ABSTRACT
On a Saturday afternoon, I am sitting with some Ghanaian friends around a table in Osu – a busy commercial area in central Accra – drinking local cocktails. We are meeting in a well-furnished and refined bar. Pan-African leaders’ images, from Kwame Nkrumah to Thomas Sankara, dress up the black and red colored walls, and the staff is preparing the stage for the evening’s live show. At the table, everyone is simultaneously looking at their own smartphone screens while also taking part in the conversation. A sponsored free wireless network allows us to keep track of our activities by posting pictures and comments on Twitter, the 140-character social media platform, creating a sort of multilogue that goes way beyond the physical space we are in. The bar itself is very popular among the educated youth of contemporary Accra. People like to meet here to enjoy the carefully curated selection of music performed by both the most famous local artists and the rising celebrities of the African diaspora. The place has a rather renowned position, aiming to play a major role in the reimagination and rejuvenation of Ghanaian identity. This purpose is shared by the people I am meeting, who bring into question on a daily basis the issues and challenges of modern Ghana. They are not part of any existing political party, nor are they interested in creating a new one. What they do is the expression of themselves in a collective space conceived primarily through their relationship with digital media. In other words, through Internet, they inhabit the public sphere of the country in a very persistent and visible way.
