Cosmopolitanism

Joseph Emmanuel Appiah, the author’s father and a political leader from Kumasi, Ghana, figures prominently throughout the text. Joseph Appiah was, in the late 1970s, Ghana’s representative to the United Nations. In the Introduction, Appiah emphasizes his father’s cosmopolitan qualities, sharing that he wrote to his children to “[r]emember you are citizens of the world” (xviii). Joseph Appiah died in 1990 before Cosmopolitanism was published, and Appiah often refers to his father’s personal history as a source of examples and anecdotes. For example, in Chapter 2, he discusses at length his educated father’s belief in invisible spirits as an example of beliefs that stem from our own cultural worldview. Appiah also quotes his father’s 1990 autobiography in Chapter 5, sharing his story about becoming circumcised as a teenager due to pressure from local girls. Appiah also makes frequent reference to his father’s family and their Asante cultural worldview, using this as a point of comparison for the reader.

Peggy Appiah, a children’s author, was the author’s mother. At the time Cosmopolitanism was published, she was still living, and Appiah dedicated the book to her. Peggy Appiah is not as visible a character as her husband; however, she plays some important roles in the text. Born in England, Peggy Cripps moved to Ghana with her husband Joseph Appiah, where she lived for more than 50 years. According to her son, she was both deeply connected to her English family and fully committed to her life in Ghana; he partly credits this with informing his sense of multiple commitments. She appears in the text with her son when they attend the festival day for the Asante king together in Chapter 6; as an English-born woman attending with her half-Ghanaian son, she serves as another reminder of a local, traditional ceremony’s close links to other places on the globe. Appiah also occasionally uses her English family’s customs as a point of comparison with other cultures, particularly Asante culture.