio daSilva, September 2018
"I Love to see how afrikan dance is not only about dancing but interpretation and facial expressions are so important as body movements."

**
REPLY
2. Ana Teran, September 2018
"Tacio daSilva Totally agree with you this is spectacular dance and the facial expressions and a lot of talent 👍"

**
3. TheSallylulu, September 2018
"I love love love Nyah. The facial expressions (especially smile) and her dancing killed it. These kids Mayne. The girl in the green dashiki suit, these girls all killed it @petit"

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Selected Comment #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTAw03texKU "Petit Afro & Reis Fernando || Jozo - Erin Eruit (Shinna's Afro Mix) Orokana Film" published by Petit Afro Official on Nov 3, 2017 [This is the video given as #2 above.]

July Marks, November 2017
"someone please tell me, what is the black girl with the jersey ‘Pretty 93’ instagram?? i love how she dances and her face expressions 😭🔥🔥
-snip-
The dancer referenced in this comment is shown with another dancer at 2:55 to 3:38 in this video.

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Selected Comments #3
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qepmhyQAMMU
"Petit Afro Presents - #PetitAfroChallenge || Afro Dance || Video By HRN" published by Petit Afro Official on Sep 1, 2018

[This is the video given as #3 above. All of these comments are from September 2018 and October 2018]

1. Charlene Gyasi
"2:59 me when my mum makes says she is making jollof"

**
REPLY
2. Fabienne Blaise
"My cousin says your funny"

**
3. abena poundz
"The girl in the African wear green at 3:001 she nailed it"

**
REPLY
4. TheSallylulu
"True"

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REPLY
5. Solène G
"Her facial expressions 😂😂"

**
REPLY
6. Biola Bey
"She was the worst because of her face"

**
7. Amel Al-Dousary
"What's even better than their amazing dancing ars the facial expressions of those little ones. Talk about confidence. Love"

**
8. Baby bre's life
"The white girl in the green was killing it😂"

**
REPLY
9. Majda Zyani
"Yeahhh attitude"

**
REPLY
10. Melanin Mad3
"No she was not she just had facial expressions"

**
11. Grace #FUNNY VIDEOS
"The girl wearing all green she just killed it just a Woow 🔥🔥🔥🔥"

**
REPLY
12. Soothing Voice of Reason
"Yes, she did. She was all into it!!"

**
REPLY
13. Grace #FUNNY VIDEOS
"🔥🔥🔥Her moves dou"

**
REPLY
14. Quasia Jackson
"She had the perfect attitude for the dance 😍😍😍"

**
REPLY
15. Imani Monay
"I notice a lot in these kinds of videos ppl mainly hype up the white ppl in the comments. The white girls did good BUT definitely wasn’t the best out of all the girls."

**
REPLY
16. Keep The Change
"Imani Monay I often read the comments first. I clearly knew this would be the case, as always. As you stated, this is so annoying, when someone with less melanin is ALWAYS given more glory than they deserve. There is no way this child was any any better than the others. As a matter of fact, she has LESS CONTROL, and was all over the place. This is a prime example of self loathing. NO ONE can do it better than those who originate the art! The younger girls at the beginning and the young lady in the red shorts, clearly have a clue of body control, as well as eye and ear coordination. We must cease to give others more applause and praise than they deserve!"

**
17. Jennie Ragans
"The girl in the green did too much facial expression, she need to learn when to use it and when not. The girl in the Nike did it all good."

**
18. Erica O'Neil
"Who is the young lady in the 4th group.....wearing the green outfit?!? All that sass and dance came from HER soul💚💚💚💚"

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This concludes Part III of this three part series on Petit Afro's dancers.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

How Petit Afro's YouTube Dance Videos Express Being Afro-Dutch & Promote African Culture, Part II (Video Examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series that explores how Petit Afro's YouTube dance videos express being Afro-Dutch & Promote African culture.

Part II of this series features six Petit Afro YouTube videos. Selected comments from these videos were featured in Part I of this series.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos.html for Part I of this series. Part I includes quotes from the journal article that was featured in this pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/excerpt-from-2014-journal-article.html "Excerpt From 2014 Journal Article "Styling Africanness in Amsterdam" By Marleen de Witte".

Part I also includes my editorial statement and a list of ways I believe Afro Petit's videos express being Afro-Dutch and promote African culture. Selected comments from six of Petit Afro's YouTube videos are also included in this post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos_23.html for Part III of this series. Part III presents selected comments about certain facial expressions that Petit Afro's dancers make as part of their dance performances.

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The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Petit Afro and Petit Afro's dancers for their cultural legacy and thanks to Orokana for filming these videos. .
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Video #1: Adventure of AfroVibes // Winner Everybody Dance Now 2015



Petit Afro Official, Published on Feb 21, 2015
-snip-
total views as of October 22, 2018 1:PM EDT- 339,904

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Video #2: AfroVibes & Friends 1 || Os Moikanos - Impro || Choreo By Petit Afro



Petit Afro Official, Published on Jun 21, 2015

THIS IS SPECIAL VIDEO TO ALL OF OUR FANS WHO ALWAYS LEARN OUR DANCE MOVES . THIS IS FOR YOU GUYS GO AND LEARN IT

[...]

Song: Shadows and Voices (Tom Tom Mix)
Artist: Djibooti

Album: Congano Records Presents African Chill
-snip-
total number of views as of October 22, 2018 1:05 PM EDT - 679,683

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Video #3: Petit Afro First Tutorial || Bibinho De Gaucho - I Love you



Petit Afro Official, Published on Oct 9, 2016

This Is My First Tutorial , If You Guys Have Any FeedBack Plzz Comment Below. Thank You
-snip-
total number of views as of October 22, 2018 1:07 PM EDT - 126,817 views

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Video #4: AFROVIBES & FRIENDS 3 || Petit Afro Choreo



Petit Afro Official, Published on Jul 11, 2016

let me introduce you to the new kids that I recently scouted and put them in this video together with my crew AFROVIBES.
Don't forget to watch AfroVibes & Friends 1 and 2

[...]

Song: Makolongulu
Artist: BM
-snip-
total number of views as of October 22, 2018 1:10 PM EDT - 1,276,386 views

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Video #5: Petit Afro Presents - #PetitAfroChallenge || Afro Dance || Video By HRN



Petit Afro Official, Published on Sep 1, 2018
-snip-
total number of views as of October 22, 2018 1:17 PM EDT - 4,265,372

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This concludes Part II of this three part series on Afro Petit.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

How Petit Afro's YouTube Dance Videos Express Being Afro-Dutch & Promote African Culture, Part I (Journal Quotes, Editorial Note & List, & Comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series that explores how Petit Afro's YouTube dance videos express being Afro-Dutch & promote African culture.

Part I includes quotes from the journal article that was featured in this pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/excerpt-from-2014-journal-article.html "Excerpt From 2014 Journal Article "Styling Africanness in Amsterdam" By Marleen de Witte".

Part I also includes my editorial statement and a list of ways I believe Afro Petit's videos express being Afro-Dutch and promote African culture. Selected comments from five of Petit Afro's YouTube videos are also included in this post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos_22.html for Part II of this series. Part II features five Petit Afro YouTube videos. Selected comments from these videos were featured in Part I of this series.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos_23.html for Part III of this series. Part III presents selected comments about Afro Petit's facial expressions dancers make as part of their dance performances.

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The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Petit Afro and Petit Afro's dancers for their cultural legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/facial-expressions-other-aspects-of.html for a related pancocojams post entitled "Facial Expressions & Other Aspects of "Attitude" In Some African American Contemporary Group Movement Arts".

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QUOTES ABOUT BEING AFRO-DUTCH AND AFRO-DUTCH CULTURE
From http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/18725465-00702002 "Styling Africanness in Amsterdam
image of African Diaspora" Author: Marleen de Witte
"This article focuses on the recent emergence of an “Afro-Dutch” category of self-identification among young people in Amsterdam. Dutch-born youth of different Afro-Caribbean and African backgrounds show a new sense of (and search for) a shared African heritage, and a growing desire for public exposure and recognition of this Africanness. Manifesting in, for example, media initiatives, performing arts, cultural festivals, and bodily fashions, this trend is characterized by an aesthetic emphasis on globalized African styles and by political struggles about the inclusion of African heritage in Dutch imaginations of nationhood. Approaching Africanness as a process of becoming and a practice of self-styling, this article explores the convergence between the renewed interest in African roots among Dutch-born Afro-Caribbeans and the ways in which Ghanaian youth engage with their African origins. It discerns three prominent, but contested tropes with regard to their framing and design of Africanness: “African heritage”, “blackness” and “Afro-cool”.

[,,,]

Being hotly debated as part of identity politics, Africanness is also, and increasingly so, mobilized in the arena of lifestyle and entertainment. A great variety of cultural entrepreneurs, from fashion designers, lifestyle magazines, and dance groups to bloggers, DJs, and other tastemakers, address a growing market for African styles. Inspired by globally circulating images and sounds of Africanness, and thriving on aesthetic appeal, design, and marketing, they vest “being African” with an aura of urban cool that attracts increasing numbers of young people and provide them with the materials – “all this Afro stuff” – with which to flesh out their – often newly found – identities.

[...]

Young people of different African and black backgrounds converge more easily in a current “aesthetics of Afro-cool”, inspired by contemporary urban African fashion and music. This trend was prominently present at the Kente festival and the African Homecoming festival alike, and popular among Untold’s members, even if it did not fit Untold’s project objectives. Afro-cool is about feeling the spirit of a vibrant continent and indulging in its creativity and “fresh aesthetics”. It may flirt with the ancient and the tribal, but always with a playful and cosmopolitan twist. It is about being part of the making of something new, of a new generation oriented towards the future – wearing “Africa is the Future” T-shirts. In that sense Afro-cool is less burdened with the different histories and genealogies that cling to the tropes of heritage and blackness. It is also about “rebranding Africa”, “refreshing the world’s view of Africa, correct misperceptions and shatter old stereotypes, by showing that what gives urban Africa its funk and vibe today is far removed from the tired and narrow clichés of safaris, traditional drums, corruption, poverty, war and disease”.

