Accra, Nov. 5, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday congratulated US president elect, Barak Obama, on his historical electoral victory in Tuesday's elections, describing it as a "watershed event that would change the world".
In a statement signed by the Director of Communication, Ms Hannah Tetteh in Accra, the NDC also congratulated the people of the United States of America, who it said, had "demonstrated in clear and uncertain terms the strength, resilience, dynamism and legitimacy of the democratic process in expressing the will of the people". It said the election of Senator Obama "is a change for the better and is most certainly a change in the right direction".
The NDC noted that Ghana was a country that suffered the scars of the slave trade, and the forts and castles along the coast were a reminder of the links with the United States of America, especially the African American population.
"We can therefore legitimately take pride in his victory even though it is a uniquely American event, and perhaps only possible today in a country as great as the United States of America." The NDC said it appreciated the significance and symbolism of the victory and offer the president-elect "our heartfelt congratulations, prayers and goodwill, but also wish to express our appreciation of his success and his campaign efforts".
The NDC said though all of this was focused on the advancement of the United States of America, it also provided inspiration for Ghanaians, Africans and people of colour all over the world. "The Democratic Party of the United States of America like the National Democratic Congress is a party that believes in a progressive platform, and even though they may not describe it in those terms, they believe in the key tenets of Social Democracy.
"The Democratic Party recognizes the need to ensure equality of opportunity, and that Government has an important activist role to play in the development of a country, while accepting and promoting the private sector as the engine of growth.
"We of the NDC, share with the Democratic Party the belief that the welfare of the people in our respective countries should be pre-eminent. We believe that it is the responsibility of Government to provide the leadership, in creating a society that is fair, just and provides equality of opportunity for its entire people.
"We believe this is irrespective of gender, ethnicity, religion, political and any other differences they may have." The NDC said it had a representative in Denver at the invitation of the Democratic Party when now President-Elect Obama accepted the nomination of his Party as its Presidential candidate, adding that, they looked forward to continuing to build on the relationship with the Democratic Party.
The NDC noted that the Reverend Martin Luther King was present at Ghana's independence celebrations and after that memorable event, he preached a sermon eulogizing the independence as the birth of a New Nation, and giving expression to the hope that our independence gave to people of colour all over the world. "Reverend Martin Luther King also predicted this memorable day with his, 'I have a dream speech' - where he dreamt of an America where his children would be judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.
The NDC said Ghana's first president Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah also spoke of showing the world that the African was capable of managing his own affairs.
"Today President-elect Barack Obama has taken all of us another major step further in realizing that dream not only in America, but also on our continent and the global stage.
"We as Ghanaians, in our up-coming election have the opportunity to advance the dream further. We will do this by demonstrating that not only are we the African Nation that was a trailblazer in the fight for the emancipation of the African people, but we will also be the trailblazer in entrenching the democratic process in Africa by conducting a Free, Fair and Transparent election. "The National Democratic Congress under the Leadership of Professor John Evans Atta Mills is committed to strengthening the democratic process and to continue building a positive image of Ghana on our continent and on the wider International scene as well as providing the leadership to take Ghana in the right direction."
PRESS STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE NPP CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE ON THE ELECTION OF MR. BARACK OBAMA AS PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
America has voted and elected Mr. Barack Obama, an African-American as the 44th President of the United States of America. Today, we join Ghanaians, Africans and the world in celebrating this significant milestone.
There are several useful lessons to be drawn from this election. First, Americans made a decision based on the peculiar circumstances in their country. Throughout his campaign, Senator Obama offered hope, new ideas, strong and effective leadership and inclusiveness.
His victory is thus a vindication of a campaign of ideas, and a rebuke to the politics of insults, vindictiveness, divisiveness and negativity. Second, despite the enormous stake involved and the keen competition, there was no violence.
On 20th of January 2009, as has happened repeatedly, power will pass peacefully from President George Bush to Senator Barack Obama. That is as it should be.
Violence should not have a place in politics. Those who have invoked the Kenya and Zimbabwe models for Ghana must rethink their approach to politics. They must join us in helping Ghana to emulate the American example and become an example for the Kenyas and Zimbabwes of our world.
Indeed, Senator Obama has profoundly, called his victory “a new dawn of American Leadership”.
He has also stated that change for change sake will not do for America. Indeed, he declared in his victory address: “This victory is not the change we seek, but a chance to make the change we seek”.
The lesson from the President-elect is that, change for the sake of change is not enough. Ghanaians must vote for the party which has made their lives better and will transform our country, the NPP.
The NPP hopes that Ghanaians will make history by electing Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to succeed President Kufuor of the NPP giving our party its third successive majority in parliament and send the NDC John packing to join the Republican John (McCain), in retirement.
Let us move forward! Arthur Kobina Kennedy (Chair, Communication Committee) 2008 Campaign Committee
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Peace, My People - President Kufuor of Ghana
Thousands of Ghanaians across the political and religious divides yesterday took part in a solemn service at the Independence Square in Accra to thank God for his blessings and seek his intervention for a peaceful general election in December.
The congregation, which included President J.A. Kufuor, his vice, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Speaker of Parliament, Mr Begyina Sekyi Hughes and the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, expressed gratitude to God for his protection and goodwill to the nation so far, prayed for his continued gift of prosperity and blessings to the nation and made supplications for peace before, during and after the polls scheduled for December 7.
Other dignitaries who attended the service were Professor John Atta Mills, former Vice President and flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, flag bearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Mr Dan Lartey of the Great Consolidated Peoples Party (GCPP), as well as Members of Parliament, Members of the Council of State, Ministers of State, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and a large number of the clergy.
The NPP Flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo -Addo, was represented by Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, his campaign manager.
The service, which climaxed a week-long of prayer and fasting, was on the theme “Seek the Peace and Progress of our Nation” and was organised by Christian churches in response to a request by President Kufuor to the Christian community to join him, the government and the nation in prayer to God.
The service was spiced with congregational songs, solo by Rev Mrs Amy Newman, as well as songs by the Winneba Youth Choir.
Prayers were said for peace, prosperity and stability of the nation.
The first, second and third scriptures, taken from 2 Chronicles 7:11-14, 1Tim 2:1-4 and John 14:23-27, were respectively read by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Wood, Mr Abraham Osei-Aidoo, the Majority Leader and Mr E.T. Mensah, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram.
Addressing the service, President Kufuor asked Ghanaians to reject any acts of commission or omission of people which undermined the peace of the country before, during and after the December 7 election.
He appealed to Ghanaians to use dialogue and due process to settle all disputes instead of resorting to violence and conflicts.
He said conflicts and violence had always unleashed hardships on the people, noting that the lesson that had been learnt in Africa and elsewhere was that it was only when mayhem had ended that dialogue had been used to make peace.
President Kufuor underscored the need for Ghanaians to have confidence in themselves and use the relevant institutions to dialogue and make peace.
He asked Ghanaians to use the forthcoming elections to prove once again that they cherished peace and that not at any time would they comprise such a valuable resource.
