The Africa Report — July-August 2017

they were simply in search of better
economic opportunities.
Will the diasporans return to
Zimbabwe if the economy improves?
Zimbabweans abroad can find them-
selves in that twilight zone familiar to
all diasporans, but particularly those
who were forced out. Even when they
take on another citizenship, many of
them create a kind of ersatz Zimbabwe
in their new countries. More than ever,
social media keeps people connected
to home. Diasporans often live half-
lives, never fully present in their new
countries. Homesick and heartsick,
their lives revolve around memories.

They flock to hear musicians whose

songs remind them of home, such as

Oliver Mtukudzi or Thomas Mapfumo.

People gather to eat Zimbabwean

dishes such as peanut stew andsadza.

They give their children meaningful

Shona or Ndebele names, but wince

in pain as the children mangle the

pronunciation.

Talking to Zimbabweans in the

diaspora suggests that most would

return if they could. Above all, dias-

porans are demanding that parliament

makes dual citizenship available to all

Zimbabweans, even those who were

not born in the country. They also

want the right to vote from overseas

in Zimbabwe’s elections.

That suggests that Zimbabweans

abroad feel as connected to their

country as those at home. And if the

economic conditions were to improve,

they would be packing their bags to

return home, like the mine workers of

the first diaspora did before them. But

first, they are likely to ask many hard

questions about the long-lost country

to which they are returning.

Petina Gappah is the author of three

books, most recently the short-story

collectionRottenRow(Faber).

S

peaking from

a rented office

in Lagos where she

is working for a few months,

Minna Salami shares one

of her fondest memories from

her early days in a Swedish

suburb at age 13: “On the

first day of school, one

of my classmates got angry

at the teacher and threw

a chair at him.” Coming

from a very strict Nigerian

background where teachers

were revered and respected,

she was left speechless:

“I just remember sitting

with my mouth open,

thinking ‘What is this?’”

But after 26 years living in

the diaspora, which saw her

move to Finland via other

countries before settling

in the UK, Salami has grown

to embrace and balance

the cultural differences.

“I am Nigerian, Finnish and

Swedish [...] but I am also

specifically a Lagosian,

Londoner and Malmoite,

the three cities in which

I have lived over a decade,”

says the SOAS-educated

journalist, who was listed

alongside Michelle Obama

as one of the ‘12 women

changing the world’ by

ELLE Magazinein 2015.

In 2012 she started

her award-winning blog

MsAfropolitan, which

touches on feminist issues

in Africa and in the

diaspora, and her own

journeys between cultures.

When she talks about

Afropolitanism, she

emphasises that unlike

the term ‘diaspora’, which

largely connotes the African

experience outside the

continent, Afropolitanism

exists as much within

the continent as outside

it and is concerned with

social, political and cultural

change much like

pan-Africanism. “But I see

Afropolitanism, pan-

Africanism and diaspora

as connected,” she says.

As a writer who has lived

both in Africa and abroad,

she says her international

exposure has pros and

cons: “On the one hand,

it brings new experiences

• and experience is to a
  writer what a petri dish is to
  a lab scientist. On the other
  hand, African writers who
  have spent no or little time
  in the diaspora may develop
  a less encumbered voice.”
  Salami says many
  of the problems we face
  today in cross-cultural
  relationships are as a result
  of focusing too much
  on our differences.
  “We complicate things
  for ourselves a lot with this
  divide between African and
  Western culture and moving
  back and forth between
  the diaspora and the
  continent.” This sentiment
  was highlighted in her
  popular 2015 TED Talk,
  during which she shared
  stories of African women
  and how similar they are
  to women everywhere.
  She says the African
  Union’s recognition in 2012
  of the African diaspora as
  its sixth region makes sense
  and was more an act of
  reclamation. “The majority
  of Africans in the diaspora
  have left involuntarily,
  through slavery, forced
  migration, or political,
  cultural and social reasons
  that are linked to the
  historical and contemporary
  global order”.
  Oheneba Ama Nti Osei

MINNA SALAMI

Nigeria/UK, writer and blogger

What it means

to be Afropolitan

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DIASPORA DYNAMO |FRONTLINE 29