Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About
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Lehigh University students return from Ghana with a new perspective on life
FEBRUARY 21, 2017
BY SARA HOOVER
Lehigh University students take a canopy walk at Kakum National Park during the summer of 2015. (Miles Davis)
Many college students study abroad to learn a language or a different culture.
For three years, Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been taking students to Ghana in the summer to learn about the trans-Atlantic slave trade and themselves.
Lehigh graduate student Miles Davis is originally from Baltimore County, Maryland, near where Freddie Gray's death sparked national protests about police violence against black men.
One of the first things the 22-year-old said about studying in Ghana, in West Africa, is how as a black man, he felt safer there.
"I think the love was one of the most exciting things and one of the most empowering things about it," the environmental policy design major said. "It's just everywhere I went I felt safe. I felt like people were not going to do me harm. I felt, you know, the love from people ... So that was one of the biggest things everywhere I went," said Davis.
Last summer, the second time Davis went, it was a few days after more police shootings occurred in the U.S.
"When I go to Ghana, it's really like a sigh of relief," he said. "I was so excited to go to Ghana this time because it was a couple of days after Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed. And so it was really just like, wow, I can be around my people and feel safe."
Lehigh graduate student Miles Davis (right) in Ghana during summer 2016. (Courtesy of Miles Davis)
He said even after returning, looking at photos and videos he took there helped him hold on to that feeling of safety.
The trip, organized by James Peterson, the director of the Africana studies program at Lehigh, was pivotal even for students with no ancestral ties to Africa. Peterson, who does WHYY's "The Remix" podcast, has been taking students to Ghana for three summers.
Senior Sidney Ro came to Lehigh University to get far away from her family in Los Angeles and her Korean heritage — but the Ghana trip helped her come full circle.
"I had intentionally left California because I wanted to get away from my parents and get away from conservative Korean people," the 21-year-old said. "I came here, and I kind of experienced the same thing where I felt a little out of place and kind of just like confused about what I wanted to do and my passions and things like that.
"So going there ... gave me the opportunity to really think about I guess what's important to me as an individual."
Seeing other students make a connection with the historical slave sites made Ro want to connect more deeply to her own history.
Sidney Ro visits a slave castle during summer 2016. (Miles Davis)
A double major in English and Africana studies, Ro is applying to graduate schools and her two Ghana trips helped her find her own focus, even though it wasn't clear at first.
"I remember very vividly Miles taking his shoes off to walk on the floor and like actually physically be closer to maybe people that he had been like descended from," she said. "I was a bit envious of that kind of experience because I am a Korean-American. I don't really have much connection to that history."
Now Ro is focusing on her family history and Korean heritage — the very thing she had avoided.
"So now I'm kind of exploring my own roots, I guess you could say," she said. "I'm even interviewing both of my grandmothers who had escaped from North Korea to learn about like their story and how it relates to moving here."
Ro plans to focus on Asian-American literature in graduate school.
Senior Karen Valerio is from Newark, New Jersey, and her family's originally from the Dominican Republic.
The 22-year-old visited Ghana twice.
Lehigh students Miles Davis, Sidney Ro, Karen Valerio and Katerina Traut in Ghana in summer 2015. (Courtesy of Karen Valerio)
Valerio, an Africana studies major and Latin American studies minor, was able to connect the trip with her identity.
"My Africana studies concentration is Afro-Latinx studies or Afro-Latino studies," she said. "As someone who identifies Afro-Latina because of her Dominican heritage, it was amazing to be able to visit the mother continent ... and recognizing that parts of my family come from Africa as well, and so it was a very personal experience in that sense."
Ghana has approximately 40 percent of the historic slave castles that were used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. From the 17th to 19th century, it's estimated 12 million men, women and children were held captive in the dozens of structures along Ghana's coast — until they were shipped away to be sold in the New World.
Valerio wrote a blog post after visiting Cape Coast Castle.
"The guide brings our attention to the floor," she wrote. "This floor hasn't been excavated. We stand on all the slaves left behind: feces, urine, vomit, blood. I start to cry. A mix of emotions surge through me: rage, despair, resentment, sadness, a sense of inadequacy in not being able to change history."
Students tour Cape Coast Slave Castle during summer 2016. (Miles Davis)
While the visits to the castles were emotional, the group received a surprise while waiting to see Elmina Slave Castle.
