Before my trip to Accra this summer, I’d known of the city’s reputation as Africa’s creative polestar. I’d watched friends and colleagues from the fashion, art, and music worlds flock to the Ghanaian capital every Christmas, spending their last weeks of the year at music festivals and art exhibitions, partying at beach clubs until sunrise, sampling fresh local cuisine, and exploring the multifacets of Ghanaian culture over a period known as ‘Detty December’.
In the past five years or so, Detty December in Accra has not only been a guaranteed good time for Africans and Black diaspora from around the globe; for many, it has been a means to connect with their roots in a way that’s as much entertaining as it is life-changing.
