July 22

Not much to report today as we spent most of the day on a bus. We drove from Kokrobite to the city of Cape Coat. We had two lectures at the university. Senyo’s talk on African Rhythm was quite interesting. He echoes the sentiments from “The Invention of African Rhythm” that although there are several distinct features to west African music, it is unwise to generalize, and rhythm is not a racial trait. The second lesson was supposed to be on Congolese Rumba, but it was more like a review of all African Music that has been influenced by western music, including Ghanaian Highlife and South African Jive.

We checked into our hotel, which was quite cheap. The last two hotels we have stayed at felt quite removed from the cities and vastly different from African living conditions. But this time, when you look out our room window, you see a garbage dump! Beth and Alana were discussing the condition of garbage and filth in the streets and how it is something that we will never understand. The only explanation I can give is to think of clean presentation as a value. One that is of paramount importance to us, but not a high priority here.  There still are hygiene standards here, at least within public establishments, so perhaps cleanliness and clean presentation are not the same thing.