"We're waiting and a group of more than 40 toddlers come in, school-age children, no more than 5 years old with pink backpacks on," said Davis. "They were just laughing and they were calling us foreigners, Obroni, that's a name for foreigners."
The schoolchildren were on a field trip to the castle.
"It was just such a shock to all of us that this place that had been so dark and had done so many bad things to people was now filled with these like laughing children who I guess really didn't have any idea what that place meant," said Ro. "Afterwards we were all sitting, and a lot of them are kind of just like crawling all over us and like trying to say hi."
School children visit Elmina Slave Castle in summer 2015. (Miles Davis)
Davis said seeing the children changed the dynamic of the visit to the slave castle.
"They were so excited to see us, and they came over and gave us hugs. They said, 'How are you?' You know, trying to utilize their English," said Davis. "They really lightened the mood for us. They made us feel 10 times better and the experience was different because of that."
Since returning, Sidney Ro has presented what she learned in Ghana at two conferences.
Discovering roots
"Sankofa" is the West African notion of returning to your roots, looking to your past in order to move forward — something all three students ended up embracing as part of their Ghana experience.
Davis says his family is originally from Cameroon.
"As a black man, I feel it it's very important to go back to your roots," he said. "That's what I was doing. I wanted to go to West Africa because I knew that was like the birthplace of African-American history."
Although sankofa is a West African tradition, Ro says she felt it was applicable to everyone.
"I kind of really connected with that," Ro said. "I'm kind of going in this a big circle of leaving home, but now I'm kind of going back ... Miles and Karen really had that amazing experience, and I was really jealous to see that.
"But now that I have my own opportunity and the opportunity to go and realize my wishes for this I think was the biggest takeaway."
View of Elmina from Elmina Slave Castle during summer 2015. (Miles Davis)
Valerio also embodied the concept with her research on the Tabom people, Afro-Brazilian descendants of freed slaves from Brazil, and got a tattoo of the sankofa symbol.
Funding for the program is provided through need-based scholarships and grants, most notably the Lee Iacocca research award that covers all costs for six weeks.
School officials say they are trying to establish a collaboration with the Lehigh Valley system, a college consortium, so those students would be eligible for the Ghana study abroad program.
The program's next step would be to expand to cover other stops in the historic slave trade, such as Cuba, as well as related sites in the U.S.
Lehigh University students return from Ghana with a new perspective on life
FEBRUARY 21, 2017
BY SARA HOOVER
Lehigh University students take a canopy walk at Kakum National Park during the summer of 2015. (Miles Davis)
Many college students study abroad to learn a language or a different culture.
For three years, Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been taking students to Ghana in the summer to learn about the trans-Atlantic slave trade and themselves.
Lehigh graduate student Miles Davis is originally from Baltimore County, Maryland, near where Freddie Gray's death sparked national protests about police violence against black men.
One of the first things the 22-year-old said about studying in Ghana, in West Africa, is how as a black man, he felt safer there.
"I think the love was one of the most exciting things and one of the most empowering things about it," the environmental policy design major said. "It's just everywhere I went I felt safe. I felt like people were not going to do me harm. I felt, you know, the love from people ... So that was one of the biggest things everywhere I went," said Davis.
Last summer, the second time Davis went, it was a few days after more police shootings occurred in the U.S.
"When I go to Ghana, it's really like a sigh of relief," he said. "I was so excited to go to Ghana this time because it was a couple of days after Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed. And so it was really just like, wow, I can be around my people and feel safe."
Lehigh graduate student Miles Davis (right) in Ghana during summer 2016. (Courtesy of Miles Davis)
He said even after returning, looking at photos and videos he took there helped him hold on to that feeling of safety.
The trip, organized by James Peterson, the director of the Africana studies program at Lehigh, was pivotal even for students with no ancestral ties to Africa. Peterson, who does WHYY's "The Remix" podcast, has been taking students to Ghana for three summers.
Senior Sidney Ro came to Lehigh University to get far away from her family in Los Angeles and her Korean heritage — but the Ghana trip helped her come full circle.
"I had intentionally left California because I wanted to get away from my parents and get away from conservative Korean people," the 21-year-old said. "I came here, and I kind of experienced the same thing where I felt a little out of place and kind of just like confused about what I wanted to do and my passions and things like that.
"So going there ... gave me the opportunity to really think about I guess what's important to me as an individual."
