The reference to "everyday" Africans was clear enough. However, to satisfy your
inquiry allow me to explain. I spoke in terms of class and education. How do
the peasant class refer to themselves? Or how do the working class and
non-academic class refer to themselves? This is what I asked. Harold Marcus
sent me an e-mail telling me that non-academic Africans use "tribe."
[HGM note: in the African language I know, people use a word or term
connoting tribe, ethnicity or the other. I suspect this is the case
elsewhere on the continent.]
To your second question: academics may have everyday habits, but their
impact can be substantial; thus, academics, as a class, are not "everyday." Of
course, there are exceptions, and I am not prepared or willing to argue on that
point. Academics, especially historians, have a large responsibility to the
people they write about. With the trend in historiography to write history from
below (yes, "everyday" people), it is even more imperative to be accurate. This
includes using the terminology these folk use in reference to themselves and
others.
I apologize for not explaining this in clearer terms, but I welcome another
response from you.