Loving Globalization for Its Benefits, Not What It Stands For or Produces

“How does a school promote western-style education and sending students to The United States when there a very clear divide between Africans and Americans, specifically African-Americans?” This is the first question that came to mind when learning more about the elite school in Ghana. While all of the elite schools had the same mission of preparing students to move, receive and education and work in the western world, Ghana was different. The Ghanaian school promotes Pan-Africanism and “Knowledge in Service of Africa”. How does giving into globalization service Africa and its nationalism, when most of its students do not go back? It is not just the school was promotes Pan-Africanism and Africa before all else: the society does as well. Historically, this has led to a major divide between Americans and African-Americans. There is no clear or direct reason for this division. It is rooted in false perceptions based on stereotypes and historical inaccuracies passed on from generation to generation, masked under the false pretenses of nationalism.

It is like if your parents or siblings say they don’t like broccoli, you will, in turn, not like broccoli. This is because you inherit the perception and dislike of the world, not just broccoli, with no rationale or reasoning. In American schools, we do not learn a history of Africa that serves them justice. Africans are portrayed as half-clothed barbarians living in a poor, jungle-like, under-developed country. In African schools, Americans are typically portrayed as lazy and colonizers who took slaves from Africa. From this, Africans see African Americans as assimilators, shunning us for a history we can not control. Neither party (Africans or African Americans) are free of blame. 

As I began to read the data, my question was answered. The school promotes western-style education because of the opportunities America has to offer. The people do not matter, it is about the benefits. In their eyes, sending students to renowned American universities allows them to capitalize on the “American Dream” so they can help Africa, indirectly or directly.

Thinking back to the cultural divide and its relation to faux-nationalism, I started to wonder about the nationalistic intentions of the Ghanaian school. Was the school truly nationalist/Pan-Africanist or simply a facade? The data shows mixed signals. The mission of the school is “Knowledge in Service of Africa”. The school is meant to be self-serving. However, the national African curriculum is not infused into the elite school. In addition, many of the students never return to Ghana post-graduation. This is not to say that the school never had to intentions of promoting true Pan-African ideologies. However, just promoting those ideologies would not make them a leading force in the world. To the un-globalized world, The United States is the perceived standard of greatness. From this, my question becomes how does Pan-Africanism compete with globalization? How is it affected, shaped and/or undermined. Therein lies the research question: How has western globalization affected Sankofa’s work towards nationalism and pan-Africanism?