He said the nation was on the threshold of achieving a breakthrough and ,therefore, it was important for the people to take right decisions.
The President said a study conducted by the World Bank in the wake of rising food and fuel prices established that Ghana was among four countries which appeared to have escaped the crunch.
“Let us be thankful to God for His blessing. Ghana is a beacon of democracy and the world is watching us,” he stated.
He asked the Christian community to continue to pray until the nation achieved success in its endeavours.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and Chairman of the Christian Council, Rt Rev Dr Yaw Frimpong Manso, who delivered the sermon, said Ghanaians had every cause to thank God for His blessing in view of His intervention to resolve the energy crisis occasioned by the fall in the water level of the Akosombo Dam, as well as the discovery of oil and the peace being enjoyed in the country now, among others.
He asked the Christian community to conduct their services at the convenient time on the voting Day and ensure that they exercised their franchise.
He pleaded with social commentators and the media to be circumspect in their utterances and work to prevent any tension before and after the election.
He asked political leaders to ensure rapport among them and the Electoral Commission to ensure transparency and fairness in the conduct of the election.
Dr Frimpong Manso further asked for God’s continued blessing for Ghana.
Story by Nehemia Owusu Achiaw
The congregation, which included President J.A. Kufuor, his vice, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Speaker of Parliament, Mr Begyina Sekyi Hughes and the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, expressed gratitude to God for his protection and goodwill to the nation so far, prayed for his continued gift of prosperity and blessings to the nation and made supplications for peace before, during and after the polls scheduled for December 7.
Other dignitaries who attended the service were Professor John Atta Mills, former Vice President and flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, flag bearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Mr Dan Lartey of the Great Consolidated Peoples Party (GCPP), as well as Members of Parliament, Members of the Council of State, Ministers of State, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and a large number of the clergy.
The NPP Flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo -Addo, was represented by Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, his campaign manager.
The service, which climaxed a week-long of prayer and fasting, was on the theme “Seek the Peace and Progress of our Nation” and was organised by Christian churches in response to a request by President Kufuor to the Christian community to join him, the government and the nation in prayer to God.
The service was spiced with congregational songs, solo by Rev Mrs Amy Newman, as well as songs by the Winneba Youth Choir.
Prayers were said for peace, prosperity and stability of the nation.
The first, second and third scriptures, taken from 2 Chronicles 7:11-14, 1Tim 2:1-4 and John 14:23-27, were respectively read by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Wood, Mr Abraham Osei-Aidoo, the Majority Leader and Mr E.T. Mensah, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram.
Addressing the service, President Kufuor asked Ghanaians to reject any acts of commission or omission of people which undermined the peace of the country before, during and after the December 7 election.
He appealed to Ghanaians to use dialogue and due process to settle all disputes instead of resorting to violence and conflicts.
He said conflicts and violence had always unleashed hardships on the people, noting that the lesson that had been learnt in Africa and elsewhere was that it was only when mayhem had ended that dialogue had been used to make peace.
President Kufuor underscored the need for Ghanaians to have confidence in themselves and use the relevant institutions to dialogue and make peace.
He asked Ghanaians to use the forthcoming elections to prove once again that they cherished peace and that not at any time would they comprise such a valuable resource.
He said the nation was on the threshold of achieving a breakthrough and ,therefore, it was important for the people to take right decisions.
The President said a study conducted by the World Bank in the wake of rising food and fuel prices established that Ghana was among four countries which appeared to have escaped the crunch.
“Let us be thankful to God for His blessing. Ghana is a beacon of democracy and the world is watching us,” he stated.
He asked the Christian community to continue to pray until the nation achieved success in its endeavours.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and Chairman of the Christian Council, Rt Rev Dr Yaw Frimpong Manso, who delivered the sermon, said Ghanaians had every cause to thank God for His blessing in view of His intervention to resolve the energy crisis occasioned by the fall in the water level of the Akosombo Dam, as well as the discovery of oil and the peace being enjoyed in the country now, among others.
He asked the Christian community to conduct their services at the convenient time on the voting Day and ensure that they exercised their franchise.
He pleaded with social commentators and the media to be circumspect in their utterances and work to prevent any tension before and after the election.
He asked political leaders to ensure rapport among them and the Electoral Commission to ensure transparency and fairness in the conduct of the election.
Dr Frimpong Manso further asked for God’s continued blessing for Ghana.
Story by Nehemia Owusu Achiaw
Sunday, June 29, 2008
My Departure From Ghana Revisited, 10/17/2007
A Final Letter From Africa
"Old sins cast long shadows." That West African proverb may very well have its roots in that dizzying span of time during the 16th and 17th centuries when Portugal stimulated industrial slave trafficking in their colonies and trading centers as a response to European demands for sugar, gold, and other luxury goods. The following centuries inflicted a scar so demoralizing and devastating on Africa – and its unwilling diaspora – that the shadow engulfs the continent to this day. So who is responsible for illuminating those dark spaces? That crimes of the past haunt the present can hardly be disputed; but once that recognition is there, who must stand up and arm themselves against the sins of their ancestors? If history teaches us one thing, it is that injustices do not disappear into diminishing silences. On the contrary, injustices treble into future and contemporary social catastrophes which perpetuate themselves via self-sustaining prejudices. As the aforementioned proverb suggests, unless we are to subscribe to any number of dehumanizing, prejudiced assumptions about the natural dispositions of our own human family, than it is the direct responsibility of all of us to both raise up those who have fallen and prevent those who would wish to plunge us downward again from taking the wheel. Whether well-informed or inexperienced, this seems to be the idea behind non-violent institutions that seek to lend a helping hand to those who are born and raised in unfavorable circumstances. Overseas and in our own backyards, there are people who are living among themes and inherited pains that create insurmountable barriers to progress. I decided to give up two years of my life to do something to mitigate the harsh realities of a few people in Ghana, and here I am ready to turn around and go home. What did I do? Was it effective? What will my lasting contributions be? How could these accomplishments have been carried out more effectively?
Inexperienced. That word sums up my qualifications for the position I was given as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana. When I learned I was going to be posted as an agriculture extension/natural resource management facilitator in Ghana I assumed that someone must have made a mistake somewhere among the stacks of applications in Washington. In not so many words, that is probably exactly what did happen. But two years was enough time to at least accomplish something. And I did. I learned how to organize people and inspire them. I learned how to work with the experience of the people within Ghana itself. People like Paul Assiaro in Have, a small town in the Volta Region where he had established an indigenous empire of sustainable agroforestry and alternative livelihood projects. Good friends at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture taught me how to prepare the land for our model agroforestry plot which otherwise would have failed miserably. Peace Corps taught me how to speak several languages, eat local foods, and avoid culturally taboo behaviors. Yes, I was trained. At the time, I thought I was given rather poor training; in retrospect, it was probably just enough to get me through. I can speak Twi, Buem, and Ewe all with a fair amount of confidence. Where else could I have learned three languages in two years? But most of all, I learned how to recognize symptoms of the "long shadow" that stands ominously over the evolution of West African politics and society to this day. That was the hardest, and perhaps most painful, part.
