Relations Between Africans And African Americans: Misconceptions, Myths And Realities

This work looks at relations between Africans and African Americans from the perspective of an African, and of shared perceptions on both sides of the Atlantic. Incorporated into the analysis are stories of individuals who have interacted, worked and lived with members of both groups in Africa and in the United States, including the author himself. Stereotypes and misunderstandings of each other constitute an integral part of this study, explained from both perspectives, African and African-American. The author, a former journalist in Tanzania and now an academic author whose books are found in public and university libraries around the world, lived in the United States, mostly in the black community, for more than 30 years. He articulates his position from the vantage point of someone who has lived on both sides of the Atlantic, focusing on a subject that has generated a lot of interest among Africans and African Americans through the years. And it continues to be one of great misunderstanding between the two sides, in spite of increased contacts and communication between Africa and Black America, and between individual Africans and African Americans in the United States and in Africa. What is the state of relations between Africans and African Americans? How do Africans see black Americans, and how do black Americans see them? What is their experience with American blacks and what is the experience of black Americans with them, individually and collectively, and in general? How are Africans accepted by black people in the United States? And how are black Americans accepted in Africa? Do Africans see American blacks as fellow Africans, cousins or distant cousins, or just as Americans? These are some of the questions answered in this book, written by an African, and based on his experience of more than 30 years interacting with African Americans, and on the experiences of many Africans and African Americans quoted in this study.