My GEM journey
My GEM journey
This paper examines meta-colonialism in Ghana’s educational system by examining how colonial values continue to shape schools even after formal colonial rule ended. Using Dr. Hussein A. Bulhan’s concept of meta-colonialism, the paper argues that colonialism not only attacked land, labor, and political power, but also the “world of meaning”: language, identity, beauty, religion, and …
This piece reflects on education reform in postcolonial societies through a personal letter addressed to my mother. In the letter, I connect Ghana’s ongoing conversations about educational reform and digitization to the history of the Tonkin Free School in Vietnam, an anti-colonial education reform movement founded in Hanoi in 1907. By placing Ghana and Vietnam …
The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is about two rival Gikuyu villages in colonial Kenya, divided by Christianity, traditional beliefs, and the question of female circumcision. Waiyaki, the main character, tries to unite the people through education, but he is caught between tradition and colonial Christian influence. His love for Nyambura, a Christian girl, …
I took a class this semester called Global Engagement in Practice. As part of our curriculum, we engaged with some of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s work on decolonial theory. We specifically read a chapter from Decolonizing the Mind that focused on the discourse surrounding which language should be used to write African literary works (Wa Thiong’o, 1986). …
In my Global Engagement Senior Capstone class, we were tasked with submitting a meaningful photo from our global engagement journey so far, along with a description. Following this, the class was presented with each person’s image without a description and asked to reflect on what they thought it might mean in the absence of context. …
I attended an event titled Bangla, Belonging & Beyond during the Power of Language Week and took some field notes. Sonaly Mehnaz stood in front of the room with an orange-patterned scarf elegantly draped around her neck. She stared intently at her laptop screen, slightly fidgeting with her trackpad. My eyes were immediately drawn to …
