A recent video showing actress Amandla Stenberg mispronouncing her name on TikTok has sparked a huge debate. South Africans are not happy and have slammed Stenberg for “failing to learn” to pronounce her Xhosa name correctly.
Amandla Stenberg dragged on TikTok: Here’s what we know
According to The South African, a video of Stenberg can be heard correctly pronouncing her Xhosa name during an interview. However, South Africans from all over the country gathered on TikTok to discuss their thoughts. In the now-viral video, the actress explains that she is from South Africa and that her name is Xhosa for “power.”
YouTuber Misa Narrates expressed her dissatisfaction with Stenberg. She said that Amandla “doesn’t have the tongue” to pronounce the Xhosa name in a Tiktok video.
Narrates, who lives in the USA, said: “This actor has said for themselves that their name was taken by their parents from South Africa, so let me tell you the name is ‘Amandla’ okay.
“This is where naming people is important if you are taking names from other languages and you don’t have the tongue for them, nor will or interest to learn to pronounce it properly, to insist that they are pronounced properly, particularly when those names are from the people of those languages are often butchered.
Please don’t bestow that name upon your children, finished,” she said.
@misanarrates #stitch with @Soph mispronunciation of African names is lazy at this point. And yes, even Amandla and their parents are guilty of this laziness #amandlastenberg ♬ original sound – Misa Narrates
Comments were left by TikTok users, and South African musician Lady Zamar joined the commotion.
“It’s like taking an African artefact and putting it in a western museum and then giving it a different history just so it suits the western narrative,” Zamar wrote in the comment section of the post
Another TikToker, Annie Jean begged to differ and said: “I’m sorry, I have an unpopular opinion on this one. She can pronounce her name however she likes. It’s her name”
Just a few weeks ago, Ntsiki Mazwai, a local poet and human rights advocate, gained notoriety for criticizing Ndavi Nokeri, the newly crowned Miss South Africa, for “twanging” her Venda last name.
Ntsiki was quickly taken down by many users. However, it seems that many people still have strong opinions about how Black African names should be pronounced.
Model Naomi Campbell chanted “Amandala” three times at the Global Citizen Festival in June 2020, and naturally, Twitter users had a field day getting her to stop.