Every microsecond of our lives counts, and we hold dear the conscious and unconscious
circumstances that surround us. Sometimes, the past only makes sense in the moment of the
present by giving the broadest or very slimmest of chances to what the future holds, for the
future, they say, is uncertain. It was a waging rave, a twirling and swirling of the release of the
autobiographical write-up ‘I Am Not Yvonne Nelson” on the 18th of June 2023, a day of
celebration of Father’s Day around the world. May be coincidental or intentional. Yvonne Nelson
is a Ghanaian household name with regards to entertainment, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy.
She is now an educator and has chalked up numerous successes around the world. The write-up
spans the circumstances surrounding her birth, the political and educational phase of Ghana,
breakthroughs, the media, failures, and the sensitive issue of self-identity in her quest to
rediscover herself. The waves at which the launch of the book took place caught my attention,
coupled with the various distortions and varied perspectives that came to it because of her
personality. It appeared all that there was was just her undefined relationship with Ghana’s
musical sensation, Michael Owusu, popularly known as Sarkodie, and others in the media space.
Yvonne Nelson’s life writing may not be exceptional because millions of people encounter these
unpleasantries of life, but the status and the varied degrees to which the media and the world
have told their versions of the story may have called for this.
It happens not to be just a bridge walk autobiographical write-up but a road—a long and uneasy
road to self-worth, fame, purpose, and self-discovery of a double identity.
I write to shift the narrative from an art of entertainment, which has been extensively discussed,
to an academic work that delves into the psychological make-up of children, especially women.
who grow up without a father figure and, in particular, in an unhealthy family environment, the
toll of societal standards in terms of education and marriage, and the triviality of acceptance and
identity emphasis in the Ghanaian setting.
Anderson (2010) cites Lejeune (1982, p. 193) in creating a well-defined boundary for
autobiography as “a retrospective prose narrative produced by a real person concerning his own
experience, focusing on his individual life, in particular on the development of his personality.”
The narrator, who happens not to be in an imaginary presence, tells the life story from the first-
person point of view, leading us through her own side of the story. What she saw, heard, felt,
though, experienced, and even what she envisages ahead of her at the near age of 38 As much as
the narrator is the centre of the analysis, she opens up the shocking revelations of the industry in
which she finds herself and uses her life as a vessel to tell the truth and teach young people how
to brace themselves in an industry like that. The write-up also spans across the complex family
setting in which she finds herself, which opens her mindset to the choices she makes in life and
how she faces life head-on, and a mother who holds the missing piece to her puzzle—who truly
her father is.
She recounts the story from memory in writing, a limited monophonic epistolatory form, through
emails, social media platforms, and visual forms. Memoir is a genre focused on a particularly
emotional relationship in the author’s past, an intimate story concerned more with who is
remembering and why than with what is remembered (Larson, 2007). It is more of the journeys
of every second how they are registered in memory by writing for generations to catch a glimpse
of the account of someone by themselves because most times, no one can tell the story better
than themselves, whether in crystal clear truth or with a bit of sanitation.
The author recounts the events surrounding her by mistake—a mistake as her mother constantly
reminds her—and the void she feels. The stronger bond between the three occupants of her
family I was conscious of the fact that my siblings had the surname Davies.
And mine was Nelson2023,lp. 19). 3 p.19). However, she happens to receive formal education
above what the average Ghanaian could afford at St. Martin De Porres School in Dansoman
where she lived, her secondary school days at the Aggrey Memorial AME ZION at Cape Coast,
her tertiary education at the Central University, and the break-throughs with her movie Princess
Tyra and the Miss Ghana pageant, which served as a channel to her limelight.
“So, I am not writing because I have peaked. It is said that a person’s speed in a battle is
determined by the speed of his or her pursuer. That which is determining the speed of my run
started its vicious and supersonic pursuit before I was born. I have been moving in silence, apart
from a few hints I have dropped here and there in some major media interviews (Nelson 2023, p.
