Identity crisis (reloaded)
I’ve talked about my identity crisis many times but this time it’s going to be different. I’m going to talk about my arabism and africanism. I’m a Nubian from the Sudan. Nubian’s are black Africans who inhabited North Sudan and South Egypt for over 3000 years ( yes we coexisted with the Egyptian Pharaohs!). When the Arabs came to the Sudan (previously known as Ethiopia), they mixed with some African tribes ( an Arab man would marry an African woman, usually the daughter of the sheikh of the tribe). The Nubians rarely mix with non-nubians. Although the Nubians never mixed with the Arabs, they were totally arabized.The Nubians were converted to Islam after 500 years of fighting with the Arabs and Arabic replaced their language, nubian.
Why should I have an identity crisis if Nubians are just Africans?’
Well, we are not normal Africans, we are Arabized Africans. Yes, I’m very Arabized, people refer to me as an Arab. I think of myself as an Arab sometimes but again I slap myself back to awareness. I speak arabic, I am a muslim, I lived in the Middle East, I get along with Arabs, I’m always told I look like a gulf-arab, I have friends from almost every Arab country, I’m so involved in the Palestinian conflict….so where is my African heritage?
Let’s start by defining the term “Arab”.
1- a person from the Middle East and parts of North Africa.
2-According to the Quran, a person who is a Muslim and speaks Arabic as a first language.
So, should you refer to yourself as an Arab only if you have Arab heritage or if you speak arabic or if your country is part of the Arab league?
Some Sudanese have arab blood , our country is part of the Arab league, in the UN we are represented in Emro not Afro and most of us speak Arabic.
I guess I will just keep referring to myself as an Arabized African 
I give up.
A confused sudaniya
Interesting. I also feel confused about my own identity at times. I was born in England, my parents are of Jamaican heritage, I spent my formative years in Jamaica, moved to Canada permanently when I was 16yrs old, and have lived here ever since. When someone asks me where I am from, sometimes I say Jamaica, sometimes I say England, sometimes I just say Canada.
Interestingly, I don’t consider my religious beliefs as a part of my identity, in that I would never add “Christian” to the other characteristics to identify myself. I don’t know what that means, what it says about me, or if that is good or bad…. but it appears to me that for Muslims, their religious affiliation is an important part of their identity, of signifying who they are.
Peace
Great post Kizzie! And a refershing perspective of arabized identity.
I think we often forget that in the same way Christianity was coopted by European imperialism to subjugate African communities from the late 1700s, Islam was coopted by Arab imperialism to subjugate Northern Africa, the shores of Eastern Africa and parts below the Sahara desert (Central and West Africa). Racism is a necessary part of imperialism (how else do you subjugate people to believe that you have the god-given right to govern over them?) and as such a colonized identity is necessary to maintain an imperialist social structure.
What I’m trying to say through all this rambling is that it’s important that we try to understand that a lot of our identities are colonized constructs and in so doing are better able the structural issues that influence our lives.
Dear Asa,
Thanks for mentioning that, I’m not the only one after all:)
I’m glad you pointed that out, yes we muslims tend to consider Islam our identity. Sometimes even more than our ethnicity/race/nationality etc…
It’s all about the socialization. Even if it’s not primary socialization (through the parents and family) then its secondary socialization ( through peer group or surrounding).
In the last few decades, secondary socialization became more imporatant ot influential . For example, my parents are fairly religious but they never imposed anything on me.In fact, I’m more religious than my parents but when I was in school, my teachers used to preach and preach and even talk about the importance of the veil/head scarf.
Dear Sewere,
Yes, I kind off agree with you. In the case of the Sudan, we’ve been colonized by the British/Egyptians and the Turks. We have Muslims, Christians and ….Jews (we did have a jewish population back in the days but we still have sudanese families of jewish descent). We also have over 500 ethnic groups
1-Africans (Nubians, Dinka, Furs etc….)
2-Arabs ( Rashaida/Jaaleyeen/Baggara etc..)
ps:- Arabs include pure Arabs ( Rashaida) and Afro-Arabians (Jaalyeen)
3-Caucasians ( we have significant turks/greeks/armenians n etc..) Most of the white-sudanese left in the 1980′s, after the islamists took over and Sharia law was imposed
We also have a significant Syrian and Indian population.
