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Choosing where you come from

Ekow Eshun makes a living by being who he is... but it takes some explaining, finds out ANJANA RAJAN

TALKING ABOUT THE FACTS OF LIFE Author Ekow Eshun at The Africa Asia Literary Conference at the Neemrana Palace near Delhi

Ekow Eshun was born in Britain. He writes for publications like The Guardian, The Observer, New Statesman, Sunday Times and others. He makes documentaries for Channel 4, including Living on the Line, which won the Christian Aid Lifestyle Award at The One World Broadcasting Trust's Media Awards. Why introduce a nice interesting guy with an official sounding CV? Because, for all his accomplishments and his British accent, Ekow has grown up being asked two questions by his fellow Londoners: `Where are you from?' and, the reply given, the inevitable `Where are you really from?'

And, yes, Ekow admits to being complimented on his `command' over the English language too! In a secular, democratic, multi-cultural society, appearances, read colour, seem to count for more than aesthetics.

"Throughout my life I've taken offence at these questions," says Ekow. They reflect the assumption that the questioner has somehow more legitimacy than him, he says. Such experiences prompted him to write his autobiographical book "Black Gold of the Sun" that documents his search for his roots in Africa.

But Ekow is not lost in looking for a little-known past. At Continents of Creation: The Africa Asia Literary Conference, which took place at the Neemrana Palace hotel under the aegis of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, he made a significant point. "What excites me is that we as individuals are ready to make ourselves over - not saying where I'm from but where I choose to be from."

India, a contradictory country

And while Ekow may choose to be from Britain with links to Ghana, he also chooses to love India, where he has travelled in the past too, particularly around the South. He finds it a rich, contradictory country, crazy and full of diverse strains. Diverse strains make up multi-culturalism, and Ekow has grown up observing the development of this approach in Britain. In the 1970s, he recalls, when rightist elements influenced not only politics but also popular culture, like the skinhead phenomenon, it was a "bizarre" period. "Britain has changed," he submits, adding, "But yeah, things change, but they also remain. You can almost stand on a street corner and watch the currents."

As a black person, he says, you can hail a taxi and see it passing you by, enter a shop and feel the eyes of security personnel on you. These ineffable `facts' of life cannot be proven or argued out, since officially they don't exist. It's nothing to do with words, he feels, these are actions.

Ekow calls it a place of "subtle racisms". And is conscious he can be accused of having a chip on the shoulder. It's significant, isn't it, he asks, that in Britain, black people are six times more likely to be diagnosed as mentally unsound than others. It cannot be a genetic trait, he emphasises. It is obviously a different perception of reality. Ekow sees a writer as one who tries to change people's perceptions so that they see reality in a different way. A writer's responsibility is also to tell a compelling story, he adds.

His writing is, therefore, "not as a crusade or a campaign", clarifies Ekow. "What you try to do is have a conversation."

With his speaking engagements, his film scripts and journal contributions, this young man likes to say, "I earn a living by being myself." A commitment, a passion, is important to him. "I write or talk about the things I'm interested in. Because I think it's important to wake up in the morning and think I'm going to try and convince people about my point of view. I'm interested in reaching people."

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