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Cousin Scott in Ghana
I am working towards a PhD in African history. I spent the first three months of the year in Ghana, conducting research on political and religious change in the late 19th century. Most of my work has been concentrated in the area of Accra, the capital, because that is where the national archives are; but I've also spent a fair amount of time travelling through the towns on the coast to the west of Accra, which is the area that my work focuses on. -Scott

Another week, and the work keeps keeping on. This week I've been transcribing a Baptismal register at the Methodist HQ. If that sounds boring, it is, extremely so.  Katherine said it sounded to her like what a method actor would do to prepare to play someone who was autistic or mentally disturbed, which isn't far off.  

So why transcribe it? The darn thing is a priceless trove of demographic information on mid-19th century Ghana.  It gives the name, parents' names, occupation, place of residence, age, and civil status (i.e., slave or free) of pretty much every one of the 4500 people who joined the church over a forty year period. These kinds of records are the staples of European and American history, but for this period in African history, they just don't exist. Once I've thrown all the data into a database, I will be able to run a million and one useful queries. Right now though, its just me and my pencil, filling notebooks.

I told the anthropologists who is still living in the house about it. She saw the point, but couldn't imagine doing the work: "you historians are too patient." I can see where she is coming from; she has spent the last year working in Ghana's Serious Fraud Office, studying corruption and the fight against it. She spends her time interviewing suspected fraudsters and law enforcement officials. Its a different kind of thing.

I've met a few foreign volunteers/teachers/backpackers etc.. here, and when I tell them that I'm in Ghana to research the history of Christianity in the pre-colonial period, they all react the same way: blank stares.

In other news, I have decided to start learning Twi. Man, is it tough.  I'm still learning to recognize the sounds that people are making. Not only are many of the phonetics totally foreign to me, but Twi (like many other West African languages) is tonal: that is, the pitch you use when speaking changes the meaning of what you say. As I am completely tone deaf, this is rather challenging.  I've spent all day trying to remember less than half a dozen simple phrases, and I still cannot remember how to make the noises. Learnibng french we never remotely this hard; is the problem just that I have passed the magic age for language acquisition?  

When I came home for dinner tonight, Auntie (the woman whose house I live in) was sitting about 3 feet in front of the TV, watching it intently.  Dinner was sitting on the table in the next room, but all the lights were out even though the sun was rapidly setting.  She didn't turn around when I came into the room; my first thought was that something bad must have happened and she was glued to the news.

No, in fact, she was watching a re-run of Oprah. "Oh." she said. "That Oprah.  I like her show too much."

We left it on all through dinner, which was actually pretty traumatic. This one episode managed to combine a story about a man who died very suddenly from a rare form of cancer but managed to freeze some of his sperm before he died, allowing his wife to concieve twin sons after his death; an interview with a woman who takes photographs of babies looking cute; and several songs from Celine Dion, including one that seemed to have been written by Linda Ronstadt. I tried to make conversation with Auntie, but she was too transfixed too talk. I could barely get my dinner down. 

But oddly enough, we had little mince pies for dessert -- perhaps because shrove Tuesday/fat Tuesday is next week? Its pure bricolage out here in the global village, I'm telling you. 

A few days ago I caught a ride in a taxi whose driver turned out to be an aspiring hip-life artist.  Hip-life is the latest thing in Ghanaian music, a blend of contemporary hip-hop with classic highlife music; highlife is basically Ghanaian jazz that has been around in various forms since the 1930s.

The driver kept going on about one hip-life artist named Reggie Raston who supposedly had a guest vocal from Snoop Dogg on his record. The driver performs under the name of 'Slo-but', as in "slow but steady."  Or, at least, that is the name he would use if he did perform; he is still saving up the money to put together a demo tape and then copyright the songs (apparently if you don't register your tunes, other people will steal them and claim them as their own). Its a tough business.   

Anyway, that's Ghana. In other news, I hear that Chris Krantz is finding his way alright in Calabar, Nigeria; no kidnappings, coups d'etat or civil unrest, yet, fingers crossed. The same goes for Sierra Leone, one-day strikes notwithstanding, where I am now looking at going in the second week of March.

And I've just been turned on to the weblog of an old friend who is now resident in the world's youngest democracy, Iraq.  Here is the link: http://alohafromtim.tripod.com . Tim is a former aide to the US Congresswoman for Hawaii, and is now (I believe) an accountant for the US government in Iraq.  Tim was also my boss when I worked at Lost Lake, a Boy Scout camp in northern Michigan, many moons ago. (as a matter of fact, the soil here is the same reddish, sandy texture as at Lost Lake, and has the same effect on your nose). 

Its a must-read, especially for those of you who are also reading this from within the Sunni triangle: that means you, Jason. It also has very high production values, I have to say. And Jason: glad to hear that the USMC seems to be bringing you home several months early. That's the best news I've heard in some time.

Otherwise, I am off to Cape Coast for the weekend, where there are lovely, sunny beaches as well as a large "castle:" a fortified trading post built during the era of the slave trade. I've been before, and its a strange place to be a tourist. But my research actually focuses on this part of Ghana, so its best that I become more familiar with the area.

Scott

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