Akata
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Àkàta is a word derived from the Fanti tribe of West Africa and over time has assimilated into the more popular Yoruba language. It is widely used loosely by African immigrants to the United States to describe African Americans and their descendants, and over time it has come to have derogatory connotations due to tensions between African immigrants and African Americans.
[edit] Origin
There are many false rumors about the origin of the word, its West African etymology means it cannot mean words like slave or cotton picker because languages such as Akan Twi and the Yoruba language have words for these already. In the Akan language, "kata" means 'to cover'. It is thought to be disparaging because of the general negative attitude African immigrants to the U.S. have about Black Americans. Tension between the groups have risen as African Immigrants have gained status and seek to differentiate themselves from African Americans. Because of this, rumors about the word have developed, often with the ones claiming the word to be offensive not asking for the proper definition by those that use the word, with the resulting connotation being a result of misunderstanding and miscommunication.
[edit] Usage
Its usage is similar to that of kokujin (black person) in the Japanese language. Although the Japanese people may have negative stereotypes about blacks and use "kokujin" negatively, it is not meant to be taken as offensive.
It may also be used to describe a cat that does not live at home, whereas the cat that lives at home is called Ologbo or Ologinni, so by calling African Americans akata they are only implying that the African Americans are blacks that don't reside in the continent of Africa, though it is often used to refer to African Americans. The term was popularised in Hollywood by the movie Sugar Hill and because of this, it often used to describe any African living outside of Africa, though the Yoruba's tend not to use it in a derogatory manner.