This new delight in the funk and vibe of Africa is clearly part of a broader, transnational revitalization of African culture as an Afropolitan style that connects young urban middle classes across Africa and the African diaspora and contests the marginalization of Africa in the world order. A vibrant African urban pop culture is going global and this makes being African cool and fashionable. In today’s global identity market, Africanness is becoming available as a lifestyle trend, targeted at those with a taste for African-inspired products and designed to make them feel on top of the world as Africans, proudly wearing “I am African” T-shirts. In the current neo-liberal era, “African culture” circulates easily through the circuits of the global market and at the same time is easily embodied through affective attachment (Comaroff and Comaroff 2009: 18, 28). Worn on the body and danced to the beats, Afro-Dutch comes to denote a fleeting and open, African-inspired community of style, aesthetic pleasure, and shared passion. But in its commercially driven celebration of style and aesthetics also lies the major challenge to the trend of Afro-cool: it risks being accused, and indeed gets accused, of superficiality, commerciality, and lack of political engagement and historical consciousness.23 As a Surinamese-Dutch man at a youth debate about “roots, slavery, and international solidarity” said, “now with Afrobeats, AfroDance, Azonto … everybody feels attracted to Africa. But only to the nice part, not to the painful part of the history.” Ironically, it is exactly this lack of historical weight that seems to make this trend most capable of providing a new, highly diverse generation of Afro-Dutch with a pivot around which to develop a shared African identity."....

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INFORMATION ABOUT PETIT AFRO
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This information has been gleaned from reading the YouTube discussion threads of multiple Petit Afro videos and sussing out other online information about Petit Afro. As of this date (October 22, 2018) there's no Wikipedia page about Petit Afro, and I haven't found any online biographical information about this choreographer.]

"Petit Afro", a Black male living in Amsterdam, Holland, is the choreographer of the group "AfroVibes" which won Holland's television series " "Everybody Dance Now in 2015.

Petit Afro's earliest YouTube videos are from 2012. In those videos Petit Afro is also addressed as and responds to the name "Petit Bagaza".

My guess is that the screen name "Petit Afro" was selected by or given to this choreographer because he is a Black man of relative short stature ["Petit" is French for "short"].

A number of people in his YouTube videos' comment threads ask Petit Afro if he is Congolese or which other African nation he is from (or, presumably, his parent/s are from). While he has responded that he's not Congolese, he doesn't provide any biographical information.]

Petit Afro's dance styles combine various popular contemporary dances as well as other dance moves from African American Hip Hop and elsewhere. (Notice the large wall signage in the 2018 video given as Example #7 below that reads "I Am Hip Hop).

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WAYS IN WHICH PETIT AFRO'S YOUTUBE VIDEOS EXPRESS BEING AFRO-DUTCH & PROMOTE AFRICAN CULTURE
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: I created this list from watching a number of Petit Afro videos and reading many of the English language comments and some comments in Dutch or French that I translated using Google Translate. A small portion of those comments are found below.

Additions and corrections to this list are welcome.]

1. The use of the stage name "Petit Afro"

2. The use of the group name "AfroVibes"

3. The use of contemporary music from various African nations [particularly Democratic Republic Of The Congo (Kinshasa), The Ivory Coast, Ghana, South Africa, Angola, Nigeria, and Uganda. [This list is given in no particular order.]

4. The use of contemporary dance styles from various African nations [The comments that I recall which mentioned dance styles cited Congolese - ndombolo, Ghanaian- azonto; Ivorian-coupe decale, and South African-gwara gwara.]

5. Many of the dancers' use of African clothing [re-styled "dashikis" and other clothing in "African print"] as "costumes"

6. The fact that Petit Afro and a number of the Black dancers wear their hair in Black "natural" hairstyles (including braided extensions which technically may not be considered "natural hairstyles"). Also note the "afro pick" [comb] that Afro Petit wears in his dyed blond hair (in the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGPmZWtWwcs").

7. The comments from people in numerous African and African Diaspora nations congratulating and applauding Afro-Petit for sharing African dance and music from their nation and from other African nations with the world. These commenters indicated that by doing so Afro-petit was "making Africa proud".

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SELECTED DISCUSSION THREAD COMMENTS FROM PETIT AFRO'S YOUTUBE VIDEOS
These comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Discussion Thread #1
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moEeJ25zyeo
Adventure of AfroVibes // Winner Everybody Dance Now 2015, published by Petit Afro Official
Published on Feb 21, 2015
"Song: Coupe Decale
Artist: Minjin"

1. Lajin Entertainment, 2015
"Wow I am amazed at how you presnted Africa…. Way to go Petit!!!! I’m sure Africa is very proud of you and your young team. Very well done"

**
2. ampah sandra, 2015
"I like everything about it esp the African clothes... u did a gr8 job and God Bless u for tht"

**
3. Saron, 2016
"Thank you for showcasing Africa`s beautiful culture & for representing us in such a positive way. Congratulation on your win."

**
4. RERE L Lomanya, 2017
"I'm african I'm so proud you make all african happy you wear clothes like us african people you guys are copy african"

**
5. irene asowata, 2017
"wow...am glad you guys won .yeah
hurray for Africa"

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Discussion Thread #2:
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyj9j3Cr8Vk, "AfroVibes & Friends 1 || Os Moikanos - Impro || Choreo By Petit Afro", published by Petit Afro Official on Jun 21, 2015

1. Nordin Parker, 2015
"Petit Bagaza official Hoe kan ik me inschrijven echt super groep zijn jullie"
-snip-
Google translate from Dutch to English
"Petit Bagaza official How can I register really super group are you"

**
2. Quépassa Amigo, 2016
"Tout senjaille sur nos musique angolaise afrohouse tellement c darh #angolaenforce"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English
"Everything about our Angolan music afrohouse so much darh #angolaenforce"

**
3. Bráulio Sabino Salongue Figueiredo, 2017
"I'm from Angola and I'm so happy people from other part of the world adhering and appreciating our culture"

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Discussion Thread #3:
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGPmZWtWwcs
Petit Afro First Tutorial || Bibinho De Gaucho - I Love you" published by Petit Afro Official on Oct 9, 2016

2. PickBeat Singsong, 2016
"ndombolo :)"

**
2. Nana Adoma, 2016
"youre super goooood. Are you from Ghana? oh and id like to see you or your students dance to SOLO by Article Wan. oh oh oh and its pretty cool that you reply your comments !!!"

**
REPLY
3. Petit Afro Official, 2017
"hi etisei? haha am not from Ghana but i know alot from Ghana xd i will try to look for the song and litsen to it"

**
REPLY
4. AD Jonathan, 2017
"Petit Afro Official why you never say where you are from?"

**
5. D.i.n BEATS ღ, 2017
"Petit Bagaza you're a genius bro ! Dope moves for real how did you teach these girl to dance like this man ?? Amazing ! Keep up the great work and much support :D"

**
6. Damy Barros, 2018
"ohh these girls good,and they are only good because they have a nice teacher..
I also dance Afro House.. but u could teach me one day"

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Discussion Thread #4
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2yRm5R6jBE "AFROVIBES & FRIENDS 3 || Petit Afro Choreo", published by Petit Afro Official on Jul 11, 2016
"let me introduce you to the new kids that I recently scouted and put them in this video together with my crew AFROVIBES.
Don't forget to watch AfroVibes & Friends 1 and 2"

[Pancocojams Editor's note: This video features young Black girls and young White girls wearing belly length African print “dashikis” tops with shorts.]

1. Classic Dama, 2016
"they are so amazing you are doing a great job. but WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TEACH US??? WE CANT COME TO YOUR LAND. TEACH US VIA YOUTUBE!"

**
REPLY
2. Petit Afro Official, 2016
"hahahaha i'm working on it🙌🙌"

**
3. Prinssece Roro, 2016
"+Petit Bagaza Official yo oza congolais ??"

**
REPLY
3. It'sMadelyn K, 2016
"+Petit Bagaza Official R u from Congo"

**
REPLY
4. Petit Afro Official, 2016
"haha guus am not from Congo but i grew up with Congolees music"

**
REPLY
5. Classic Dama, 2016
"Só where are u from? @Petit Bagaza Official bcz u always say be from congo"
-snip-
There's no reply to this question as of the date of this post's publication.

**
6. Laourah Youssouf, 2017
"trop cool les dance d'Afrique"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"too cool the dance of Africa"

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Discussion Thread #5:
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gte2gmL_8og
Petit Afro Presents - AfroDance || One Man Workshop Part 1 || Eljakim Video, published by Petit Afro Official on Apr 1, 2018

[...]

"Song : DJ Eric Instrumental Coupe Decale"

1. TheOverComer, 2018
"Soooo proud to be an African ✊🏾 our way of dancing is one of a kind....great job everyone, this is absolutely amazing. Great example of unity and young people coming together to have fun. We are all one regardless of gender or race. ❤️"

**
REPLY
2. Occhi Magazine, 2018
"It is! We love it! It's a true dance form that is deeply rooted in culture and tradition."

**
REPLY
3. Madison Herndon
"TheOverComer I agree bc believe it or not there are white African people as well lol, but all jokes aside this is a good example of unity, the different ages, genders, and races represented is amazing!"

**
REPLY
4. Username 4576, 2018
"There are no white or black races, only the human race."

**
REPLY
5. AHS Society, 2018
"you should take that message to the racist who kill and exploit Africa. I do not know how any mature adult in a world so racialized can say there is no race. So all the struggle Africans go through in America and Europe is a figment of our imagination. Or is there now no African culture? only human culture?"

