Institute of African studies(IAS) with support from the American Embassy, has organised a two day symposium under the the theme:
“Reclaiming Lost Narratives: Beyond 400 years of slavery”.
The symposium took place on 15th -16th August 2019 at J.H.K Nketia conference Hall, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.
The aim of the symposium was to highlight the need to appreciate and celebrate the African culture and legacies, and bring together people from the African Diaspora.
The keynote speaker Dr.Gloria Boutte a distinguished professor at the University of California, encouraged African’s on the need to appreciate and celebrate the African History and culture.
TOURIST OR PILGRIMS
Other speakers such as Dr.Edem Adotey and Dr. Mjiba Frehiwot, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, speaking on the sub theme
Tourists or Pilgrims: Repatriation, Ghana and Year of Return” argued that,
“The year of “return” fails to address the complexity of repatriation of Diasporans to Africa in the 21st century and the reasons that make them not only to come to Africa but also adapt and stay”. Contextualization the meaning of “return”.
One can argue that the wobbly economic and political status of most African countries are the reasons many Diasporans are not returning to their root.
Dr.Gloria Boutte said that ” had it not been the Blacks who were sent to American and Europe, American would not have been what we see today”.
Young Black slaves were used to develop most core countries after they were sold and were made to acquire the white man’s knowledge through education.
Never forget it was a black man who was used to make America what it is today.
If blacks will change their mediocrity mindset they can make their continent and countries a better place .
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Most developed countries are where they are today because they paid critical attention to their researchers and research centres.
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) is the largest fundamental research organisation in Europe, comprising ten institutions with more than 32,000 researchers, engineers and technicians.
Click to read more on top research institutes-https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/ten-institutions-that-dominated-science-in-twentyfifteen
African researchers are repudiating to come to their root because the necessary attention they need to work are not available yet the country spends huge sums of money on research findings in the white man’s land.
What happened to University of Ghana Institute of Medical Research and other prestegious research institute we have here in Ghana?
Meanwhile we have prestigious African researchers out there finding all the solutions to complex problems and once the solution is found, it sold to the Blacks.
Dr Duncan the Ghanaian doctor who recently invented a treatment for cancer is no exception and other reowned doctors whose names are hidden behind the curtains.
Yes we can say that physically, slavery of the black man is no more but the black man is still mentally enslaved, what we call “slavery of the memory”.
Learning foreign culture is not a problem but allowing it to overshadow our indegenous culture is the problem.
The white man has made the black man to believe that his culture is primitive and outmoded, mentally enslaving him and using him to create more wealth for himself.
Part of the colonization process was to lure African’s that there was something wrong with them and their culture and that Europeans were better than them.
African’s were made to belief that they were inferior and that the language spoken by the Europeans, their mode of dressing, the food they eat is better than that of the Black man.
Professor George Johnson of south califonia state university, SC, USA said that African kids in the diaspora acquiring education in the United States are still perceived as what Billy Holiday refers to as “strange fruit” in the class room, and are tortured because of their skin color.
Read also: http://afrakuma.com/internal-racism-and-tribal-war-in-ghana/?preview=true&frame-nonce=f9d2bf6d63