Growing up, I identified myself as apart of Black culture. The Black culture in the United States is heavily based on religion, family and respect. While there are various influences on our culture as a whole, in my family, our biggest influences is the Church and my grandparents. My grandparents take center stage and set the tone at all family events and gatherings, which the entire family enjoys and acknowledges. During events, they always find ways to teach us life lessons that everyone pays special attention to due to their wisdom, and out of the respect that we have for them. Our Church also plays a heavy role in our culture; it truly functions as an extended family in which the members look to and lean on one other during both the good and bad times.
The Ghanaian culture is as a whole is also strongly based on family. The region I will specifically traveling to will be home to the Ewe people who typically have patrilineal societies similar to our own here in America. There is also a social hierarchy that is based strongly on wealth and age, and these factors will determine the status of a member of a society and the amount of respect that they receive. Ghanaians as a whole are extremely respectful and use titles heavily when addressing their elders, which is another commonality between my own culture and theirs.
While in Ghana, I will come across various customs and traditions in which I will embrace with an open mind and heart. In my opinion, the most important thing to remember while dealing with a culture other than your own is that neither culture is right or wrong in the ways that they do certain things, they are just simply different. I am excited to be in the midst of their unique culture, which my ancestors could have very well been apart of, and I plan to take back as much as I can from the experience!
Maya.