The Myth of the African Accent

The latest Marvel superhero film, ‘Captain America: Civil War’, was undoubtedly good for many reasons.

The character development was, for once, a focal point of the film; the ideological differences between the film’s juxtaposed sides were adequately motivated and provided strong reasons for each side to pummel the stars and stripes off the other; the action sequences were worth the admission price; and, best of all, ‘Civil War’ had the Black Panther, Marvel’s first black superhero.

Played by Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther, whose real name is T’Chaka, comes from a fictional African country called Wakanda. Wakanda is, according to the original comics, located somewhere in North eastern Africa. Some issues have it located just above Tanzania and some have it closer to Uganda.

Whatever the fictional country’s location, though, certain facts have to be accepted: From his impressive physique (which I am sure accounts for 60% of recent gym membership subscriptions), to his suit (why is funding not being directed towards the creation of vibranium?), right down to his intense *ss kicking moves, the Black Panther is an East African brother through and through.

Yes, my fellow East Africans and I are claiming him.

The only thing we refuse to claim is his godawful accent.

In the film, whenever T’Chaka spoke, he sounded like the son of the Liberian dictator in ‘Lord Of War’; or, worse, like Trevor Noah impersonating some ANC official.

Oh, and he spoke Xhosa in the film too.

Were it not for his otherwise applause worthy man handling of various superheroes in the film, East Africans would be launching petitions to the United Nations.

There is nothing wrong with sounding like a small fraction of black South Africans speaking English, or like an even smaller group of West Africans speaking English.

The accents are alright, provided they are set in clearly delineated geographic locales.

But there is a strong degree of cultural short sightedness when every black character with African roots, however strong or distant, has the same generic accent in films.

Where, on this vast continent with 3 000 native languages, distinct speech patterns and cadences, does Hollywood find their one size fits all ‘African accent’ which bundu bashes through consonants, vowel groups and basic sentence structure?

I did not hear it anywhere in Nairobi when I lived there.

I did not hear it in university in Cape Town, either, where I was surrounded by a multitude of African nationalities.

I have not heard it in any corner of Namibia.

So where the heck does it come from?

I just looked at the map of Africa and there is no country called Ignorance from which to ship the accent.

In this age where black lives matter, on screen and off screen, where media outlets are called out daily for being racist, where fair and neutral cultural representation are becoming watchwords for media producers and disseminators, how the heck is the myth of the African accent still being maintained?

Like, can T’Chaka and his Wakandans please give us us free? Asseblief tog.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.