The Culture of Ghana

Culture is an intermingling mesh of traits that, although unique to each person, brings groups of people together. It is comprised of numerous different aspects that are passed down through generations, including religion, food, clothing, language, music, morals, and greetings. Because of its extensive range, it is easy to see how much culture impacts a person’s life. One’s culture vastly affects how he or she views the world due to ingrained traditions, stereotypes, and values within his or her heritage.

Since the inception of human civilization there have been countless cultures and societies which have helped shape the current world today as we know it. The modern human race dates back more than 200,000 years and in that time frame many cultures have risen to great virtue and success only to deteriorate or cease to exist altogether. First before examining one of these cultures we must know what culture truly means. The Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Culture Center defines culture as a “dynamic social system,” containing the beliefs, behaviors, values and norms of a “specific organization, group, society or other collectivity” learned, shared, internalized, and changeable by all members of the society (Watson, 2010). In

Culture can be defined as a belief that allows you to identify who you are. Thus, through cultre there is self - discovery and belonging in a group of persons who share the same belief system; who have found themselves and are now seeking to digest more about one another through eachother's' unearthing of one's self. Culture assists you not only in identifying who you are, but the sort of people you can surround yourself with due to common interests. In this society; I have witnessed cultural unity, cultural identity crisis' and moreover a cultural divide and surprisingly all of those fold under the same umbrella in reagrds to knowing where you stand and those you choose to stand with.

It is not easy to define culture because culture is too broad a concept, can be both abstract and specific. However, what is agreed is culture covers all faces of our life as well as direct the way we behave, interact and communicate. (Liu et al., 2011). One popular definition is that “Culture is the total way of life of a group of people, comprising of the deposit of knowledge, experience, belief, values, traditions, religion, and notion of time, roles, spatial relations, worldviews, material objects and geographic territory”. (Liu et al., 2011, p.57). In this essay, I will analyse components and characteristics of culture, and based on that grounds, I will reflect on my own culture-being a Vietnamese. Dodd (1998) considered that culture is made up by three layers which consist of the core layer, the intermediate layer and the outer layer. I will examine what values and beliefs are considered important in my culture. Those are components of the inner core. Then, I will take some examples of the intermediate layer (expression of cultural activities by manifestation) such as communication patterns, customs and festivals.

The cultures and customs of Ghana today are a product of diversity in indigenous form, influenced by a long history of Islamic and European contacts. They represent a dynamic process of adoption and adaptation, incorporating elements of outside cultures.

As history goes by the world structure, politics, and economy changes from decade to decade, however traditions, customs and culture of different countries remain almost untouched. Culture therefore is a highly important aspect to the society and individuals (Oatey, 2012). Culture of any society includes traditions, customs, rituals and events flourished by certain society. As a part of culture traditions in originated in ancient times and determined by public and private life of individuals. They implied teachings, moral and aesthetic norms, rules and skills of house dwelling and raising children methods. The stability

Ghana is looked upon as a beautiful place to travel and explore West African Culture, but what lies beneath the beautiful ocean and intriguing people is a story of the many hardships and struggles that were put into the formation of this fascinating place. Ghana was once a flourishing community off the coast of West Africa until trade relations caused turmoil between the Europeans and the Ghanaians. A man named Kwame Nkrumah is an original Ghanaian who supported Ghana being an independent nation in 1957. His journey was almost identical to the life of South African president Nelson Mandela. In order for Ghana to be an independent nation, there was a lot of deceitfulness and corruption that was done by not only the Europeans but the Ghanaian kings themselves. Also, after Ghana gained its independence, Nkrumah’s rule was not necessarily successful and lead to a weak economy.

Decreased river flow due to the dam also meant more citizens living close to the lake suffered from water-borne illnesses. To help explain why this is such an important example, it is important to know that in Ghana, this dam is still considered one of their most successful infrastructure projects.

Culture is one of the major influences on our lives and social interactions; culture is associated with our characteristics of religion, societal norms of behavior; moreover, culture is always changing and the influence increases. With every religion there are traditions and cultures that are a form of art as it involves many characteristics’ of individuals and their beliefs, values, and perspective, for this reason, there are various dynamics in terms of how culture is involved and the influence of our actions, such as media, peers, family, and socializations. Culture is a factor of social environment and what is modeled to us in our early years of development.

Waist pendants were an essential part of the Benin African culture. Benin was located in modern day Nigeria, and they had a very advanced culture with various resources. The Benin Kingdom mainly existed between the years 1440-1897 before the invasion from British soldiers, and is the capitol of the former Edo Kingdom. The city of Benin still exists today. The head of the Benin kingdom was called an oba, which translates to King, and was highly revered.1 Many brass and ivory carvings of the oba were made. Along with the oba, another highly revered figure in Benin culture was Iy’oba, or the queen mother. She was the oba’s mother and was almost as revered as the king oba himself. Benin also enjoyed great wealth from its trading of coral beads. The Benin traded greatly with the Portuguese, who in turn would protect the Benin. The relationship with the Portuguese is reflected in many pieces of art, including the pendant I choose to analyze. In the pendant the oba is wearing pendants around his waist, some of which portray Portuguese soldiers. Now that we know a little bit of background about the Benin kingdom, we can now talk more specifically about the pendant picture above.

is the learned values, beliefs, and rules of conduct that are shared to some extent by the members of a society that govern their behavior with one another. It is the greatest human invention, it is the ultimate definition of what, where, and how we call a place our home. In this essay I will discuss the characteristics, process, and elements within culture, as well as an in-depth look into the different categories and the topic of race within culture.

Culture is described as the symbols that individuals, groups and societies use to make decision of daily life and to assure their values. Culture is a model of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given organization as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal combination, which has worked well enough to think correctly and, so to instruct to new comers as the valid way to observe, consider and feel in relation to these problems. Culture consists of manner, mind-set, values, rituals, religious belief, law (written and unwritten), arts, ideas, custom, belief, ceremonies, social institutions, myths and legends, individual identity and behavior. Cultural pattern classifies are used to describe the dominant beliefs and values. Culture has been called the way of life for an entire society. It is a group or community living together and sharing a set of norms. Culture and society are coexistent. One does not or cannot exist without the other. Culture and society may have some common elements but the two are not the same; they are not identical.

A country’s national culture dictates almost everything that is done on a daily basis within that specific country. Everything from the way people eat, the way they speak and the holidays they celebrate are all dictated by these established beliefs and traditions. Culture can be described as “the characteristic way of behaving and believing, that a group of people have developed over time and share in common” (Tarique). This can be easily

The recorded history of Ghana begins in 1471, when Portuguese traders landed on the coast in search of gold, ivory, and spices. Following the Portuguese came the Dutch, the Danes, the Swedes, the Prussians, and the British. Commerce in gold gave way to the slave trade until the latter was outlawed by Great Britain in 1807. The 19th century brought a gradual adjustment to legitimate trade, the withdrawal of all European powers except the British, and many wars involving the Ashanti, who had welded themselves into a powerful military confederacy; their position as the principal captors of slaves for European traders had brought them into conflict with the coastal tribes. British troops fought seven wars with the Ashanti from 1806 to 1901, when their kingdom was annexed by the British crown.(Encyclopedia, 2007)

The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers six definitions for the meaning of the word “culture”. Initially, the amount of definitions, many with their own sub-definitions may make for a convoluted understanding of the word. Consequently, this reflects a similar complexity in attempting to analyze and understand a country’s culture. For the sake of an accurate analysis the fifth entry in the Merriam-Webster dictionary will be used to frame the analysis. Merriam-Webster defines culture as…