Sudan is a little melting pot just like the United States. So, we shoudl all think of ourselves as Sudanese not as nubians(ethnic labelling) or even muslims (religious labelling)
We do have an identity crisis in Sudan. A sudanese blogger wrote a post about our identity crisis and he mentioned that a group of Sudanese in London had to fill this application form and they didn’t know what to circle
( Black/Carriabian/European etc…)
If you tried finding other Sudanese blogs, you will notice that they all refer to themselves as Afro-Arabians
Interesting though note, that the so called arabs of North of Africa have same issue. The Berbers call themselves arabs and one can truly question whether or not that is an accurate label. Though it is known that arabs did indeed “conquerer” north africa, they were still relatively few of them,
Either way the there are several Berber organisations who are actully going the other way. Instead of labeling themselves as arabs which all (most) berber do, because being arab is better than being berber, they call themselves berber and try to activel work against a arabisation. For example by speaking various Berber langauges instead of arabic.
Yes, I agree with you:)
Many North Africans don’t have Arab blood.
I guess Berbers can pass for Arabs easily because they are very light-skinned Africans.
I’ve missed you brothers (It has been 400 years), you know I would like to interject my opinion as to the lack of knowledge with regard to the level of disparity that disunity of black people has. When the concept of white supremecy is destroyed in the minds of our brothers and sisters, the next step is unity of the black masses no matter what part of the earth they live apon. Howerer, being a supposed African American, I was told by some Eritrean brothers in college, that all other blacks are already united, we are just waiting for you the African-Americans to join the team.
“I was told by some Eritrean brothers in college, that all other blacks are already united, we are just waiting for you the African-Americans to join the team.”
Really?
identity crisis — that plagues me all the time…i think the more people try and define someone’s identity (like family or friends saying you are this or that), it just creates more confusion on a personal level. within the tribal mentality, does africa even have one identity when the continent is so obsessed with tribal links especially on a political level?
Kizzie, this is fire! I understand the Identity crisis but I am no longer consumed by it . For years I thought of myself as a displaced African because of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, yet my mother kept reminding me my maternal grand father is full blooded Cherokee and I have learned that Cherokee Blood and Natchez blood may run in my body just as much as Fulani. In the year 2000 I went on a quest and began to study this slave trade, populations of Black people already living in the Americas and was just Blasted out of my mind. Black people have lived in the Americas for at least 10,000 years and first to be enslaved and transported by the Castillians/Spaniards were the Black people native to the Americas. They shipped us to Europe then to West Africa, following that, the trading in human beings began from Africa to the Americas. Now, I no longer believe fantastic number of 100,000,000 Africans were forced across the ocean, but that many were enslaved and did mainly mix with the Aboriginals here in America. We are Tsalagi, Yamassee, Congoree, Timuca, Natchez, Pequot, Wampanoag, Narragansett just to name a few. In that we were transported as chattle property throughout the Americas. Also, many Moors arrived here in the Americas long before any white European and mixed with us all. To verify this just look up the Pequot Reconnection Festival. This is where the Pequot were forced from the area now known in the United States as Connecticut and Rhode Island Plantation to the Caribbean Island of Burmuda in the 1630′s. This happened from Florida to the Bahamas, Andros Island and Massachusettes to Barbados, just naming a few. In the end I am a Melanin man, a Black man. We are more likely to be what our local and national culture dictates than what is in our blood line. Since so many Blacks were transported to all of the American main lands and Islands that when a Jamaican says I am Jamaican, or Burmudan says I am Burmudan they are really saying I am that language and cullture more than I am that blood line. No Crisis here I am the Melanin man!
Dear Ensayn,
I think you commented on my blog before:)
I really enjoyed reading your comment:) Thanks for the contribution. I don’t feel lost and alone anymore, I feel that there are alot of people worldwide with an “identity Crisis”
I would like to share two things with all of you:
1- My friend told me and my other friends about auditions for a BBC documentary. They just needed Arab actors who are gifted. So, I figured out that I don’t fit the description because I am not Arab and I told them that I’m not going to go with them.
I don’t see myself as an Arab (anymore)but I see myself as an “Arabized” African. Anyways, my friends were convincing me that I am an Arab , I look Arab and most Arabs are dark-skinned. Plus, the movie is about Saddam and his life and Iraq is home to a significant black population.
2- One of my professors told me that she is teaching a course next semster called “Who am I?”. When I asked her what this course is about, she told me it’s a course about identities. I told her about my identity crisis and she told me “it’s the perfect course for me”.I don’t know alot about this course but I’m going to her office on Sunday to ask some questions.
I really hope this course will help me!