But I also learned how to stand within and without that shadow, to understand some of its dimensions, and to recognize some its weaknesses. If the only way to alleviate the impacts of old sins is to forgive them, than the only way to earn that forgiveness is through love and respect. We must learn to love those who are suffering, and through that love we must learn to respect them enough to come to their aid, even if it means suffering with them. It is not a choice, but a responsibility. If love and respect were universal ideals, the world would never wander into explosive tirades that leave only ashes and tears in their wake. And that is exactly what poverty is – social landscapes charred and pilfered because of senseless, instantly gratifying tirades. Humanity mutilating itself in the name of faceless projects is a recurring crime that infects and dissolves history at every turn. "Man is the only being that is capable of irrational decisions in the name of reason." Peace simply cannot be achieved through violence – it never has and it never will. Leopold II toasted to the civilizing of Africa with a glass of blood and an empire of pillaged rubber. The vacuums and memories that are left behind become fertile ground for future atrocities; seeds of hatred are planted and nursed in the long shadows of those old sins. The mass graves in Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the Sudan didn't evolve indigenously.
That is why something else must be done, something self-critical and simultaneously selfless. Even with blood on your hands, you can redress the wounds of history. Those who inherit privilege must share it; those who inherit inequality must demand opportunities to overcome it. Old fortunes sculpted in blood cast inequalities of epochal proportions. It begins with sacrifice.
Though the utility and sustainability of the tangible projects Peace Corps sponsors can be questioned, the compassionate gesture behind them cannot. The same can be said of every simple kind act. Helping your neighbor with his load doesn't insure that he will never have to carry a load again, but it does insure the likelihood that both he and you will be helped further down the road. It is an easily demonstrable law of social proportions. If you have been having decades of good rains, then why not help those who have been having decades of drought? If you are living in a society which is booming under the auspices of widespread good health, then why not come to the aid of a society devoured by stealthy diseases? The one thing that does keep a mistreated village like Guaman alive is community, and merging that community with a representative of a population once viewed as hostile and exploitative illuminates misconceptions and humanizes "the other." Inferiority and superiority complexes crash down and fertilize young, worldly minds. Peaceful gestures inspire expansive horizons.
"Old sins cast long shadows." That West African proverb may very well have its roots in that dizzying span of time during the 16th and 17th centuries when Portugal stimulated industrial slave trafficking in their colonies and trading centers as a response to European demands for sugar, gold, and other luxury goods. The following centuries inflicted a scar so demoralizing and devastating on Africa – and its unwilling diaspora – that the shadow engulfs the continent to this day. So who is responsible for illuminating those dark spaces? That crimes of the past haunt the present can hardly be disputed; but once that recognition is there, who must stand up and arm themselves against the sins of their ancestors? If history teaches us one thing, it is that injustices do not disappear into diminishing silences. On the contrary, injustices treble into future and contemporary social catastrophes which perpetuate themselves via self-sustaining prejudices. As the aforementioned proverb suggests, unless we are to subscribe to any number of dehumanizing, prejudiced assumptions about the natural dispositions of our own human family, than it is the direct responsibility of all of us to both raise up those who have fallen and prevent those who would wish to plunge us downward again from taking the wheel. Whether well-informed or inexperienced, this seems to be the idea behind non-violent institutions that seek to lend a helping hand to those who are born and raised in unfavorable circumstances. Overseas and in our own backyards, there are people who are living among themes and inherited pains that create insurmountable barriers to progress. I decided to give up two years of my life to do something to mitigate the harsh realities of a few people in Ghana, and here I am ready to turn around and go home. What did I do? Was it effective? What will my lasting contributions be? How could these accomplishments have been carried out more effectively?
Inexperienced. That word sums up my qualifications for the position I was given as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana. When I learned I was going to be posted as an agriculture extension/natural resource management facilitator in Ghana I assumed that someone must have made a mistake somewhere among the stacks of applications in Washington. In not so many words, that is probably exactly what did happen. But two years was enough time to at least accomplish something. And I did. I learned how to organize people and inspire them. I learned how to work with the experience of the people within Ghana itself. People like Paul Assiaro in Have, a small town in the Volta Region where he had established an indigenous empire of sustainable agroforestry and alternative livelihood projects. Good friends at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture taught me how to prepare the land for our model agroforestry plot which otherwise would have failed miserably. Peace Corps taught me how to speak several languages, eat local foods, and avoid culturally taboo behaviors. Yes, I was trained. At the time, I thought I was given rather poor training; in retrospect, it was probably just enough to get me through. I can speak Twi, Buem, and Ewe all with a fair amount of confidence. Where else could I have learned three languages in two years? But most of all, I learned how to recognize symptoms of the "long shadow" that stands ominously over the evolution of West African politics and society to this day. That was the hardest, and perhaps most painful, part.
But I also learned how to stand within and without that shadow, to understand some of its dimensions, and to recognize some its weaknesses. If the only way to alleviate the impacts of old sins is to forgive them, than the only way to earn that forgiveness is through love and respect. We must learn to love those who are suffering, and through that love we must learn to respect them enough to come to their aid, even if it means suffering with them. It is not a choice, but a responsibility. If love and respect were universal ideals, the world would never wander into explosive tirades that leave only ashes and tears in their wake. And that is exactly what poverty is – social landscapes charred and pilfered because of senseless, instantly gratifying tirades. Humanity mutilating itself in the name of faceless projects is a recurring crime that infects and dissolves history at every turn. "Man is the only being that is capable of irrational decisions in the name of reason." Peace simply cannot be achieved through violence – it never has and it never will. Leopold II toasted to the civilizing of Africa with a glass of blood and an empire of pillaged rubber. The vacuums and memories that are left behind become fertile ground for future atrocities; seeds of hatred are planted and nursed in the long shadows of those old sins. The mass graves in Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the Sudan didn't evolve indigenously.
That is why something else must be done, something self-critical and simultaneously selfless. Even with blood on your hands, you can redress the wounds of history. Those who inherit privilege must share it; those who inherit inequality must demand opportunities to overcome it. Old fortunes sculpted in blood cast inequalities of epochal proportions. It begins with sacrifice.
