DOCSLIB.ORG

Performing Culture

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Performing Culture Symposium Performing Culture. The Politics and Aesthetics of Cultural Expression in Contemporary Ghana Amsterdam, 13 & 14 June 2002. