Navigating The College of Wooster campus as an African student isn’t an easy task. The integrative process has proven to be much more difficult as we strive to assimilate into the existing culture and the private liberal arts institutional environment. My peers have revealed that, although they don’t necessarily feel socially excluded or unwelcomed, the inability to be culturally understood has been equally challenging. It has hindered the ability of African students to work together with peers, which is one of the main goals at The College of Wooster.
How can independent minds work together when you cannot be understood? Thus, African students tend not to branch out from who they are comfortable with: other African students. Integration for international students remains difficult due to the lack of programs and resources to help with integration.
At a school that has been trying to increase their knowledge of cultural competency, having just as much effort put into developing programs for assimilation of culturally diverse students is also needed. Rates of assimilation differ for each student; some don’t want to abandon their rich culture in order to get to know American culture for only the short time they are here. Most African students are deeply rooted in their collectivist culture, spiritually and mentally.
Personally, I have assimilated into three distinct cultures: the Ghanaian culture created within my home and through familial social networks; my immediate local neighborhood cultural context which was predominantly black, diasporic and working class; and lastly, the mainstream American society infused piecemeal multiculturalism. Identity formation in African students are vastly different due to the level of assimilation and personal experience.
Generalizing all black students to be African American is also very problematic. African students do not perceive issues identically to how an African American student would. African students are subjected to another layer of potential microaggressions and different experiences than African American students who have lived in America. African American students have a culture and community of safety, yet African students are quite often subjected to microaggressions and a lack of cultural competency by African American students, unless it’s trending in the mainstream — for example, “Post-Premiere of the Black Panther Movie” — or beneficial to their interests.
This Black History Month, I encourage the entire campus to learn and cover the experience of the entire African diaspora. It is time to properly promote our cultures and help shape the future narrative. The continent is extremely diverse with history with many stories and contributions. If you are curious, we welcome that curiosity, so come ask.
Cornelius Gyamfi, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at CGyamfi19@wooster.edu.