**
6. K How, 2018
"This...this...this was EVERYTHING. I am gonna tell u that it bout a tear to my eye to see so many different colors dancing to these African beats. I really started crying..UNITY. UNITY of the HUMAN RACE thru music/dance so beautiful. #ALLYALLRINVITEDTOTHECOOKOUT 😅😊😘😘😘😘"

**
REPLY
7. TheOverComer, 2018
"Yesssss it’s amazing! We need more of this here in some parts of the U. S....."

**
REPLY
8. K How, 2018
"TheOverComer yes ma'am we do. I'm confident that we're gonna get there..somehow...someway. more of us love than hate and we just need to keep on loving😘😘"

**
9. Becky Devoted2Christ, 2018
"They are adorable but I think some of the dislike may be because you could tell that they are still learning without the suave and African flare. I've danced since I could barely walk and taught dance lessons in Africa it is very common to see a little boy or girl that is four or five yrs old dancing with a little a lot of style and naturally get down without being taught so I'm thinking that's probably why they have the dislike because I was thinking the exact same thing but didn't press the dislike button since they are learning but good job still"

**
10. Sara Israel, 2018
"no matter how well white ppl do the steps their soul can not connect to the music, you can see the effort they are doing to get the steps just right whereas the african people are so smooth and look so natural"

**
REPLY
11. Jamie Venezia, 2018
"Sara Israel, I’ll be honest, I think this is kind of a racist comment for two reasons; Africa is a continent, not a race. How do you know which kids are African and which aren’t? Black does not mean one is African. And two, I do not know what dancing background you have, but I’m pretty sure you and I both would struggle learning these intricate dances. While the two girls in the first shot are my particular favorite, I believe they are all talented dancers who hear music in such different ways than you and I (This is with no knowledge of your skills). They are all truly gifted. I understand that to segregate was probably not your intent in this comment, but I respectfully ask that you not discount someone’s talent in anything solely based on their race. I don’t know if those kids check the comments, but I want them to find as many positive comments as possible. (Also, with your theory, black people would not be able to dance Latin American style, but then neither of us would be able to enjoy Alfonso Ribeiro’s dances!😂 I adore him!)"

**
REPLY
12. AnnY Ann, 2018
"Jamie Venezia thank ya"

**
REPLY
13. Thy law is the truth, 2018
"Jamie Venezia Correction: Black = Afrikan and no dance routine is going to make that not true. The whites danced amazingly well also. And no they can never connect to the heart of the music. I enjoyed every bit of this video. Amazing job. P.S Sara Israel did not make a racist comment, it was the truth."

**
REPLY
14. Jamie Venezia, 2018
"Everything Narrated Actually, I have to disagree with you. I don’t know what your basis is for believing all black people are African, but black is a race and Africa is a place. I’m white but my heritage is Italian. My race isn’t Italian. Also, my great grand parents immigrated to America, so I’m third generation American. At what point am I simply an American with Italian roots? When do we stop counting back the generations because we all technically came from Africa? There are black French people and black Korean people, so not every black person is directly from Africa. Also, it is a racist statement to suggest that a certain race is inherently superior at one thing over another based on the color of their skin according to the definition of racism. I understand that was not the intent of Sara Israel’s comment (and I am someone who believe’s intent is very important. She wasn’t setting out to be racist and I know that, which is why I calmly stated my point of view.), but nevertheless, by the strict definition of racism, it is racist. Also, by that logic, I could say that a black person will never be as connected to the tarantella or the mambo as a white Italian person and that they can learn he steps but they will never be as good. That is an inherently racist comment based on the definition and simple logic because I think people should learn about different cultures and be immersed in them to become great global citizens, and also because there are black Italian people in the world with great nationalist pride who would be very offended by that remark that because of the color of their skin, they will never be as good as a white Italian. As I said, we don’t know how many of these children are and are not from Africa. It is very possible some of the white kids are African and some of the black kids are French or American. I also think it takes away the initiative to learn about different cultures and to respect them if “our hearts will never connect”. While I disagree wholly with your premise, I do say I have to respect how lovely and civil you have kept this debate and it makes me smile that your comment did say something positive about the video. My faith is restored in YouTube😂💝"

**
REPLY
15. Thy law is the truth, 2018
"Jamie Venezia wonderful then. We agree to disagree. Nothing wrong with that. Awesome video. Now I want to learn some of these dances moves, hope you’ve been learning to :). Looks amazing.
(P.S Afrika isn’t simply what’s shown on the map today. It includes all of the so called Middle East and massive parts of Asia and India. But I’ll stop there.)"

**
REPLY
14. Jamie Venezia, 2018
"Everything Narrated Agree to disagree then. 🙂Oooh! Me too! I wish I could dance like any of those kids. And thank you for the last tip about Africa. I like learning new things!"

**
REPLY
15. Thy law is the truth, 2018
"Yeah they seem so natural dancing like that. Great instructor."

**
REPLY
16. YML Gaming, 2018
"If you are basing "natural and smooth dancing" or "connecting to the music" on skin pigment alone you must be sadly mistaken. Not to mention the countless people of color with ZERO rhythm, I challenge you to find anyone in this video clip "connecting to the music" more than the "white" girl at 2:55 and 8:48 . Did you even watch the entire video? Flawed and misinformed statement to say the least. Excellent dancing from all of them, but she DANCED her ass off."

**
17. tutu beast, 2018
"I love how music and dance unites people. You all are amazing."

**
18. Baji Mohan, 2018
"wow wow wow., amazing., feeling africa"

**
REPLY
19. Scoring57, 2018
"Baji Mohan

There's barely anything african about this. "Afro" yet there's barely any black people"

**
REPLY
20. Baji Mohan, 2018
"@Scoring57 even 1 percent influence is positive ., Afro beat , wearing cupulana by girls , afro dance only African can perfect it .,"

**
REPLY
21. Scoring57, 2018
"Baji Mohan

Yeah but why does everything black seem like people want it to be minus black people or only full of people that are sort of like black people but aren't black people? Like mixed people?"

**
REPLY
22. Baji Mohan, 2018
"its natural , with wide culture around the world and people accept the changes that comes., mixed or black its just perspective., above all humanity should be respected. just my point.,"

**
REPLY
23. Chidi_babz, 2018
"Scoring57 isn’t the song African tho if not please tell me and a lot of the people there are African even the guy that was leading the group"

**
REPLY
24. Kur Mayol, 2018
"@Scoring57 ok this is Afo beat , and afro moves so what is your point?!"

**
REPLY
25. MajorrBison, 2018
"Are you slow in the head or just plain idiotic??????? this is Ivorian music from west Africa and yes those are mixed kids with black dad or mom. some full black kids and some white kids."

**
26. MOHAMED ILYAAS, 2018
"this girls r dutch all"

****
Discussion Thread #6:
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qepmhyQAMMU
Petit Afro Presents - #PetitAfroChallenge || Afro Dance || Video By HRN; published by Petit Afro Official on Sep 1, 2018

1. Mohamed Bidanessy, 2018
"ľ afro danse ca vien de la côte ď ivoire"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English
"ľ afro dance ca come from the coast ď ivory"

**
2. Sandi Hugo, 2018
"I am from Africa, many people can dance very well. But when it comes in a group dance like this where everybody must dance the same thing.We do judge and gives winner to the person who gives more styles. So the WHITE GIRL wearing all green just killed it. And also the two girls group, the WHITE GIRL wearing pink top inside, killed it too. And the last one is the GIRL wearing NIKE TOP killed it too.
That was my results, Thanks guys.. One Love"

**
3. Adriano alvaro, 2018
"Eu vi toques de Angola ai irmão. Tu és de que País...
Até pk essa mistura foi feita por um Angolano mesmo"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"I saw touches from Angola to my brother. Which country are you from...
Even pk this mixture was made by an Angolan himself"

**
4. Zayd Shakur, 2018
"I LOVE WHAT YOU'RE WITH THESE KIDS BROTHER!!! NEVER STOP! THIS IS SO DOPE!!! ASE, ASE, ASE!"

**
5. Kenny De Araujo, 2018
"best of angolan beats"

**
6. Hephzibah skillon, 2018
"My family I watch all your videos about 3 or 4 times a day such good inspiration. We have never been to Africa but we definitely feel connected to all the music and the dancing. Keep up the good work and continue putting on more videos. 😁😀😉"

****
This concludes Part I of this four part series on Afro Petit.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Excerpt From 2014 Journal Article "Styling Africanness in Amsterdam" By Marleen de Witte

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents an excerpt from the 2014 journal article "Styling Africanness in Amsterdam" By Marleen de Witte.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and historical purposes.

As a reminder, I present excepts of articles and books on this blog to raise awareness about them, with the hope that this blog's visitors will read the entire published work, if possible.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Marleen de Witte and all those who are quoted in this post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos.html for Part I of a four part series on Holland's Petit Afro. That series serves as a supplement to this post on "Styling Africanness In Amsterdam".

****
FEATURED EXCERPT:
From http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/18725465-00702002
"Open Access Heritage, Blackness and Afro-Cool

PDF

Styling Africanness in Amsterdam
image of African Diaspora

Author: Marleen de Witte 1

Source: African Diaspora, Volume 7, Issue 2, pages 260 – 289 Publication Year : 2014

DOI: 10.1163/18725465-00702002

ISSN: 1872-5457 E-ISSN: 1872-5465

Document Type: Research Article

Subjects: African Studies

Keywords: identité black; afro-néerlandais; africanité; Blackness; Self-styling; afro-cool; Afro-Dutch; Africanness; héritage culturel Africain; stylisation de soi; Cultural Heritage; Afro-cool

Open Access icon image of CC BY-NC Attribution-Non Commercial

Abstract
This article focuses on the recent emergence of an “Afro-Dutch” category of self-identification among young people in Amsterdam. Dutch-born youth of different Afro-Caribbean and African backgrounds show a new sense of (and search for) a shared African heritage, and a growing desire for public exposure and recognition of this Africanness. Manifesting in, for example, media initiatives, performing arts, cultural festivals, and bodily fashions, this trend is characterized by an aesthetic emphasis on globalized African styles and by political struggles about the inclusion of African heritage in Dutch imaginations of nationhood. Approaching Africanness as a process of becoming and a practice of self-styling, this article explores the convergence between the renewed interest in African roots among Dutch-born Afro-Caribbeans and the ways in which Ghanaian youth engage with their African origins. It discerns three prominent, but contested tropes with regard to their framing and design of Africanness: “African heritage”, “blackness” and “Afro-cool”.