Though the utility and sustainability of the tangible projects Peace Corps sponsors can be questioned, the compassionate gesture behind them cannot. The same can be said of every simple kind act. Helping your neighbor with his load doesn't insure that he will never have to carry a load again, but it does insure the likelihood that both he and you will be helped further down the road. It is an easily demonstrable law of social proportions. If you have been having decades of good rains, then why not help those who have been having decades of drought? If you are living in a society which is booming under the auspices of widespread good health, then why not come to the aid of a society devoured by stealthy diseases? The one thing that does keep a mistreated village like Guaman alive is community, and merging that community with a representative of a population once viewed as hostile and exploitative illuminates misconceptions and humanizes "the other." Inferiority and superiority complexes crash down and fertilize young, worldly minds. Peaceful gestures inspire expansive horizons.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
globalization, cultural tourism, and the great ethical shift in anthropology
Introduction
The discipline of anthropology has its roots in the project(s) of colonialism. Anthropologists were used in the colonial projects of the British, as well as in the expansionary movements of the United States in informing the hegemony of the United States government over the indigenous populations which lived within its territories and its frontiers (Rylko-Bauer et. al. 2006). These inquiries were deployed to serve one purpose: to inform colonial administrators and reinforce and strengthen the power structures of specific nation-states. To this day, anthropology often attempts to play ethically indefensible roles. A primary example is the war in Iraq, where anthropologists have been hired by the United States military to “study” groups for ostensibly peaceful reasons. On the surface (and in arguments on behalf of the occupation of Iraq) these deployments appear as ways of sensitizing the military to cultural issues, but their deeper intentions are often less benign. A major difference, however, exists between the use of anthropology in the colonial era and the utilization of anthropology in the US occupation of Iraq - the unambiguous and sonorant resistance by reputable anthropologists to the militarization of the discipline (Gonzalez 2007). This anecdote - though simplified here - reveals that a fundamental change has occurred in the discipline of anthropology between the colonial era and the present day: an ethical shift from the classification, organization and “scientific” inquisition of the Other on behalf of power structures to the quest for social justice and the critique of Western paradigms.
The following is not meant to be an exploration of the continuum of sociological and anthropological theory, nor a pontification on the ethical justifications for applied anthropology. It is rather meant to be a glimpse of anthropology from the perspective of someone who is coming into anthropology today and a testament to how they have been enculturated into it. The above mentioned shift towards social justice, pluralism, and the idea of embracing and promoting alternative worldviews is a shift that has come to characterize the mood of American anthropology for the student in the beginning of the 21st century. When I use the word “mood” I mean it in terms of the atmosphere of modern anthropology and the pervading tones in the discipline. This mood has an ethical dimension to it that instructs incoming anthropologists to take an essentially pluralistic view towards the human experience and a instrumental view towards the discipline of anthropology. In many ways, this mood can be encapsulated in one word: responsibility. This is precisely why well-educated, ethically-sound anthropologists wouldn’t even have to think twice about turning down offers to work for the military and its illegal occupation of Iraq: such roles and deployments are simply unconscionable and indeed against everything contemporary anthropology has come to represent.
Indeed, this theme of social justice and the promotion of respect among and between cultures is something that is of paramount importance in my own research. I am not interested so much in the theoretical and historical dimensions of anthropology as I am the applied and current dimensions of anthropology in a globalized world. The power of markets and states in our global society is on a scale that is unprecedented in human history. With this globalization, however, we have not seen a decrease in the significance of culture, but rather an increase in its significance. As “the world has become smaller, “ cross-pollinations of cultures have become more common and more instrumental in the way people choose to appropriate their cultural resources. The marketing of ethnicity and the use of culture in West Africa to attract tourists through archaeological sites, heritage sites, or live performances and displays is the process I am interested in as an anthropologist. My interest, however, isn’t spawned from some kind of theoretical position. It is rather spawned from a question: how can these forms of cultural tourism benefit the populations who deploy them and simultaneously communicate to the world their meaning, and in so doing create a positive interface for different cultures?
In the following, I will explore the way this mood of social justice and pluralism has permeated my understanding of the discipline of anthropology as it exists in the 21st century. I will incorporate modern sociological and anthropological theories that symbolize this mood into my discussion and attempt to describe how they have informed my own development as an anthropologist. Of primary importance are theories about globalization and the exponential increase in the power of competing identities from indigenous, migratory, and regional populations (Friedman 2003). I will first discuss what I see as a more complex and less one-sided form of globalization than is commonly perceived (based on Friedman 2003 and Graber 2001) and then discuss how this process has put different global groups within a position to negotiate their identities and statuses. I will contextualize my interests in cultural and heritage tourism within this broader context and attempt to outline a research plan to realize my own ambitions. I feel that this ethical shift has taken my initial interest in the exotic (prior to my experience as a student in anthropology) to subsequent quests for understandings of social justice and ways of accentuating the voices of marginalized people into the global discussion. In this context, I will demonstrate that the mood of modern anthropology - the quest for social justice and equality by means of mutual understandings - is a mood that is appropriate for the opportunities implicit in this global opportunity where groups are increasing both the volume of their voices and their call for an equitable share of the world’s resources.
globalization and the Importance of anthropology
Globalization has created more interfaces between more cultures than any process before. Globalization is defined by Anthony Giddens as “the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events many miles away and vice versa” (Giddens 1990). In a world defined by globalization, interactions between different cultures - at times positive and at times negative - become an everyday process where all of the actors involved play a consequential role. Populations previously subdued by colonialism become consumer economies; populations previously filling the roles of colonial administrators become market economies. In this process, a new importance is imbued to the realm of the cultural. People’s tastes and attitudes become increasingly important as cultural interactions become more common and markets become more integrated. Although 20th century power structures remain largely intact, they have become more susceptible to contestation and negotiation. To the dominant, their power seems inevitable; to the dominated, their subjugation seems negotiable. The process of globalization gradually erodes concepts of black and white and pulls the stage curtains open to a situation that appears much more fragmented, disintegrated, precarious and negotiable. On this stage, however, the actors work out a form of theater that displays a sense of something that does unify the roles: opportunity.
Within this window of opportunity there exists a chance for greater social justice and the fulfillment of responsibility by all actors involved. Though great patches of stagnant conservatism which seek to makeover their societies in one static image still exist - and they primarily spar among each other - the overall trend is towards “emerging forms of democratic practice” (Graeber 2001). Pluralism and political liberalism are not enemies, they are comrades. The opportunity for cultural, political, and religious groups to live side-by-side in a shrinking, increasingly more compact world, has never been greater. The question transforms from “How do we deal with the foreign forces amassing outside of the borders of our industrial centers?” to “How is it possible for there to exist over time a just and stable society of free and equal citizens, who remain profoundly divided by reasonable religious, philosophical, and moral doctrines”(Rawls 1993, 123)? According to Waltzer, “a community’s culture is the story its members tell so as to make sense of all the different pieces of their social life - and justice is the doctrine that distinguishes the pieces. In any differentiated society, justice will make for harmony only if it first makes for separation. Good fences make just societies” (Waltzer 1983). These spheres of cultural autonomy need not been seen as a threat, but rather as a preexisting condition for harmony. Both Rawls and Waltzer are correct in pointing out that the mutual, autonomous existence of reasonable cultural doctrines is essential to finding harmony is an increasingly smaller and more fragmented world. It is not the job of a just society to determine what is culturally offensive or non-offensive, but to protect the freedoms of the groups from which it is comprised.
Jonathon Friedman also views the current state of affairs as a decline in the hegemony of the advanced industrial centers and a corresponding increase in “fragmentation” (Friedman 2003, 162). This decline in hegemony is due to the failure of the modernist nation-state to effectively achieve its goal of realizing a national form of identity. When such a project fails, marginalized and stigmatized groups move to establish themselves more concretely. Although Friedman sees this leading to more tense and precarious scenarios (for instance his identification of the parameter of vertical polarization among economic classes in industrial centers), it can also be interpreted as moving toward a more multicultural setting in which these spheres are able to establish themselves democratically and cooperatively. In my own view, I see this not as a ominous power vacuum but as a step toward increased cosmopolitan empowerment.
