Legacy of Colonialism-- Intriguing for a History Major!

Disclaimer!
*This is a long entry, I know. So skim it and read the parts that appeal to you! Just my thoughts/ observations, take them as you will!*

Why did I choose to come to Ghana? I wanted something different. I had been to Europe and I’m there relatively often, and the next continent of interest to me was Africa. Why? I don’t know. I think there is so much unwarranted mystery about this continent, so many misconceptions, and negative images, but what about the positive? What is the reality of this continent? I didn’t know, so I thought the only to find out would be to live here for myself and form my own conceptions. Africa can’t just be dictators, civil unrest, coup d’etats, poverty, and AIDS; there had to be more to this continent and I wanted to experience it first hand.

What is Ghana? How do I describe it to you? It’s fast paced, yet ridiculously slow and relaxed, it’s gorgeously rich with vegetation, yet disgustingly smoggy and industrial, it’s frustrating and tedious, but it is sometimes what frustrates you one day that you love the next; it’s a love/ hate relationship, but one that you find you can’t get enough of.

I’ve never been to a country that has a history of being colonized; I’ve only visited the colonizers-- England, Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal. When you visit these passed dominant powers, you forget that colonization was a part of their past, until you stumble upon all the foreign spoils in their renowned museums.

Being in Ghana, the legacy of colonization is always around you: Christianity, style of clothing, the English language, architecture, slave forts, and silverware, things that are everyday in our lives because of our distant connection with Britain, but were forced upon Africans relatively recently. Colonizers came late in African history, after cultures were settled and after they had established a way of living. (This is obviously unlike when the British came to the US, for they slaughtered all the natives, took their land, and established a new country.)

So how do all the things I mentioned above play out in Ghana (whose boundaries were also determined by the British)? I’ll start by explaining the most prominent-- Christianity.

I’ve been to the Vatican, Italy, Spain, and France to name a few relatively religious countries, but never have I felt so inundated with religiosity (unless I’m hiding from Jehovah’s witnesses proselytizing at my door!). Ghanaians are more openly pious than any other culture I’ve encountered, especially the British, who are the ones who brought it to them! To give you a feel of what I mean, this is how most first encounters go with the random Ghanaians I meet:

*Sample Dialogue*
(Let‘s name my sample person Emmanuel, considering 50% of all men I meet are named this)
Emmanuel- (Starts w the basic questions) “Hello, how are you? Where are you from? What’s your name?”
And I answer.
Then with no haste they ask “Do you go to Church, Annabelle?”
Me- “No I don’t.”
Them- (They gasp, either to themselves or explicitly) “What! But will you go to Church with me? I want to get to know you.”
Me- “I used to go to Church, but I don’t need to go anymore, but thank you!”

And then from there it differs with each person. I’ve had one guy say that he can’t be friends with me actually because I won’t go to Church. And then I have had many offers to teach me religion with hopes of “showing me the light,” and then I’ve had others just drop it and keep talking to me because they realize religion is their thing and not necessarily mine. So it’s been interesting, the whole religion thing here. It’s just, EVERYTHING and (I don’t want to exaggerate, but) EVERYONE is religious here. Like even the random booths on the street, and the tro-tros have religious references.

For example, where I get my market food is called “God Is Able,” but others include, “God‘s Time is the Best,” or “By God‘s Grace,” but my favorite is “The Lord is My Strengt (the ‘H’ was missing!). So the names of stores, if you can call them that, alright, shacks that serve food or other goods, 95% of them have religious titles which are more like religious declarations. It’s cool with me! I just don’t want to pray with you or go to Church. My point is, Ghana is religious. Religion is everywhere: in casual conversation, quotes on the backs of taxis or tro-tros, the names of public services, people’s names, etc. At this point we all just look for the most entertaining names and titles that we run into in our travels (like the “strengt” one!). One thing is for sure, they always make us smile.

