Dancing, colorful fashion and food took center stage on Saturday, Feb. 在博天堂官方 Campus Commons Performance Hall during the seventh annual Taste of Africa. 每年 event, put on by UNC's African Students United (ASU) is a celebration that showcases different African countries and raises awareness of their cultures.

“I hope people understand that there are other places in the world,” said Carolyn 亚利桑那州立大学副校长Emereuwa. “Understanding other people’s cultures should be 最低限度. I feel like as people and a community, we should be able to learn about what other people associate with.” 

The countries that were represented this year were Nigeria, Ghana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Togo and Benin. Students made posters that sat on the stairs outside of the Performance Hall for attendees to view that showcased facts and the flag of each African country. 每个代表的国家 also had group dance performances and bright clothing to highlight the different cultures. 

“Dancing is a very big and common thing to do [in African culture],” Emereuwa said. “There’s different dances per country that are popular, so you just learn 从 them 让它活起来.”  

Choreographers for the dances were UNC 学生, most being first-year 学生. 实践 for these dances started last October. The dances they chose were based on the number of people willing to participate. 

In addition to the dances, ASU invited two vendors that were selling African jewelry 和艺术. There were bracelets, necklaces, rings and homemade nose cuffs to choose 从. “With my culture, I wanted to show everybody what it looks like through jewelry,” said Destiny Brown, owner of Sultan Elixir, one of the vendors at the event. 

There were also other performances by three solo singers who are friends with UNC 学生. 表演者之一是E.M.E, who goes to Colorado State University in Fort Collins and recently signed with a record label. 

“It’s a good chance for people in the community to come together and be a part of 更大的东西，”E.M.E说. “As Africans, we don’t get to see each other every day so to bring everyone together to create a show is an experience.” 

At the end of the event, there was a fashion show that showcased cultural pieces 从 the African countries where participants held up flags 从 their chosen country. 之后, people were able to try food 从 Nigeria, Ghana and East Africa. 学生及家长 of ASU along with UNC’s Catering cooked the food for the event. 

The UNC ASU started so Black 学生 can have a safe, comfortable environment to be around people who resemble them and have similar experiences. 对于那些错过的人 this event, ASU holds other events throughout the year. 更多信息请访问 在他们的Instagram上(@unco_asu).