Philip Briggs’s 1998 tour pamphlet, “Guide to Ghana”, promises to depict “responsible travel with an emphasis on the culture and natural history of the region”. Briggs’s first mistake was putting a picture of a mona monkey on the guide’s cover. While mona monkeys do originate from West Africa, this does not solely constitute (if at all) Ghana’s culture and natural history.
Briggs goes further to state that Ghana has no “drop-dead” or “must see” big name attractions. He credits Zimbabwe for having Victoria Falls, Tanzania for Kilimanjaro, and South Africa’s Cape Town. This is all exotic-sizing Africa. When one is looking to immerse him or herself in other cultures, visiting attractions may not always be the best option. What happened to interacting with actual people? Instead, Briggs suggests watching mona monkeys play or trekking through “lush jungles” or swimming in gorgeous waterfalls to fully feel like you are in tune with the region. Briggs ultimately describes Ghana as a place that can be enjoyed but would be more enjoyable if there was a place one just had to visit in order to truly understand the culture.
We forget that in order to truly experience a different culture we must delve into the language, food, style of dress, traditions and customs. Most of us are so afraid to interact with people simply because we do not challenge ourselves to know things beyond our “norm” or what we grew up understanding. Truly understanding people from a different culture takes so much effort and willingness to learn, that we tend to shy away from it. Instead, we focus on easier regional aspects like landscape and animals. If we, like Briggs, continue to only focus on these so called “memorable highlights” how will we ever really experience different cultures?
Briggs goes further to state that Ghana has no “drop-dead” or “must see” big name attractions. He credits Zimbabwe for having Victoria Falls, Tanzania for Kilimanjaro, and South Africa’s Cape Town. This is all exotic-sizing Africa. When one is looking to immerse him or herself in other cultures, visiting attractions may not always be the best option. What happened to interacting with actual people? Instead, Briggs suggests watching mona monkeys play or trekking through “lush jungles” or swimming in gorgeous waterfalls to fully feel like you are in tune with the region. Briggs ultimately describes Ghana as a place that can be enjoyed but would be more enjoyable if there was a place one just had to visit in order to truly understand the culture.
We forget that in order to truly experience a different culture we must delve into the language, food, style of dress, traditions and customs. Most of us are so afraid to interact with people simply because we do not challenge ourselves to know things beyond our “norm” or what we grew up understanding. Truly understanding people from a different culture takes so much effort and willingness to learn, that we tend to shy away from it. Instead, we focus on easier regional aspects like landscape and animals. If we, like Briggs, continue to only focus on these so called “memorable highlights” how will we ever really experience different cultures?
I agree, what's the point of traveling if you're not going to get anything out of it? Getting out of your comfort zone and into new cultures, new ways of life, a new environment are all a major part of the experience. This travel guide fails at making these known to the reader, but instead focuses on landscape and animals, something that you can experience at the nearby zoo.
ReplyDeleteThe part of this travel guide I find most interesting is the part is the description of both Northern and Southern Ghana. Instead of describing the people, it describes the environment--"lush jungles"--and the REAL surprise occurs when you travel to the game-rich savannah. I agree with your point on people focussing on animals and the environment rather than other humans because it is much harder to study a human's behavior rather than an animal's.
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