Me Broni Ba (My White Baby)

Me Broni Ba’s narrative is one in which several elements of fiction, non-fiction and experimental cinema are cleverly interwoven to create an artistic but socially and historically relevant work. In this film, using the hair and skin color as a representation of racial differences, Adoma Owusu tells the story of a young African girl who after living her whole life on the African continent without her parents, finally travels to go meet them abroad. She gets to the Western world and is taken aback by how different the place looks and how the people around her don’t look like her but very much like her dolls from back home.

Me Broni Ba casts a critical gaze on representation and the appropriation of Western cultural norms in African society by highlighting its detrimental effect on African children as they grow up in the world. The proliferation of White dolls and clear lack of Black dolls for young African girls to play with shapes their ideas of what beauty is. The preponderance of wigs and foreign hair that young African girls are made to use to look pretty also gives the wrong impression of Western cultures being the standard of beauty. For our young protagonist, when she gets abroad, she is reprimanded for playing with the hair of some of the girls in her class. Adoma Owusu adopts a unique approach here of flipping the inferior immigrant racist narrative on its head. Our protagonist links the White girls with dolls – she says her dolls have come to life.

Me Broni Ba highlights how representation for African and Black girls in terms of what they see, play with, watch, listen to and read is key in shaping a strong and proud sense of Black identity. The film is a simple yet extremely packed critique of not only the Western world but of Africans themselves who impose these cultures and values on their young.

Badewa Ajibade
Guest curator