Learning Journal #3

Man this has been a good week! First things first-- I learned, thanks to Akramah that words like "tribal" and "tribe" are offensive to most Ghanaians. He said that they were the words used by the British so... naturally, they have a bad connotation. He was so nice in one of his emails to say:

" If you're going to make mistakes, I'd rather you make them with me instead of when you're in Ghana."

I have a feeling I'm going to be making a lot of mistakes like that but hey, that is part of the learning process. The Twi class is also very helpful when it comes to things like that- what words are acceptable, what will cause offense. For instance, Millie told us that we must be SO CAREFUL that we address people according to their status... and to not confuse them. Sure, they may say "oh silly white girl" but I'd rather have them be impressed by how well I know their culture.

Besides learning logistics like that, I was able to spend a lot of time in the library this week reading. YAY!!! I'm really trying to read a lot on African dance in general... trying to get a feel for what the traditions are, what the motivation behind the dancing is. WHY? Well, if I want to study how dance in changing, I must know where it began.

One thing I've found interesting is that dance used to be taught in two ways: if you were a professional dancer, you would learn from a master dancer; if you were just a common member of the tribe (or "ethnic group"), you learned by observation. In Ghana it is the same way. So, in general, Africans never learned dances in a class setting-- like my ballet class I took all growing up. HOWEVER, in Ghana, there is now a University in Accra that has a DANCE MAJOR!

WAIT! I thought Africans didn't learn dance like that? And to learn modern/ballet along with your traditional African dancing?!?! Dance is definitely changing in the city. Now, some of my other research told me that Kumasi is still more rooted in the traditions of past Africa (more so than Accra) so will the same change be happening? I think so. Well, I hope so... it's what I want to base my whole project on. If you go to "field development notes", then you can see my question I want to focus on. I think there will be a case for it. At least, all my reading thus far tells me there will be. Studying it in a rural setting will really help me see how far this change is penetrating the more rural areas of Ghana.

Akramah gave me hope that yes, I CAN study this is Wiamose because he told me:

"Traditional dance and music are still part of Ghanaian life although much of the significance has been lost in the marriage between western culture and traditional African culture. Again, it is in the rural areas that you can see some of the significance bearing on the youth."

WHY even study this? Well..... honestly?...... All that I've read about African dance is so beautiful and poetic:

“the purpose is to communicate... for him and for his people, the dance is life!”

“dancer is the connection between the earth and the sky”

“they give themselves up to dancing and feasting.
they are terribly excited at this time and cannot remain at rest"

“thoroughly tired after a long day, they will not dance under
ordinary circumstances; but they cannot resist it when
there is some really good thing to celebrate"

See, dancing is so much more than movements of the body-- it's an expression of one's emotions. Nowhere is that more true than in Africa. Sure, teenagers and young adults learn the traditional dances... heck, they may even dance them BUT is it the same? Is that how they express their emotions or are they resulting to a different style of dance? Are they simply dancing their ancestral dances because it's tradition or are they dancing them because they believe it too? See! This is why it's so important that I thoroughly understand Ghanaian dance history... that I may know WHAT the traditional dances represent, and WHY they were danced in the first place.