Conscious Tourism: Ghana - The Gateway To Africa

For centuries Ghana has been known for and as many things. In 1471 the Portuguese were on a voyage south looking for a route to wholesale trade with Asia when they reached some African coastal land that would become known as “The Gold Coast”. They heard rumors of African land fertile of ivory and gold so they decided to make the stop. Similar to most rumors it had some truth to it. They found so much gold between the rivers of Ankobra and the Volta that they named the place Mina - meaning Mine.

Fast forward to 1957 under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana declared its country's independence and the current name we know it to be today. Or if you prefer to rewind to truly understand the etymology (or origin) of the name Ghana, it means "Strong Warrior King", which is connected to the kings of the medieval "Ghana" Empire. Now that empire was located in the landlocked area of what is today’s southeastern Mauritania and Mali. And to be clear, the place we know today as Ghana, and the place I had the pleasure of visiting, is nestled in between Côte d'Ivoire and Togo on the west coastal land of Africa. Confusing I know but follow me. I’m going somewhere with it.

Ghana was introduced to me as “The Gateway to Africa”. I envisioned it as the entry point for those who were looking to take the pilgrimage known as “The Return”. August 2019 marked 400 years since the widely known arrival of enslaved Africans by way of the Portuguese to Jamestown, Virginia. Recognizing this, Ghana launched “The Year of Return, Ghana 2019”, a celebration of the Diaspora , calling all who were scattered and displaced through the world to return. That celebration sparked a flow of tourism many are calling literally “The Return”. People coming from North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, all traveling to Ghana looking to get a taste of their ancestral past. I myself was there for that sample and got a mouth full.

It met all the fantasies I imagined. Black people and flavor were everywhere. From the moment I sat at my terminal in SFO airport it was abundantly clear I was on my way to the motherland. My interactions with the locals can best be compared to that scene from Poetic Justice when Lucky and cousin Pete met. We didn't really know each other but that ain’t stop the party. The food was amazing, from the street meat to the sit down restaurants. I was able to experience Ghana for its cultural luxuries as well as local treasures. That being said I can confirm that like all rumors some parts are true. I met beautiful Ghanaians and had beautiful moments like when I swam in the ocean. The very water that carried my ancestors away hugged my body as if time was a man-made concept. I also had hard moments and even harsher realities. Like touring the Elmina Castle, a European custom-built slave trade post, on a hot day only to exit that horrible place and find myself (in what seemed like) a wave of aggressive Ghanaian vendors and merchants looking to (what felt like) capitalize on my heightened emotions and traumatic experience. I felt at home and a foreigner at the same time. And it got me thinking about that double consciousness W.E.B. Dubois spoke of.

For those that don’t know, a double consciousness is the internal conflict experienced by colonized groups in an oppressive society. And if I'm being transparent, being amongst full-blooded Africans made me feel less African and more American. I was in the motherland feeling like my forefather’s child. With every interaction that mended what felt broken came an opposite realization about my scattered ancestry, and this battle sparked nothing but question after unanswered question. How do we become a collective of people that openly embrace our differences while honestly acknowledging our past trauma and present issues? Is it possible to reconnect lines that were broken with the intention of never reconnecting? Does returning mean being evasive to those who are there now ? With an origin unknown and clues in many different places can I truly return? And what exactly am I returning to?

Earnestly looking for the answers.

- Robbie Jackson, A Conscious Tourist