This, I believe, is a two sided coin. I grew up in Kumasi, Ghana which is a largely homogenous society. In a society where we all shared a common culture, it almost felt like we were all equals in terms of positionality. It is important to note, however, that other factors such as socioeconomic status, skin tone, education level among others created some stratification in my society. Interestingly, even though we are all one and the same, we tend to look down on ourselves and on our culture. I believe this is largely due to colonization and the influence of western media. While some people believe that our culture deserves to be celebrated and cherished, others also consider our own culture as backward and rather promote accepting western culture. Speaking of vernacular is prohibited in most schools and other parts of our culture are shunned in more ‘professional’ institutions. Even in my own country, my culture seemed to be non-dominant. Tourists and other foreigners mostly from western countries are praised and celebrated. In addition to this, western media portrayed most African cultures as strange and barbaric. Although I felt equal to my people, I felt like I was positioned lower on a global scale. This standpoint made me highly critical of western influence.
Coming to America and subsequently to Wesleyan was a little strange for me. As there had recently been a lot of protests surrounding police brutality and violence and prejudice against black people. And as my race is an important part of my cultural identity, I felt very unsafe and very threatened moving into a country where hate crimes were frequently committed against people who looked like me. I was part of a non-dominant and marginalized culture. I had to acknowledge that I had little to no privilege because of my race and in relation to everyone else, I felt like my skin color positioned me very low on a global scale here as well. People say racism is a thing of the past but this standpoint makes me realize that racism is still very real today.
