The legacy of Cornell’s African Night Market

The sound of catchy West African afrobeats music reverberated through the Engineering Quad. The Ghanaians at Cornell organization, ran Cornell’s first ever African Night Market on Saturday 22nd October.

Although it was put together by the Ghanaian community, this event was an attempt to capture the ambience of various African countries. For this reason, students from different parts of Africa cooked meals infused with delicious spices from their home countries for the Cornell. All of the food was for free.

In addition to food, there was the sale of products such as African print jewellery, hair accessories and organically made shea butter from Ghana, among other things. Cornell students were also exposed to different games and activities such as musical chairs that are always a prominent part of African events on campus.

Obviously, this was an enjoyable event for all African students. I mean, it is not everyday we get readily available foods from different countries in Africa, for free. “African” and “free” was all I needed to hear to head over to Duffield Hall that night. Apart from that, I was also extremely interested in the response or the reactions of non-Africans to this event.

It is no secret that more often than not, Americans and other citizens in the western world are mainly exposed to only the hardships people face on the African continent and I was thrilled to see that many were being exposed to some aspects of the varying and rich cultures of the different African nations. For this reason, I was curious to know how this event had impacted their perceptions or their thoughts of the African continent.

Elisabeth Mistur, from Troy, NY

What was your favorite part of the event and what was it about?

My favorite part of coming to Africa Night Market was being able support my friends who were involved in the event and get just a taste of their home culture. One of the best things about being at Cornell for me has been being able to form friendships with people who have different cultural and geographical backgrounds than me. This event gave me a chance to learn more about some of my friends’ backgrounds, and gave the opportunity to start more conversations to learn about each others’ backgrounds.

Did you learn anything new about the African culture or African people?

As we were enjoying the food, I was curious about ingredients and the cooking process, and a few of my friends gave me an overview of how jollof is made. I also heard there’s a bit of competition between Ghanaian jollof vs. Nigerian jollof :).

Is there anything you feel like you would like to know more about concerning the continent (food, games, music etc.)?

Would have been fun to have different tables for different countries that Cornell students are from! I think it would be cool to highlight some of the cultural differences of different nationalities and countries within Africa, especially for non-African students who might see African culture as just one culture.

Hannah Dorpfeld from Medina, NY

What was your favorite part of the event and what was it about?

All of the food was amazing, Kenyan Chai Tea, Jollof Rice and Chin Chin were my favorites.

Did you learn anything new about the African culture or African people?

I realized that African dance is so subtle and all in the hips!

Is there anything you feel like you would like to know more about concerning the continent (food, games, music etc.)

I’d like to learn more about different African music and dance. If there was a workshop on dance moves, that would be sweet.

Mané Mehrabyan from Armenia, now living in Ithaca studying Design and Environmental Analysis

What was your favorite part of the event and what was it about?

My favourite part of the event was getting to see all my friends and witnessing how much they love chicken to wait for it for three hours. The chicken debacle itself made me learn a lot about the culture, not only its lateness but how festive, loving, and encouraging people can be even when things don’t go as planned.

Did you learn anything new about the African culture or African people?

I learned some new dance moves from Mercy, and started practicing immediately, I have grown to love African dancing and the more I listen to the music, the more I can distinguish ones that reoccur often and give and get a wild cheer.

Is there anything you feel like you would like to know more about concerning the continent (food, games, music etc.)

I am more interested in the smaller/invisible cultural intricacies such as how people interact with one another, talk about hair, how different countries in Africa view/make fun of other countries in Africa. Perhaps a comedy skit that would elucidate more of these little cultural phenomenon would be good, and funny!

Janna from Beijing

What was your favorite part of the event and what was it about?

I loved the food part and the people behind it. I met a Congolese bookkeeper at an Ithaca hotel and he told me making home food was so complicated, given the great number of ingredients needed, that he often had to give up before he even started. But events like this gave him a chance to re-discover his favorite African food without having to spend an entire day. As an expatriate myself I can certainly relate to that. As I talked to people behind the scenes of all the cooking it became clear to me we all shared a love for cuisines of Africa. I knew it must have been difficult: the logistics, the inclement weather and the necessity of scavenging ingredients from all over the place… I can’t even begin to imagine.

Did you learn anything new about the African culture or African people?

Hard to say. The more I learn about a culture, the more I realize that there are so many things I don’t know. For a long while I really wanted to graduate from when I used to say, when asked about my impression of a place, “The food is great, and the people are friendly…” You know, that kind of thing. This event really helps me move along from that phase and get a “real” picture. Just a few days ago my boyfriend, a native of Kenya, told me in his parts of Kenya mendazi is more popular than chapati, but I had no idea what either was. When he made pan-grilled bread with eggs he explained, “Oh it’s sort of like chapati but not quite…” And for a long while chapati is a code word representing a vast amount of things I don’t know about Africa. But now, at least I am beginning to crack the code—learning the language, so to speak, and going to African Night helped me a lot.

Is there anything you feel like you would like to know more about concerning the continent (food, games, music etc.)

I would like to see more dances.

Cornell is a diverse environment of a plethora of rich and diverse cultures with inquiring and curious students open to knowing more. I believe that an encouragement of such events on the Cornell campus by various nations and ethnicities will go a long way to encourage us to embrace our differences and uphold Ezra Cornell’s vision of “any person…any study”.