*Beyond Detty December: Pan-Africanism in Practice*, a panel discussion hosted by Roots Global Agency (January 2024)

What started as a tradition of the African diaspora returning to the continent for the holidays to visit family has since ballooned into a multi-national, multi-city celebration featuring entertainment and reconnection with the Mother Land.

The flight to Africa from the US or Europe is long. The winter holidays provide the most substantial time off from work to allow for a stay that makes the long haul, transatlantic journey less taxing on the body.

Naturally, most folks want to be with the family who live on different continents for the holidays that mark our cultures and traditions. Cold and wet winters also give many reason to head for the tropics.

This time in West African cities such as Lagos and Accra has become fondly known as Detty December. Detty features more than a month of parties, concerts, and festivals.

Legend has it the celebration began after the 2004 Calabar Carnival; however, Nigerian Afrobeats artist, Mr. Eazi claims he invented Detty. That said, Nigeria has strict border control while Ghana leaned into the increase in tourism from the diaspora in December. with a visa-on-arrival program.

This visa-on-arrival which is available from the December to January is one aspect of the Year of Return in Ghana. This initiative played a major role in driving Detty to become bigger than just first and second generation diaspora folks returning to their respective cultural origins.

An intentional invitation was extended to Africans living in the diaspora who may not know where their ancestors were captured from but desire reconnection with African continent. Ghana implemented a visa-on-arrival from December to January to accommodate and encourage the increased tourism of the season.Nigeria requires advance visa applications that include a letter of invitation that proves a local is hosting you.

While there is a lot of emphasis on the nightlife that characterizes Detty December, there is so much more to the experience if you do make it out to West Africa during this lively time. Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African country to liberate itself from colonial rule under the presidency of Kwame Nkrumah on March 6, 1957. Not only are there important landmarks to visit and stories of freedom to consider, there is a unique potential in Africans from across the diaspora connecting with Africans and home and the land.

Experiences like Roots Residency allow us to connect with one another around culture and political education while we’re in town for Detty. These are critical touch points to put Pan-Africanism into practice which requires that we unite around our shared experience as Africans and push for the embodiment of anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism.

Our liberation is not only tied to our shared humanity but also healing with the land. The land holds our histories and our stories of capture and forced displacement. They land lost her children during the transatlantic slave trade. When we engage intergenerational healing to integrate the past and understand how to move forward, we must consider the land too.

There are a number of ways a traveler can connect with the African soil. Here are a few examples:

Spend time in nature

Make time to connect with the land. Accra is a coastal city with many beaches. Walk barefoot in the sand and bring your body to the ocean. Do this with intention. Consider the memory of this water and what has happened. Share your energetic overflow with the ocean and speak with those who were lost in the sea.

Ghana is a beautiful country and it’s worth it to venture outside the city limits. There are calming fishing villages known for surfing and majestic mountains. Take some time outside the urban excitement and move your body and find stillness. You never know what messages the land has for you that are only audible from an embodied place.

Make an offering to the land

Bring something that holds a particular energy you want to share or gift to the Earth. This can be seeds or food. It can be water or plants. Make sure it is biodegradable so we aren’t inadvertently causing harm

Using the natural environment as inspiration for creative expression

Engaging in artistic and creative practices can be a powerful way to process emotions and experiences related to heritage and identity. After making an offering and listening to the land, the Earth may gift you with a particular purpose or aspect to process for the collective.

Art-making is a way to distance ourselves from the heaviness that may come with this sacred work so we can metabolize what arises inside us. The space allows for awareness and that witnessing can transform generations forward and back.

In the group trips we curate at Common Healing, we design the itinerary and our time spent in community together around practices that connect us to one another and the land.

These participatory world-building immersions create space for Africans in the diaspora to do this big work while held by intentional community. We set out to develop a profound and healing connection to the land, embracing both personal and collective histories and fostering a sense of belonging and renewal.

Join us for Detty Reset Retreat, a surf and wellness immersions for Africans in the diaspora to heal our relationship with the water. Consider joining us for this group trip!

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