Today March 6th 2019 marks another year of independent of Ghana.
Ghana is now 62 years after the colonial era
Ghana is now 62 years after the colonial era
The national character of Ghana is a permanent state of striving for global significance and a status of African exceptionalism.
Ghanaians have for decades been bound to a narrative o
f their unique station in an African constellation of struggling states, which pedigree they have convinced themselves into believing deserves global attention and recognition. Private schools are thus called “international schools” and every church has “world”, “global”, “international” or some such cosmic label tucked somewhere in the name or motto.
f their unique station in an African constellation of struggling states, which pedigree they have convinced themselves into believing deserves global attention and recognition. Private schools are thus called “international schools” and every church has “world”, “global”, “international” or some such cosmic label tucked somewhere in the name or motto.
No sooner have you started to capture any part of the Ghanaian essence and they will attempt to pull a “first”.
“We are the first country in Africa to break the yoke of colonialism,” delivered with characteristic flourish.
“We are the first country in the world to ratify the Convention of the Rights of the Child”.
“We are the first country in Africa to undergo the transition from military dictatorship/one-party rule to democracy, and a double-shift of power between two political parties.”
And so on and so forth.
These narratives used to be drummed home into the heads of young Ghanaians, in the schools and the media, with that mixture of spiritual burden and rhetorical high energy they are so well known for.
As Ghana marks its 62nd independence there’s growing domestic angst about its vaunted national self-image.
Even if you were to point out to Ghanaians that they couldn’t possibly have been the first country in Africa to decolonize, because those pesky North African countries, Egypt, Libya and Morocco got there first, they quickly qualify the claim by adding “sub-Saharan”. If you point to Sudan, they won’t miss a beat, “Black Africa”. If, in frustration, you blurt out, “Liberia”, they would, without batting an eyelid, construct: “Predominantly Black, Sub-Saharan African country to break the yoke of European colonialism”! Amartya Sen talks about Indian “argumentativeness”, he has clearly never encountered Ghanaians.
And so on and so forth.
These narratives used to be drummed home into the heads of young Ghanaians, in the schools and the media, with that mixture of spiritual burden and rhetorical high energy they are so well known for.
As Ghana marks its 62nd independence there’s growing domestic angst about its vaunted national self-image.
Even if you were to point out to Ghanaians that they couldn’t possibly have been the first country in Africa to decolonize, because those pesky North African countries, Egypt, Libya and Morocco got there first, they quickly qualify the claim by adding “sub-Saharan”. If you point to Sudan, they won’t miss a beat, “Black Africa”. If, in frustration, you blurt out, “Liberia”, they would, without batting an eyelid, construct: “Predominantly Black, Sub-Saharan African country to break the yoke of European colonialism”! Amartya Sen talks about Indian “argumentativeness”, he has clearly never encountered Ghanaians.
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