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Pride and Shame in Ghana: Collective Memory and Nationalism among Elite Students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Erin Metz McDonnell  and
Gary Alan Fine
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Abstract:

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Based on an original dataset of university students, this article investigates Ghanaian collective memories of past events that are sources of national pride or shame. On average, young elite Ghanaians express more pride than shame in their national history, and they report shame mostly over actions that caused some physical, material, or symbolic harm. Such actions include not only historic events and the actions of national leaders, but also mundane social practices of average Ghanaians. Respondents also report more “active” than "receptive" shame; that is, they are more ashamed of events or practices that caused harm to others and less ashamed about events in which they were the “victims.” We advance the idea of a standard of “reasonableness” that Ghanaians apply in their evaluation of events, behaviors, or circumstances: they apply contemporary standards of morality to past events, but they temper their judgment based on considerations of whether past actions were “reasonable” given the power and material imbalances at that time. Ghanaian students identify strongly with both national and pan-African identities, and they frequently evoke their international image to judge a national event as either honorable or shameful. Ethnicity can be one factor in an individual's judgment of precolonial events, whereas political party affiliation is the stronger predictor of attitudes toward postindependence events.

Résumé:

Résumé:

En se basant sur des archives originales rassemblées par un corps étudiant, cet article enquete sur la mémoire collective ghanéenne d'évènements passés qui sont source soit de fierté soit de honte pour la nation. On découvre que en moyenne, les jeunes Ghanéens expriment plus de fierté que de honte en ce qui concerne leur histoire nationale, et qu'ils éprouvent plus de honte pour les évènements qu'ils ont provoqués que pour les évènements dont ils ont été victimes. Nous soutenons l'idée que les Ghanéens appliquent à leur jugement du passé un standard rationnel caiqué sur des standards contemporains de moralité, mais que leur évaluation est biaisée par des considérations liées au pouvoir et aux inégalités matérielles actuels. Les étudiants Ghanéens s'identifient fortement aux identités nationales et panafricaines, et ils évoquent souvent une image internationale pour juger un événement national comme honorable ou honteux. L'ethnicité peut être un facteur dans le jugement individuel d'évènements précoloniaux, tandis que l'affiliation à un parti est le facteur le plus déterminant dans l'évaluation d'évènements ayant eu lieu après l'indépendance. Enfin, nous avons découvert que la jeunesse Ghanéenne ressentait des sentiments de fierté ou de honte non seulement envers des dirigeants nationaux et des évènements historiques, mais également envers les comportements du peuple ghanéen lui-même.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , December 2011 , pp. 121 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2011

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