With His Audio Drama, This Ghanaian Filmmaker Rethinks How We Experience History

Growing up, filmmaker and writer Joewackle J. Kusi listened to audio plays on BBC and folktales from his mother. These oral storytelling mediums not only soundtracked his childhood but also opened his mind to the unpredictable forms that the delivery of stories can take. As an adult, while on lockdown as many others were in the world, Kusi got introspective, pondering what his art, as a filmmaker, would mean if contact was no longer possible. What other ways, aside from writing and visual media, could he deliver his perspective? The answer came to him as an inspiration to consider making an audio drama. More than five years since the idea was born and two years since he made it, Kusi is finally ready to share his first audio drama with the world.

Goodbye, Goldcoast, written by Kusi alongside longtime collaborator and researcher Fui Can-Tamakloe, is a tale about freedom. The story follows two young people on the precipice of Ghana's independence, forced to make decisions that are influenced by and could determine their freedom. For Rose, a schoolteacher, her country's freedom would mean something to her as a young person growing up in a country that has never felt like hers due to colonial presence. And for her lover, Reginald, an employee of the colonial empire, his freedom lies in leaving a country that once didn't mind his presence but now resented it. It's a beautiful story about circumstances and how individual choices could drastically change the lives of many.

Despite its heavy subjects and nuanced approach to highlighting varying opinions, the drama has an aliveness to it. History comes to life, and the excitement and joy of a country nearing emancipation is palpable and infectious. It's fitting then that Kusi is formally releasing the play to the public on Ghana's Independence Day. The countryrecently changed governments in an election that illustrated the people's capacity to drive their destiny. Goodbye, Goldcoast is an insightful look at how far the country has come and the small and big stories that surrounded the festivities of that era.

Joewackle J. Kusi talks to OkayAfrica about the challenges of making Goodbye, Goldcoast, the importance of offering history in non-traditional ways, and what the future holds.

OkayAfrica: Hi Joewackle, how are you doing? Where is your head at the moment?

Joewackle J. Kusi: I think I am more excited than anxious, honestly. I'm super excited to see people jumping on and to see people's excitement, and the texts I've been receiving have made me feel like I'm off to something good.

People are saying it's super exciting to tell an everyday story on such a big backdrop because most of the time, when we talk about the history of Ghana or any world history for that matter, we do not take the time to appreciate the small stories of people who were living around that time. People are learning more about their history from this than they ever did throughout school. And I'm really happy I'm able to do this.

What was the biggest challenge of creating this project?

Researching was so hard because when you go online to look for the facts on our history, it's tough going to the libraries, even signing up at the libraries, and just the whole process. No single space has all the history [of that time]. One of the ways we got around this was by speaking with older people, getting some historians to read the drafts, and even with the language.

The play has a vibrant, hopeful slant despite the setting in which it happens; how did you find a balance?

Whenever I decide to tell a story, the first thing that really comes to me is how relatable the story is. So it was easier for me to explore love, loss, family and all those friendships, all the small elements around because I'm looking at telling a human story, and it's not simply the story about independence. It's a story of how independence affected the regular lives of everyday Ghanaians.

A bulk of the primary conflict in the story comes from people arguing about whether Ghana was ready for independence; it's an interesting perspective to have added. Why was that important for you to highlight?

Historically, whether we love it or not, some people believed that we didn't need independence because the colonial authority had built schools and hospitals. As long as they benefited from the colonial system, they were good. We also wanted people to think and reflect on what independence means because during that period, we were not all excited because the Brits were leaving. But throughout school, it was made to sound like everyone was ready for it. This is also one way of essentially documenting Ghanaian history and exhibiting it.

What do you hope that listeners, especially young people who don't know much about history and haven't been taught any history, take from this?

I hope people understand that there are other ways for history to be taught or made interesting. I'm also looking at creating content that's accessible to people who are not often considered when we create content, and it's super important to me and the Church of Stories (Kusi's production company) as a whole, apart from just telling stories, too. We are looking at traveling with this into high schools.

Goodbye, Goldcoast is now available to stream wherever you get your podcasts.