Introduction

Who is an African? What does it mean to be African in Europe? Is African the same as Afro? Are black people automatically African? These questions are hotly debated among young people in Amsterdam today. On online discussion fora, Facebook pages, and blogs, and in community centres, entertainment halls, and at festival grounds, questions of African identity, belonging, and heritage are recurrent and their answers diverse, and often passionately argued.

Joyce1 is a fashion designer, born in Amsterdam of Ghanaian parents: “I can be Dutch and Ghanaian at the same time and both things are true. But inside, I am African; my parents gave me that … even if I didn’t feel African until I was 22.”2 Now, her African background is an important source of inspiration for the clothes she designs, and likes to wear. Angela is a hairdresser and a student of fashion. She said: “I was born in Curacao of mixed blood, even Spanish, and raised in the Netherlands, but I am simply African.”3 Nothing in her professional practice or her dressing style explicitly shows this and she has never been to any African country; for her, being African consists of a strong awareness of the history of transatlantic slavery and the place of origin of some of her ancestors. Bamba Nazar is a well-known DJ in Amsterdam’s Afro music scene. Born in Amsterdam of a white Dutch mother and a black Surinamese father, he grew up largely in Suriname, lived in New York for some years, and then returned to Amsterdam. He said: “I see myself first of all as an African, I recognize my roots. Our history and who we are is a very powerful thing.”4 His recognition of his African roots resulted in him organizing an annual African Homecoming festival.

For a few years, young Dutch people of what in official discourse would be termed “different ethnic backgrounds” – “Ghanaian”, “Antillean” and “Surinamese” – show an emergent sense of – and search for – a shared African heritage, and a growing desire for public exposure and recognition of this Africanness as part of new, hybrid forms of being Dutch. A new identity label is in vogue: “Afro-Dutch”. Kenneth, however, born in Amsterdam of black Surinamese parents, is critical of the label: “All this Afro stuff nowadays … pfff … I have got nothing to do with Africa. Some of my ancestors maybe, but not me. I am not ethnic; I am simply Surinamese-Dutch. Creole, Hindu, we are all Suris.”5 Kenneth explicitly rejects “this Afro stuff” that is increasingly in fashion nowadays, and wants to refrain from “being ethnic”. He rather claims a hyphenated identity as Surinamese-Dutch. Being Afro-Dutch is a choice, it appears, and competes or blends in with other identifications.

Being hotly debated as part of identity politics, Africanness is also, and increasingly so, mobilized in the arena of lifestyle and entertainment. A great variety of cultural entrepreneurs, from fashion designers, lifestyle magazines, and dance groups to bloggers, DJs, and other tastemakers, address a growing market for African styles. Inspired by globally circulating images and sounds of Africanness, and thriving on aesthetic appeal, design, and marketing, they vest “being African” with an aura of urban cool that attracts increasing numbers of young people and provide them with the materials – “all this Afro stuff” – with which to flesh out their – often newly found – identities.

To be clear, even if people themselves may use the category of Afro-Dutch quite matter-of-factly – in talking about “the Afro-Dutch community” for instance – it is not to be taken at face value as an “ethnic group” that automatically includes all who can trace ancestry to someplace in Africa. Rather, we are dealing here with a trend that a growing number of people, highly diverse in terms of ethnic and racial backgrounds, chose to join.6 In that sense, being African is also becoming African, as Joyce clearly expressed: “I didn’t feel African until I was 22.” One of the most influential theorists advancing an approach of cultural identity as both “being” and “becoming” has been Stuart Hall. In his seminal essay “Cultural identity and diaspora,” (1993: 392) Hall suggests that “perhaps instead of thinking of identity as an already accomplished fact, which the new cultural practices then represent, we should think, instead, of identity as a ‘production’, which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation”. The new Afro-cultural practices in Amsterdam do not express some already existing identity; they are the media through which previously non-existent Afro-Dutch identities are coming into being.

In this article I propose to approach Afro-Dutch identity as a practice of self-styling: designing the self and the group(s) to which one wants to belong by means of media, style, and (sub)cultural consumption. These things are often considered superficial, in contrast to something like “ethnicity”, that is supposed to be “deep-seated”. But I would like to stress that practices of self-styling and cultural consumption are at the heart of the contemporary identity question. My emphasis on style and self-styling takes inspiration from Michel Maffesoli’s understanding of “aesthetic style” as a binding force in an age in which primordial loyalties and group affiliations have lost their self-evidence (1996: 31ff.; see also Meyer 2009). It also refers to the ubiquity of the “I am …”, or what Sarah Nuttall has called “the emergence of explicit forms of selfhood within the public domain and the rise of the first-person singular within the work of liberation” (Nuttall 2004: 432). It thus directs attention to the social-aesthetic work involved in processes of identification and self-realization (which gets ever more urgent with the centrality of visual social media in young people’s lives). Across the globe young urbanites self-confidently mobilize and reassemble ethnic and cultural traditions as they fashion themselves in a global “identity economy” (Comaroff and Comaroff 2009; see also: Maher 2005). “African culture”, ever reinvented, ever reimagined, is booming as a reservoir of materials with which young people shape their lifestyles and identities, both in cities on the continent (e.g. De Witte and Meyer 2012; Nuttall 2004; Spronk, this issue) and in the diaspora (e.g. Sansone 1999). This is no different in Amsterdam, where “Africa” increasingly features as a source of pride, pleasure and empowerment for young black people in search of who they are. The question to be explored here is how this apparent process of self-styling comes into shape.

My approach to Africanness as self-design raises questions about the theoretical nexus of identity and authenticity and the role of anthropologists in substantiating the identity work of our interlocutors. Conceiving of Africanness not as some kind of authentic primordiality but as a historically and socially situated construct (see also the introduction to this issue), I posit that any assessment of whether or to what extent something is “authentically African” makes little sense (see Scott 1999, p. 108ff.). The question that remains to be addressed, however, is how self-constructed identities come to be experienced as authentic or primordial, that is, as anything but self-made. This would direct our focus not on “African authenticity” but on the practices of authentication that imbue designed selves with a “felt authentic grounding” (Van de Port 2004). Primordiality then may resurface as a resource people employ as part of their identity work. For instance, bodily tropes such as race, blood or DNA appear as powerful “authenticating devices”, such as when people ground their Africanness in phenotype (e.g. skin colour, hair type), bloodlines or genetic ancestry tests (Balkenhol 2011; Schramm et al. 2012). This interplay of design and authentication is an important theoretical and empirical question which I will pursue in detail elsewhere. Here I focus on the multiplicity of and dynamics between formulations of Africanness in a local setting with people of various African backgrounds.

What is interesting about the Dutch situation at this particular moment in history is that the renewed interest in African roots and self-styling among Dutch people of Afro-Caribbean (Surinamese, Antillean) backgrounds (Balkenhol 2011) coincides with the coming of age of a second generation of Africans (in Amsterdam predominantly Ghanaians), who engage with their so-called African heritage in ways that are very different from their parents’ ways of being African. The district of Amsterdam Southeast in particular is a place where groups from various black and African origins come and live together. With high concentrations of people categorized as being of “Surinamese” (32%), “Ghanaian” (10%), and “Antillean” (6%) descent (Amsterdam BOS 2013), it is home to a great variety of Afro-oriented cultural productions, media, and events. Here, second and third generations grow up in the same neighbourhood, attend school together, and hence develop their identities in interaction with each other.

This social reality seriously destabilizes the still dominant research focus on distinct “ethnic minority groups” (Brubaker 2004). In the Netherlands, dominant discourse about so-called “ethnic minorities” – apart from confusing country of origin with ethnicity – leaves little space for analyzing the processes of differentiation and merger that crosscut distinctions between officially recognized ethnic categories, as well as those between “ethnic minority” and “Dutch majority”. Crucially, such discourse persistently excludes minorities from Dutch nationhood by failing to acknowledge their Dutchness. Self-identification as Afro-Dutch, which clearly echoes (the now outdated) “Afro-American”, is also a claim to Dutchness and a call for recognizing hyphenated identities.7 Instead of reproducing the language of “ethnic minorities”, I suggest analyzing the trend towards Africanness in terms of dominant discourses about identity and selfhood that tout the value of “becoming who you really are” (Guignon 2004: 3) by discovering your “inner self” and styling yourself accordingly in the social (media) world.

In this process, the question of who or what is African, and on what grounds, turns out to be far from self-evident, even if statements like “I am simply African” present it as such. As the debates and stories presented in this article show, the difficulty of naming is part and parcel of the urgency with which young people discuss the issue of Africanness. Instead of taking their claims to Africanness for granted, I propose to study them as part and parcel of situated actions and events, creative and political projects, and discursive and aesthetic frames (Brubaker 2004: 11). Becoming African happens on the ground, in the encounters between people of various backgrounds. In these encounters and events, Africa features in different, sometimes contradictory ways. The question this article addresses is around what new forms of Africanness different “Afro-Dutch” groups can unite. And how the forms around which Afro-Dutch identities may crystallize are appropriated or contested. In what follows I explore the convergence between Dutch-born Africans and Afro-Caribbeans as they search for and design Africanness in media, expressive culture, and practices of self-styling. Differences in migration history, language, culture, and connection with Africa, make this convergence an ongoing search with an uncertain outcome, involving struggle, contestations, creativity and reflection.

As a background, I first give a brief description of the history and multiplicity of African diaspora in the Netherlands. Discussing examples from the burgeoning field of Afro-centred cultural production in Amsterdam, the second section sheds light on current trends and identifies three important tropes: “African heritage”, “blackness” and “Afro-cool”.8 The first two are empowering and engaging, but interpretations of heritage and blackness respectively seem too divergent and contested sometimes to bolster a collective Afro-identity. The third one, the recent trend towards a celebration of Afro-cool aesthetics in fashion and music, appears to hold more potential in that respect. Young people of various backgrounds unite more easily in the present turn to contemporary urban African arts and popular culture. Global in circulation and cosmopolitan in appeal, a variety of urban African cultural expressions provide young people in the diaspora with the positive vibe and fashionable aesthetics around which to shape a shared sense of Africanness.


