Ghana - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

The “Gateway to Africa,” Ghana welcomes around a million tourists, aid workers, and business travelers a year—visitors who invariably come away with glowing reports of a fertile land, tropical scenic beauty, rich culture and traditions, and many first-rate tourist attractions. It is, however, the Ghanaians themselves who make the biggest impression. It is through their hospitality and love of peace that Ghana has a claim to be the safest and friendliest country in Africa. Ghanaians are welcoming to foreign guests, respectful to each other, strong followers of tradition, and have deep familial and communal values. For most visitors, Ghana comes as a wonderfully refreshing change, with valuable lessons to teach the outside world.

Ghanaians like to do things their own way, and Ghana is a proud country that does not cater exclusively to tourists but rather expects them to fit in with the Ghanaian pace and way of life. Thus a visit to Ghana is not without its downsides, and visitors can experience frustrations and barriers. This revised and updated edition of Culture Smart! Ghana explains the complexities and nuances of Ghanaian society with clarity and humor. Visitors are expected to be sympathetic to their customs and beliefs, and their hosts will have no hesitation in saying, “We don’t do that here,” should a faux pas be made or a taboo broken. It is important to Ghanaians that they, and their guests, follow certain rules and codes of conduct. Culture Smart! Ghana describes these rules, explains where they come from, helps to disperse the frustrations and barriers, and offers the reader an opportunity to enjoy more fully all that this beautiful country has to offer.

IAN UTLEY studied at the University of Wales and trained as a teacher at Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln. He worked in education in Ghana for many years, published a book for learners of the Twi language, was a columnist for the Ghanaian newspaper Weekend World, and was an advisor to the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations in Accra. He also organized cultural, ecotourism, and language-learning activities for foreigners. Now back in Britain, he is the Cultural Services Advisor to Lincolnshire County Council.