You may find yourself faced with a new reality, one in which you are met with new challenges such as navigating your studies and making new friends. As students from the African diaspora, our experiences can feel uniquely alienating in multiple ways. As you enter the classroom, you are swiftly reminded that your experience , your culture and your history are “Other”. Your identity, classified as “Other”. When you roam the streets of Groningen you are confronted with the strangeness that is Dutch culture.

Home, not just in my yearning for particular food, music and people but home in the knowledge I aim to receive. In the classroom you are taught (in some cases, you are indoctrinated in) the “Western” perspective, and such is treated as the standard. It is this realization that allowed me to see my “Otherness” as a gift, an opportunity to challenge the education I am receiving, with hopes to somehow create space for my diasporan peers and their “Otherness”.

The African diaspora is made up of a multitude of communities all over the world. Although we all come from different backgrounds and our identities are made up of many intersections, we must rejoice in our differences and come together. Together we are able to create opportunities to step away from a singular perspective, and take pleasure in the richness of our nuanced perspectives. And together we are able to find joy in celebrating and supporting each other.

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