The Dashiki Debate
The distinct qualities of African-American culture and an African culture have been a topic of discussion within the black community for some time. African-Americans identifying with aspects of African culture has been debated among members of each group and a resolution to the argument remains to be seen. This unresolved contention is clearly evident as many Africans have taken issue with African-Americans wearing dashikis, a traditional West African garment worn casually in countries like Nigeria. The question at hand is whether or not African-Americans, whose individual relations to specific African countries is unclear due to slavery stripping them of their identity, can claim a right to adorning the printed shirts.
The dashiki is a brightly colored, patterned top worn by both men and women, with unique prints such as the ankara and the kente. The dashiki rose to western prominence with the onset of the Black Pride movement in the 1960s. African-Americans, who, for years, were hesitant to affiliate themselves with their African ancestry, grew fonder of their heritage as they began to reject the western norms they had been unfairly subject to since the era of slavery. As they learned more about their African origins from activists like Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X, African-Americans grew eager to embrace African culture.
The newfound clothing item of choice for Afrocentrists, African-American individuals dedicated to the dispersion of black history and culture in America, the dashiki became a symbol of pride. More recently, the dashiki’s growing prevalence amongst African-American youth has prompted cries of cultural appropriation from Africans who felt shafted by African-Americans for years prior to the garment’s surge in popularity.
Ebun Dada, a Nigerian second-year Chemistry major who is an active member of the African Student Union on campus said she remembered as a child being ridiculed by others who made fun of her name and called her derogatory statements on account of being African. She said, “It’s kind of hypocritical that before [African-Americans] were looking down on people who were different and now you guys are taking on their culture because it’s cool now. It doesn’t make sense, you look like a hypocrite.”
Others like, Chantel Odabi, a Nigerian second-year Biology major, who partially grew up in Nigeria and is also an active member of the African Student Union considers the dashiki to simply be a passing fad in America. This notion is arguably the point of discontent among Africans in regards to African-Americans wearing dashikis. Many believe the true essence of the shift towards wearing dashikis is one motivated by a desire to keep in step with trends.
“This past summer I was in the DMV area and I wore my Dashiki and [people] were like ‘Oh, you still wear that? That’s so dead and old’ So, I feel like [the current trend of wearing dashikis] is going to die down. It would be great if [the trend] keep going but it’s coming off as a fad to me. I feel like a lot of people are just doing it because other people are doing it.” she said.
Ebun stands in agreement with the idea the dashikis will soon become a thing of the past as it’s significance is lost on many African-Americans who wear it as a cool piece of fashion. She said, “Some people don’t even know what [the dashiki] is. They don’t even try to make aware where it comes from, so I agree it’s a fad for them. For us, it’s normal.” She implores African-Americans to understand the cultural significance and origins of the dashiki. “Know what you’re wearing because you look stupid if you don’t.”
Others have reasoned that African-Americans, whose African culture was almost entirely lost when they entered the new world as slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries, are valid in their attempts to reconcile what was lost. The dashiki, to a number of African-Americans, is perhaps a piece of the past unknown and is emblematic of new turnaround on which blacks see their history as something to be celebrated rather than stifled.
On the idea that many African-Americans view wearing the dashiki as an attempt to connect with their African roots, Bianca Chinenye Godwin, a third-year Microbiology and Public Health major and Outreach Chair for the African Student Union said, “I actually really applaud them. Africans rooted in Africa — I’m a second generation Nigerian, my parents were born in Nigeria and I was born here, but I’m really in tune with [African] culture — the one thing that we honestly embrace, especially involving African Student Union is when African-Americans come in and don’t have a problem assimilating with and learning the ins and outs of our culture. We love it, it shows you care. It’s nice to see African-Americans who wear it as a symbol of their pride and hidden culture that was lost. We embrace that, we honestly do.”
Although black individuals of either group are often lumped together as a single entity in western-dominated environments and ideologies due to their origins rooted in Africa differences clearly exist.
“I feel like African-Americans and Africans come from a common seed, that was germinated and dispersed across different parts the world, so now there is a distinction. I have a culture, when I go home to Nigeria, it’s a completely distinct and different lifestyle than an African-American living in the United States, I think there are aspects that do overlap, but the main commonality is skin color, but apart from that there’s too many distinctions. We could go into upbringing, mindsets — there are so many cultural differences.” said Godwin.
These inherent differences engender a belief that African-Americans do not have an automatic claim to African culture on the basis of their ancestry and must first understand the cultural background of aspects of that particular culture they would like to incorporate into their own. The argument over the dashiki has been fraught with controversy as a byproduct of this line of thinking. Some Africans see it as a mere trend while others recognize that African-Americans may be trying to discover their roots, and though conflicting, these divergent point of views breed a better understanding of the appropriate conditions under which an African-American can wear a dashiki.
