What is white?

Pre-Wataturu blogpost 1 from Dar es Salaam, the capitol of Tanzania

Kariakoo, downtown Dar es Salaam around 1pm on Friday

Mzungu: swahili word meaning “white person”

I never considered myself white. Asian American, Korean, or maybe even “chee-nah” or “jah-pahn” depending on what the men on the streets blurt at me at the countries I've visited. To me, white always meant Caucasian people with large eyes, pale skin, and fair hair. But in Tanzania, where the sea of black faces stretch far and wide, even someone of yellow skin like me is considered mzungu. Mzungu appears to represent many things to Tanzanians: financial prosperity and opportunities, physical beauty, cultural oppression, and sometimes, exploitation. It's an interesting feeling to be lumped into the same category as people of European descent. Color, like many other things, is so relative.