Myriam Cisse

ENG 200w

Prof. Larsson

Spring 23

      “West African Community Artifact” 

Born and raised in West Africa you definitely gain a lot of culture, then adjusting to an urban lifestyle in America you get acquainted with a lot of different things than you’re used to. Whilst in class we went over how different types of communities can have an impact as to how you as the writer identify and that can be seen throughout our work. In my experience I identify culturally with the West African community because it represents the daily life that I live as well as millions of other West African or even just African people within my community alike. For my community artifact I have chosen the ‘Westafricancommunity’ instagram page as it has over 100k followers who identify with West Africa. 

Firstly, this instagram page is home for many not just Africans but many individuals who are curious about the culture to know more. I am from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire which is one country in the big continent of Africa. My parents were born and raised and therefore I frequently visited back and forth to visit my immediate family such as my grandma, aunts and uncles. With that said, I was able to learn French to be able to communicate and resonate with my family members back home and at the same time I was able to adapt to a lot of the culture that was made available to me from home as well as in Africa which I felt was very awesome to experience. I was exposed to two different worlds and although I lived in America I never wanted to lose my roots and where I came from so that is how I was able to gain my connection into this community where I felt culturally compelled to. 

Whilst observing the Instagram page I was able to come up with more of an understanding as to why other individuals interact with the page. The creators of this instagram page post content relatable to most West Africans by posting videos, memes, even food. It brings the people together by comparing that to the experiences that they share at home when going through their own motions. For example, when the world cup was going on soccer was something that was prevalent in Africa as they compared it to how big the NFL is in America. The whole African community was in the comments cheering on the teams and supporting their country, and as eliminations started going through when it ended up being one African country vs another non-African country, the support and interactions from everyone alike despite the different countries/teams? Meant a lot and is a great example of how united a group of people can be even though they haven’t physically met! This instagram page allows people from all over to be able to relate and have an opinion on their African values which is pretty cool. Another interesting thing that this page does is post a lot of different foods or variations of food prevalent in African societies and homes. It’s amazing to see how connected individuals can become over the use of food and how cool it also is to be able to relate or have an opinion on a daily dish that you eat at home. My mom makes this dish named Attieke every sunday and on that instagram page, half a million people ate that same dish and even more people wanted to try it. But, nonetheless, it was amazing to see how that sparked all the difference.

 I believe the purpose of the instagram page was mainly to be able to connect those Africans in America, the Africans back home, as well as the girl/boy who is intrigued by African culture to have a platform where they can be able to share, learn and relate. I believe this goal was accomplished due to the major collaborations every time a major African event happens whether it’s celebrating Muslim tradition like Eid, or talking about soccer etc when the community comes together and recognizes the culture that goes into creating a legacy for not just one person but a village. Being a part of a community and being able to recognize its significance goes a long way but helping to shape the impact of that artifact is what makes all the difference and this is why I chose their instagram page as my community artifact.. It’s always growing and the work is never done! There will always be more and more Africans to keep this going. 

Works Cited

West African Community 🌍 (@westafricancommunity) – Instagram, www.instagram.com/westafricancommunity/. Accessed 15 May 2023.