Ghana Today: Challenges of a Developing Nation
Sandra L. Sprayberry, Ph.D.
Robert Luckie Professor of English
Birmingham-Southern College
Going into the CIEE Seminar “Ghana Today: Challenges of a Developing Nation,” I hoped to accomplish three goals: (1) to gain some knowledge about a West African country and culture so that I could begin comparative analysis with what I already know about south African countries and cultures (2) to incorporate what I would learn about Ghana into two courses I teach—Plural America and Introduction to Human Rights—and (3) to explore postcolonial issues related to my upcoming sabbatical project—a comparative analysis of postcolonial issues in African, Irish, and American Indian literature. I also hoped to explore the possibilities of taking a group of students for a travel-study experience in Ghana.
Although I was originally awarded a Ping for the seminar in Senegal and although goal 3 would perhaps have been more clearly related to the Senegal seminar, which was going to be led by an expert in my area of academic focus, I still accomplished the goal relatively well. At my request, and outside of the parameters of the seminar, Dr. Michael Williams, our seminar leader, organized a meeting between the literature faculty in the seminar and Dr. Edward Sackey, a literature professor at the University of Ghana. At that meeting, we discussed postcolonial issues in African literature and also possibilities for faculty exchange among Ghanaian and American literature faculty. I plan to explore both of these issues as I begin my sabbatical preparations. While in Ghana, I also bought some books that will help me with my sabbatical research. The text Understanding Post-colonial Identities: Ireland, Africa, and the Pacific (ed. Dele Layiwola, 2001), which I have begun reading, is promising in that regard. My sabbatical plans are coming to a clearer focus thanks to my seminar participation.
I learned a good deal of basic information about Ghanaian history, economics, politics, health, and culture that will be indispensable to my expansion of my Introduction to Human Rights course, which I will teach again in the spring of 2008. For my Plural America course, which I will also teach in the spring of ’08, I learned some information that I will definitely incorporate into the course study of the slave trade. Experientially, our seminar tour of Elmina Castle was invaluable. Even given my limitations as a white person in the 21st century, I have an added emotional dimension to my knowledge.
I also established some important contacts for a possible travel-study course in Ghana. I had a meeting to discuss my ideas with the CIEE resident director in Ghana, Mr. Kwasi Gyasi-Gyamerah, and also with the seminar leader, Dr. Williams. Because our college has a long history of service-learning and a newly established and funded Bunting Center for Engaged Study and Community Action, I plan to offer my students a service component to their study whenever I take them abroad. I was particularly excited by the possibilities at Nima. During our site visit to the Anani Memorial International School, the principal there, Mr. Kofi Anane, outlined the needs for projects related to buildings and instruction at the school. I have since been in e-mail contact with Mr. Anane, and I am certain that this is the project I would want my students to undertake.
Furthermore, I established a very important contact with a fellow seminar participant, Barbara Nesin, a professor of art at Spelman College. Although I knew from my past participation in CIEE seminars that I would make important professional contacts with my fellow participants, I had no idea that I would make an important artistic contact. A poet, I have long wanted to collaborate with a visual artist, and Barbara and I are exploring the possibilities of collaborating on a multi-media project focused on our shared experiences in Ghana. An added benefit of this contact is that our institutions are in a consortium, The Associated Colleges of the South. One of the foci of the consortium is a diversity initiative to promote multicultural and institutional exchange. The project that Barbara and I are planning will hopefully accomplish both.
Our campus is currently discussing both a curricular project to develop a minor in Human Rights and also a global project to develop a Center for Global Human Dignity. I am the only person on my campus who teaches in the area of African studies, and so my participation in the Ghana CIEE seminar—which would not have been financially possible without the Ping Fellowship—has, without a doubt, contributed to my expertise. I am involved in both discussions. Thank you so much for this fellowship.