Seeing other students make a connection with the historical slave sites made Ro want to connect more deeply to her own history.
Sidney Ro visits a slave castle during summer 2016. (Miles Davis)
A double major in English and Africana studies, Ro is applying to graduate schools and her two Ghana trips helped her find her own focus, even though it wasn't clear at first.
"I remember very vividly Miles taking his shoes off to walk on the floor and like actually physically be closer to maybe people that he had been like descended from," she said. "I was a bit envious of that kind of experience because I am a Korean-American. I don't really have much connection to that history."
Now Ro is focusing on her family history and Korean heritage — the very thing she had avoided.
"So now I'm kind of exploring my own roots, I guess you could say," she said. "I'm even interviewing both of my grandmothers who had escaped from North Korea to learn about like their story and how it relates to moving here."
Ro plans to focus on Asian-American literature in graduate school.
Senior Karen Valerio is from Newark, New Jersey, and her family's originally from the Dominican Republic.
The 22-year-old visited Ghana twice.
Lehigh students Miles Davis, Sidney Ro, Karen Valerio and Katerina Traut in Ghana in summer 2015. (Courtesy of Karen Valerio)
Valerio, an Africana studies major and Latin American studies minor, was able to connect the trip with her identity.
"My Africana studies concentration is Afro-Latinx studies or Afro-Latino studies," she said. "As someone who identifies Afro-Latina because of her Dominican heritage, it was amazing to be able to visit the mother continent ... and recognizing that parts of my family come from Africa as well, and so it was a very personal experience in that sense."
Ghana has approximately 40 percent of the historic slave castles that were used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. From the 17th to 19th century, it's estimated 12 million men, women and children were held captive in the dozens of structures along Ghana's coast — until they were shipped away to be sold in the New World.
Valerio wrote a blog post after visiting Cape Coast Castle.
"The guide brings our attention to the floor," she wrote. "This floor hasn't been excavated. We stand on all the slaves left behind: feces, urine, vomit, blood. I start to cry. A mix of emotions surge through me: rage, despair, resentment, sadness, a sense of inadequacy in not being able to change history."
Students tour Cape Coast Slave Castle during summer 2016. (Miles Davis)
While the visits to the castles were emotional, the group received a surprise while waiting to see Elmina Slave Castle.
"We're waiting and a group of more than 40 toddlers come in, school-age children, no more than 5 years old with pink backpacks on," said Davis. "They were just laughing and they were calling us foreigners, Obroni, that's a name for foreigners."
The schoolchildren were on a field trip to the castle.
"It was just such a shock to all of us that this place that had been so dark and had done so many bad things to people was now filled with these like laughing children who I guess really didn't have any idea what that place meant," said Ro. "Afterwards we were all sitting, and a lot of them are kind of just like crawling all over us and like trying to say hi."
School children visit Elmina Slave Castle in summer 2015. (Miles Davis)
Davis said seeing the children changed the dynamic of the visit to the slave castle.
"They were so excited to see us, and they came over and gave us hugs. They said, 'How are you?' You know, trying to utilize their English," said Davis. "They really lightened the mood for us. They made us feel 10 times better and the experience was different because of that."
Since returning, Sidney Ro has presented what she learned in Ghana at two conferences.
Discovering roots
"Sankofa" is the West African notion of returning to your roots, looking to your past in order to move forward — something all three students ended up embracing as part of their Ghana experience.
Davis says his family is originally from Cameroon.
"As a black man, I feel it it's very important to go back to your roots," he said. "That's what I was doing. I wanted to go to West Africa because I knew that was like the birthplace of African-American history."
Although sankofa is a West African tradition, Ro says she felt it was applicable to everyone.
"I kind of really connected with that," Ro said. "I'm kind of going in this a big circle of leaving home, but now I'm kind of going back ... Miles and Karen really had that amazing experience, and I was really jealous to see that.
"But now that I have my own opportunity and the opportunity to go and realize my wishes for this I think was the biggest takeaway."
View of Elmina from Elmina Slave Castle during summer 2015. (Miles Davis)
Valerio also embodied the concept with her research on the Tabom people, Afro-Brazilian descendants of freed slaves from Brazil, and got a tattoo of the sankofa symbol.
Funding for the program is provided through need-based scholarships and grants, most notably the Lee Iacocca research award that covers all costs for six weeks.
