Identity Part1: Nationality

For most of us Africans living in the UK the question "So, where are you from?" gives us reason to pause. Are we being asked what part of the UK we live in or is this someone with secret National Front affiliations trying to find out which African country this immigrant needs to sent back to?. I once watched a play at the Theatre Royal Stratford which had the thought provoking title of 'Urban Afro Saxons'. It explored the nature of personal identity within a community of recent immigrants and second generation immigrants and was interesting food for thought.

As Nigerian immigrants, first, second and in some cases third generation how do we choose to identify ourselves when asked the question "Where are you from?". Would you say Brixton, Manchester, Streatham or will you say Nigeria? And should you decide to have children here and bring them up in the UK, what answer would you expect them to give?

Sociologists would describe our identity as relating to an individual's comprehension of him or herself as a discrete and separate entity and which habits or customs that individual would choose to form a part of their instinctive behavior, and furthermore what customs he/she would adopt. Our Cultural identity relates to our belief systems, art appreciation, morals, the laws we abide to, our religion and what societal norms we hold dear. As long as we live our ideologies will continue to evolve, does this mean our cultural identity could change or perhaps just shift slightly?

Norman Tebbit a former Conservative minister once suggested that there should be a 'Cricket Test' for ethnic minorites who wanted to become British Citizens. The test requires that you can't truly be 'British' until you can support the English Cricket team as opposed to that of your ancestral home country. Now since Nigeria are unlikely to be successful in Cricket in my lifetime perhaps we can use the 'Football' test. In the 2002 world cup Nigeria Vs England who were you cheering on?

In 1966, as part of a protest against the Vietnam War and to illustrate the effect of racism in his home nation, Mohammed Ali famously declared "No VietCong Ever Called Me Nigger" and allied himself with his new religion of Islam rather than the USA. There are a number of cases of high profile sports people who have chosen to publically declare their affilliation with a particular country or cause, notably Cathy Freeman waving the aboriginal flag after winning the 1994 Commonwealth Games and Linford Christie draping himself in the Union Jack (the union jack had become a symbol of the racist right organisation National Front and this thus displeased quite a few Black Britons).

One of my Uncles has been here since the 1960s and his children were all born and bred in Birmingham down to having the Brummie accents. Short of spending short holidays in Lagos, the UK is their home. They have never even been to Abeokuta, their Dad's ancestral home. Those children are likely to live and die in the UK. Strangely they all have Yoruba names that they can't pronounce properly and hang out with West Indians. Are they Nigerians or Black Britons? And should we really be forcing these children to choose?