Africa + Me

Written By: Nkeiru Oruche—I wear a t-shirt that boldy proclaims “SPEAK YOUR MOTHER TONGUE.” That’s an idyllic goal (I would know, I designed the t-shirt), but it brings about mixed feelings. What is my mother-tongue? I recently learned that the answer to that question is complicated to say the least. Read on to find out how so.

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I love meeting other Africans. I have this fantasy of visiting other African countries for at least two weeks to any number of months at a time per country, and giving myself up to total submersion of my fetishized appetite for their dance, music, language and food. I’ll totally be that Anglo person that I criticize all the time. If you know anything about me, you’ll know that I have this ongoing far away obsession relationship with Congolese, Cameroonian, and Ivorian dance and music. And I think it is the ultimate shame that I have been to various countries around the world, but not one other African country aside from Nigeria. And now I'm beginning to have a mild obsession with the Caribbean and Latin America ... and South Asia ... and ... sigh.

Read the rest of this article in MIMI's Love Africa, Always issue, in the article Africa + Me.

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