GSC Newsletter, No. 19

ISSUE 19 SUMMER/FALL 2006 Ghana Studies Council Newsletter CHAIR’S REMARKS By Roger Gocking, Mercy College his year’s newsletter once again includes a directo- that payment for it be separated from the annual dues. ry of the membership along with their recent publi- Instead, I believe it is more realistic for it to become an Tcations. With regards to the latter I have reversed occasional publication with its own separate payment my previous decision not to include forthcoming publica- schedule. tions on the grounds that we undoubtedly all benefit from The GSC is once again sponsoring two panels at some advanced indication of what is in the pipeline. I the African Studies Association annual meeting which will have also included very recent publications from last year be held in San Francisco, 16-19 November 2006. One to give the readership an opportunity to catch items that will be entitled “Tradition and Change in the Spiritual they might have missed at first. Institutions of Ghana.” It has been organized and will be Getting members to respond to the GSC question- chaired by Rebecca Shumway of the University of naire continues to be a challenge. I now rely only on e- Pittsburgh. The other is entitled “Attaining the Millenium mail responses and do not post questionnaires as was done Development Goals in Africa by 2015: Prospects, in the past. This saves the organization money, and should Challenges and Opportunities.” It has been organized and result in electronic responses that I can far more easily will be chaired by Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang of the incorporate into the newsletter than posted responses. University of Akron. This panel will have a wider focus However, getting members to respond has not been easy. than the country of Ghana. Three times during the course of the year I sent out mes- This year the GSC has also returned to a recent sages to the 115 people on the GSC e-mail list but only 70 tradition and awarded a small grant to a Ghanaian scholar responded. Most perplexing was that almost 40 percent of to help in the conduct of research in Ghana. With the help the 44 people who attended the lively annual meeting in of Emmanuel Akyeampong, who was in Ghana during the Washington D.C. did not respond. One of the most impor- year, we were able to select Peter Kwabena Obeng- tant functions of the GSC has been to keep us up-to-date Asamoa to receive this grant of $200. Peter is a Ph.D. can- about one another’s interests and publications. Currently didate in history in the Institute of African Studies at the we do not seem to be doing so well. In the 2001 newslet- University of Ghana at Legon. He is currently at work on ter’s directory there were 257 names, 62 of them from his dissertation: “Chiefs, Politics and Power: Stool Politics Ghana alone. We have obviously come a long way from and Change in Manya Krobo (1835-1970).” What is par- that, and this is an issue that we should discuss at the next ticularly impressive about Peter is that he is vision Ghana Studies annual meeting in San Francisco. impaired. Issue number seven of the Ghana Studies Council Sadly this year’s newsletter contains more obitu- Journal is about to appear. For this we have to thank the aries than has ever been the case before. 2005-2006 was a editors, Takywiaa Manuh and Lynne Brydon as well as particularly bad year for Ghanaian historians with the Ray Silverman who was the guest editor of this issue. The passing of John Fynn and Francis Agbodeka in 2005 and difficulty of keeping to a yearly schedule has obviously more recently J. N. K. Brukum in early 2006. Even more become apparent with the publication of this issue of the recently, there was the passing of the man who many con- journal, and I would like to suggest at the annual meeting sider to be the doyen of Ghanaian historians, Adu Boahen, 1 whose recent political activity on the national stage has second week of August in Accra. The theme of the confer- overshadowed his considerable academic achievements. ence was to be: “Recovering and Preserving Ghana’s Peggy Appiah, wife of the nationalist politician Joe Past.” Emeritus Professor Merrick Posnansky of UCLA Appiah, and an intellectual in her own right also passed will be the speaker. The chair said that Dennis Lauman of away early in 2006. Emmanuel Akyeampong and Ivor the University of Memphis, Per Hernaes of the Norwegian Agyeman-Duah were gracious enough to supply us with University of Science and Technology and Kofi Baku of obituaries for these five Ghanaians who will be sorely Legon will issue a call for papers. missed on the national stage. The chair requested a report from the treasurer. Once again I have to thank GSC members Trevor Jean Allman said that the account total was near $2300, Getz and