Mzungu Ali Wa: Celebrity of Whiteness

Being different always brings a certain amount of attention. And for those on the streets in Zzana, my whiteness makes me very, very different and extremely conspicuous. Despite the fact that there are at least five other white people in this area, no one seems to get tired of crying out "Mzungu, mzungu! Bye, Mzungu" when I walk past.

The celebrity of whiteness here is worse than it is in China or anywhere else I have traveled to. I often find myself surrounded by more than ten people at a time who want to talk with me about being friends, how I can help their football careers, or if I am a "tu-a" (tourist). Today, I counted 173 "Bye Mzungu"'s in the twenty minute walk to Zzana. Almost all of these people have seen me many times before. Most have a vague idea of who I am and what I am doing here. I have introduced myself and talked to many of them as well. But, there is still a great excitement for them at saying "Bye, Mzungu."

The phrase "Bye, Mzungu" has been puzzling to me. Why do most people say Mzungu when it is a Swahili word rather than the Luganda word (omuntu omweru)? Why do they say "Bye" instead of "Hello."

First, very few Ugandans whom I have met know that Mzungu is Swahili. Most think it is Luganda. Of those that have discussed the term with me, their definitions have varied widely. Most insist that the word is for any non-Black, including Arabs, Indians and Chinese. However, they admit that they would primarily use the term for white people.

Another person told me that the word was Swahili for "brown" and it meant brown people. This made a great deal of sense to me, and I asked if the term grew with the spread of Swahili during the Omani kingdom, a time at which it would have made a great deal of sense to refer to the Arab outsiders as "brown". He said he thought that made sense. But, a quick internet search later on would show that Mzungu did not mean brown in Swahili. It meant "trick" "skill" "ruse" and "white person", but not brown.

So, I have come to the conclusion, that despite many Ugandan's insistence on Mzungu meaning outsider, it basically means white person.

But, what about the strange greeting I face each day, "Bye, Mzungu"? I asked my friend Naomi about this. She said, "The white people are too proud and will never stop to talk to us blacks. So, we always say 'bye' and never 'hello'."

That didn't entirely make sense to me since most white people I know here do stop and talk or at least say hello to most "Bye, Mzungu" calls. Also, that logic seems beyond the main perpetrator of the "Bye, Mzungu" fad: very young children. Most adults add, "What's going on?" or the occassional "What's up?" to "Bye, Mzungu." Occassionally, I here, "Bye, Mzungu. Hello!"So, I have not yet found a satisfactory answer for why people here are always saying "bye" instead of "hello" to me.

I have found, however, one satisfactory response to children's "Bye Mzungu"'s. While I treat all adult "Bye Mzungu"'s with a "hello", "how are you", or an occasional "sivi-otya", I have tried very hard to come up with an amusing response to the kids. Answering in Luganda is always entertaining, but it seems rude to me to say goodbye to them (an early response of mine). Answering Hello Ugandan in Luganda and English was greeted with blank stares and more "Bye Mzungus". For some reason, "Who is the Mzungu?" (in Luganda) didn't go over well either.

The only amusing response I have found is "Mzungu? A-li wa?" (A Mzungu? Where is he?) . This response is usually met with sincere responses from the children. The mzungu is here they say in Luganda pointing at me. One has grabbed my hand and pointed at it, saying "this is Mzungu" with great enthusiasm. Parents often laugh and offer me a seat, malwa, or in one case a bride.

With the exception of the bride (she is very nice), I have not taken up many of these offers. Most people are not interested in getting to know me, and many have absurd ideas of what kind of power I hold. I do not know Tupac. I cannot help them with their dance, football, or singing careers. And, I don't want to go visit a stranger's family (Though I actually did this once.) Usually, I am satisfied with the superficial "Mzungu? A-li wa?" or "How are you?" and I keep walking.

However, I have made two Ugandan friends in the neighborhood who are also in their twenties and whom I met first through a "Mzungu! Mzungu!" yell. They are dancers who spend most of their days drinking beer or vodka out of plastic bags at the store around the corner. They are both smart and interesting, and it's nice to have found some Ugandan friends my age in the neighborhood. Somehow, they never seem to get drunk. And, they both got over my whiteness fairly quickly and we are able to talk about much more than America, which is nice.