Graeber makes the logical step in his work towards a more cosmopolitan, multicultural empowerment citing neoliberalism as the true catalyst for many of these processes. The platforms of many of these movements, for instance the Ya Basta! movement in Italy, demand “a universally guaranteed ‘basic income,’ a principle of global citizenship that would guarantee free movement of people across borders, and a principle of free access to new technology - which in practice would mean extreme limits on patent rights” (Graeber 2001, 169). Neoliberalism, in trying to argue for an internationally active economy comprised of private free market capitalists and technocrats, is nothing but a concealed attempt to crush and reconsolidate the progressive movements that have come to be part of the process of horizontal fragmentation. Neoliberalism is limited to free flow of commodities - it increases the barriers against the flow of people while breaking down the barriers in the flow of goods (Graeber 2001, 170). Most importantly, neoliberalism fails to meet the needs of the people it purports itself to aid. Recent food riots in Latin America, Africa, and Asia are a testament to the inability of this system to provide an equitable chance for its participants.
But what does all of this mean for anthropology? Anthropology can take a closer look at these processes and opportunities and help predict and alleviate some of the tensions that may or may not come along with them. For example, in an increasingly globalized world more and more different types of people are bound to cross more and more different lines of borders. Anthropology’s experience with asylum seekers has taught us what kinds of problems to expect when immigrants arrive in their new homes and how some of the issues that they escaped from can conflict with cultural constructions they can find in their new place of residence (Good 2007). Immigrant groups may be forced, through slow or ineffective convergences with their new countries’ economies, to rely on informal networks and illicit economies to get ahead (Dohan 2003). By understanding these processes through ethnography and “thick description,” anthropologists can help these groups on local levels and help inform the policies that effect them. Anthropologists can be advocates for cross-cultural understanding and create public arenas for different groups to voice their views and opinions. They can help mitigate the chances for conflict by understanding the perspectives of the different parties involved.
What distinguishes good applied anthropology and ethnography from other approaches to social and cultural questions is its use of communities’ voices in its analyses. Works such as Daniel Dohan’s “The Price of Poverty” look through the dense and convoluted layers of statistics that emerge from demographic questionnaires and censuses to the voices of the individuals which they are meant to represent. What anthropologists find is that these statistics don’t represent the communities they are attempting to describe. Communities are able to describe themselves, and within these descriptions - within these narratives and discourses - lies the information that can be of most use in informing policy or enacting advocacy.
In other words, anthropology is more important now than it has ever been before. The opportunities that have arisen out of globalization and horizontal fragmentation are opportunities that could lead to a more cosmopolitan yet more equitable world. Yet without the understanding of these processes on local and international levels many of these opportunities could stand unfulfilled. It is therefore necessary for anthropologists to not just become involved on the academic, theoretical, and methodological levels, but to become advocates in their communities and in the world. After all, if anthropologists can become advocates enough to dissociate themselves from the military-industrial complex they can surely become advocates enough to inform policy issues on issues of immigration and disaster relief. An important thing to keep in mind, however, is that anthropologists are good at what they do because they have thorough in a specific area of interest. My area of interest happens to be cultural and heritage tourism in West Africa and how it provides an opportunity for people to have positive cross-cultural interactions.
applied anthropology and cultural tourism in West Africa
The opportunities and dilemmas that globalization has presented include the movement of people around the world - via tourism - at a rate unprecedented in human history. International tourism has been growing at an annual rate of 4% (World Tourism Organization 2006), and much of this tourism involves trips to politically-stable developing countries like Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, Cambodia and Ghana. Many tourists who return from such trips rave about their experiences “in a different culture” and make the ubiquitous “the best thing about x is the people” comment. The fundamental fascination behind these types of travel and these forms of narratives is the concept of cultural and heritage tourism.
Tourists travel to Ghana for a variety of reasons. African-Americans who visit the coast of Ghana to tour the slave castles at Elmina and Cape Coast make up a large proportion of the tourism industry (Bruner 2005). Tourists also enjoy the pristine beaches and turquoise waters, the rain forests rich with primates and water falls, and the local markets lively with traditional Ghanaian culture and everyday life. One thing that I became fascinated with during my experience in Ghana was the interaction between these tourists and the Ghanaians whom they met along the way. Though the majority of these interactions are fundamentally economic, there are also interactions that occur on a more curious and globalized level.
Tourists in Africa like to enjoy cultural displays such as dancing, musical performances, funerals, and subsistence activities such as sea fishing. Beach areas in Cape Coast are full of Ghanaian fishermen who stand next to the beautiful ocean and pose for pictures with tourists for a small donation. Nearby, market women sell fish and cold drinks and prepare food for the tourists to enjoy. The fishermen also invite tourists to go out on the fishing boat with them, usually the morning of the following day, for a price of about $30 USD - a huge amount of money in Ghana equivalent to the ordinary Ghanaian’s monthly income. Local clothes and art work are also sold en masse to the groups of tourists who descend onto the beach during the busy season. In all of these above-mentioned fashions, Ghanaians in Cape Coast take part in the marketing of their culture to generate income. But something else is also happening beneath the surface - Ghanaians are interacting with tourists from industrial centers in Europe and North America in a positive and fundamentally beneficial way.
One thing to consider in a place like Cape Coast, Ghana is the relatively light presence of tourism. Compared to places like Cuzco, Teotihuacan, or the Taj Mahal this small West African fishing city gets a trickle of tourists. The area isn’t inundated with tourists off of cruise ships or involved in package deals who are looking to take a few pictures and ensue their journey. Most tourists in Cape Coast have a genuine interest in understanding the history of the slave castles, viewing the ecosystems in the nearby rain forests, and interacting with Ghanaians on a personal level.
My interests in cultural tourism have to do with the ways it can benefit the people who take part in it: the local communities and the tourists. The types of questions I want to ask to local communities include: How do you feel about tourists coming to view your cultural practices? Is it appropriate for foreigners to come into your everyday life and attempt to learn something from it? Do you feel like you are being adequately paid for your work? Are these tourist projects benefiting only a certain segment of your population, or is a certain age group, gender, or economic class primarily benefitting from these enterprises? Are you also learning something about the tourists and the countries they come from? I would also like to ask tourists: Do you understand the economic impacts you have on the communities you visit? Do you feel like you are seeing a “genuine” display of the local culture? What kinds of things bother you in your interactions with the local community? What kinds of insights into life, culture, and history have you gleaned from your experiences in these communities? Answers to these types of questions through ethnographic “thick description” could help illuminate some of these processes and could also benefit local communities in establishing tourist plans and expanding interactions with foreign tourists.