David Groff for playing an invaluable role in not including payment for Ghana Studies and the newslet- proof reading this edition of the newsletter. Without their ter. Allman reported that an exact report could not be sharp eyes I would undoubtedly have been embarrassed made because the European treasurer, Anne Hugon, had by the mistakes that would have slipped through. Jean recently given birth and had not been able to provide her Allman, who remains our North American treasurer, also with figures for the European treasury. deserves our thanks. Luckily she too was in Ghana at an The chair announced that two Ghana Studies appropriate time and was able to get the grant to Peter Council sponsored panels would be organized for the Obeng Asamoa without recourse to complicated money 2006 meeting in San Francisco. The theme is “Africa and transactions. Anne Hugon in France remains our European the World.” The chair requested two sponsored panels. treasurer and was able to transfer most of the money that He stated that the first of the 2005 panels had taken place has been languishing in our European account to Jean for in the first slot on Thursday and that the second, consolidation into one single account. “Emerging Health Issues in Ghana,” would take place Finally, I would like to thank Alice Jones-Nelson Saturday at 9:00-11:00 AM in the Embassy Room. of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign for Meeting participants suggested themes for 2006 panels: taking the minutes at the last meeting, and Ama de-Graft “Ghana in the Eighteenth Century Atlantic World” and Aikins of the University of Cambridge for her short article “Precolonial Shrines and Connections Between Shrines on psychology and Africa which I hope will act as an and Government.” The chair expressed appreciation for inspiration to other GSC members to submit similar evalu- precolonial themes, which he observed had been over- ations of their fields to the newsletter. looked in the 2005 program. Also suggested was: “The I hope to see as many GSC members as possible Past, the Present, the Future; and Religion,” and “Past, at the next annual African Studies Association meeting in Present, and Future.” A sign-up sheet was circulated and San Francisco. the chair requested names, addresses, and e-mail addresses. Rebecca Shumway expressed interest in organizing a panel. Ghana Studies Council Meeting at the 48th Annual There was discussion about the difficulty of deal- Meeting of the African Studies Association at the ing with the new ASA online registration system. Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC The chair requested a return to the panel organiz- Friday, November 18, 2005 ing issue. He reminded participants that panel organiza- By Alice Jones-Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana- tion is the responsibility of the panel’s own organizer and Champaign that the panels members themselves must work directly with the ASA. [Panel members must be members of Scheduled to begin at 7:45 PM, the meeting was delayed ASA.] Meeting participants discussed panel organizing. as facilities personnel policed the Truman Room. The The chair reported on the status of the GSC chair, Roger Gocking, announced the need for a temporary newsletter. It had been produced in the past through the recording secretary to take minutes at the meeting. When generosity of the well-established African Studies a volunteer came forward, the chair called the meeting of Programs. The chair pointed out that he did not have the Ghana Studies Council (GSC) to order. access to such funding. How should it be published in the The chair announced the deaths of Professors future? A budget should be determined. The chair report- John Fynn and Francis Agbodeka (October 9). The chair ed that the last newsletter circulated had cost $420. In the announced that obituaries for these two important mem- past, he said, photocopying had been free to the GSC and bers of the history tradition in Ghana were needed for the that mailing to the U. S. membership had been covered by newsletter, and he asked that those who attended the the chair’s department. The U. S. membership generates funeral(s) assist with this endeavor. the most income, the chair stated. Paper selection and The chair announced that the 2006 Historical weight are also financial factors. The newsletter would Society of Ghana meeting would take place during the cost approximately $400. The chair opened the meeting to discussion of the newsletter. 2 A participant asked, “Why not online?” The chair 2001.] The chair asked whether the membership wanted responded that ineptness with the Internet among member- to continue publication of the journal and if so, annually ship could be a factor.

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