#ghanamustgo

[narrateafrica]

Another movie based in Ghana and in line with our theme of the week. 

The traditional West African fable of Kwaku Ananse is combined with the story of a young outsider named Nyan Koronhwea attending her estranged father's funeral. Nyan's father led two separate lives with two wives and two families - one in Ghana, one in the United States. Nyan's ambivalence about her father's double life is a reflection of a broader truth about the nature of our personal relationships. 

Much like Ghana must Go we find a character exploring the complicated feelings of mourning someone whose death forces the character to deal with a number of betrayals.  

[naija-memes]

#ghana #ghanamustgo

[thenanaprojectghana]

“In 1983, Nigeria expelled two million undocumented West African migrants, half of whom were from Ghana. The sturdy, checked bags into which they packed their belongings have become a symbol of exclusion and intolerance. Nearly four decades later, the region is yet to confront its emotional baggage.”

[taiyeselasitrans-blog]

"The beauty of all art is that you can handle heavy things lightly." Taiye Selasi

Going home this past Thanksgiving my mothers asked me why I don't write about growing up with gay parents. I am living in a time where this is a hot political topic, and I have a voice and a responsibility to share my experience. And all I could do was laugh, because I was like- wait you want me to write about you? Because most families are horrified when their writer daughter releases her book of poems or her nonfiction work. And then Tammy's eyes widened and so did my moms and the conversation dropped. I love when Taiye Selasi in the radio interview I uploaded says that "the autobiographical details are just details, it is about their motives and what makes these characters characters." I suppose to some extent that has to do with the details- I mean the details are really where the love and intimacy of writing comes through.

The reality is I want to write about growing up, but there has always been a struggle- if I mention one bad thing about growing up with two moms, then it is something that people (fox news) could latch onto and just make a weapon a reason why same sex couples shouldn't have children. But really parents and kids just get into arguments and they have differences- and i believed we got through them in a great way like any family.

The autobiographical quote that Taiye Selasi mentions reminds me of something Natasha Trethewy said about when she became Poet Laurette- everyone identified her as a black writer, someone who could capture the African American voice perfectly. Trethewey was frustrated, she said she did not set out with her first book to represent a black voice, but to just write about her family and growing up in Mississippi. And so with her next book she gave her opinion. And I think, people are so layered- but for the sake of easy consumption i think we take art and especially books and try to go ahead and make them into a neat category, because then we can sell them and who we are. But people weren't made for sale, and their hearts don't have to be bartered for something easy to understand.

[unstable-urbanite]

Current favourites • His Only Wife — Peace Adzo Medie • The Sweetest Remedy — Jane Igharo • You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty — Akwaeke Emezi • Ghana Must Go — Taiye Selasi • #bookstagram #blackauthors #ghanamustgo #youmadeafoolofdeathwithyourbeauty #hisonlywife #sweetestremedy (at Roncesvalles Village) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cps5aE-u3sD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[lissreads]

"They were doers and thinkers and lovers and seekers and givers, but dreamers, most dangerously of all. They were dreamer-women. Very dangerous women." #taiyeselasi #ghanamustgo #currentlyreading #bookstagram

[narrateafrica]

Taiye Selasi On The Beginnings of Her Novel, Ghana Must Go

[gwentertainment]

I love a good read this week I am reading a book by #TaiyeSelasi #GhanaMustGo #readinglist #reading #fiction #Blackwriters #stories #africa #diaspora

[narrateafrica]

Transcontinental Identities

Transcontinental Identities 

by Deana Bolumbu

Living between spaces. Occupying roles depending on the surroundings. Clinging to labels while trying to create a new one to fit. The middle-dwellers. Transcontinental identities give the opportunity to embrace different cultures and shun what we don’t like. It’s living in the gray and in the maybes’. Until we are made to choose.  

 Olu, Taiwo, Kehinde and Sadie are all part of the first generation Diasporians’, each with their own story of trying to find their identity, with their unique experiences in America and abroad. Although they have traces of Ghana and Nigeria in them, I see it as a backdrop. Olu seems to easily integrate himself into the “American” life and if I didn’t have the details of who he was I don’t think I would pick up on his African roots. Taiwo and Kehinde were the only ones spent the most time as children out of the U.S. and we are not told too much of their experiences there except that they were different when they moved back to the states. Taiwo stated, “What kind of black grows locks? Black girls who go to predominately white colleges, that’s who.” Sadie’s experience with Philae and people thinking she wanted to be white. She stated, “for all the hoopla about race, authentic blackness (which, as far as she’s concerned, confused identity and musical preference), it was obvious to Sadies that all of them carry this patina of whiteness…” She continues, “they are ethically heterogeneous and culturally homogenous…”

  “The details didn’t matter in the end.” It’s been clear from the start of the novel that this writing was not leaving any details out. The details are specifics needed to formulate the story as a whole. Details that paint the picture step–by-step. “The details come later,” stated Fola when describing when she found out about her dad being killed. Details can take away from the big picture if you only focus on that, but we cannot deny that they are necessary. And we tend not to think about them until we have to. So I think the details add to the moment. I like the way the author writes. It forces me to pay attention to the details. I mean reading is about the details in my opinion. The details that are given and the ones that are left out; both have meaning behind them. So, I may already think I know how this novel will play out. But even if I was correct, the details of the story will impact even a predictable ending.

  I look forward to reading the third part to see if the author reveals any details on each characters occurrences with their home county. The characters seem to be missing a piece of themselves. The piece of home that will bring it all together. To be one of many places is a blessing. If only we could figure out the details of our different experiences, the complexity of our identities, the balance of our cultures. 

[martynaprzybysz]

She stood there, a remnant, as conspicuously alone as a thing left behind on a beach in the night, suddenly aware of the silence, its newness and strangeness, the sound of her solitude, clear absolute.

Tayie Selasi, Ghana Must Go

[misterbatlow]

#TheUKC 📓 #sundaysessions #Wotlab E9/Fili Gang 🔫🔫 #batlowsapples #ghanamustgo #pharrelhat

[sleepinggiantafrica]

Transcending African Borders: The Red White Blue Bag

The Red-White-Blue Bag, known to many across Africa as the Ghana Must Go bag also goes by different names within different parts of the continent.

Can you guess which countries call the Ghana Must Go bag the 'China bag', 'Zimbabwe bag' and the 'Unomgcana'? What name does this bag go by in your country?

[charlotteecraig]

“They were doers and thinkers and lovers and seekers and givers, but dreamers, most dangerously of all.” • • • #taiyeselasi #ghanamustgo #quotes #quoted #books #book #reading #diversereading #author #dreamer #writer #quote #quoted #bookquotes #taiyeselasiquotes https://www.instagram.com/p/B899WZUAQ10/?igshid=2dqvdvfyxkt8

[savvykenya]

Got two books to get me started on my 2020 reading journey. #Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and #GhanaMustGo by Taiye Selasi. (at Tokyo, Japan) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7LIrU1gTas/?igshid=pm1et1y1j5om

[primecollector]

Getting ready for #ghana #taiyeselasi #ghanamustgo @nypl (at New Delhi) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7ETA_0FmyW/?igshid=160g0uw8wtyqe