How to tell africans apart?

[Jacobim Mugatu]

How can you tell a Nigerian apart from a south African, or any other kinds of Africans. I am not saying they all look the same, I just can't tell who comes from where. If anyone knows a book, or can find a website, or just knows and is nice enough to share information, then please do.

[Ripplemagne]

Interesting subject. I'm unsure if such is possible, but I'd be interested in knowing if there was, indeed, a way of telling the difference.

[Jacobim Mugatu]

I was watching that movie tears of the sun and one of the black people was talking to a black American about where he was from and said he was from Nigeria, and he could tell by his face.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Hm, interesting.

It's probably about the same as telling an American from a Canadian just by looking at them. Or a German from an Austrian from a French person. Different races have different looks, and different countries obviously can have their effects on a person (how they sound, dress, what kind of body art they may have, etc.), but as far as a specific physical difference, I don't think there is one. If there is, it's not something noticeable.

When you think about it, we share 98% of our DNA with apes. Whether you think we evolved from them or not, we're incredibly similar on that level even though we're still very different. From one homo sapiens sapiens to another, the differences are insanely small, even from one race to another versus two people of the same racial background. I don't think there's enough of a difference for one country/region to be so genetically different that you could recognize them immediately based on it. Maybe there's something I'm missing, who knows. It just seems very unlikely to me.

EDIT: At your comment: What's the movie about, I haven't seen it? Could it be possible that he meant he recognized the expression on his face, or something like that?

[Atonement]

I can usually distringuish between Asian nationalities and origins, but I have never pondered Africans because I don't associate with them ever. It would be easy to tell regions though I'd suppose. We all know north-eastern which would be Egyptian (Middle-eastern looking). Then North-west would be easy if you think in terms of moroccan, but then south is harder. And for me, I can only distinguish well between Asians in men. I have no clue about Africans nor women.

[scuba steve]

i've heard that there are actually very differant accents in differant regions of africa, like i've heard that south african sounds similar to australian

[Bougainvillea]

Maybe from thier dialect.

[Camazotz]

Physically, there's barely a difference. Asking is not offensive, so just ask them.

[Jacobim Mugatu]

I want to be able to tell where African Americans came from, and since most of them don't know, asking would have no results. Also, I mean to be able to tell the difference in the face and skin tone, not their dialects. Many of them speak European languages so that doesn't help too much

[quartermaster]

There are slight distinctions that are really hard to tell especially if you are not from the region. Being that many Sub-Saharan Africans share common Bantu features, it is hard to differentiate. One can usually easily tell the difference between an Ethiopian and a Nigerian by the difference in body structure and head size. Ethiopians tend to be of a shorter nature, much skinnier and have fewer "Bantu" facial features (they tend to have large heads and smaller bodies, as well as more Caucasian-like noses). On that same token, Somalians have a different appearance to the Bantu as well, as they have similar features to the Ethiopians, but tend to be darker, sometimes even appearing Indian in skin color. It is hard to explain the differences, but those are some of the differences I have compiled over the years; one thing I understand is that West Africans and East Africans have a fair amount of differences in appearance (I can only assume due to the Arab and Asian influence upon the Eastern coast throughout the years by means of trade etc.).

[Jacobim Mugatu]

It seems like you know a bit, quartermaster, do you have a particular source or some sources where I can acquire this info myself. I would like to read a book on it, and I will probably check one out if there is one that exists

[Antares]

Can you tell a Peruvian apart from an Argetenian?
No.
Can you tell a german apart from a Swiss person?
No.
Its not just africans. Its a lot of similar nationalities...mostly because they live in the same region and reproduce with people similar to them...

[Jacobim Mugatu]

but surely you can tell a Somalian from an Algerian. or a Nigerian from a Tunisian.

[quartermaster]

It seems like you know a bit, quartermaster, do you have a particular source or some sources where I can acquire this info myself. I would like to read a book on it, and I will probably check one out if there is one that exists

Unfortunately I do not, much of this is from personal observations in just noticing physical differences; certainly not set in stone. You may be able to find some older texts regarding the Ethiopian, Bantu and/or Mali by Europeans during the imperialist periods, though I cannot guarantee those texts will be without European favoritism in regards to features (I've read a few such accounts some time ago, and they are vast, though interesting generalizations; I wish I had a source for you though).

[marty]

i can't tell the difference between african nationalities.

for some reason though..i can with east asians (china korea japan)

[INFERNO]

Different races tend to have different physical features, especially in the skull and facial area, such as African skulls vs. Asian skulls have noticable differences. However, when it comes to comparing the physical differences from people within the same race, that is when it gets a lot harder. You may be able to tell by their accent or how they talk. For example, at my university, I know of a few people from Africa and the differences in accents of a South African person can be noticable compared to a person from somewhere in North Africa. However, in trying to differentiate people from various regions within, say, North Africa or Central Africa, that tends to be very challenging as there may not be many differences that are easily noticable.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

I want to be able to tell where African Americans came from, and since most of them don't know, asking would have no results.

By "they don't know", I'm assuming you're talking about people of African descent who have lived here for so long that they don't know the original country of origin. Chances are incredibly slim of being able to tell the country by their faces, or even how they talk (since they will likely talk the same way you do). It's been said that there are slight differences due to general region, but those are more apparent in people who have lived there for multiple generations. Those who came here several generations ago, perhaps more than a hundred years ago for some of them, have more ambiguous ancestry--who's to say that all of their ancestors started out from the same place? Maybe there's even a white person or someone of mixed race in there some place, which could lead to different traits being passed down.

[Antares]

I want to be able to tell where African Americans came from, and since most of them don't know, asking would have no results. Also, I mean to be able to tell the difference in the face and skin tone, not their dialects. Many of them speak European languages so that doesn't help too much

They don't know because their familes were split up and they were brought here, to a totally new place, without any knowledge of the language, and minimal ways to keep ties with their original culture.

Then when you have intersexing that naturally occurs, obviously youre going to lose where you come from.

Which may play into the reason why africans are "hard to tell apart"...
when they arent the only peoples that are difficult to tell apart...

[mrmcdonaldduck]

i've heard that there are actually very differant accents in differant regions of africa, like i've heard that south african sounds similar to australian

you're right in saying that.

[MykeSoBe]

Can you tell a Peruvian apart from an Argetenian?
No.
Can you tell a german apart from a Swiss person?
No.
Its not just africans. Its a lot of similar nationalities...mostly because they live in the same region and reproduce with people similar to them...

The amount of difference between different ethnic groups within a single race varies. The French and the Italian look similar, especially with their distinct Roman noses, while the Slavs (Czech, Slovak, Kashubians, Polish, Moravians, Podhale, Silesian, Belorussians, Ukrainians, Russians, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, some Albanians, Macedonians, Bulgarians, and many more) have a more varies appearance, generally divided between the Southern Slavs (darker skin), the Western Slavs (perfect skin!) and the Eastern Slavs (almost like a mix of the Western Slavs with the Scandinavians).