conclusion
Globalization has made the world a smaller place. In this environment of constant cross-cultural interaction, people are making quick inferences about the cultures they interact with - inferences that have consequences for future interactions with similar individuals and communities further down the road. Cultures and ways of life come in contact in a variety of different contexts: e.g., immigration, inquisitiveness, and tourism. Understanding the circumstances of these interactions and the discourses behind them is an extremely important role for cultural anthropologists in the 21st century. The discipline of anthropology, now steeped in an ethic of social justice and responsibility, has the opportunity to play a major role in the way that people come to understand each other and make decisions about each other. My own research intends to focus on the way these processes have played out in West Africa through cultural tourism. By understanding the interactions that take place in such contexts, we can better know how to help design such projects and help the economies of local communities in the process.
bibliography
Bruner, E.M (2005). Culture on Tour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dohan, D. (2003). The Price of Poverty: Money, Work, and Culture in the Mexican American Barrio. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Friedman, J. (2003). Globalization, Dis-integration, Re-organization: The Transformations of Violence. In “Globalization, the State, and Violence,” ed. Jonathon Friedman: 1-14, 16-19, 20, 21, 22, 31-33. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Giddens, A. (1990). Dimensions of Globalization. Pp. 245-252 in “The New Social Theory Reader,” eds. Jeffrey Alexander and Steven Seidman. London; Routledge.
Gonzalez, R.J. (2007). Towards mercenary anthropology? The new US Army counterinsurgency manual FM 3-24 and the military-industrial complex. In Anthropology Today, 23(3);14-19.
Good, A. (2007). Anthropology and Expertise in the Asylum Courts. Cornwall, Britian, United Kingdom: Routledge-Cavendish
Graber, D. (2001). The Globalization Movement: Some Points of Clarification. In Items and Issues 2(3-4):12-14.
Meisch, Lynn A. (2002). Andean Entrepreneurs: Otavalo Merchants & Musicians in the Global Arena. USA: University of Texas Press,
Rawls, J. (1993). Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press
Rylko-Bauer, B,, M. Singer, and J, V Willigen (2006). Reclaiming Anthropology: Its Past, Present, and Future. In American Anthropologist, 108(1): 178-190.
Waltzer, M. (1983). Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality. Pp. 3-12, 17-20, 318-319. Tennessee: Perseus Books.
Introduction
The discipline of anthropology has its roots in the project(s) of colonialism. Anthropologists were used in the colonial projects of the British, as well as in the expansionary movements of the United States in informing the hegemony of the United States government over the indigenous populations which lived within its territories and its frontiers (Rylko-Bauer et. al. 2006). These inquiries were deployed to serve one purpose: to inform colonial administrators and reinforce and strengthen the power structures of specific nation-states. To this day, anthropology often attempts to play ethically indefensible roles. A primary example is the war in Iraq, where anthropologists have been hired by the United States military to “study” groups for ostensibly peaceful reasons. On the surface (and in arguments on behalf of the occupation of Iraq) these deployments appear as ways of sensitizing the military to cultural issues, but their deeper intentions are often less benign. A major difference, however, exists between the use of anthropology in the colonial era and the utilization of anthropology in the US occupation of Iraq - the unambiguous and sonorant resistance by reputable anthropologists to the militarization of the discipline (Gonzalez 2007). This anecdote - though simplified here - reveals that a fundamental change has occurred in the discipline of anthropology between the colonial era and the present day: an ethical shift from the classification, organization and “scientific” inquisition of the Other on behalf of power structures to the quest for social justice and the critique of Western paradigms.
The following is not meant to be an exploration of the continuum of sociological and anthropological theory, nor a pontification on the ethical justifications for applied anthropology. It is rather meant to be a glimpse of anthropology from the perspective of someone who is coming into anthropology today and a testament to how they have been enculturated into it. The above mentioned shift towards social justice, pluralism, and the idea of embracing and promoting alternative worldviews is a shift that has come to characterize the mood of American anthropology for the student in the beginning of the 21st century. When I use the word “mood” I mean it in terms of the atmosphere of modern anthropology and the pervading tones in the discipline. This mood has an ethical dimension to it that instructs incoming anthropologists to take an essentially pluralistic view towards the human experience and a instrumental view towards the discipline of anthropology. In many ways, this mood can be encapsulated in one word: responsibility. This is precisely why well-educated, ethically-sound anthropologists wouldn’t even have to think twice about turning down offers to work for the military and its illegal occupation of Iraq: such roles and deployments are simply unconscionable and indeed against everything contemporary anthropology has come to represent.
Indeed, this theme of social justice and the promotion of respect among and between cultures is something that is of paramount importance in my own research. I am not interested so much in the theoretical and historical dimensions of anthropology as I am the applied and current dimensions of anthropology in a globalized world. The power of markets and states in our global society is on a scale that is unprecedented in human history. With this globalization, however, we have not seen a decrease in the significance of culture, but rather an increase in its significance. As “the world has become smaller, “ cross-pollinations of cultures have become more common and more instrumental in the way people choose to appropriate their cultural resources. The marketing of ethnicity and the use of culture in West Africa to attract tourists through archaeological sites, heritage sites, or live performances and displays is the process I am interested in as an anthropologist. My interest, however, isn’t spawned from some kind of theoretical position. It is rather spawned from a question: how can these forms of cultural tourism benefit the populations who deploy them and simultaneously communicate to the world their meaning, and in so doing create a positive interface for different cultures?
In the following, I will explore the way this mood of social justice and pluralism has permeated my understanding of the discipline of anthropology as it exists in the 21st century. I will incorporate modern sociological and anthropological theories that symbolize this mood into my discussion and attempt to describe how they have informed my own development as an anthropologist. Of primary importance are theories about globalization and the exponential increase in the power of competing identities from indigenous, migratory, and regional populations (Friedman 2003). I will first discuss what I see as a more complex and less one-sided form of globalization than is commonly perceived (based on Friedman 2003 and Graber 2001) and then discuss how this process has put different global groups within a position to negotiate their identities and statuses. I will contextualize my interests in cultural and heritage tourism within this broader context and attempt to outline a research plan to realize my own ambitions. I feel that this ethical shift has taken my initial interest in the exotic (prior to my experience as a student in anthropology) to subsequent quests for understandings of social justice and ways of accentuating the voices of marginalized people into the global discussion. In this context, I will demonstrate that the mood of modern anthropology - the quest for social justice and equality by means of mutual understandings - is a mood that is appropriate for the opportunities implicit in this global opportunity where groups are increasing both the volume of their voices and their call for an equitable share of the world’s resources.
globalization and the Importance of anthropology
Globalization has created more interfaces between more cultures than any process before. Globalization is defined by Anthony Giddens as “the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events many miles away and vice versa” (Giddens 1990). In a world defined by globalization, interactions between different cultures - at times positive and at times negative - become an everyday process where all of the actors involved play a consequential role. Populations previously subdued by colonialism become consumer economies; populations previously filling the roles of colonial administrators become market economies. In this process, a new importance is imbued to the realm of the cultural. People’s tastes and attitudes become increasingly important as cultural interactions become more common and markets become more integrated. Although 20th century power structures remain largely intact, they have become more susceptible to contestation and negotiation. To the dominant, their power seems inevitable; to the dominated, their subjugation seems negotiable. The process of globalization gradually erodes concepts of black and white and pulls the stage curtains open to a situation that appears much more fragmented, disintegrated, precarious and negotiable. On this stage, however, the actors work out a form of theater that displays a sense of something that does unify the roles: opportunity.
