The Difference Between African And African American Culture

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African students inhabit a unique space within the Black population. While some Africans choose to recognize the differences with African and African American cultures in many aspect so their lives, some decide to fully assimilate into the American culture. My research aims to understand whether or not African students have found that they are effortlessly able to switch between their identity as a black person in America and their identity as an African person. I also hope to understand how the positive and negative stereotypes that are associated with these two categories play a role in the lives of these students. In order to gauge the general sense of how Africans on campus think about their racial identity I will be conducting interviews …show more content…

De Walt conducted. “"In Search of an Authentic African American And/or Black Identity: Perspectives of First Generation U.S.-Born Africans Attending a Predominantly White Institution” is a study that looks into the lives of six first generation US born African students and their lives on a predominately White college. Walt writes about how the students struggle to relate to African American students and what the author calls “continental Africans.” continental Africans are people who were born in an African country and have very strong ties to that country. As someone that would be considered a continental African, I still find it difficult to navigate between these two groups of people. Another interesting point that De Walt writes about is how thee definition of an African American has changed over time. Previously an African American would only include someone would is a “generational African American” which are people who have linage that dates back to slavery in the Unites States. Now it includes people that celebrate their US nationality and some other African country such as Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya (De Walt 484). Understanding this change in what it means to be an African American now is important because it highlights the intersectional nature of African students identities. African Students can be both America and African the research will focus on what that look like on a college

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