#thatsafrican – A meme examined

If you aren’t on twitter or missed the #thatsafrican hashtag madness, you might want to start with this post on Afrolicious. It explains a bit of whence came the meme, and offers some samples of how the hashtag was used and misused.

… what were we doing? We were telling stories: our stories.

Unfortunately, many people don’t understand that. Africa is what we think it is today partly by way of how others perceive it. It has come to be many things, among which HIV/AIDS-sickened, poverty-stricken, 419 credit card thieves having, monkey looking can be found. As the internet expands and becomes a truly global form of communication, we can see there are many views of Africa, much of which doesn’t actually come from Africans themselves. Even I, born in Nigeria but raised in America with Nigerian traditions and world views, find myself wondering at the Africa that gets filtered through the American media.

Whilst the tag was amongst Twitter’s trending topics, an article popped up on Huffington Post in which David Weiner asked if this was the moment when twitter went racist. Weiner’s article asked more questions than it offered answers.

The debate is already raging over the appropriateness of the trend. Is it self-deprecating humor? A cover for racists? Something only Africans and African-Americans can joke about? Something no one should be talking about?

What’s more, it brings into question the role of free speech on Twitter and the company’s role as moderator, or lack thereof. If a popular trend on Twitter is deemed racist, what action is required on the part of the company?

Some of these questions were explored by Kyraocity who provided the most articulate and thoughtful reflection on the meaning of the hashtag, the ensuing response, and the importance of listening. From the article:

The whole thing reminded me of the Tower of Babel without the moral judgment of having to disband because of our linguistic differences. Anthropologist Wade Davis has a great TED Talk where he describes a tribe where ppl must marry a woman who speaks a completely different language than the tribe they grew up in. I was amazed by the possibilities of living a life bethrothed to difference instead of sameness. You’d REALLY have to listen to learn and listen to stay connected then.

Time to agree to be offended and STAY in the conversation and stop labeling ppl racist.

Our listening has even more power than our words. Racism is more a function of what you are listening for than what ppl are saying anymore. Times they are changin’ and its time we started getting with the complexity of our time.

Another blogger noted that how people responded to the hashtag had more to do with the individual twitterer than with the actual topic.

What has gone down on Twitter today, has definitely raised many of those questions. Purely because “thatsafrican” started out as good humor between those who have similarities in their CULTURE and dwell from the same place…THE BEAUTIFUL AFRICA. The Phenomenal (Nigerian) Rapper WALE asked”‘That’s African when?”…..and the world responded.

Basically, at this point WALE has knowingly or unknowingly held a mirror in the faces of millions of people around the world.

Despite all the misunderstanding and misuse of the #thatsafrican hashtag, it seemed that Africans, first and second generation African immigrants, and those that understood what the conversation was about, were able to connect, share some laughs and have fun together. Now #thatsafrican.

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Did you follow the trending topic? What do you think of #thatsafrican? Let us know.

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1. Obama, Ghana and John Atta Mills