African Diaspora in the Netherlands

In contrast to the US, in the Netherlands the hyphenated category of Afro-Dutch has only recently emerged, but also been contested, as a category of self-identification, mainly among young-Dutch born people of various black African and racially mixed backgrounds. Black migrants from Dutch ex-colonies in the Caribbean and various African countries have long been living in the Netherlands, albeit as somewhat distinct groups. Three main historical currents, although not strictly separable, contributed to the current composition of the Dutch African diasporic population: colonial history brought large groups of Surinamese and Antilleans to the Netherlands; post-WWII economic history accounts for today’s strong Moroccan presence; and political and economic crises in various African countries, especially since the 1980s, brought increasing flows of migrants seeking safer and/or ‘greener pastures’.

The largest presence of African-descended people in the Netherlands results from the Dutch participation in the transatlantic slave trade. Between 1600 and 1815 about half a million enslaved people, primarily from West African regions, were shipped to Dutch colonial possessions in the New World – initially Brazil, later Suriname, the Dutch Antilles, and Aruba. After the end of slavery in 1863, colonial authorities promoted the assimilation of the now free black population to Dutch culture, mainly through the colonial education system. In 1954 all inhabitants of the Dutch colonies became citizens, which opened the way for migration to the Netherlands. Whereas until 1965 small numbers of Surinamese and Antilleans had come to the Netherlands temporarily for study, from 1965 onwards larger numbers of Surinamese migrants from all socio-economic ranks came to find jobs or to apply for social security on the basis of their Dutch citizenship. Most Surinamese migrants, however, came just before Suriname’s independence in 1975, when those who had little confidence in the country’s economic and political future decided to leave. After independence, many more Surinamese made use of the ‘last option’ to migrate before they would lose their Dutch citizenship in 1980. A total of about 300,000 Surinamese came to stay in the Netherlands, over one-third of the entire Surinamese population. This is a very heterogeneous population, consisting of people of Hindustani, Creole, Javanese, Chinese, Maroon, Indian (native Surinamese) and mixed descent.9

A new flow of colonial migrants gained momentum in the 1990s: Antilleans. Before that time most Antilleans in the Netherlands were study migrants. Since the mid-1990s, more and more underprivileged Antillean youth came to look for economic chances in the Netherlands. They face many social problems and Dutch Antillean youth are often associated in the public imagination with criminality (Sharpe 2014: 109, 205). Because the Antilles are still part of the Dutch Kingdom, Antilleans are Dutch citizens and therefore entitled to free access to the country and its social security system. More than one-third of the Dutch Antillean population resides in the Netherlands (about 130,000 people).

In terms of post-WWII economic history, a defining moment was the shortage of labour force caused by the quick reconstruction and industrialization processes after the war. During the 1960s employers, and later the government, started recruiting semi- and unskilled industrial workers in Southern Europe and later in Turkey and North-Africa, primarily Morocco. First, second, and third-generation Turks and Moroccans, most of them Berber, now make up a large portion of the Dutch population. Despite their roots on the African continent, Moroccan-Dutch are not normally seen as being of African origin (without the qualifier North), whether by themselves or by others. This reveals a strong yet often taken-for-granted conflation of “African” with sub-Saharan African or black. The strong North-African presence in the Netherlands is relevant to exploring the category of Afro-Dutch and revealing its blurred, contested boundaries. Some African-oriented events and cultural productions do explicitly address Moroccan-Dutch as part of their audiences, but with limited success.

Since the 1980s the Netherlands has seen a growing influx of asylum seeking refugees from many parts of the world, caused by wars and political crises, but also by poverty and economic crises, and made possible by quick improvements in global communication and especially transport. Among others, large groups of Africans (predominantly Somali, Cape Verdeans, Ghanaians, Ethiopians, Eritreans and Egyptians), found their way to the country, through official or unofficial routes. Admission policies for asylum seekers have become stricter and stricter, and people whose application for asylum has been denied, are “removed” from the country via special “removal centres” [uitzetcentra]. Increasing numbers of people, however, opt for a life in “illegality”.

Dutch society is thus characterized by a high level of cultural diversity with a long history. But as much as the Netherlands has often been recognized as a prime European example of multiculturalism, it is at present accorded a paradigmatic status in what has been called “the retreat of multiculturalism” in Europe (Joppke 2004). Dutch policy and public debate exhibit a strong and persistent tendency of “othering” anyone who does not fit the image of mainstream white Dutchness (Essed and Trienekens 2008; Wekker 2009). Especially since the turn of the millennium, right-wing populism has been on the rise and a wave of anti-immigrant sentiments has been sweeping the country. African and Afro-Caribbean youth, born and raised in the Netherlands, are facing ongoing questioning of their Dutchness, and of the legitimacy of their being in the Netherlands, expressed as a growing pressure to adapt to “Dutch culture” or “fuck off to your own country”.10 As Sibo Kano, a contributor to the Afro-Europe blog, writes:

Black people in Europe, whether with brown or black skin, whether born there or not, whether having a white parent or not, whether adopted or not, whether they speak the national language or not, whether integrated or not, … are all perceived as a certain kind of foreigners from a common continent. […] This experience is central in the creation of our identity.11

Undoubtedly, the growing popularity of the “Afro-Dutch” category of self-identification comes partly in response to shared experiences of racist othering. Such experiences not only “force [black youth] to recognize their commonality as “blacks” or “Africans”” (Blakely 2005: 593); they also urge them to proclaim that, although not white, they too are Dutch. However, behind this “commonality as “blacks”” in the face of everyday racism, important differences, if not tensions, exist between various African-descended groups in the Netherlands that complicate their “commonality as Africans” or any taken-for-granted assumptions about an “Afro-Dutch” identity.

Differences in colonial and migration history have produced disparities with regard to familiarity with Dutch language and culture, access to citizenship, and socio-economic prospects. Migrants from the (former) Dutch colonies in the Caribbean had already been part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, were imbued with Dutch culture and language, and, mostly, saw themselves as Dutch. It was when they migrated to the Netherlands that their Dutchness was called into question and met with (racist) opposition from the majority, white Dutch society that generally perceived and treated Surinamese and Antillean immigrants as foreigners (Balkenhol 2011: 140). For Ghanaian migrants, the lack of a colonial link to the Netherlands makes for a very different relationship to Dutch society, language and culture, with most of them perceiving themselves as foreigners in a host country. Their children thus come to the question of being Dutch from a different direction than their Caribbean peers. As regards the question of being African, there are, of course, significant differences in the connection to and the imagination of Africa between Afro-Caribbean and Ghanaian Dutch. Whereas for most Surinamese and Antillean Dutch Africa is first of all an imagined place, Ghanaian Dutch have a direct link to a concrete place that their parents call home, even if they may not have visited it themselves. They may speak or understand a Ghanaian language, and know how to appreciate Ghanaian food. Such cultural familiarity, however, does not automatically make them identify as African.

For many Ghanaian Dutch youth, their African background used to be less a source of pride than of uneasiness, confusion and even shame, especially so in interactions with non-Africans. Partly, this had to do with the dominant image of Africa in the mainstream media and the public imagination as poor, war-torn, and backward. Added to this was a local dynamics of ethnic stereotyping between different “black” groups in Amsterdam Southeast. In particular, an aversion for Africans on the part of many Surinamese and Antillean blacks (see also Bijnaar 2002: 137), nurtured by longstanding stereotypes, has coloured many Africans’ experiences of growing up in Amsterdam, especially in Southeast with its large Surinamese population. In a way, being black was easier than being African and some Ghanaian youngsters chose to identify with the generalized “black” community in Amsterdam Southeast and keep silent about their being African. With the current global success of popular music and dance styles from urban Africa (especially West Africa), the connotations of defining oneself as African are now changing for the positive. Azonto in particular, a Ghanaian urban dance style that became wildly popular transnationally (Shipley 2013), has played a crucial role in elevating the image of young Ghanaians in Amsterdam and making it attractive to be or become African. As many of them expressed, being African is suddenly “cool”.

Clearly, such historical fluctuations complicate often-heard naturalizing statements like “I am black thus I am African” and indeed the very notions of “Afro-Dutch” or “the Dutch African diaspora” as unifying categories. They speak to the variety and mutability of experiences of being black/African, of what that African part of one’s identity means and does. Naturally, these experiences are different for every individual, situated in personal biographies, families, neighbourhoods and schools. But they also emerge out of histories of slavery, imperialism, colonialism, post-colonialism and migration. These histories, as Marta Sofía López points out, have “enormously complicated the definition of what being ‘African’ means” (2008: 4). The boom in platforms (online and offline) created by and for African-descended people in the Netherlands also speaks to a longing to discuss this question, to share experiences, and to unite around a positive image of Africa. One thing seems crucial for all young people exploring their African roots: the presence of inspiring and uplifting images of Africa and Africans, an “iconography that you would wrap your African identity around”, as a Ghanaian-British put it in a recent vlog. Much of the current trend towards Africanness in Amsterdam thrives on young people’s passionate dedication to establishing and participating in such Afro-iconographies through the production, circulation, and consumption of media content, images, cultural performances, and lifestyle products.

[...]

Conclusion

Setting out from a sense of wonder about the recent emergence of “Afro-Dutch” as an overarching identity label among young Dutch people of a variety of backgrounds, in this article I have explored the multiple ways in which people engage with this “Afro” part of who they feel they are. A young generation of “new Dutch” is growing up, who are not defined by so-called ethnic identities, but actively and creatively shape who they are and want to become, combining a variety of cultural resources from Europe, America, and Africa. Tracing their roots to Africa via different routes, Afro-Dutch youth design and debate “being African” in ways that transcend (or complement) earlier generations’ identifications and seriously problematize any taken-for-granted notions of “the African diaspora”. As I have shown, such new Afro-Dutch identities are formed in a plural political and aesthetic field, which is marked as much by racialized power structures as by neo-liberal dynamics of marketing and commodification. Manifesting in, for example, media initiatives, performing arts, music, cultural festivals and bodily fashions, the current trend towards Africanness is characterized by an aesthetic emphasis on African styles. It entails a reinvention of “African culture” both as a source of Afropolitan pleasure and (individualized) self-expression, and as a source of (collective) black empowerment in a context marked by racism, inequality, and exclusion.

