Oboruni

(A warning: this post is a bit melodramatic, but it really does bug me.)

It's hard to define exactly what Ghanaians mean by 'oboruni,' but the word follows us everywhere. I think a strict definition is a foreigner of any kind, from England, America, or any other country outside of Africa. Practically speaking, oboruni ends up being the word that Ghanaians speak to refer to anyone who isn't West African. Black Americans routinely get called oboruni, once it's understood that they are not from Africa. (It's often clear anyway because most of them are lighter than most Africans, and dress slightly more American, even though so many Ghanaians dress so American...I digreee.) Even light-skinned Ghanaians have said that they are often mistaken for oborunis.

There are an endless number of blogs written by international visitors to Ghana who discuss their personal reactions to being called an oboruni. Ghanaians uniformly deny that there is any racism in the word, and that they don't mean it in any derogatory way. It's just a word used to refer to white people, a description, a tag.

Yeah, whatever, Ghana. I've said it before, and I will keep saying it. You're wrong. It's offensive- I'm offended. I don't call you 'black person.' I call you by your name, and if I don't know it, I say 'Excuse me,' or I tap you.

Obibini is the Ghanaian word for black people, but I only know that from Twi class, not because anyone would ever call someone else an obibini in public. I guess you could argue that one wouldn't call out "Obibini!" to get someone's attention because everyone is black. But it doesn't matter- if there are one white student and one black student are trying together to get a cab, they will call "Oboruni." Because they want the white person to answer; because they want to mock ("Good-heartedly!") the white kids. Just because. People walking by just scream out "oboruni!" for absolutely no reason.

And it's one thing when it's the women in the markets, or the taxi drivers, or people who are either uneducated, or in a different generation, or just have literally never met a white person before. I don't like it, but I can try to understand.

Before our dance final, four of us were sitting on a bench outside the studio and one student wanted to shift over the bench. Everyone stood up, but I didn't notice what he was doing, so to get my attention, the girl tapped me and said, "Oboruni, stand up, please." This girl was not a stranger, we had been in class together all semester. Even if she didn't know my name, she could have tapped me and said the exact same sentence without saying oboruni.

The word 'oboruni' has a function to separate, to make people different, to say 'you are not like me.' And that's offensive in and of itself. To constantly remind someone who is not of your culture just how different they are is insulting and unnecessary, and as is pretty clear, it bothers me. A lot.