Playing the ‘Mzungu Crazy Card’ in Zanzibar

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  09.29.08 | 10:53 AM ET

In the Ottawa Citizen, Rebecca Hall muses about the “incredibly freeing” nature of being an outsider in Zanzibar. She writes:

I called it the Mzungu Crazy Card (mzungu is the Swahili term used to identify, varyingly, white people, foreign people, Europeans and magicians). As one of a handful of expatriates living on the Tanzanian archipelago, Zanzibar, everything I did incited laughter. Everything I did was “crazy,” and treated as such. I haggled for a mango in the market. I asked for tea without sugar at work. Crazy! I asked for tea with sugar at work. Still crazy.


Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


2 Comments for Playing the ‘Mzungu Crazy Card’ in Zanzibar

Terry Ward 09.29.08 | 1:48 PM ET

Thanks for posting this, Eva. I loved it.  I play that game with my neighbors (who I would barely recognize if they slammed into me somewhere other than on my street) every day.

Eva Holland 09.30.08 | 11:14 AM ET

Glad you liked it, Terry! I can definitely relate, too.

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