School officials say they are trying to establish a collaboration with the Lehigh Valley system, a college consortium, so those students would be eligible for the Ghana study abroad program.
The program's next step would be to expand to cover other stops in the historic slave trade, such as Cuba, as well as related sites in the U.S.
Lehigh University students return from Ghana with a new perspective on life
SS can't catch a break.
thatrapsfan
Superstar
Rebel leaders are the worst Presidents.
thatrapsfan
Superstar
Uhuru in Mogadishu.
Trajan
Veteran
They had it on a plate. Small population + oil + livestock + lots of green arable land. Literally no reason to starve. Could've enjoyed a nice standard of living. A lot of people rushed over there including my own family members. They were making great money but had to get out of dodge.
Like you said, it's the age old story. Rebel leader takes over...monopolises power...others get agitated....beef takes on tribal dimensions and boom...famine and civil war.
They're sticking to the classic African script.
But this was bound to happen. The odds were against them. I mean the literacy rate in SS is only 27%
. I remember when they were setting up and they didn't have enough tax collectors who could read or write.
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
They had it on a plate. Small population + oil + livestock + lots of green arable land. Literally no reason to starve. Could've enjoyed a nice standard of living. A lot of people rushed over there including my own family members. They were making great money but had to get out of dodge.
Like you said, it's the age old story. Rebel leader takes over...monopolises power...others get agitated....beef takes on tribal dimensions and boom...famine and civil war.
They're sticking to the classic African script.
But this was bound to happen. The odds were against them. I mean the literacy rate in SS is only 27%
Sad. I can forsee Sudan (North Sudan) using this discord as a chance to totally seize and ethnically cleanse Abyei.
ICC withdrawal 'unconstitutional and invalid', high court rules
2017-02-22 10:11
Lizeka Tandwa, News24
(iStock)
Pretoria - The High Court in Pretoria has ruled that government's decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) was unconstitutional and invalid.
Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo said President Jacob Zuma and the ministers of justice and international relations are ordered to revoke the notice of withdrawal.
During the hearing in December Mojapelo told Jeremy Gauntlett, for Zuma and the ministers of justice and international relations, that the executive's function was to seek public consultation.
He challenged Gauntlett's argument that it was the executive's prerogative to enter into, and withdraw from, treaties the country had signed and that Parliament only needed to give its approval.
"It's expected that the executive go back to Parliament. We have rights, we have obligations, and we have Parliament," he said, adding that decisions executed by the executive must be "on the basis of the expressed authority of the Constitution".
Mojapelo said, if the authority was not expressed in the Constitution, it must go to Parliament.
Gauntlett asked the court to dismiss the DA's case with costs.
In his rebuttal, Steven Budlender, for the DA, said the letter the executive had sent to Parliament contained no suggestion that the decision to withdraw from the ICC would be debated.
"It does not suggest that Parliament has to approve it. The effect is to bypass Parliament. It is simply telling Parliament for informational purposes," Budlender told the court.
Budlender said it was irrational for the executive to unbind from the ICC because it had no alternative.
On October 21, Justice Minister Michael Masutha told reporters that South Africa had initiated the process of withdrawing from the ICC by notifying the United Nations of its intention to revoke its ratification of the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding treaty. It would take a year for the decision to come into effect.
The decision followed several court judgments that the government violated the law by not arresting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during his visit to South Africa for an African Union summit in June last year.
The ICC had issued warrants for his arrest and wanted him to stand trial on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
ICC withdrawal 'unconstitutional and invalid', high court rules
2017-02-22 10:11
Lizeka Tandwa, News24
(iStock)
Pretoria - The High Court in Pretoria has ruled that government's decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) was unconstitutional and invalid.
Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo said President Jacob Zuma and the ministers of justice and international relations are ordered to revoke the notice of withdrawal.
During the hearing in December Mojapelo told Jeremy Gauntlett, for Zuma and the ministers of justice and international relations, that the executive's function was to seek public consultation.
He challenged Gauntlett's argument that it was the executive's prerogative to enter into, and withdraw from, treaties the country had signed and that Parliament only needed to give its approval.
"It's expected that the executive go back to Parliament. We have rights, we have obligations, and we have Parliament," he said, adding that decisions executed by the executive must be "on the basis of the expressed authority of the Constitution".
Mojapelo said, if the authority was not expressed in the Constitution, it must go to Parliament.