7). She does not write from a teenager’s perspective, even though the most sensitive and major
theme of the memoir springs from there,when her teacher asks about her identity in relation to
one of her classmates. “Are the two of you related?” (Nelson 2023, p. 16). A question that
sparked more bubbles in her head after she noticed there was a void in her life but had not taken
it too personally “When you go home, ask your parents.” (Nelson 2023, p. 17). “On my way
home that day, the teacher’s question weighed heavily on me. What I had not paid attention to
started taking Centre stage in my life” (Nelson 2023, p. 18). A stage where the analytical skills
and psychological state of the narrator are highly sensitive. She questions her self-identity. This speaks on behalf of a self that is concrete, real, and present, not an imaginary presence. She was
imaginative to a little extent during her early years, when only photographs could recount her memory. Her first birthday and special moments with her mother at her shop, Manovia, and in the house
The art of the narrative stems from a chronological order, merging blurry and vivid memories
from childhood to adulthood and laying vitality on almost every period of her life. It also delves
into the standards of morals in Ghana, the male-dominated society, the dysfunctional family and
the burden they posit on a growing child, and the darkest nooks and crannies of the Ghanaian and
Nigerian entertainment industries where the narrator worked the most.
She recounts her taste of failure when she could not live up to standard academically: “I obtained
aggregate 12, which means that I was not among the best” (Nelson 2023, page 40). Not just the
void and strangeness she felt among the family weighed on her, but also the fact that society has
placed a validation of excellence and success on only academics, closing the curtains on those
whose skills, abilities, and talents mattered. ‘It was the reason I considered myself a failure,
especially when that had implications for the secondary school choice I had to attend” (Nelson
2023, p. 41).Aggrey Memorial A.M.E Zion School located in Cape Coast is a place the author
recounts as place of resilience and a preparation ground for the future.
(Dobbie 2011) cites Beauvoir who believed” that women are not born inferior but rather are
made to be so. She called for women to break out of being the “other”. The average woman who
is to earn the respect of the society the society ought to be married and have a child not out of
wedlock. All the society wants to see that, certain cultures are adhered to and standards
measured in other to fit in the society. The narrator’s romantic association with Michael Owusu,
in her early twenties, she resorts to having an abortion when her partner or acquaintance is
uncertain about keeping pregnancy, coupled with the fear that surrounds a replay of her story,
having to grow without a father figure. The narrator looks for affection and a sense of self-
belonging. At the centre of the things that enlighten her not by sheer coincidence but as a result
of the meaning of the name she bears “Yvonne”. A French origin of Yvon, Yve, and Ivo It
means “yew,”, a tall and enchanting tree species well-known for its resilience and long life
(Nelson 2023, p. 30). An aspect that is still relevant in the narrator’s life A long passion, which
she has nourished in her primary days. “As a group, our favourite was the Fugees, but my
personal favourite is Obrafour” The narrator’s circle of men in terms of relationships is not as a
result of the space in which she finds herself but as music and the arts happen to be her only
escape from her void.
The self of the narrator reveals the battles one fights within themselves in the quest to find a
purpose, fill a gap, or just rise above norms. The teachers question about her identity and relation
to Eugene, her presumed brother, Mr. Nelson, Mr, Benkey; her mother’s third husband and his
own brother Enoch had already painted a certain kind of ideology about men to her and became
concretize after the rising phase of her career in a male dominated industry and beyond. ‘ It is a
mindset that reinforces the unfortunate reality that this is a man’s world. It is an entitlement
mindset that women must be subservient to a man and be subject to his wishes and dictates’
(Nelson 2023, p. 140). A self that the narrator wants people to know, especially young girls who
have talents and skills and are hungry for fame. This throws light on the psychological, social,
and philosophical states of the industry. She ends up not getting roles to play because of her
refusal to give in to movie producers and directors. Such harshness in the industry comes
coupled with her ban after altercations with Abdul Salaam Mumuni, the producer who gave her
the breakthrough into the movie industry. “I didn’t receive a call to go back to set after the shoot;
all I heard in a week or two was that the FIPAG had banned her for a year for being a young,
ungrateful, and disrespectful actor (Nelson 2023, p. 84).A blessing in disguise, she would say, as
it was a stone for her to start her own production, the Yvonne Nelson Production.
