Learning Journal #14

"the age of nations is past. it remains for us now if we don't wish to perish, to set aside the ancient prejudices and build the earth" -pierre teilhard.

This idea of nationalism is not new-- Pierre Telihard lived 1881-1955. He recognized the power that resides in national identity and went as far as to warn us against such power. Now, although this quote doesn't exactly correlate with my project, I thought it was a good example of how powerful nationalism can be... and how debilitating it can be for those forced to practice it.

I was able to find several books written on nationalism (that I will spend the next week devouring):

nations before nationalism ja armstrong (1982)
nationalism and the state john breuilly (1982)
social predictions of national revival in europe miroslav hroch (1985)
the ethnic origins of nations anthony smith (1986)
imagined communities benedict anderson (1983)

I'm hoping that these books will give me some more insight on the theories revolving nationalism, how leaders indocritnate it, and whether or not dance has been used in the past. (I know singing has). I'm really excited about the political turn that my project is taking and hopefully I'll be able to fully express my ideas. (Don't worry! I'll keep practicing!)

One way to better express my ideas will be to use the local lingo. We learned, last Friday, one GREAT way to do that..... FREE LISTING!! I got so excited about this method (thanks Margaret!) If you don't know what free listing is, I'll post a definition under the 'methods' tab. But all in all, it'll be a great way to paint a picture of what terms Ghanaians use to describe all things from the government to dancing traditions.

To conclude.....

Ghanaians have a lot of pride in their country, they are very proud to be from Ghana. Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be debilitating in its affects on other aspects of their life. For example, the erroding of ethnic traditions. This is what I'll be studying: how government has blended ethnic cultural together in order to mold a national identity (I'll of course be focusing on dance specifically).