Why We Are Ghosts

Having the best of two physical worlds

What’s This?

This is Akoo, Pepper Fruit, or Dennettia tripetala, if you want to get fancy. It is found in West Africa and when I was younger, my cousins would challenge me to eat them.

The challenge was to pop as many of these little fiery figure-eights as you can into your mouth until you scream for mercy. Crazy kids!

I partook in this bizarre challenge primarily because it was fun, but also to prove that I wasn’t completely westernized. As I didn’t live in Nigeria, my cousins never saw me as a ‘true African!’ However, growing up in Europe, I was always asked the question, ‘Where are you really from?’ making me feel like not a ‘true European.’

So what am I, and others like me? I mean African and Asian Diasporas born outside their motherland?

Crazy Rich Asians

I have kidnapped the term ‘Ghosts.’

Ghosts = Part of two worlds, belonging fully to neither.

To quote the film ‘Crazy Rich Asians’:

‘You look Chinese, you speak Chinese, but in here you are different.’

I bet I didn’t quote that perfectly, but you get my point.

We, Diaspora Ghosts (DG), are brought up in households with all the traditions of back home. I often feel that our parents go to extreme lengths to ensure that their traditions and culture are funneled into their First-generation Western World Children to ensure that they are not lost to the new environment they inhabit.

The Food

We speak the language, eat the food, and follow the culture but something is still missing. An invisible wall that prevents us from truly fitting in when we go “back home”. And that is because we don’t live there. We don’t see things through their eyes because we are not living their reality.

However, it is equally true that we must make even more effort to fit into the Western world. When my European friends discuss the origin of their Latin names or the Tooth Fairy (she’s not universal) or other strange superstitions, we feel somewhat lost because it’s a history we just don’t share, and superstitions vary from culture to culture. My grandmother couldn’t tell me what Britain looked like in the fifties nor why people shouldn’t walk under ladders. But she could tell me a lot about Oba Market, in Benin, and she often left a plate of leftover food for the spirits. Over the years, I have absorbed the traditions of both my heritage and the country I have lived in for donkey years.

It’s Not All Bad

Being Ghosts, we bring a fusion of culture to the worlds we belong to. Imagine the UK without Jollof rice, Onion Bhajis, Peking Roast Duck, or Jerk Chicken. Similarly, imagine Nigeria without KFC, Domino's Pizza, and Indomie noodles. Ghosts pass between the worlds and expose each side to new ideas. That’s why, in my humble opinion, we have the best of both worlds.