Iias Annual Newsletter
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IIAS ANNUAL NEWSLETTER APRIL 2013 Director’s welcome Welcome to IIAS, a very special research instute locat- ed in Accra, but with an internaonal outlook. It brings together scholars based in Ghana and abroad, connects local and internaonal scholarly debates, and facilitates dialogue between researchers and policy makers. Our website and this newsleer provides details of IIAS’s history, vision and mission, research clusters and publi- caons of fellows, so I will use the rest of this brief wel- come address to flag key developments in the past two years. IIAS in August 2011 moved its offices to Internaonal House on the University of Ghana campus. This move has enabled it to benefit from both intellectual and ad- ministrave synergies. With office space and a seminar room/library that seats 50 people comfortably, our move to Legon has promoted our seminars and collo- quia and given us more visibility. Oyarifa connues to funcon as the residenal facility for IIAS. In 2011 we also recruited a dynamic execuve administrator, Sabina Akwei Yeboah, to head our administraon. Our office personnel are bilingual (English and French), reflecng We have also recently appointed Ama de-Gra Aikins to our engagement with our francophone neighbors. serve as deputy director, and are presently expanding our board of advisors. In ending, there are two specific re- IIAS has welcomed a number of new fellows since 2010: search iniaves at the Instute that I would like to flag. Joshua Abor in finance, Lloyd Adu-Amoah in internaon- The first reviews African cies from mul-disciplinary per- al relaons (including China-Africa relaons), and Olivia specves with a focus on everyday life and the semiocs of Kwapong in gender, adult and connuing educaon. urbanism, built environment and the polics of space, This year, we will welcome Edward Kissi into fellowship, town planning, sanitaon and health. The second interro- a diplomac historian with experse in human rights, gates women and economic growth and development in genocide and famine relief. The Instute also affiliates Africa, with parcular emphasis on female entrepreneur- senior scholars in the capacity of “research professors” ship. Here we are especially interested in examining the and younger scholars in the capacity of “vising re- synergies between female economic acvity in the formal searchers.” We welcome opportunies to incubate or and informal economies; how to scale up small and medi- house projects led by foreign-based scholars that mesh um scale enterprises through technology and adult educa- with IIAS’s research agenda. on; and the processes by which female entrepreneurs can In January 2013, I assumed the directorship of the Ins- be relocated from the informal to the formal economies. tute, and would want to express my sincere apprecia- These are excing mes for the Instute and we acvely on for the years of the Instute’s leadership under Ire- encourage collaboraon with other scholars and instu- ne Odotei. ons. Page 2 ABOUT US The Internaonal Instute for the Advanced Study of Cultures, Instuons and Economic Enterprise (IIAS) has been established in Accra, Ghana, to pursue mul-disciplinary research into African cultures, instuons (legal, social, cultur- al, polical, economic, health), enterprise and everyday life as a plaorm for instuonal reform and the creaon of more supple structures to meet new challenges. Its quest is to develop African soluons to African problems, informed by current internaonal scholarship, best policy pracces, and emerging out of dialogue between academic research- ers, policy makers, and government officials. (Read more on www.interias.org.gh) RESEARCH CLUSTERS The instute currently has six research areas which are organised around fellows’ disciplines and areas of experse: (1) Health (2) Finance and Polical Economy (3) Law and Ethics; (4) Gender and Development (5) Cies and Everyday Life (6) Policy and Internaonal Relaons. Generally each research block begins with an internaonal workshop or roundtable, which generates a set of research quesons for fellows to develop projects around. The projects, though framed from the unique perspecves of parcular disciplines, are conceptualized as mul-disciplinary drawing on internal experse and from collaboraons with vising fellows. 