About

How do we begin to define this new moment we are in? Where do we look for terms and concepts that illuminate our past, present and future? How do we rethink and reshape these forms into new narratives? What are the urgent challenges and obstacles Africa and the world currently face? How can Ghanaian, African, and Diasporic thought contribute to overcoming these?

Access to culture can be the ultimate tool of transformation, self-knowledge and evolution. With the growth of technology and mobility, the notion of one culture as being of greater value than another no longer holds; and narratives, structures and institutions built on imperial models, museums and educational systems, are looking for new ways of understanding the world. At the same time, African countries despite their wealth of natural resources are still seen us ‘underdeveloped’, and as needing to catch up with the West. Immigration from these and other countries are seen as the root of all problems in societies where far right and nationalistic groups gain traction. Crises of systemic racial violence against people of African Diasporas, especially in countries like America and Brazil, continue to emerge from value systems put in place by the transatlantic slave trade, that served as the foundation of the modern industrialised world.

At ANO, we believe that we can begin to heal the trauma of denigration and separation and to create connections between us as human beings; by developing new ways of thinking and being that are all-encompassing, pluralistic, empathetic; which privilege people, their rights, freedoms, safeties and voices; and which dignify all people regardless of their origin, age, gender, or orientation.