Toubab

Toubab is a Central and West African name for a person of European descent ("whites"). Used most frequently in the Gambia, Senegal, and Mali, also in Ivory Coast the term does not have derogatory connotations by itself, though it is also frequently associated with "wealthy traveler" (if one can afford to travel, then he/she must be rich). The word can also be applied to any perceived traveler - even those of black African descent with an identifiably different phenotype such as (whiter) Cape Verdeans and (blacker) Nigerians, up to foreign-raised locals (thus with a different accent) or visiting expatriates. In Alex Haley's book Roots, the phrase "toubab fa" (kill toubab) is used several times.

In God's Bits of Wood, authored by Senegalese Sembene Ousmane, the natives call the French colonizers toubab (singular) or toubabs (plural).

In the fourth episode of the miniseries ROOTS, Kizzy refers to her friend as "toubab," or white.

A verb in the Wolof language meaning "to convert" ( missionaries during colonial times, being whites coming from Europe ); or that it is derived from the two bob (two shilling) coin of pre-decimalisation United Kingdom.

Related

In Ghana the word used for a 'white' person or foreigner is ‘Obroni’ in the local languages, those of the Akan family.

In Nigeria, the word used for a 'white' person is Oyibo. In Uganda, the word used for a white or foreign person is "mzungu"

References

Maurice Delafosse, « De l'origine du mot Toubab » in Annuaire et mémoires du comité d'études historiques et scientifiques de l'A.O.F., 1917, p. 205-216
Anne Doquet, « Tous les toubabs ne se ressemblent pas. Les particularités nationales des étrangers vues par les guides touristiques maliens », in Mali - France : Regards sur une histoire partagée, GEMDEV et Université du Mali, Karthala, Paris ; Donniya, Bamako, 2005, p. 243-258 ISBN 2-84586-724-7
Pierre Dumont, Le Toubab, L'Harmattan, Paris, Montréal, 1996, 127 p. ISBN|2-7384-4646-9 (Novel)
Charles Hoareau, Toubabs et immigrés, Pantin, Paris, Le Temps des cerises, VO éd, 1999, 202 p. ISBN 2-84109-184-8
Lawrence Hill, "The Book of Negroes", HarperCollins, Toronto, 2007, 44, 45 p. ISBN 978-1-55468-156-3
Toubab.com -

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