Clothing and the English language- Both effects of colonization and it is so apparent. There is this constant struggle between tradition and modernity here, and it can be seen in the clothing styles and language here in Ghana.
Unlike when the British came to the US and obliterated native culture, they had a more tolerable approach with Africans (to an extent). Children were taken from their homes and sent to missionary schools where they were educated, taught English, and learned how to use silverware, ie. They were “civilized.” But not all were sent and a lot kept with their traditions, but with the addition of Christianity. So they had their tribal languages, depending on their region it could be Ewe, Fante, Ga, or the most prevalent, Twi (spoken in the capital), and they had their traditional wear, for women, long dresses with colorful prints, and for men, draping more conservative prints toga style.

The languages are still widely spoken, in fact, regional languages are most Ghanaians FIRST language. I’d estimate that for 90% of Ghanaians, English is their second language, and this throws me off considering all official, governmental, and business matters are conducted in English. So I came here assuming it’ll be so easy to get around because English is the national language-- WRONG! The accents are hard to discern, and they definitely have an equally hard time understanding me. I think I speak very clearly, but there is seriously a language barrier, and an English one at that! And you’d think I’d be so good with deciphering variations of English pronunciations with being British, and just living in America-- yeah, wrong AGAIN! It’s been surprisingly difficult to get what I ask for, for people don’t understand, yet we are both apparently speaking the same language. They agree and nod like they know exactly what you’re saying and that they understand no problem. Well then why am I repeating myself 10 mins later when something has gone wrong, or just never happened to begin with? Haha I don’t know, but we all just deal with it, assume something will not go as we asked, and that way if something does go right, we can only be pleasantly surprised, right?! I just try not to complicate things that’s all. Keep it simple and hopefully it will turn out as you asked!

Back to clothing-- Women are more traditional in clothing than men. The only place I’ve seen men in draped fabric have been in smaller villages. Men in the cities mostly all wear business clothes, or dress pants with a nice African print button-down for flavor. Women here though are more conservative and traditional, so it is common that I see women (though mostly older) wearing their long dresses/ skirts, and their hair wrapped in the same/ matching fabric. It looks so put together and classy!

So I will end with an anecdote which sort sums up this whole tradition vs. modernity aspect of Ghanaian culture:
Stacy made friends with the cafeteria lady in her dorm. She is 25 and makes 1.50 Cedi a day, roughly $1 a day, but that is relatively good pay by Ghana standards. So her friend invited Stacy to a wedding and made her food and introduced her to her whole family, and is just really nice to Stacy (plus she hooks it up in the cafeteria haha). So Stacy, to show her gratitude, decided to take her out for dinner in the city; they had Chinese food, which was her friend’s first time (which was surprising to me as that is the most prominent ethnic cuisine they have here), and it was her friend’s first time using a knife! Stacy had to teach her how to use it, which her friend found amusing apparently! Dinner cost about 3 weeks pay at the rate her friend is paid (don’t worry! Stacy paid the bill!). But this story made me think-- This friend hadn’t had any food in her life that wasn’t Ghanaian, which made sense as to why she had never used a knife before. Ghanaians eat with their hands, and only sometimes require the help of a spoon or a fork, but never a knife. Why? There is nothing to cut in Ghanaian cuisine. All the meat is on the bone, so you just go for it, only hands and teeth required. All the sides (rice, beans, spaghetti) can be eaten with a fork. I personally haven’t used a knife since I’ve been here! Her friend is entrenched in tradition with the way she lives her life, and her experience at the Chinese restaurant is a taste of modernity, just by default that she ventured out of her immediate comfort zone and tried something UNtraditional.
I’m telling you, Ghana is an interesting place! This whole “being run by the British for over a century” thing has really had a lasting effect on the culture in ways that are sometimes so blatant, but are also latent within the culture; and it is the latter that I find most intriguing.

I would love your feedback! Thoughts/ questions? Email me!

And check out another song that's hot on the radio waves right now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwk5mp9gmNc

Take care,
Annabelle