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Foreign born population of the USA is 12.9% in 2010, while it is 11.9% in the United Kingdom. But while the largest group in the UK comes from the Indian subcontinent, there is a larger percentage from Africa (compared to USA).
UK foreign born in from Africa (estimate from Office for National Statistics for May 2011)
211,000 South Africa
133,000 Kenya
190,000 Nigeria
80,000 Ghana
50,000 Uganda
35,000 Tanzania
Bear in mind that many of the South Africans are whites, and many listed from East African nations are of Indian descent. I am not sure to what degree these people identify with their countries of birth, or whether they have much to do with other Africans, or whether they even consider themselves to be "African".
Bear in mind that many of the South Africans are whites, and many listed from East African nations are of Indian descent. I am not sure to what degree these people identify with their countries of birth, or whether they have much to do with other Africans, or whether they even consider themselves to be "African".
The white South Africans I've personally known have always identified as South Africans and one guy even marked on his job application, "African American".
The white South Africans I've personally known have always identified as South Africans and one guy even marked on his job application, "African American".
He was wrong for doing that. That would be like a European American marking down Native American as his identity on a job application.
That's funny because its not that many Black people period in the US...let alone straight Africans. This country could use more Africans...this country has let everybody ELSE in the #$%#$ country...Its lacking in African...might be a Black population control type thing.
The white South Africans I've personally known have always identified as South Africans and one guy even marked on his job application, "African American".
Does he hang out with BLACK South Africans, and identify with other Africans such as Nigerians?
From what I have seen black and white South Africans exist in very separate worlds, even when they migrate.
Does he hang out with BLACK South Africans, and identify with other Africans such as Nigerians?
From what I have seen black and white South Africans exist in very separate worlds, even when they migrate.
No he doesn't. He still points out that's who he is but if he didn't tell you, you'd think he was just an ordinary white American. He does have a Greencard I believe.
No he doesn't. He still points out that's who he is but if he didn't tell you, you'd think he was just an ordinary white American. He does have a Greencard I believe.
I suspect that he will feel more comfortable among white Americans than he would among black Nigerians. If he uses the collective term "African" to describe himself, instead of the term "South African", that would imply otherwise.
Those who use the term "African American" to describe themselves do so out of a lack of knowledge of which specific part of Africa the bulk of their ancestry lies, so they adopt a label which encompasses sub Saharan Africa. And also out of an experience that being Americans with this visible ancestry has deeply impacted their heritage, history and outlook in the USA. It doesn't so much suggest an identification with Africa as a connection between an ethnic group of blacks who have undergone a specific experience in the USA over the past 400 years.
Africans know their national and ethnic origins and are usually loyal to this and not to a collective whole. To the extent that some weak kinship of being "African" exists, it usually doesn't include those who aren't black. I am not sure how welcome or comfortable your friend would be among a group if Nigerians, Ghanaians, Kenyans, Angolans and black South Africans who were bonding as Africans. Or whether the black South Africans would feel more at home with him, than with the other black Africans.
In the US, a person can identify with whatever they please so I think it being a matter of right or wrong is up for much debate.
True its up to debate but I will argue that he is being facetious by adopting the label African American when he is a SOUTH African American. After all, according to you, he doesn't mix with black Africans, so how really bonded is he with the continent of Africa, aside from the community within South Africa that he was born into?
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