With its multiple genealogies and histories, the idea of Africa (Mudimbe 1994) – and, for that matter, Africanness – is of course extremely complicated. The key concern in this article has been to see what happens in practice when these genealogies come together in a local setting as young people explore their commonalities as descendants of Africa. Approaching Africanness as a process of becoming and a practice of self-styling, I have discerned three prominent discursive and stylistic tropes with regard to their framing and designing of Africanness: “African heritage”, “blackness” and “Afro-cool”. What the examples of the Afro-Caribbean dance group Untold Empowerment, the Ghanaian Kente Festival, and the African Homecoming Festival have shown is that these tropes get mobilized and fleshed out, joined, and disjointed in quite different ways.

For Untold, African heritage denotes the culture that diasporic Africans were severed from when they were taken away from their continent as slaves, and the culture that was suppressed during the period of slavery. This directs the interest in Africa towards the pre-modern past, to so-called “traditional” dances and costumes, and to “African survivals” on the other side of the Atlantic, in particular Suriname. The staging of this heritage serves to disseminate knowledge about and recognition of this often silenced part of Dutch history. For the dancers and actors themselves, learning and embodying this heritage through dance is a way of strengthening their self-esteem as black youth. The case of the Kente Festival showed that the initiators of the event – first-generation migrants – framed kente cloth within a national framework of Ghanaian cultural heritage. As the Ghanaian youth took charge for the 2013 edition, the festival shifted towards a celebration of heritage as incorporated into Afropolitan fashion styles, a shift that parallels developments in urban Ghana (De Witte and Meyer 2012). The African heritage encountered at the African Homecoming festival was framed as “the legacy of the black people”. Its vision of a Pan-Africanist revival was strongly inspired by the historical experiences and struggles of black people in the Americas, and in particular, the United States.

This brings us to blackness, a dominant, but not unproblematic trope in formulations of Africanness. Both Untold and African Homecoming connect Africanness directly to “blackness”, Untold with its focus on empowering black youth and African Homecoming with its emphasis on the black family. But whereas some take the relationship between blackness and Africanness for granted, e.g. Afro-Caribbeans stating “I am black thus I am African” (and contradicting their parents saying “I am black, but I am not African”), others deliberately try to open up the boundaries of the category of African and the criteria for inclusion and question the place of blackness in formulations of Africanness (e.g. “I am African but I am not black”). At the Kente Festival blackness was not a prominent reference and it also featured white models presenting African fashion items. Ghanaian-Dutch fashion blogger Augustina preferred the word brown in response to the strong black framing of the African Homecoming festival, and a Ghanaian-Dutch participant at the debate questioned the language of black kinship altogether. This is not to say that Ghanaian and Afro-Caribbean Dutch do not convene around notions of blackness. They do, mostly so in response to racial inequalities and stereotyping in Dutch society. But in identifying as African, blackness is not an uncontested trope. The malleability of blackness, and its variable ascription to bodily features, history and cultural style, urges us to explore in greater detail when and how race becomes relevant, and how it is put to practice (cf. M’charek 2013). Here, it suffices to say that both the trope of African heritage and that of blackness seem too steeped in particular historical traditions, political traditions, and cultural traditions in different parts of global Africa to easily serve as a binding force in the forging of a shared African identity.22

Young people of different African and black backgrounds converge more easily in a current “aesthetics of Afro-cool”, inspired by contemporary urban African fashion and music. This trend was prominently present at the Kente festival and the African Homecoming festival alike, and popular among Untold’s members, even if it did not fit Untold’s project objectives. Afro-cool is about feeling the spirit of a vibrant continent and indulging in its creativity and “fresh aesthetics”. It may flirt with the ancient and the tribal, but always with a playful and cosmopolitan twist. It is about being part of the making of something new, of a new generation oriented towards the future – wearing “Africa is the Future” T-shirts. In that sense Afro-cool is less burdened with the different histories and genealogies that cling to the tropes of heritage and blackness. It is also about “rebranding Africa”, “refreshing the world’s view of Africa, correct misperceptions and shatter old stereotypes, by showing that what gives urban Africa its funk and vibe today is far removed from the tired and narrow clichés of safaris, traditional drums, corruption, poverty, war and disease”.

This new delight in the funk and vibe of Africa is clearly part of a broader, transnational revitalization of African culture as an Afropolitan style that connects young urban middle classes across Africa and the African diaspora and contests the marginalization of Africa in the world order. A vibrant African urban pop culture is going global and this makes being African cool and fashionable. In today’s global identity market, Africanness is becoming available as a lifestyle trend, targeted at those with a taste for African-inspired products and designed to make them feel on top of the world as Africans, proudly wearing “I am African” T-shirts. In the current neo-liberal era, “African culture” circulates easily through the circuits of the global market and at the same time is easily embodied through affective attachment (Comaroff and Comaroff 2009: 18, 28). Worn on the body and danced to the beats, Afro-Dutch comes to denote a fleeting and open, African-inspired community of style, aesthetic pleasure, and shared passion. But in its commercially driven celebration of style and aesthetics also lies the major challenge to the trend of Afro-cool: it risks being accused, and indeed gets accused, of superficiality, commerciality, and lack of political engagement and historical consciousness.23 As a Surinamese-Dutch man at a youth debate about “roots, slavery, and international solidarity” said, “now with Afrobeats, AfroDance, Azonto … everybody feels attracted to Africa. But only to the nice part, not to the painful part of the history.” Ironically, it is exactly this lack of historical weight that seems to make this trend most capable of providing a new, highly diverse generation of Afro-Dutch with a pivot around which to develop a shared African identity."....
-snip-
This is the end of article except for references and notes

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Visitor comments are welcome.

YouTube Comments About Being Black In Germany, Part II (Comments About Being A Black Adult In Germany)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series about being Black* in Germany. A few comments about being Black in certain other European nations are also included in these posts.

Part II documents selected comments from three YouTube videos' discussion threads about being a Black adult in Germany or in certain other European nations. These videos are embedded in Part I of this series and their hyperlinks are found below. Some of these quotes are followed by my brief editorial comments and/or informational quotes.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/11/youtube-comments-about-being-black-in.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents selected comments from the same three YouTube videos' (vlogs) discussion threads that are featured in Part II of this series. These comments focus on growing up as a Black person in Germany or in certain other European nations.

Almost all of the quotes in Part II of this pancocojams series are "first person" comments from Black people who were born and raised in Germany, Black people who visited/ are visiting Germany, and Black people or Black family members of those who work[ed] of are or have been stationed in the United States military in Germany.

All of these comments are from 2017. These comments for each videos are numbered for referencing purposes only.

These are only a few of the YouTube videos that are titled "Being Black In Germany". These videos were selected for this post simply because I happened upon them before the other similar videos (vlogs).

I've used a modified spelling for what is commonly called the "n" word in part to better ensure that this post would be acceptable in American public schools where the full spelling of derogatory terms and profanity could automatically disqualify supplemental material. Words that are modified are indicated by an asterisk.

*The definition for "Black" that I'm using includes people who are mixed race (people who have Black/non-Black birth parents).

These compilations don't include comments that only refer to people in Germany or other nations outside of the United States touching Black people's hair. I plan to publish a separate pancocojams post with examples of those comments. When that post is published, I'll add its link here.

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The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the producers and publishers of these videos.

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR VIDEO #1
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcfPVj5qR1E
"Afro.Germany – Being black and German | DW Documentary", published by DW Documentary on Mar 29, 2017
1. Jason Jewett
"This is a very good documentary. I lived in Deutschland for about 13 years consecutive and loved the time I was there and I still miss it. As a Black American I never had a problem living in Deutschland and felt more at home in Deutschland than in the United States. I have met many people in Deutschland like Jana and have made many long lasting friendships. I will recommend my to some of my Black Deutsche friends there to get in contact with the group mentioned in the documentary that brings Black Deutsche people together. I know many Black American Soldiers who stayed in Deutschland and married Deutsche Fraulein's and successfully raised families. I asked a Black WWII & Korean War Veteran why he never returned to the states after he retired from the U.S. Army, at the time, he stated he was not treated as a second class citizen in Deutschland and had no problem to assimilate into the Deutsche culture. The some of the best advice he gave me was to be yourself and learn the language and treat people kindly and you will do just fine living in Deutschland. Miss you Papi Baker... DW keep up the great work, Bis Spater..."

**
2. Leaty joyce
"I am Cameroonian (central Africa ) and I live in Germany more precisely in the south. I have never experienced direct racism like "go back to Africa " or called the n word but the sterotypes are there. Sometimes non black people ask me questions like"do you wash your hair" ,"do you speak african?","don't you hate being black? ".and non black people think that we came here because of poverty or famine .if an Italian decide to live in Germany it's ok but when it's a black person it's always because of poverty.
German people in my opinion are very friendly.
I see people in the comment section saying that Africans always want to be accepted in countries which are not theirs and that they want pity ."

**
3. Ufo
"Wow! I am blown away by the the fact that they teach small kids to associate black people with "bad". I hope this changes."
-snip-
This comment refers to the segment of this documentary in which one woman shares her memories of kindergarten "playing these funny games like "Whose Afraid Of The Black Man and Ten Little Negroes it's said in German. And I remember they would run after me and say 'Jana Africana'- Jana is an African. And the problem is that 'African' meant something bad." 2:03-2:27.

