When Negro Teeth Speak Analysis

Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘uncivilized’ as ‘existing in the lowest stage of culture (1588)’; ‘pertaining to or characteristic of savages (1614)’ (Ashcroft 235). This was a definition used liberally by the white empires of the colonial era towards those that they thought less civilized than themselves. No matter their level of cultural or technological advancement, if their culture did not meet the standards of European society, they were savages that needed to be corrected in their ways and made civil. Though sometimes considered noble in their simplistic and idyllic states, they were still uncivilized in the eye of the white man. European culture is the epitome of all civilization and those who dwell under its roof are superior in both intellect and authority over all others. It is this perception that Yambo is attempting to undermine in “When Negro Teeth Speak.”

The poem begins with the narrator claiming, “everyone thinks me a cannibal (Yambo 199).” This is clearly a reference to the white colonists that occupy his land. Stereotypes and fears ran rampant within the ‘civilized’ cultures of Europe in relation to the populations of their ‘savage’ and ‘primitive’ colonial subjects. These enlightened masters had likely come to

This leads us to ask why the colonists would then assume that someone is a cannibal when they grew up on vegetables. However, they have not allowed such questions to cloud their judgment. In all their fair and enlightened judgment, they proceed to cut open his belly with a Gillette blade. Fighting for a view, these intelligent and honorable white men know exactly what they will find. This man is a cannibal. He is a sinner. He is a savage. They have no doubt. They open him up and the narrator describes what they find, “A plantation of tomatoes was growing there / Irrigated by a stream of palm wine / Up with tomatoes (Yambo