A Tale to Tell

Countless Harvard students qualify for the title of drama queen. At first glance, it seems that Chartey Quarcoo, a Lowell house resident, does not deserve this title. But Chartey, ever melodramatic, is often performing. Despite his role in last year’s production of Raisin in the Sun, he is not an actor. Chartey is a story teller.

The oral history of Ghana is passed from one generation to the next through the work of a storyteller, who is basically a trickster but has a kind heart. A young Chartey learned tales during bedtime from his father. Chartey has performed at cultural shows on campus as well as at Northeastern and at museums.

But this is not his life, although every word and movement reflect something of himself. Chartey grew up in Brooklyn, the oldest son of a Ghanaian father and a Panamanian mother. Storytelling is both a way for Chartey to carry on a Ghanaian tradition and to escape. “I love it,” Chartey says. “But I do lots of things. It’s an odd thing to be a celebrity for telling a folk tale.”

Chartey has been a prefect for three years, writes for Diversity and Distinction, and was president of the Harvard African Students Association his sophomore year. It was through HASA that he realized his drive to perform, “October of freshman year, it just jumped out. I think it has set the precedent for my experience here. There’s always a show,” he laughs. “I need that release or else I’ll burst. ”

But to many around Harvard, Chartey is not a celebrity at all, although he can literally walk through the Yard and stop to talk to twenty people. “I just love meeting people,” Chartey says smiling. “That freshmen week excitement hasn’t stopped for me.”

Kitso Lemo ’02 first met Chartey on the dance floor during their first weeks at Harvard. “Chartey is a very complex individual. He’s versatile. I can’t think of anyone else who has that flexibility of character.”

People, quite simply, are drawn to this man who balances African tradition and American—especially Harvard—culture. Ashley J. McCants ‘02, Chartey’s girlfriend of seven months, sees him “at the intersection of two different types of cultural experiences. He has a very unique position and so is able to act as a bridge between his character and culture and those not familiar with the tradition.”

Although McCants refers to her boyfriend as a “personality” she may be the only student on campus to know just how debonair this boy, whom she first met in her freshman year entryway, is. “He’s always cheering me up and he’s romantic. There are eighty million reasons why he should be on this list. But it’s the small, subtle things that matter most. Flowers or a phone call, he’s very sweet.”

Somehow, Chartey makes time for his beauty, Ashley, and his beast of burden, a history and literature thesis on the ideology of the Black Panther Party. A Mellon fellow, Chartey has post-thesis aspirations for “grad school or law school. I was interested in being a professor when I was much smarter.”

Chartey’s self-deprecating humor is clearly only part of the act. He hopes next year to write for an independent magazine or get a teaching fellowship. Lemo hopes that academia is in Chartey’s future. “I’d love to see him as a history or a literature professor,” Lemo admits. McCants agrees that her boyfriend will definitely be in the classroom.

“If I’m to be successful in what I want to do, it’s a long process,” Chartey predicts. “But I’m trying now to live more in the moment and cherish this year. I do look forward to graduating, but I will miss so many people here. I guess you set yourself up for that when you love meeting people.”