Gauntlett asked the court to dismiss the DA's case with costs.
In his rebuttal, Steven Budlender, for the DA, said the letter the executive had sent to Parliament contained no suggestion that the decision to withdraw from the ICC would be debated.
"It does not suggest that Parliament has to approve it. The effect is to bypass Parliament. It is simply telling Parliament for informational purposes," Budlender told the court.
Budlender said it was irrational for the executive to unbind from the ICC because it had no alternative.
On October 21, Justice Minister Michael Masutha told reporters that South Africa had initiated the process of withdrawing from the ICC by notifying the United Nations of its intention to revoke its ratification of the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding treaty. It would take a year for the decision to come into effect.
The decision followed several court judgments that the government violated the law by not arresting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir during his visit to South Africa for an African Union summit in June last year.
The ICC had issued warrants for his arrest and wanted him to stand trial on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
ICC withdrawal 'unconstitutional and invalid', high court rules
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
thatrapsfan
Superstar
Did you write this? No mention of drought/climate change's role in helping to fuel competition over land/resources? Entirely ethnic angle is strange
This reminds me of Northern Kenya and South Sudan as well, where pastoralists and farmers also clash in shared regions. It appears much more violent in Nigeria and the religious split appears to make it more volatile. In any case (if you did write this) Im surprised a progressive breh would make it entirely about ethnicity
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
Did you write this? No mention of drought/climate change's role in helping to fuel competition over land/resources? Entirely ethnic angle is strange
This reminds me of Northern Kenya and South Sudan as well, where pastoralists and farmers also clash in shared regions. It appears much more violent in Nigeria and the religious split appears to make it more volatile. In any case (if you did write this) Im surprised a progressive breh would make it entirely about ethnicity
- I'm part of a Nigerian writing collective. We produce pieces together.
- There is a possibility that climate change is part of it, but fixating on climate or drought will develop into apologia for the actions of Fulani herdsmen
- Explain why the ethnic angle is strange?
- Muslim ethnic groups/settlements have also been attacked by Fulani herdsmen
"Im surprised a progressive breh would make it entirely about ethnicity" Perhaps you're too PC?
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
@thatknickfan
No commentary on how the Gov. of Kaduna State is an ethnic Fulani chauvinist, fascinating.
No commentary on how the Gov. of Kaduna State is an ethnic Fulani chauvinist, fascinating.
thatrapsfan
Superstar
- I'm part of a Nigerian writing collective. We produce pieces together.
- There is a possibility that climate change is part of it, but fixating on climate or drought which develop into apologia for the actions of Fulani herdsmen
- Explain why the ethnic angle is strange?
- Muslim ethnic groups/settlements have also been attacked by Fulani herdsmen
"Im surprised a progressive breh would make it entirely about ethnicity" Perhaps you're too PC?
Guilty as charged.BTW in general you write well, this was a good read. Just resistant to idea that violence/conflict can be explained mainly through ethnicity. I feel same way about my region, but im not Nigerian nor do I have deep expertise here so wont lecture you
thatrapsfan
Superstar
@thatknickfan
No commentary on how the Gov. of Kaduna State is an ethnic Fulani chauvinist, fascinating.
I dont know anything about this man, I've never met him, never done business with him. We may get a long, we may not OK?
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
BTW in general you write well, this was a good read. Just resistant to idea that violence/conflict can be explained mainly through ethnicity. I feel same way about my region, but im not Nigerian nor do I have deep expertise here so wont lecture you
Thanks. We have a smart team of people who demand change in Nigeria. We merely hope to influence a few people through our writing.
Individuals utilize ethnic identities in the pursuit of power and wealth. I suppose one could utilize a Foucauldian analysis of the situation in South Kaduna, but in so far as people are being slaughtered because they are not Fulani - ethnicity matters. Moreover, Fulani herdsmen attacks have targeted dozens of ethnic communities across Nigeria. The common denominator being Fulani pastoralists themselves.
The actions of Nasir El Rufai are very telling. In the past, he has sworn vengeance for anyone that attacks a Fulani. He alleges that violence against Fulanis during the 2011 election is the reason why "foreigners" are killing Nigerian citizens in South Kaduna. He's paid "foreigners" to stop killing his citizens. The Nigerian government, led by a Fulani President (Buhari) isn't doing much to stop "foreign" Fulanis from killing Nigerian citizens.