1. Health (Prof. Emmanuel Akyeampong and Prof. Ama de-Gra Aikins) 2. Finance and Polical Economy (Prof. Joshua Abor and Dr. William Baah-Boateng) 3. Law and Ethics (Dr. Raymond Atuguba) 4. Gender and Development (Prof. Irene K. Odotei and Prof. Olivia Kwapong) 5. Cies and Everyday Life (Prof. Ato Quayson) 6. Human Rights and Internaonal Relaons (Dr. Lloyd Adu Amoah and Dr. Edward Kissi) IIAS MAJOR CONFERENCES 1. Understanding African Poverty over the Long Duree - July 2010 2. AFRICA’S NEGLECTED EPIDEMIC: Muldisciplinary research, Intervenon and Policy for Chronic Diseases 3. Workshop on Agricultural and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa 4. Africa, Europe and the Americas: 1500 - 1700; A Two Week Workshop Page 3 IIAS Projects Vising Fellows African Humanies Program (AHP) Fellowship Since 2009, IIAS has hosted several Fellows from vari- ous African countries on the African Humanies Pro- gram (AHP). AHP Fellows from other African countries take up resi- dencies with IIAS for a period of about two to three months to enable them carry out their research and wring. The American Council of Learned Sociees (ACLS), in U.S.A provides vising fellows with residen- al spends. Some AHP Fellows and Prof. Irene K. Odotei (2nd left) of IIAS The main objecve of this programme is to foster in a photograph 12-3-2013 scholarly exchange and intellectual community among Fellows of African Humanies. “Internaonal Remiances, Poverty and Inequali- ty, the West Africa Case”. IIAS, in collaboraon with Centre Ivoirien de Re- cherche Econonomiques et Sociales (CIRES), and the Centre for Demographic and Allied Research (CDAR) carried out a study on Internaonal Re- miances, Poverty and Inequality. This three- country study commenced in 2010 and ended in January 2013. The Project was funded by the In- Prof. Emmanuel Akyeampong at a Focus group discussion - ternaonal Development Research Centre (IDRC). Nsawam 20-06-2010 The Project sought to analyse the impact of inter- naonal remiances flow on naonal development in West Africa using Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria as empirical case studies. Page 4 Updates from IIAS Fellows’ latest publicaonsPAGE 4 IIAS is organised around nine fellows with established careers in history, finance, economics, cultural and literary studies, law, gender and policy studies, social psychology and health and internaonal relaons. Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong’s publicaons (2010 – present) Books Emmanuel Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Chief Editors), Diconary of African Biography, 6 Vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Emmanuel Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates Jr., “African Lives: An Introducon,” in Akyeampong and Gates, eds., Diconary of African Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), xxix-xxiv. Journals “For Prayer and Profit: West Africa’s Religious and Economic Ties to the Gulf 1960s to the Present.” Journal of African Develop- ment, 12:1 (Spring 2010), 7-20. “‘Diasporas’, Mobility and the Social Imaginary: Geng Ahead in West Africa.” Journal of Third World Studies, 27:1 (Spring 2010), 25-41. “Africa, the Arabian Gulf and Asia: Changing Dynamics in Contemporary West Africa’s Polical Economy,” Journal of African Devel- opment, 13: 1 (Spring 2011), 73-105. Emmanuel Akyeampong and Hippolyte Fofack, “The Contribuon of African Women to Economic Growth and Development: His- torical Perspecves and Policy Implicaons – Part I: The Pre-colonial and Colonial Periods.” World Bank, Policy Research Working Pa- per, WPS 6051, April 2012. “Ties that Bound: Slave Concubines/Wives and the End of Slavery in the Gold Coast, c.1874-1900,” in Anne V. Adams, ed., Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70 (Oxfordshire: Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd., 2012), 231-40. “The African Voice in African Studies To- day,” in Helen Lauer and Kofi Anyidoho, eds., Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanies through African Perspecves, 2 Vols. (Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2012), 2: 982-989. Professor Irene K. Odotei Professor Odotei is the author of several publicaons, including Sea Power, Money Power: Migraon of Gha- naian Fishermen and Women to the Republic of Benin (2000); The Arsanal Marine Fishing Industry: A His- torical Review (2002); and Royal Rites: Death, Burial and Installaon of an Asante King (2001). Her film docu- mentaries have reviewed the funeral of the late Asantehene (King of Asante) Opoku Ware II and the installa- on of the present Asantehene Osei Tutu II. Some of her film documentaries include: ‘Odupon Kesie Etutu’, (A Mighty tree has Fallen), A Video Documentary on the death and burial of the late Otumfuo Opoku- Ware II, Asantehene. Execuve Producer Producer/Coordinator ‘Go Mu Brebre’ - AYIKESIE (The Great Funeral), A Video Documentary on the final funeral rites for the late Otumfuo Opoku Ware II. Fetu Afahye, A video documentary of the Fetu fesval of the Chiefs and people of the Oguaa Tradional Area Afro European relaons, slave trade, collaboraon and trade. Professor Ato Quayson’s publicaons (2010 – present) Page 5 Books Oxford St., Accra: Urban Evoluon, Street Life and Transnaonalism. In press (Duke University Press, 2013). Blackwell Companion to Diaspora and Transnaonalism Studies, ed. with Girish Daswani. In press (New York: Blackwell, 2013). The Cambridge History of Postcolonial Literature, ed., 2