**
4. ethiopianabesha
"Xs Xs.....SPEAK! My cousins were "assigned" to Poland from Ethiopia and they caught H.E.L.L. if not everyday, then twice a day to make up for Saturday and Sunday---SKIN HEADS would call my cousins "niggers" and at first my cousins thought they were saying "Neges" which means "King" in Amharic (a language spoken in Ethiopia)....it wasn't until my cousins got pelted with rocks and the word "niggers" in the presence of my Dad who was visiting his brother (my Uncle) that my cousins realized how evil the Polish folks were/are."

**
5. Lechiffresix six
"sweety reality works differently but pay attention, because this biracial guy does not have time for racial purists . I am still very much mixed race. And I know very well that I look white. One of siblings is a biracial that looks biracial. At the end of the day we are both very much what we are mixed race."
-snip-
Comment #7 of the section "Selected Comments from Video #2" happens to be written by this same commenter.

**
6. TeeDee66
"Love this documentary. Dad is white from Wurtzburg. Mom is African American so I definitely relate. Plus, I have Black relatives on Mom's side and German relatives on Dad's side. I like rock, R&B , Jazz etc. When you're a mixed person, your taste is mixed too."

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7. Yvonne Moore
"Great video. Doris McMillon a former TV Anchor is also a Black-German. She was adopted during the 50s. Her father a military man was transferred and when he returned it was too late. She was adopted by a Black military couple in the US. Was "Brown Babies" The Mischlingskinder Story shown in Germany?"

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8. johnathan clark
"I was born in Frankfurt Germany but I'm a black American.

I recommend the book
Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany by Hans J. Massaquoi."

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9. SHAKA38
"This was an enjoyable documentary. I was stationed in Germany during the Cold War and the fall of the wall.
I did meet Continental Africans, but very few black Germans. I did know German/American kids of Soldiers, etc. as well."

**
10. thefirefox819222
"Beethoven The Blackamoor"
-snip-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven begins with this sentence "Ludwig van Beethoven .... baptised 17 December 1770[1] – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist."

Here's a long excerpt from an online page about Beethoven's racial ancestry:
https://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/beethoven-the-black-a-moors-of-europe/comment-page-1/
"Beethoven: The Black-a-Moors of Europe – by ReelDeel
"Frederick Hertz, German anthropologist, in “Race and Civilization,” refers twice to Beethoven’s “Negroid traits” and his “dark” skin, and “flat, thick nose.” (pp. 123 and 178).

Frau Fischer, an intimate acquaintance of Beethoven, describes him thus, “Short, stocky, broad shoulders, short neck, round nose, blackish-brown complexion.” (From r. H. Schauffler, The Man Who Freed Music, Vol. I, p. 18, 1929).

In speaking of the immortal Haydn who was Beethoven’s teacher, Andre de Hevesy, says: “Everybody knows the incident at Kismarton or Eisenstadt, the residence of Prince Esterhazy. In the middle of the first allegro of Haydn’s symphony, His Highness asked the name of the author. He was brought forward. “‘What!’exclaimed the prince, ‘the music is by this blackamoor? ‘Well, my fine blackamoor, henceforward, thou art in my service.'”

Carpani, who originally related this says that “Haydn’s complexion gave room for the sarcasm.” And that Haydn had the title of “second professor of music but his new comrades called him The Moor.” (G. Carpani: Le Haydn, etc. Letter 5. Milan, 1812).

Referring to the above incident, Alexander W. Thayer, perhaps the foremost authority on Beethoven, says, “Beethoven had even more of the Moor in his features than his master, ‘Haydn.'” (Beethoven, Vol. I, p. 146). By “Moor” was meant “Negro.” Until recent times the German for “Negro” was “Mohr.”

Paul Bekker, another very noted authority on Beethoven, says that “the most faithful picture of Beethoven’s head” shows him with “wide, thick lipped mouth, short, thick nose, and proudly arched forehead.” (Beethoven, p. 41, 1925. trans. Bozman)...

Beethoven’s family originated in Belgium, which had been ruled for centuries by the Spaniards, who had large numbers of Negro soldiers in their army there. Theophile Gautier speaks of a Belgian type characterized by brown skin and dark hair “a second race which the soldiers of the Spanish Duke of Alva have sown between Brussels and Cambrai.”

In short, the general description of Beethoven, even to his frizzly hair, fits that of many an Aframerican or West Indian mulatto. In the Southern States Beethoven would have been forced to ride in the jim-crow car."...

**
11. Charles Hazelton III
... "But i will say, "black" folks living in Germany for "400 years" does seem like nonsense to me. We were there much longer than that!"
-snip-
This comment is in response to the statement in this video that Black people have lived in Germany for 400 years.

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR VIDEO #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqVWn1eEQTM "Being Black In Germany", published by Kera Ariyel on Jul 20, 2017
1. Mike German Chocolate
"Kera Ariyel your very beautiful I am black man and born and raised in Germany for decade and i feel USA is more racist than Germany. Germany was great to me I want to move back"

**
Reply
2. Keli K.
"Yes she is but I think they look at her more because she's black.
I've had the same feeling the first time I visited Germany. I felt like a prince. Everybody just looks at you and you feel it's not in a bad way. You are rare, it's normal. Here in Africa, white people get the same treatment. I remember this young little toddler in a supermarket aisle. She was following her dad. When she saw me, she just stopped and started to stare, her lollipop in her hand on the side, like frozen. Her dad had to come back, apologize to me with a great smile and lead her to their cart. And she kept looking. She probably never saw anything like me or rarely did.
I always thought German people were racist but that first experience changed everything. That is why Germany is the only country I'd really wish to visit on a regular basis. I always feel special there."

**
3. VogueHaven
"same thing happened to me when I traveled in europe. You think germans love black people, wait till you get to ireland. :)"

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4. Ngweng Nancy`
"Germans like people from America being black or white but they do not really like people originally from Africa"

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5. wardogs161 Wardogs
"Ms. Kera Ariyel,
I suggest you change the name of this segment to being a Black American Women in Germany. I was station in Stuttgart, Germany for 3yrs. The Germans are clueless about the Black America culture. They think Hip-Hop is a representation of Black Americans and Hip Hop is from the South. They don't even call it Hip Hop in Germany, they called it Black Music. I think you need to educate them more about your culture and make them respect you than like you.
Good luck!"

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6. shiwadaay07
"Kera Ariyel It's funny. Some Germans wanted to know if I were from Ethiopia while a few of other Germans asked me if I were from India but I'm mixed American Black and I don't have a board nose. I had been in Germany for 3 weeks. "

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7. Lechiffresix six
"born and raised here yes even if you go to Munich , germans STARE they stare and they have their mouth open. i personally think you should "mind" having your hair touched by random people because a- its creepy , it really is . i do not react well to people trying to paw or prod me . b- germs, germs, germs . people's hands are dirty. I would often say , no i don't want any germs on my scalp. and at work . I do not want free massage either or random hugs and as a matter of fact i want people to leave my mortal coil alone lol!

Stuttgart is different. US GI soldiers ( african americans ) were often sent there. because the US was segregated , white soldiers were sent to the north and black people in the south. you know this already, this is the reason why they are mad interested in you. which is good.

unfortunately I am not too familiar with stutti but i could point to afro shops and hairdressers in Munich . because that's my city. there is everything there . you know all your fav conditioner , shampoo , ee-ver y-thang !"

**
8. Matthias Falkenberg
"Kera Ariyel: My wife and daughter look like you, just white and blond. If we are in North Africa, Turkey, South Italy.... people stare at them and some want to touch their hair. It´s just being "exotic" in a "strange" environment. I´m from Germany and lived in the US and Canada. People where curious because I was from Europe as soon as they knew it. With your look, people assume without talking to you that you are from abroad and tourist/guest in this country. So they are mostly just friendly and curios. Keep up your positive attitude and enjoy Germany."

**
9. Volox TV
"Lot of bs in the comments. As a German American I have a few things I'd like to comment on:

1) The stares. I think you're partially right in your assumptions, however, Germans stare down people indiscriminately. No matter who you are, you'll always get some of that.
2) That's weird. Hey, I guess compliments are compliments, right? But there are quite a few black people in Germany, just not as common as in the US and usually not of african american decent.
3) Never got why people do that. It's strange.
4) I'm sure you can find those products somewhere, even if they're harder to find.
5) Same idea as 4)
6) Cool.
7) I think that has a lot to do with American popculture washing over to Germany, but with many lacking a bit of context, they don't get how impactful that is. Though the German equivalent to the word is bad and is pretty much socially shunned, it doesn't have the history behind it that America had. Germany never had a slave culture. They had a short but terrible attempt at colonialism. But that's pretty much it. So the word never was as derogatory as in the US. Again, not cool, not an excuse, but a bit of context. Similar for stereotypes."

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10. THE OVERWATCH PLAYER
"Im german and i wanna answer a few things ;D

So point 1: yeah germans are very interested in new things in general, so yeah i guess they find you interesting

Point 2: there are a few awkward germans who want to be nice but dont know what to say so i guess they want to be nice and make awkward compliments

3. Touching your hair: i noticed that too, i have two black friends, and when i meet with them it happens quite often that people want to touch their hair and i find it kinda rude...
4: quite much people in germany have black hair but not the kind of hair you have so yeah they wont have much things for ya

5: same thing with make up as with hair
6: the old ones are not nice to people who dont look like germans i find it very rude but yeah they are old you cant do something against that. And i dont treat black people different because were all humans and all the same so why should i treat you different
7: me and my white friends say n** to ourselves(WE DONT MEAN IT NEGATIVE!!!!!!!) if we get a little more brown over the summer and the young germans dont say it in a mean way , so yeah were very open and not racist at all

I hope i helped you to understand germans more or at least show you what this looks like from the view of a german :D
now there is a thought"

**
11. 2TWINS 1CAM
"ACCURATEEEEE when you said that the younger generation is okey but not the older. We could do a whole long film abt the older generation in Sweden 😂😂 Half Ugandans here! 🙋🏽❤️ #yourfavtwins"
-snip-
This entire comment is written in bold font.

