Have you for a moment paused to ponder over the startling rate at which our society is swiftly becoming “Americanized”? Love it or hate it, this is a reality supposed to persist until the very foundation of globalization is broken. Today, American hip culture finds its head at every corner of the globe- urban fashion is not only seen on the streets of New York but in the corner joints in Seoul, Tehran and Cairo lately.
Ghana is no exception to this phenomenon with the entire nation being consumed by human antics and mannerisms purported to be American or Western. Cable television is now widespread and has proven to be very influential and directly aiding in the “Americanization” campaign. The ever daring Ghanaian youth now wears whatever they see on MTV- from stage costume to winter jackets.
Make no mistake to think we have lots of Americans flooding our streets in recent times. Rather, we have more people interestingly speaking with an American accent, a phenomenon becoming more popular and catching up with almost everybody irrespective of social status and age. This is the LAFA (Locally Acquired Foreign Accent) craze which appears to have come to stay.
Radio personalities, television anchors, musicians and other famous persons are the noted champions. LAFA has become their better companion for whatever reasons best known to them. If for nothing at all, the numerous self-styled celebrities on the streets feel noted speaking with LAFA thinking they sound foreign and different from the regular Ghanaian. Could the desire and respect for anything foreign by most Ghanaians be a factor?
In as much as people should be encouraged to strive for the best and grab the gold in life, we ought not to loose sight of who we are as a people. Being unique and carving a niche shouldn’t amount to identity crises. As Ghanaians and Africans for that matter, we have to be proud and bold to show what we have to the world. We should sell our culture including our language to the rest of the world rather than gratuitously copying.
It was a sorrowful and an embarrassing experience for a famous Accra based LAFA radio personality when questions from an inquisitive American intern on his style of presentation revealed he has no idea of any airline that connects Accra and New York. As if that wasn’t enough humiliation, the American chap went further to advice him to stop faking his accent wondering if no one ever told him how ridiculous he sounded.
That remains the psychology of deception several souls around the nation are caught in. To speak with a foreign accent which often than not is very fake doesn’t make anyone a better person comparatively. Rather, it reveals a persons lack of knowledge and low self esteem. Identity crisis is the worse form of ignorance, a canker intellectuals and the good old book has described as a killer. Can we be spared the LAFA craze?
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ReplyDeleteLack of personal confidence and confidence in how Ghanaians/Africans are perceived by the West has to be a huge factor in why people use LAFA. If they felt they could become widely popular on the world stage without LAFA you would see it's comical usage disappear. It's a shame some of us have been subliminally brainwashed that 'West is best' despite how idiotic some Western habits are (wearing your jeans below your buttocks and walking like a penguin being one massive wholesale folly).