Within this window of opportunity there exists a chance for greater social justice and the fulfillment of responsibility by all actors involved. Though great patches of stagnant conservatism which seek to makeover their societies in one static image still exist - and they primarily spar among each other - the overall trend is towards “emerging forms of democratic practice” (Graeber 2001). Pluralism and political liberalism are not enemies, they are comrades. The opportunity for cultural, political, and religious groups to live side-by-side in a shrinking, increasingly more compact world, has never been greater. The question transforms from “How do we deal with the foreign forces amassing outside of the borders of our industrial centers?” to “How is it possible for there to exist over time a just and stable society of free and equal citizens, who remain profoundly divided by reasonable religious, philosophical, and moral doctrines”(Rawls 1993, 123)? According to Waltzer, “a community’s culture is the story its members tell so as to make sense of all the different pieces of their social life - and justice is the doctrine that distinguishes the pieces. In any differentiated society, justice will make for harmony only if it first makes for separation. Good fences make just societies” (Waltzer 1983). These spheres of cultural autonomy need not been seen as a threat, but rather as a preexisting condition for harmony. Both Rawls and Waltzer are correct in pointing out that the mutual, autonomous existence of reasonable cultural doctrines is essential to finding harmony is an increasingly smaller and more fragmented world. It is not the job of a just society to determine what is culturally offensive or non-offensive, but to protect the freedoms of the groups from which it is comprised.
Jonathon Friedman also views the current state of affairs as a decline in the hegemony of the advanced industrial centers and a corresponding increase in “fragmentation” (Friedman 2003, 162). This decline in hegemony is due to the failure of the modernist nation-state to effectively achieve its goal of realizing a national form of identity. When such a project fails, marginalized and stigmatized groups move to establish themselves more concretely. Although Friedman sees this leading to more tense and precarious scenarios (for instance his identification of the parameter of vertical polarization among economic classes in industrial centers), it can also be interpreted as moving toward a more multicultural setting in which these spheres are able to establish themselves democratically and cooperatively. In my own view, I see this not as a ominous power vacuum but as a step toward increased cosmopolitan empowerment.
Graeber makes the logical step in his work towards a more cosmopolitan, multicultural empowerment citing neoliberalism as the true catalyst for many of these processes. The platforms of many of these movements, for instance the Ya Basta! movement in Italy, demand “a universally guaranteed ‘basic income,’ a principle of global citizenship that would guarantee free movement of people across borders, and a principle of free access to new technology - which in practice would mean extreme limits on patent rights” (Graeber 2001, 169). Neoliberalism, in trying to argue for an internationally active economy comprised of private free market capitalists and technocrats, is nothing but a concealed attempt to crush and reconsolidate the progressive movements that have come to be part of the process of horizontal fragmentation. Neoliberalism is limited to free flow of commodities - it increases the barriers against the flow of people while breaking down the barriers in the flow of goods (Graeber 2001, 170). Most importantly, neoliberalism fails to meet the needs of the people it purports itself to aid. Recent food riots in Latin America, Africa, and Asia are a testament to the inability of this system to provide an equitable chance for its participants.
But what does all of this mean for anthropology? Anthropology can take a closer look at these processes and opportunities and help predict and alleviate some of the tensions that may or may not come along with them. For example, in an increasingly globalized world more and more different types of people are bound to cross more and more different lines of borders. Anthropology’s experience with asylum seekers has taught us what kinds of problems to expect when immigrants arrive in their new homes and how some of the issues that they escaped from can conflict with cultural constructions they can find in their new place of residence (Good 2007). Immigrant groups may be forced, through slow or ineffective convergences with their new countries’ economies, to rely on informal networks and illicit economies to get ahead (Dohan 2003). By understanding these processes through ethnography and “thick description,” anthropologists can help these groups on local levels and help inform the policies that effect them. Anthropologists can be advocates for cross-cultural understanding and create public arenas for different groups to voice their views and opinions. They can help mitigate the chances for conflict by understanding the perspectives of the different parties involved.
What distinguishes good applied anthropology and ethnography from other approaches to social and cultural questions is its use of communities’ voices in its analyses. Works such as Daniel Dohan’s “The Price of Poverty” look through the dense and convoluted layers of statistics that emerge from demographic questionnaires and censuses to the voices of the individuals which they are meant to represent. What anthropologists find is that these statistics don’t represent the communities they are attempting to describe. Communities are able to describe themselves, and within these descriptions - within these narratives and discourses - lies the information that can be of most use in informing policy or enacting advocacy.
In other words, anthropology is more important now than it has ever been before. The opportunities that have arisen out of globalization and horizontal fragmentation are opportunities that could lead to a more cosmopolitan yet more equitable world. Yet without the understanding of these processes on local and international levels many of these opportunities could stand unfulfilled. It is therefore necessary for anthropologists to not just become involved on the academic, theoretical, and methodological levels, but to become advocates in their communities and in the world. After all, if anthropologists can become advocates enough to dissociate themselves from the military-industrial complex they can surely become advocates enough to inform policy issues on issues of immigration and disaster relief. An important thing to keep in mind, however, is that anthropologists are good at what they do because they have thorough in a specific area of interest. My area of interest happens to be cultural and heritage tourism in West Africa and how it provides an opportunity for people to have positive cross-cultural interactions.
applied anthropology and cultural tourism in West Africa
The opportunities and dilemmas that globalization has presented include the movement of people around the world - via tourism - at a rate unprecedented in human history. International tourism has been growing at an annual rate of 4% (World Tourism Organization 2006), and much of this tourism involves trips to politically-stable developing countries like Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, Cambodia and Ghana. Many tourists who return from such trips rave about their experiences “in a different culture” and make the ubiquitous “the best thing about x is the people” comment. The fundamental fascination behind these types of travel and these forms of narratives is the concept of cultural and heritage tourism.
Tourists travel to Ghana for a variety of reasons. African-Americans who visit the coast of Ghana to tour the slave castles at Elmina and Cape Coast make up a large proportion of the tourism industry (Bruner 2005). Tourists also enjoy the pristine beaches and turquoise waters, the rain forests rich with primates and water falls, and the local markets lively with traditional Ghanaian culture and everyday life. One thing that I became fascinated with during my experience in Ghana was the interaction between these tourists and the Ghanaians whom they met along the way. Though the majority of these interactions are fundamentally economic, there are also interactions that occur on a more curious and globalized level.
Tourists in Africa like to enjoy cultural displays such as dancing, musical performances, funerals, and subsistence activities such as sea fishing. Beach areas in Cape Coast are full of Ghanaian fishermen who stand next to the beautiful ocean and pose for pictures with tourists for a small donation. Nearby, market women sell fish and cold drinks and prepare food for the tourists to enjoy. The fishermen also invite tourists to go out on the fishing boat with them, usually the morning of the following day, for a price of about $30 USD - a huge amount of money in Ghana equivalent to the ordinary Ghanaian’s monthly income. Local clothes and art work are also sold en masse to the groups of tourists who descend onto the beach during the busy season. In all of these above-mentioned fashions, Ghanaians in Cape Coast take part in the marketing of their culture to generate income. But something else is also happening beneath the surface - Ghanaians are interacting with tourists from industrial centers in Europe and North America in a positive and fundamentally beneficial way.
