LEARNING& UNLEARNING (DE)COLONIZATION, UNLEARNING GHANAIAN EDUCATION, AND STANDARDS OF BEAUTY UNLEARNING UNLEARNING BY CHARLIE DUBACH-REINHOLD
SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY immerses
us in the world of the Aburi Girls’ Boarding School, where the Miss Ghana pageant sweeps the students into a comedic frenzy. The year is 1986. It’s 30 years after Ghanaian activist and politician Kwame Nkrumah was released from prison — where he was held for initiating nonviolent noncooperation with the British colonial government — and elected President of the newly independent Ghana. Nkrumah had a profound influence on early decolonial thought. His goals to unify Africa, dismantle the oppressive structures of the colonial government, and combat white supremacy inspired successive movements around the continent and further abroad and had echoes and reverberations in the American Black Power movement. Though his presidency ended in a military coup, Nkrumah remains a beloved figure in Ghana, and his ideology undergirds pro-Black movements into the 21st century, such as those targeting colorism. As the first leader of the first independent sub-Saharan African nation, Nkrumah popularized the ideals of African socialism (as separate from Marxist socialism; African socialism was modeled on traditional African anti-hierarchical structures). He infused his political career with an unparalleled dedication to the dream of African unity. As Ghana achieved independence, Nkrumah led the growing Pan-African movement that inspired other colonized peoples to seek self-government and independence. He denounced Euro-centrism, and his government worked to decolonize and remove systems of white supremacy from all aspects of the
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newly formed nation of Ghana, including a concerted effort in the education system. Nkrumah’s government put education front and center to encourage Ghana’s social and economic development. New regulations and programs replaced British textbooks and teaching methods with instruction in native African languages, and encouraged attendance throughout the country, as schools expanded and more opened. The government gave many private schools subsidies to Africanize their curriculums. The school in Bioh’s play draws from one such school, the highly regarded Aburi Girls’ Senior High School, where two Ghanaian languages — Akuapem Twi and Ga — are still taught. Managed by the Presbyterian Church since 1946, just north of Accra, Aburi Girls’ holds a prestigious reputation among Ghanaian boarding schools. It is located in the lush, forested Akuapem Mountains, famous for their Botanical Gardens. Boasting plenty of famous alumnae dating back to its inception, Aburi nevertheless fell on harder times as Nkrumah’s government failed to deliver on all its promises. After Nkrumah’s ousting in 1966 — due to his increasingly authoritarian measures — his rapid expansion of education was heavily criticized. Financial supports for his projects such as the school subsidies fell away as educators struggled to match the intended quality of education to the quantity of new infrastructures. By the time Bioh’s characters traipse through the halls of Aburi Girls,’ the promise of the support for an Africanized education system faded into the grind of economic hardship. The events of School Girls transpire just before the education reforms of 1987, which
