Supa-Dupa AfriKans: a segment of the conscious population that has taken the Afrocentric and African-centered academic movement, and adopted these scholarly pursuits as an everyday lifestyle and way of living. Though many have done this, these individuals represent a more extreme caste. Members will usually dress in a mix of African and modern African-American garb; wear assorted bits of African jewelry; make greetings in one or two African words (normally Kiswahili, Pharaonic Egyptian or Akan); sport a claimed ‘Afrocentric’ hairstyle and extol Africa.

Pros: have a devout love and pride about themselves as black people and Africa; may be quite informed on aspects of black history and elements of culture; often push for a healthy dietary lifestyle, fight against racism and more.

Cons: makes everyone else feel they are somehow lacking in their own African-ness; thinks walking around with a licorice stick in one’s mouth is acceptable at any venue; have never stepped foot on the continent of Africa but have been planning to go there for the better part of a decade; often think they can out-African even black people who live on the continent of Africa; a lot of what they think is African, really isn’t; have grand spiritual, economic and political ideas for Africa but have a general misunderstanding of traditional or modern African spiritual, economic or political institutions; romanticism of pre-colonial Africa may leave them very unaware of political, social and other events in modern Africa; horrific occurrences like Rwanda’s genocide completely shakes their foundation.

Suggestions: Africa’s complex. Don’t treat it like a singular entity. Make the trip, meet some people, get some connections, cause some real change on both sides of the Atlantic.