The term Akata is a West African term for Black Americans. It is generally considered derogatory, a slur in fact. Okorafor uses the work in the titles of the books in the Insibidi Series: Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, and more recently Akata Woman. She was recently a guest on The New Yorker’s Radio Hour, a show hosted by Vinson Cunningham. During the interview, she talked at length about the term Akata, what it means, and why she chose to use it in her titles in spite of its negative connotations.
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First, I want to address the word Akata. Akata is a terrible word. [chuckles] It’s a terrible word. It’s a horrible, horrible word.
The thing is, when you talk to some Nigerians, they will be like, “Oh, no, it’s a neutral word. It just describes Black Americans, and it’s fine.” Anyone who has been called that term and fits into the category of the definition knows that it is not a nice word. It’s not a nice word. It’s a derogatory term for Black Americans, but that also includes Nigerian Americans as well. This is a word that I have grown up hearing and being called and grappling with and yelling about.
When I wrote the first one, the Akata Witch, in the book itself, it wasn’t that she was called Akata witch, which it was originally Akata B-I-T-C-H. [laughs] That was a term because that’s the term that I actually knew. Then I was called an Akata by some man because he thought I was mouthing off and he’s like, “Oh, you American girls, you just have no respect for what,” and he called me that. I got angry, and I’m like, “I’m putting that in the title. I’m going to be the first person to put that word in a title of a book.” It was like a taking back and it was me being audacious, and so I’ve kept it.
Then in the United States, especially in my younger years in South Holland, Illinois, which is a south suburb of Chicago, which in the ’80s was all white. It’s like, we would hear the N-word everywhere, from teachers, yelled out of cars, from best friends, all kinds of thing, so we’ve got that going on. Then a few years later, we moved to a more diverse part of the suburbs and that’s where we encountered African Americans, who then would call us African booty scratcher and make fun of our names, so it’s like, all this cultural stuff.
My siblings and I, we would take it in. We have each other, so we’d always talk about it and be like, “This is confusing. What are we? Where do we fit? We don’t fit anywhere.” Then at some point, we just got comfortable not fitting in anywhere but still having that commonality, so that’s like a conversation we’ve been having forever, and we’re very secure in who we are, and so these are like things that I like to write about, and I like to play around with them, and Sunny definitely has those conversations and has them honestly.
Follow this link to listen to the rest of the interview, which also touches on her recently published NOOR and Akata Woman.
Dee Dee March 14, 2023 21:00
"Akata" is definitely a derogatory term... NEVER trust the person that would try to convince you otherwise! It is primarily used by Nigerians in America who believe African Americans are beneath them when in fact many of those same Nigerians have close relatives living in less than ideal environments back in Nigeria. Not to mention Nigerians that live in Nigeria are far more accepting than their relatives that live in the states. Many of those that live in the states should be ashamed at how little they support those that helped them get to the US in the first place. As a Black American that has traveled to Nigeria on a few occasions, I can honestly say i love the place far more than most Nigerians that were born and raised there. It's tropical so it is a bit dusty and not the most aesthetically pleasing place in the world but what I've found is the people are far more warm hearted than some of their arrogant relatives that live in the states. How many times have you heard a Nigerian say, my father is the king/Oba or my family owns the hospital or local school blah blah blah? Let's just say, it's easy to say those things when most can't verify if it's fact or fiction. Those that use the term "Akata" are really just projecting the image of themselves onto others to make themselves feel better. African Americans have had a hard 400yrs and will Overcome! Not nearly as optimistic of those Nigerians that use the term "Akata" I feel sorry for them because they will learn the hard way!