In reaction to my preceding question about why general appreciation of Ghanaian (and by extension, African) culture is declining, James Addo suggests globalisation and trans-Atlantic migration as the culprits. His thesis, in my view, comes up against the same formidable obstacles pointed out earlier on in connection with colonialism. Our greatest nationalists were also the ones most exposed to international influences. The Fante/coastal lawyers of the 19th and 18th century. Osagyefo who spent a decade in America and then the UK. Amilcar Cabral who got his education in Portugal. Cheikh Anta Diop who is in many ways as Parisian a scholar as any, and was excellent in managing the methodological demands of orthodox academies. I have a simpler reason: the more general analytical capacity declines amongst the educated population, and the more the rigour of our scholarship (generally speaking) retrogresses, the lower our appreciation of our own culture sinks. In fact, the less we understand about the intricacies of other cultures and systems of thought, and the less we advance in our ability to handle ideas and techniques, in and of themselves, without regards to their origin, the less we understand the value and dynamics of our own culture.
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 16:44:08 +0000
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