ISP Action

11-19-11
For the past two weeks I have been working on my Independent Study Project (ISP), and it has been going VERY well. I honestly did not even realize two weeks went by since I last wrote, it felt like only a few days. Obviously I have been enjoying this time.
First a progress report. As of this afternoon, I have compiled 28 pages and have gathered 17 written sources. I have also sent two email interviews to two professors at Bethel who will speak to one section on monocultures and European industrialization. I have an interview on Monday with a professor named Mr. Sapong at the University of Ghana, who is a world historian, who will hopefully help me clarify and guide my train of thought. I also hope to interview a Chinese road construction manager who is working on a project (and creating quite the traffic problem) nearby, someone who works for an NGO, the Academic Director for the program Dr. Avorgbedor, an economics professor, an agricultural professor, and a political science professor. I got a list of names a few days ago at a forum on the campus, but I was only able to get in touch with one of the professors (Mr. Sapong).
Before all of that sounds ridiculous for two weeks work, it comes with a few disclaimers. First of all, the 28 pages include much more than pure writing. It has a title page, a table of contents page, an unwritten abstract page, an unwritten acknowledgements page, an outline of what I haven’t written yet, a lot of relevant quotes that I have pulled out from the readings, a two-page bibliography, and an interview information page. So really, I have written maybe 20-23 pages or something like that. I still have a lot of gaps to fill and a lot of work yet to connect all the pieces together.
I should also mention that my thesis has changed from the previous blog entry. It still carries the same pieces, but the focus is different. It is now a comparative study of China and the West. This is my work-in-progress thesis that I cut and pasted from my project: “I will argue that China and the West both approach Africa with the capitalist system of economics, thus they are both acting as imperialist nations and are implementing a process of neocolonialism, but due to a separate set of histories, their interactions with the continent are starkly different in the present day.” Before I was taking everything in a long chain of events, now I am comparing the histories of each side’s interactions with the land and how that has impacted the present day interactions with the continent, more specifically Ghana. Thus, the West gives aid while China is building the infrastructure. Regardless, because of capitalism (yes, China is a capitalist nation even though they don’t like to admit it [although they actually did admit it in 1992, I have a quote that proves that]) both the West and China are imperialist blocs and are using neocolonial practices to undermine the continent. The wording still is not quite what it needs to be, but that is the gist of the paper right now.
This last two weeks has been very freeing. I have no real deadlines unless I make them (and I don’t like to do that, it is too much pressure) and I have been doing things the way I want to. There are no more lectures to have to sit through, no schedules for travelling, no time constraints for assignments, and so on. Very freeing. Without that pressure, I have been relaxed to look into the project at my own pace, and that is how I have compiled the 28 pages. With two weeks left, I should have plenty of time to read the last three written sources I have and conduct the interviews I hope to do, then fill in the gaps and revise this beast. Right now it all seems very doable and this has been a very rewarding experience.
I have also been living on my own. Well, mostly on my own. I moved into a room at Professor Kate’s house, who has an extra space open for people to live in for a fee. For students, the fee is 17 cedis a night, and considering what’s included, that’s a reasonable price. This space contains three bedrooms, a spacious and comfortable living room, a kitchen supplied with the necessary utensils, a front patio which has a nice air flow, and private bathrooms for each room. The room is also very nice. This area is part of Professor Kate’s house, but it is a separate block with one door in between. I am right now not the only guest here. There is a Canadian woman in her sixties named Ronine who is here working for an NGO (I had mentioned that I wanted to interview someone who worked for an NGO, and she is that person). She is really nice and it has been pleasant to get to know her while being here. We also share a lot of the same political ideologies and see the world from a similar lens.
By living on my own, I have to provide my own food. Yeah, I can cook (somewhat…). There is a grocery store at the A&C Mall which is a little ways away, and I have gotten the bulk of my food there. My main reason for going there though is that there is a coffee shop there, and it has legitimate mochas and lattes. I have missed those. Nescafe Instant Coffee just doesn’t cut it, it’s like drinking Folgers/dirt. But I have also gotten some food from the Madina market. That is only a fifty peswas (roughly 30 cents) shared taxi away, and you can get a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables there. You can also get a lot of other things, but you have to bargain, and I’m not good at that. I’m getting better, but I feel bad trying to argue down prices when their original price is certainly less than what I am paying in the US and it is fresher and better here. I am getting ripped off, and I know it, but I try to argue it down a bit. I did win with a taxi earlier today though. I saved myself two cedis by playing the game, and I was proud of myself.
Where I am staying is in the suburbs north of Accra. It is called Agbogba. It is certainly quieter up here and has helped me focus on my writing, but it is a little inconvenient for getting around. I have to take a shared taxi to Madina (50 peswas) then I have to get on a trotro (which in Twi means “really sketchy and overpacked van”) for 30 peswas to get to the campus. The total trip takes about 45-60 minutes, depending on the traffic. It certainly is cheaper than a taxi though, that’s about 6-7 cedis. Then I walk everywhere on the campus which is tiring. Then I take the trotro back to Madina, but there isn’t a shared taxi system to my area from Madina, so I have to pay for a drop taxi (2-3 cedis) or walk (45 minutes). The upside to walking is that it is next to a construction site with a Chinese manager. Yesterday (11/18) I was walking back from Madina and I started to approach the dude but when I got close he called someone. He doesn’t know I’m doing research, so it wasn’t deliberate, but it was a bit disappointing. That could have been a fun interview. I guess I have two weeks left to maybe run into him “accidentally”.
Overall, I have really enjoyed the last few weeks, and hopefully the next few weeks will go quickly. But to be frank, I am starting to prepare myself to return home. I have two and a half weeks left, and once this project is finished, the program is essentially complete. There are a few odds and ends to take care of with the last five days, but that means I leave for home soon. I think that this program has been the perfect length, not too long, not too short. I think that in two and a half weeks it will be time for me to return to the frozen tundra that is Minnesota in December.