The family environment should be more welcoming to the needs of young adults. “ Growing up,
“penis” and “vagina” were taboo in our house. At 25 years old, she gets pregnant, dismissing the
fact that she knows very little about herself. An environment filled with love, care, concern, and
positivity. They lead young adults to be unafraid, to believe in themselves, to ask questions, and
to speak about the most unpleasant situations without judgement.
The socio-economic and political status surrounding the narrator may have influenced her life.
Her early years were more of dictatorship, accepting responses her mother gave her on her
identity and her choice of school. She recounts the father of her siblings, intimate association
with the late Jerry John Rawlings. Between those periods, there was a natural inclination towards
less democracy, and the matter of choices was limited politically. As time goes on, she grows to
face her fears and challenges. She grows up not to live for social standards or the glitz and
glamour of the industry but to speak for herself and others. This led to her protest “Dumsor Must
Stop”. A protest that is still significant to date. A protest against the economic hardship and,
more so, the unstable power crisis faced by the people of Ghana
A platform that opened political mouth-watering opportunities for her. Amidst these is a resolved
puzzle in her life. A battle with the self A quest to identify who she truly is. Her father, whom
she resents as a result of her mother’s negative comments and the man’s own actions against her,
left her to figure out who she is. A theme is major in this memoir. Her mother later told her she
was related to Peter Alan Adjetey, the speaker of Ghana. A shocking revelation after bearing the
name Nelson for more than three decades Stardom comes with its own façade from the outside
world, and she grows extremely conscious of even the affection shown to her and thinks it is
possibly because she is a household name and face. The narrator cannot be faulted as these are
phases and substances she never grew up with and whose authenticity is marred by broken
relationships, failed abortions, a domineering society, and others. So even when the Adjetey
family showered her with love when she reached out, she still couldn’t believe it. She made a
point to do another DNA test after the first with Patrick, her presumed half brother and son of
Mr. Nelson, to be sure she belonged to that clan, but unfortunately, it didn’t turn out as she heard
from her mom.
‘Mum, are you sure Mr. Nelson is my father?” I asked in Fante.
“Your father is Peter Ala Adjetey, she told me. Peter Ala Adjetey?” I said it without knowing
how to feel about it (Nelson 2023, p. 218).
(Nelson 2023, p. 238), it took me more than a week to soak in the shock that nearly ruined my
insanity. ruin of her psychological functionality. How does one suddenly become someone else
after three decades of her life? Why would a carrier of a nine-month-old baby hide her truth from
her?
A young girl’s quest to figure out her life is not easy, and among them all, identifying herself
with a particular clan is no easier, but the most difficult is for a mother who ought to know the
father of her child to swap the identities of her child. It is a restless ordeal placed on the child,
much more so if the mother had faced similar challenges. One could be quite unsure if it is a
certainty that she does not know or if the mention of her biological father could complicate her
life more or is just a means of keeping her in suspense. A rush, panic attacks, and other constant
fear erupt from the narrator’s mind and peace. In an attempt to truly get an answer after two
failed DNA’s, she decided to confront her mother. “She started acting strange. I could not tell
whether it was genuine or fake, but she behaved like someone who had suddenly become sick
and weak’( Nelson 2023, 248)”. A state that may have resulted out of shock or displeasure, or
perhaps an answer that she may not have.
In as much as her narrative covered the scope of the industry, unfair educational systems, an
unhealthy upbringing, and the political and economic history of some aspects of Ghana, the
puzzle still remains unfixed.
It’s a letter to her father, whom she strongly believes is still alive.
“Dear dad, I cannot tell how many times I cried because I don’t know you. I have tried to be
strong. Growing up, I tried to shake off derogatory comments and names such as “abanoma”,
which translates to step child, but the more I tried, the more I was reminded of the reality that I
did not know my father”. (Nelson 2023, p. 255).
REFERENCES
Anderson, Linda. Autobiography. Routledge, 2010.
Dobbie, Ann. An introduction of literary theory into Practice, 2011.
Kazin, Alfred. The Conscious of the Mind: Autobiography as a Narrative. Hopwood lecture,
1964.
Larson, Thomas. The Memoir and the Memoirist: Reading and Writing Personal
Narrative. Greece, Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 2007.
Nelson, Yvonne. I am not Yvonne Nelson. Yvonne Nelson Studios, 2023.
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