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UEW/PATRIQUE
From WikiEducator
Dep:Dept. of Art Edu.
Position: Lecturer
Institution: University of Education, Winneba
Contents |
PROFILE
My name is Patrique deGraft-Yankson. Let me quickly add that I am a Ghanaian, and a black African for that matter. I hail from a village in the Central Region of Ghana called Gomoa Afransi. Dont ask me how I got my name so Europeanised because I cant get you any convincing answer. deGraft-Yankson (always beginning with small de no matter the nature of type stlye you are using) was passed on to me as a surname. As for my Patrique which I believe is a derivation from Patrick, I dont know how my father came by it. I believe he had it from one of his numerous white friends (or so I was told). Unfotunately he did not live long enough to explain things to me now that I need some explanations about my name. I remember how my father always insisted, when I started learning to spell my name, that it ends with que and not ck. Whatever it means, I have grown to love my name so much, especially because it looks so strange.
In any case, I have decided to maintain my name for specific reasons. First because it is part of my history. Many people in Ghana today think that they have to change the 'euro-christian' names bequeathed them by colonial masters, and adopt pure Ghanaian (or African)names. This conceptions, I believe, has emanated from the emerging trends of black consciousness and efforts towards total Africanisation of our culture. Much as I understand and respect such efforts, I still find it a bit too weak and highly insignificant move. In my opinion, changing your names cannot make us Africans especially so long as we keep 'European' values. Interview those who profess 'Africanisation' in the English language and listen to the accent with which they explain their new values. Try to interview or speak with them in a local dialect, and take note of the percentage of English Language that would mix-up with the local language! So how about that.
What point am I making? In Ghana, English is the medium of instruction in our schools, and in fact, all our formal sectors. Speaking English goes with a lot of prestige. Sometimes, good command of the English language is even equated to intelligence. (To be continued...)
COURSE MATERIALS
ARTICLES / JOURNALS
SPEECHES / PRESENTAIONS
BOOKS WRITTEN
- by Patrique deGraft-Yankson
- by Patrique deGraft-Yankson
