The Mzungu effect

Ever seen those adverts for Lynx deodorant (Axe in Continental Europe) where a guy walks into a room and all the girls are instantly attracted to him? It's attributed to the Lynx (Axe) effect.

Mzungu is the swahili word which has traditionally been used to describe Europeans. Officially it means "aimless wanderer" and is used to describe anyone who looks out of place; starting with all white people and continuing even with the arabs and chinese.

Being identified as an Mzungu has its own unique effects, a bit like the mystical ones of the Lynx/Axe in the adverts.

 

Stage 1: Mzungu spotted. Stage 2: Mzungu hassled (not my photos)

On one hand, Mzungus get away with all kinds of stuff. Take police checkpoints for example; I have never yet seen an Mzungu detained at a police check point. Police have their own favourite vehicles to stop and try to extract money from; matatus and pick-ups being top of the list with rustbuckets in third place. Now while there are no Mzungu matatu drivers that I know of, there are plenty of Mzungu pickup drivers and they'll be waved by checkpoints with no hassle.

On the other hand, Mzungus can generally be seen coming miles off, so they get hassled by sellers immediately and any prices tend to instantly triple or quadruple. While prices for black Kenyans will start at 150 and the haggling challenge will be to reduce it to 120 or 100, the price for an Mzungu will start around 500 and if the Mzungu gets anywhere near 150 they should be estatic!

You might guess by the way that I'm writing, I have some experience with the Mzungu effect.

More often than not, Kenyans will struggle to place someone like me. On first sight, I'll get taken for  a pure Kenyan. While my skin is a bit on the light side by Nairobi standards,  my tone would look quite at home by the coast (where black africans, indians and arabs have mixed for years to create an average complexion not too far from my own). What's more it's even possible to find pure Africans of my tone; women primarily, but also some men from the Kikuyu tribe (the majority heritage of my father incidentally) are known for having light complexions.

But then I open my mouth and everyone's face drops. Very limited (but improving) swahili and however much I do the Steven Mclaren/JoeyBarton to remove the "sarf Lahndan" from the accent, it still sounds Mzungu.

So visual and audio do not go together. But this can be used to its own advantage. When stopped by the cops, I pull out a mzungu driving licence (UK) and tone down the accent moderation, and all minor discrepancies disappear, even if I'm driving a beaten up rust bucket (which tends to be the case). On the other hand, I blend in almost seamlessly when navigating Nairobi. Notably if I adopt the right demeanour and use of words when haggling then the prices will, in most cases, start at the right levels.

But there is still one group of Kenyans who can tell the truth better than any other. Children. The truth is I'm a Kenyan born, half ethnically Kenyan who has grown up in the UK and spent subsequent years living in various countries. Which officially speaking makes me Mzungu. And the children, notably those in small villages, pick up on it almost immediately.

Mzungu - "aimless wanderer". Maybe the kids who call shout that as I walk villages are more perceptive than you'd have given them credit for!