One thing to consider in a place like Cape Coast, Ghana is the relatively light presence of tourism. Compared to places like Cuzco, Teotihuacan, or the Taj Mahal this small West African fishing city gets a trickle of tourists. The area isn’t inundated with tourists off of cruise ships or involved in package deals who are looking to take a few pictures and ensue their journey. Most tourists in Cape Coast have a genuine interest in understanding the history of the slave castles, viewing the ecosystems in the nearby rain forests, and interacting with Ghanaians on a personal level.
My interests in cultural tourism have to do with the ways it can benefit the people who take part in it: the local communities and the tourists. The types of questions I want to ask to local communities include: How do you feel about tourists coming to view your cultural practices? Is it appropriate for foreigners to come into your everyday life and attempt to learn something from it? Do you feel like you are being adequately paid for your work? Are these tourist projects benefiting only a certain segment of your population, or is a certain age group, gender, or economic class primarily benefitting from these enterprises? Are you also learning something about the tourists and the countries they come from? I would also like to ask tourists: Do you understand the economic impacts you have on the communities you visit? Do you feel like you are seeing a “genuine” display of the local culture? What kinds of things bother you in your interactions with the local community? What kinds of insights into life, culture, and history have you gleaned from your experiences in these communities? Answers to these types of questions through ethnographic “thick description” could help illuminate some of these processes and could also benefit local communities in establishing tourist plans and expanding interactions with foreign tourists.
conclusion
Globalization has made the world a smaller place. In this environment of constant cross-cultural interaction, people are making quick inferences about the cultures they interact with - inferences that have consequences for future interactions with similar individuals and communities further down the road. Cultures and ways of life come in contact in a variety of different contexts: e.g., immigration, inquisitiveness, and tourism. Understanding the circumstances of these interactions and the discourses behind them is an extremely important role for cultural anthropologists in the 21st century. The discipline of anthropology, now steeped in an ethic of social justice and responsibility, has the opportunity to play a major role in the way that people come to understand each other and make decisions about each other. My own research intends to focus on the way these processes have played out in West Africa through cultural tourism. By understanding the interactions that take place in such contexts, we can better know how to help design such projects and help the economies of local communities in the process.
bibliography
Bruner, E.M (2005). Culture on Tour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dohan, D. (2003). The Price of Poverty: Money, Work, and Culture in the Mexican American Barrio. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Friedman, J. (2003). Globalization, Dis-integration, Re-organization: The Transformations of Violence. In “Globalization, the State, and Violence,” ed. Jonathon Friedman: 1-14, 16-19, 20, 21, 22, 31-33. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Giddens, A. (1990). Dimensions of Globalization. Pp. 245-252 in “The New Social Theory Reader,” eds. Jeffrey Alexander and Steven Seidman. London; Routledge.
Gonzalez, R.J. (2007). Towards mercenary anthropology? The new US Army counterinsurgency manual FM 3-24 and the military-industrial complex. In Anthropology Today, 23(3);14-19.
Good, A. (2007). Anthropology and Expertise in the Asylum Courts. Cornwall, Britian, United Kingdom: Routledge-Cavendish
Graber, D. (2001). The Globalization Movement: Some Points of Clarification. In Items and Issues 2(3-4):12-14.
Meisch, Lynn A. (2002). Andean Entrepreneurs: Otavalo Merchants & Musicians in the Global Arena. USA: University of Texas Press,
Rawls, J. (1993). Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press
Rylko-Bauer, B,, M. Singer, and J, V Willigen (2006). Reclaiming Anthropology: Its Past, Present, and Future. In American Anthropologist, 108(1): 178-190.
Waltzer, M. (1983). Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality. Pp. 3-12, 17-20, 318-319. Tennessee: Perseus Books.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Rite of Passage: Presenting at an Academic Meeting
On Saturday I gave my first professional academic presentation at the annual Society for California Archaeology meeting in Burbank, California. It was a synopsis and visual presentation of research I have been doing on the relationship between an archaeological site in coastal San Diego and the interregional exchange system of southern California. It is rooted in my previous research on shell beads in the inter-village exchange system of the Chumash economy in Santa Barbara. This research made up the bulk of my thesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Basically, there was a complex economy in prehistoric California that functioned to articulate different environments and regions into a system of constant flows of raw materials, food, crafted goods, and last but not least... money. This money was produced mostly on the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara. It was manufactured from gathered shells of the species Olivella biplicata, haliotis rufescens (red abalone), and mytilus (mussel). Shell beads were not, however, solely used as money. They could also be used for decorative purposes, burials, and other rituals and rites of passage. The power of this Chumash shell bead industry became dominant in the interregional exchange system of southern California around 1100 C.E (Common Era) and continued to dominate until the arrival of the Spanish in the 18th century.
We found a lot of these beads at a site in San Diego and the research we did into these beads is what made up the substance of a paper we published and which I presented on at the Society for California Archaeology meeting.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
First Wall Scribbling
This morning, I was walking home from the coffee shop with my nephew. We had just shared a huge Belgian waffle, smothered with fresh strawberries, sliced bananas, and mountains of whipped cream. Holding his little hand as we crossed the street I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. "A guitar!"
Just a few nights ago, I was noodling around on my guitar, listening to Fela Kuti while my brother pounded out tight, modest melodies on his keyboard. It was one of Fela's political manifestos - one of those Fela Kuti songs where he is enraged about the plunder of Nigeria and the horrifying consequences of colonialism. Yet he is expressing this rage in a sort of sustained and contained manner; an expression of reconciliation through honesty. But it has this infectious, reggae/jazz fusion type of beat overlaid with this gorgeous swampish organ and wild saxophone. It is great music to space out to and jam along with. My nephew had been staring attentively at us as we searched for the key and built tidy little structures around the skeleton of the song.
My nephew finally went into the other room and pulled out a beater of a guitar, dragging it across the floor and then sitting next to it. As my brother and I jammed out quietly along with Fela, my nephew started to crouch over the neck of the guitar and press the strings into the fretboard. With his other hand, he carved out notes on the keyboard. He was smiling and giggling, the song progressing further and further into the ever-infectious realms of the song.
What was cool was that here we were, in San Diego, in 2008 - listening to Nigerian afro-beat from decades ago, and playing along with it. Not only were we playing along with it, but we were playing along with it across generations of our ancestry. Here was something that made so much sense to me after having lived in West Africa for two and a half years, that it almost made me feel like I was back in the little rainforest village of Guaman, sitting at the chief's house and drinking palm wine, envious of the kinship bonds that existed between the chief, his brothers, his cousins, his nephews....
For a few minutes the world felt like such a smaller, more sensible place.
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