I Meant "Fat" in a Good Way!

Among the many cultural differences that exist between Burkina Faso and America, perhaps the most interesting are the social norms of physical appearance. It is not considered impolite in Burkina identify someone based solely on their physical attributes such as skin color, height, or weight.  Of course this is typically after attempts to identify them by family name and ethnicity, but when half the village has the family name Traore and three quarters of the village belongs to the same ethnicity, this system breaks down pretty quickly.  It’s also particularly true when someone has a physical attribute that makes them extremely recognizable, which explains why I’m called “le blanc” and “tubabu” more often than Todd.

Burkinabe also frequently judge people based solely on their physical appearance.  In fact, prejudgment based on physical appearance takes place at least as often here as in the States, if not more. In Burkina Faso, there is no cultural norm that deems it inappropriate. This seems to contradict the myth of the African villager who does not place importance in superficial Western ideals such as physical appearance, but it is the simple truth.  An easy example is the fact that Burkinabe assume that all white people are rich and will consistently tell white people to give them things as a “joke.” A more subtle example is the fact that abnormally short people are not respected or treated like equals in my regional culture, which is reflected in the Jula proverb, “Mogo surunnin jusu b’a kaan koro,” (A short person’s heart is close to his head). 

A particularly interesting example is the fact that being overweight is considered a positive physical attribute in Burkina Faso.  To put it simply, “You’re fat!” is a compliment here.  When you return from trips out of site, villagers will often tell you that you look fatter.  If you ever lose weight while living in village, people assume that something is wrong.  Wealthier Burkinabe sometimes identify with you by pointing out “we’re both fat.”  When one of the women in my training group tried asking for less food for breakfast, her host dad thought something was wrong and said, “It’s ok, everyone in the village thinks you’re fat!”  At times like these, it can be incredibly difficult to accept the differences of another culture.

Part of the difference in social norms is due to language. The English adjective “fat” translates to the French adjective “gros.”   However if we do some reverse translation, the French adjective “gros” can also mean large, big, loud, or important.  Most local languages reflect the French lingual difference as well, with the same word describing large, fat, and strong.

However, the difference in social norms is largely due to culture. The size of a person is seen to indicate his or her material wealth in Burkina Faso and many other countries of Africa.  If you’re fat, it is assumed that you have enough money to eat and drink however much you want.   Therefore, it makes sense that wealthy people would be bigger than poor people.  Sure enough, many Burkinabe men and women with money are, technically speaking, overweight.  They live a more sedentary lifestyle, working government jobs or other relatively high paying positions.  They live in regional capitals or bigger cities, eating and drinking more than the average Burkinabe.  They exercise very little, if at all.

In the US, the positive correlation between wealth and weight is clearly not as strong.  Cheap fast food and processed food have “evened the playing field” so to speak.  The US has the highest rates of obesity, and therefore heart disease, of any country in the world.  However, there is also a broad segment of society that places importance on diet and exercise.  Many Americans are aware of the myriad of health complications accompany obesity and actively try to avoid them.  As such, being overweight is generally seen as a negative physical attribute. To put it simply, “You’re fat!” is not a compliment.  Clearly this obsession with “not being fat” is promoted to an unhealthy extreme by mass media in our country, but such are the wonderful contradictions of American culture.

In Burkina Faso, exercise for the sake of staying healthy is extremely uncommon.  In village and in cities, soccer is one of the only forms of organized exercise and it’s generally seen as a young men’s game.  For example, if I exercise in a public place in Burkina Faso I’m typically stared at and laughed at by both adults and children.  At site, I’m able to exercise in my house without causing a scene, but my experiences exercising out of site have been incredibly negative.  At the very least people will stop and stare. At the most people will take cell phone pictures and point/laugh.  Kids find it especially entertaining.

I’m not particularly self-conscious, but these experiences are extremely frustrating.   As one of the few Americans that most Burkinabe have ever met, I can deal with being a source of entertainment to a certain extent, but my experiences with public exercise push me to my breaking point.  To mitigate this frustration, I exercise inside my house, occasionally bike into the bush to go on trail runs, and play soccer as much as possible.  Before the rainy season, exercising in my house was basically the equivalent of cardio Bikram Yoga, but the weather is cooling off quite a bit.  Due to these efforts, I’m not usually called fat in village.  Instead, people make fun of me for exercising.  But I can deal with that.