**
12. Chance Mcgee
"Great video, I can relate to most of it (although I'm not a black female supermodel 😉) I've been in Germany for 6 years now, with a few months back in America. I'm an African American from Texas, which means I tend to immediately think race is the reason for why I'm being mistreated. I've lived in Essen for 3 years, Berlin for a year, Stuttgart for a few months, and now Dresden in far East Germany. This is what I can say about Germany:

1.) Language is by far the number one factor for how Germans will treat you.

2.) The whole Nazi stigma has created a very hostile environment for any kind of racism or discrimination or even love for Germany more generally (which is why they go crazy with the flags during soccer season)

3.) Being American makes a HUGE difference and is always considered more relevant than my race.

4.) Germans are not superficial, they don't apologise unnecessarily, they don't feel the need to be polite to strangers, and they're blunt - especially East Germans and older Germans in general.

5.) The wall between East and West Germany still exists, but culturally.

6.) Most young Germans are anti German culture.

Being in Germany has been a challenge for me but it's mostly because of me. Black Americans, especially Southerners, are conditioned to see everything through a racial lense. Europeans tend to see through a nationality lense. I remember first coming to Germany and talking to a French co-worker who mentioned how the Germans made too many French jokes. I didn't understand at first how the Germans could make fun of him, after all they were all white. It took me a while to understand that Europeans aren't nearly as racial sensitive as they are nationality sensitive. Of course being in West Germany and especially Berlin I felt this privilege you speak of but that all evaporated when I went to Saxony, in fact it was quite the opposite. Buuut! I actually felt like I was talking to real people.

It often felt a bit artificial with some of the interactions I had with people in Berlin, and I could sense a kind of blankness in the discussions. For example I read Goethe and Heine in German, Beethoven and Schubert are my favorite composers and I sing German Lied. Most of the young people had a kind of allergic reaction to these subjects and only really wanted to talk about American pop culture and how bad racism and nazism are. I often felt limited in how I could talk to them because of this Nazi stigma. I love Germany, I love America and I love history and art but it's a much more confined discussion with younger Germans.

After a while I got fed up with the admiration, not in and of itself, I'm not that righteous - but I noticed how much people would change when they found out I was American. My German is pretty good and I don't really have an American accent, but it's clear it's not my native language. In the west they would usually ask me where I'm from after talking for a while and when they found out I was American they would dramatically change, it was almost as if they had to apologise for not being polite enough or showing enough respect. I really really dislike that, so much so that sometimes I would just let them think I was African and talk to them like real people. But it's very different in Saxony, in General they don't talk too much with strangers but most of the ones I have talked to have no interest in my nationality. In fact even after I've told them I was American they just nodded their heads and kept talking to me like normal people. But it's not all nice, sometimes they looked me right in the eyes and said "Amerika ist schei**e" and then said "not you of course." I've had drunk men literally stop in the street to tell me that they're not racist, they just think refugees need to leave. Awkward doesn't begin to explain those talks as I try to convince them to think deeper about this crises (much to my own futility)

Granted I feel much less comfortable in public in Saxony, because I'm really, seriously like the only black person in like a 20 mile radius and I've heard the occasional "Ausländer raus!". I see a lot more bald tattooed men and can't help but get defensive. But the few interactions I have here feel much more meaningful.

I've been called the "N" word a few times, both in Essen and Saxony, not in an innocent way, but this was only after the refugee crises. I think dark skinned men, especially those of middle Eastern nationality, are viewed as unwelcome by some Germans (probably more than most would think). In general the Germans see an African refugee when they first look at me. Which kinda makes sense, I'm a young black male in Germany - and Europeans see through a nationality lense.

In the East and with older people generally, they show respect for me when I speak to them in German and for my understanding of history, my love for German literature and music. Unlike most young Germans, they share that interest and unlike most west Germans, they aren't afraid to show it - and they shouldn't be. I've also talked to them about the spirituals and Black history in America and they're geniuenly interested, unlike many young Germans - or young Americans for that matter.

So in short being a black American male in Germany is very different wherever you are and with whoever you talk to. Most Germans will openly criticise Greeks and Spaniards for being "lazy" but don't seem to see that as being incompatible with not being prejudice. I've certainly experienced less racism in Germany than in America and I honestly love Germany, but I don't think too many Germans love Germany - the ones the do are mostly old."
-snip-
The asterisks that are included in this comment are how the comment was written in that discussion thread.

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13. Topaz Rose
"1.did think about your outfit and make up you was wearing maybe thats why the staring
2. In every country the want to touch your hair.
3.Gosh the are african shops
4. Go to a other shop if you didn't find it so easy.
5. Ok your friends are friendly
6.Tell you friends the N word is a NoGo.
7.All strereotyp came from America
8.If you go to a other city it's very different.
9.there are many black ppl here

Before you say i'm a White mad german I'm a black mad german girl."
-snip-
In this comment the word "mad" may mean "crazy".

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR VIDEO #3
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf7xsMNHnkw
"Being Black In Germany", published by Unique Love on Jul 19, 2017
1. Robin Vidén
"Really, Silvana Barilla, Black people have only been in Germany for about 20-30 years? The Afrodeutsche philosopher and economist Anton Wilhelm Amo, working as a teacher at the universities of Halle and Jena, is the first Black person known to have attended a European university back in the early 18th century. In 1729, he wrote (as his dissertation in Law School at the University of Halle) 'De iure Maurorum in Europa' (The Rights of Blacks in Europe). That's more than 20-30 years back in time.
There's been Afro-Germans since at least the 17th century. During the interwar period, Germany had a population of 20,000–25,000 Afro-Germans (out of a total population of about 62 400 000 Germans), which were subject to the Nuremberg Laws.
Sure, the Black population of Germany has always been small - but to say that it's only been around for 20-30 years, just isn't true."

**
2. It's Chelah and Arno
"hey, We live in Germany, I (Chelah) am from Kenya and can almost relate to your experience but, its not all lost, I have learnt to go out there and make friends (by force 😂) . I also think Germans do not make an effort to make friends but that is just their nature...i say they have a shell which when broken will make great friends. have learnt to be patient. all the best in whatever you decide to do. 😂"

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3. Iggy K
"Im so sorry for your experience.I've been living in Germany for three years now ,and this vlog just made me realise that the only German friends I made ,were those that I had met in South Africa ,or friends that I met through those German friends 😧😧,im also shocked that you said that people in Hamburg are not friendly ,I live in the South(Close to Stuttgart) and people here are quite friendly ,I just assumed that because Hamburg is bigger ,that people are more open minded .I must admit however that learning the language helped me to converse and and connect with the locals ,as they are quite stubborn and even if they can speak English they don't even try .You unfortunately always have to be the one to compromise in order to survive 😔😔.I have a law degree from South Africa ,but because i know I will never get a job here with that degree,I ended up doing TestDAF level exam and I am now applying to do a new degree in German(I know ☹️!!Im just gonna suck it up I guess).Okay I was going to ask how you will cope when you return ,but then I got to the end .I think it's very important that you both want personal growth for your career aswell,doesn't make sense to move to Germany if it will end up leading to depression or frustration.But also if you decide to come back to Germany ,research the towns in the South that are close to American army bases ,Atleast you won't be too alone .All the best ,and I truly needed to watch this video today.🤗🤗"

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4. Unique Love
"Igonda Negumbo hey thanks for sharing your experience. No, I've never lived in Hamburg, I mentioned the modeling agencies there. I don't know how it truly is in Hamburg. I lived in Cologne. I could have received a second degree( taught in German as well) but since it is truly something I do not want at the moment then I don't feel the need to go for it as it seems to be a waste of my time. But it was a thought."

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5. Chinemelum j
"Igonda Negumbo I really agree with that English part. You speak English to them and they reply in German
Well Thank God, I can now speak German and also looking forward to study computer science"

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6. Iggy K
"2oceansmeet oops mixed up the towns ,I assumed that bigger towns are better for black people in general,sad that ,that is not the case .Gurl it took me so long to finally decide to do a second degree,some days I'm just like : "But why must I have to compromise when I have a good degree that would get me a job back home ".The only catch is my husband and daughter ,he has a good job here and for her ,it will definitely be better to grow up in Germany because of all the social benefits.I am currently waiting on uni application results ,and depending on that ,we either stay put ,or we relocate back to Namibia (where I'm from )."

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7. Iggy K
"Chinemelum j girl !!and sometimes they can clearly understand what you are saying !!"

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8. kantsoteka petrus
"Iggy K heei🤗🤗 Namibia here✌"

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9. Ayanda Buchegger
"Iggy K I'm a South African also based in the south of Germany (Constance) I have been living here for 5years and let me just say it has been ROUGH! Mental illness can become real very fast!! It's still a struggle but after all these years it is slowly starting to feel like home."

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10. Unique Love
"Ayanda Buchegger Agreed, and although I thought I had more patience, I'm not waiting to see just how far a mental illness can creep it's way into me. Cause it's mad real."

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11. Iggy K
"Ayanda Buchegger 100% agree with everything you say ,it's not a smooth transition and for me whose been here for three years it still doesn't feel like home to me either .Especially trying to raise a child in a place that is so foreign to how we do things ,it takes a lot of getting used to and there are many ups and downs.Im just greatful that I have support from friends that I met while studying in South Africa and my husbands family aswell.I was actually in Konstanz last weekend for a girls weekend ,your town is beautiful xx"

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12. Hollie James
"Iggy K 😊😊😊 EXACTLY!!! The experience is what you make of it. I made plenty of friends.... German, African, Turkish, Italian, American etc... though I've moved back to the U.S. we still keep in touch to date! Speak positivity into your current situation. When I first moved to Germany I hated it, I wanted to come back home. But once I STOPPED sitting around complaining or being depressed about it, and got out and got moving, starting being social, diving into the culture and appreciating the beauty, peace, and calm if that country.... I NEVER WANTED TO LEAVE 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 There's so much to see and do. So much to become a part of, so many places to make friends. You're younger than me, so I'm not sure of the settings or types of surroundings your desire. But, girl... it's all in your mindset! "

Get online and set your pace! Pave your path and watch Germany open up to you!"

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This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.

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