The photo above is taken from the “What is Afropolitan?” panel recently held at the V&A.

by luso mnthali

Remember the term ‘yuppy’? It sometimes feels as if there is a special little corner of hell that these strange words go to, after having been used and abused.

Yet there are some labels that are so on point, no hell required, and one such word is Afropolitan.

I only come to this conclusion after much discussion with friends, some of whom believe we don’t need such a label.

I admit that when I first heard this term, I wasn’t exactly enthused about it. So why have I now decided it fits and should stay? The short answer is that African + Cosmopolitan = Afropolitan is the formula for a description of Africans that includes those who are educated, ever-travelling, multilingual and most often based in a global economic hub or two.

The truth is that it is a bit of an exclusive club. While there are no gatekeepers as such, there’s a simple yardstick. These are children mostly of the educated class.  There might be some debate as to who “belongs” to this “club” but this is a simple explanation, and by no means exhaustive. It makes sense to me. I like simply being African, but I also like Afropolitan. Is it necessary? Yes, because it describes a part of who I am without the heavy condescension of, say, ‘Black Diamond’.

Anne Mazimhaka, an Afropolitan who returned to Rwanda after years abroad, came across the term (like many others) when she read Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu’s original essay. “What resonated with me was the following: Like so many African young people working and living in cities around the globe, they belong to no single geography, but feel at home in many. Finally there was a term to describe those of us that take a good ten minutes to answer the question: ‘Where are you from?’” she says.

Afropolitans find representations of Africa crucial, especially when it comes to the political, cultural and social aspects of being African.

As Anne says: “Our parents [and, in some cases, grandparents] were the pioneers of the global African, most having left their homes to pursue higher education. We are beneficiaries of their struggle to ensure our access to education and opportunity and, as such, I  feel as though we have the obligation to be bolder, more creative, more innovative in how we express ourselves and in how we represent the continent.  I will always consider myself an Afropolitan. It’s not a geographic construct, but a state of mind.”

UK-based Nigerian blogger and writer Minna Salami states: “I’m interested in the tools we can use to create progress in Africa and for Africans and see the term as one tool out of many.”

Afropolitans are engaging with the world as equals, on their terms. Not hampered by what the world thinks they are, but forging ahead and making the most of what they think of themselves, and the continent they have deep attachments to.

In the past year I visited Botswana, where I grew up, kept a watch on political developments in Malawi where I was born, Skyped with a Malawian friend in the US, where I went to college, flew to India for the wedding of one of my closest friends, and now, finally, consider Cape Town, South Africa my new home. Where am I and where am I from? Somewhere in the world.

“We are Afropolitans: not citizens, but Africans of the world.” – Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu