[BlackJack]

I've read most of Matt's "Notes on [X]" In general they are well written and interesting. In some cases though it's too simplified and at times insensitive. In particular, I've talked to people who are from Nigeria/Ghana or have visited there and they pointed out issues with his narrative. But most people who read Matt's blog have never been to these places, so they take everything as 100% accurate.

That being said, if you treat it as literally just his experiences, then they're fantastic reads.

P.S. His notes on Mauritania [https://mattlakeman.org/2023/08/16/notes-on-mauritania/] is really interesting for the train story. I had never heard of such a thing before.

[wolverine876]

> I've talked to people who are from Nigeria/Ghana or have visited there and they pointed out issues with his narrative. But most people who read Matt's blog have never been to these places, so they take everything as 100% accurate.

It's interesting that people read a blog by a someone who visited for 10 days, instead of someone who has lived there their entire lives or otherwise has far more experience.

The author even starts by disclaiming interest in calling them by their name or good knowledge of their language (French), showing that he doesn't seem to consider the impression that gives to readers.

(Note – The Ivory Coast is so French in culture and temperament that it insists on officially being called “Côte d’Ivoire.” But I don’t know how to make that accent on my keyboard and I don’t feel like copy-and-pasting the name over-and-over, so I’m just going to call it the “Ivory Coast.”)

[Sniffnoy]

> It's interesting that people read a blog by a someone who visited for 10 days, instead of someone who has lived there their entire lives or otherwise has far more experience.

Because they found the one and not the other. Matt Lakeman is someone whose blog I follow; if he posts something I'm going to read it. A number of other people found this because it was on HN. It's not like I decided "I will learn about Ghana!", searched, looked over the results, found both Lakeman and some Ghanaian writer among them, and decided to go with the former over the latter; I encountered Lakeman's post, and have not encountered any Ghanaian writers writing about Ghana among the places I usually read.

And like, let's be honest -- I'm just not interested enough in Ghana to go searching out writing on the history of Ghana and find the best one. The realistic alternative to me reading Matt Lakeman on the history of Ghana isn't that I read someone else on the history of Ghana, it's that I don't read about the history of Ghana at all, because the topic doesn't even occur to me as something to read about!

[wolverine876]

> Because they found the one and not the other.

Agreed. That means there is something wrong with our discovery mechanisms.

[seszett]

> The Ivory Coast is so French in culture and temperament that it insists on officially being called “Côte d’Ivoire.”

What a weird comment. The French couldn't care less how foreigners call us, and we don't pretend we can choose the name of France in any other language than French. Most other languages have they own name for France.

So that's really not "very French in culture".

[jrowen]

I think he meant simply that they still have a strong cultural allegiance to France and thus prefer the French spelling of the name (despite having been independent for quite some time). Not that that preference (or insistence on it) is in itself representative of French culture.

[kylebenzle]

1. Nobody thinks reading a blog from a guy whom visited for 10 days is better than info from someone whom lives there. Who exactly is this straw man "reader" you've created?

2. "disclaiming interest in calling them by their name... " Excuse me? Do you have a bone to pick, what even are you trying to say here? You want the author to speak French before writing the blog post?

3. I am a reader and did not get any negative impression from his quip about not knowing where the accent key is, what are you even going on about?

[eigenket]

Using the preferred name for people and places is a fairly basic sign of respect (at least in my cultural bubble). It would have taken the author literally 30 seconds to do a find-and-replace at the end of writing his article to fix this.

[midasuni]

So a French blog on the US would have to replace Etas Unis with The USA? An American blog would have to replace “Germany” with “Deutchland” and a German block would have to type cote de ivorie rather than Elfenbeinküste?

[eigenket]

No one has to do anything, that's not how politeness works. You choose yourself whatever is most reasonable to you.

The situation is not quite analogous however, since Germans generally don't mind us calling their country "Germany" (I have never heard of any dislike of the name) whereas (quoting from Wikipedia)

> Therefore, in April 1986, the government declared that Côte d'Ivoire (or, more fully, République de Côte d'Ivoire) would be its formal name for the purposes of diplomatic protocol and has since officially refused to recognize any translations from French to other languages in its international dealings. Despite the Ivorian government's request, the English translation "Ivory Coast" (often "the Ivory Coast") is still frequently used in English by various media outlets and publications.

Its similar to nicknames with real people. Some people don't mind having their name shortened or adapted however people like, while others people really don't like nicknames. You use nicknames with the first group and call the second group by their formal names.

[jddj]

Seems a kind of ridiculous hill to die on, honestly. This isn't an official address at the UN.

It's New York, not Nueva York! Fix your ...blog.

It's Australia, not Australie! Fix your ...blog.

Both of the above would probably come across as culturally insensitive but in the other direction.

[PoignardAzur]

The name thing does feel a little weird? Like calling Costa Rica "Rich Coast" repeatedly. Though I guess Ivory Coast is much more idiomatic.

[rvba]

You can make a great post without ever visiting. Especially as the author about situation 70 years ago. And quotes books.

[prmph]

Yes, I thought these notes sometimes omit important bits as well. As a native Ghanaian, this was my comment on his notes on Ghana, which I posted before on HN:

> I'd say the article omitted the animus towards Nkrumah from the UGCC (his former party). This opposition was manifested in their attempts to derail his rule from independence to his overthrow (there is some evidence they were in cahoots with the CIA et. al). Thus, the popular reactions to Nkrumah's policies were not only based on their merits. Most Ghanaians actually think pretty well of Nkrumah's development trajectory.

This opposition, which forms the basis of one of Ghana’s main political lineages, called the UP tradition, is partly tribal in motivation. The Akans (the main ethnic group, who mostly support the UP tradition) see themselves as the central core of the nation, but their allegiance is mostly to the King. They have this sense of needing to take back control of the country, similar to the way white Americans might feel threatened by a supposed loss of control to minorities. But while the Akans have a can-do attitude, they are usually not good administrators and planners.

So I'd say this rivalry, based on resentment of the initial success of Nkrumah’s tradition in particular, and resentment of uppity minority ethnic groups in general, is a major factor in Ghana's perennial inability to realize its full potential.

This factor in Ghana's politics continues down to this day. Rawlings’ was a Ewe, as the article notes, and his (P)NDC was the third major political lineage in Ghana (after the UP and Nkrumah’s CPP). The UP tradition was again a thorn in their flesh, even before multi-party democracy was restored. The current president (from this same political lineage) is hated by many for taking the country back to a period of massive corruption and economic malaise. I'm not too political, but I tend to agree; he gives off the air of a 70s era politician, radically unprepared to lead a 21st century country, very corrupt, intolerant of criticism, not in control of things, and afraid of a coup. Many Ghanaians would claim that he was elected primarily based on support emanating from this conflict, and not because of demonstrating any competence.

[francis36012]

You speak of not being political, yet your comment seems to lean in a certain direction. I also find your description of Akans quite disingenuous - you claim they are usually not good administrators or planners - how are you measuring the group's competency in these areas?

[kylebenzle]

We are talking about Ivory Coast.