Interviewee: Kojo Ampah Interviewer: Mark Naison Interview Date: October 2009 Summarized by Eddie Mikus Kojo Ampah is a Ghanaian emigrant to the United States who has served as a radio presenter and an organizer of cultural festivals in his native land. He has also founded a student club at Fordham University for the promotion of African cultural heritage and has served as the vice president of a Ghanaian organization based in Mount Vernon, New York. Mr. Ampah grew up in the city of Cape Coast, Ghana, as one of thirty-five children and received several different cultural experiences while growing up. His father, who moved to Cape Coast from the north of the country, was a Muslim who also performed traditional African healing practices. On the other hand, Mr. Ampah’s mother was an Akan-speaking Catholic who was born in the country’s south. Mr. Ampah learned how to speak the Akan language from his mother, who feared that he would be swayed too far towards the northern customs of his father. At school, Mr. Ampah faced a third set of cultural differences, as he was encouraged and/or forced to adopt Anglicized practices. For example, he was required to change his name to Ernest Ampah and was the only student to take high-level Akan classes. However, Mr. Ampah has been extremely active in promoting his native African culture, both in Ghana and the United States, to which he immigrated in 2004. His first job was as an Akan-language presenter on a Cape Coast radio station. After completing high school, he started a group in Ghana known as the African Heritage Organization, which aimed to promote Africaness amongst its members. Through his work with this organization, Mr. Ampah came into contact with the head of an institution called the Panafest Foundation, which organizes a large multi-day African festival and conducts events in cities throughout the world to promote African culture. Mr. Ampah worked for this organization from the time he completed college until his immigration to the United States in 2004. Since relocating to the United States, Mr. Ampah has remained active in promoting traditional Ghanaian culture. After his arrival at Fordham University in 2008, Mr. Ampah founded a student club to promote a sense of identity amongst the university’s students. At the time of this interview, he planned to conduct a Ghanaian cultural event on Fordham’s campus. Additionally, Mr. Ampah has maintained contacts with his home country through a Mount Vernon organization called Friends of Ghana, of which he has served as vice-president. Mr. Ampah told the Bronx African American History Project that the main function of this organization was to send items like computers from America to Ghana. Overall, Mr. Ampah has sought to maintain his cultural identity despite outside pressures to adopt Western norms. Through his roles in African groups, Mr. Ampah has maintained an active role in promoting his native culture to the Western World. This support for African culture can be traced back to his formative years, when his mother made sure he understood her native language and cultural roots. It is clear that this action has instilled in Mr. Ampah a deep love for his native country, as he has now actively carried out the promotion of its traditions in other parts of the world.