LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY
OF
AFRICAN COMMUNITY WORKERS
IN HK
By Lord Yeung, Samson Wong, Koy Kwong & Sarah Macbride
We are a group of students from the University of Hong Kong working on our course LCOM3001: Cultural Dimensions of Language and Communication instructed by Dr Lisa Lim. In this website, we are glad to share our insight(s) on some language and identity issues regarding African community workers in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, please join us in exploring some interesting aspects about Africa.
Sit back and RELAX. Let's begin with some COOL African Music : )
WHO WE ARE?
Trivia about the AFrican community
IF you are hanging out with an African friend (or planning to meet some Africans), here are some facts for you to know and some taboos that you dare not to make.
The "Right" Hand
In Africa, our right hands are literally the “right” hand to greet people, while using the left hand is often considered inproper and disrespectful in social gatherings.
In fact the use of the left hand for certain activities is considered an anathema. It is impolite to use the left hand to pass thing to and receive things from others. In case you will have to use your left hand to shake hands with others because your right hand is wounded, you will still have to use your right hand to slightly touch you left hand when you are trying to shake with your left hand, in order to "apologize" and to maintain politeness.
This comes from a very simple thing. In a lot of moderate areas in the country, the people don't use toilet paper to wipe, but their left hand. It is washed, but you can imagine that it stays the "unfresh" hand. Even though toilet paper is becoming normal nowadays, the tradition about this hand stays.
language & Clan Culture
Across Africa, people who live in the same tribe belong to the same clan. Every clan has their own cultural practice, community customs code and even language. For example, Dixon’s parents are from different clans, his mother is from a clan which mainly consist of hunter, while his father is from a royal clan, of a higher social status.
People from different clans can easily differentiae each other as people from the same clans share same symbol. It can be the clothing, a mark on their faces, or a wand (that was intentionally made when they are young). It would be an offense if someone possess a mark that only members of another clan are granted to have.
The clan culture deeply affects Africans' sensibility toward different African languages. For example, even though Dixon, when listening to people from other African countries speaking, may not be able to understand contents of their conversation, he possess a strong instinct to immediately identify which exact clan(s) these people are from. This is because in Africa, every clan member has developed a strong sensibility toward languages and dialects used by other nearby clans, as they might be in fact your enemies!!!
Here, we see a correlation between language and anthropology in Africa.
Respect for Elderly
Africans show a lot of respect for age & seniority. Typically within the Akan culture it is extremely common for a young person to address a senior male as Papa (Father) even if the elder gentleman is not his biological father. Similarly, a senior female would expect to be addressed by a younger person as Maame (Mother).
The phrase “Respect your elders” goes a long way within the African community and as such the elders should be revered for they laid the way ahead for us to follow
Body Languages
Africans are particularly fond of using gestures when talking to each other. Their interaction always involves some body contact between the speakers. For example, when two men are joking, they must be gently punching each other if they are indeed friends.
Chungking Mansions
In Chung King Mansion, It is not part of Hong Kong.”
Dixon mentioned that the culture and interactions in Chung King Mansion is so different from other areas in Hong Kong that he don’t regard it as part of Hong Kong. Chunking Mansions has been an important place for Ethnic Minorities to use their ethnic languages since it offers a major place for ethnic communities in HK to socialize.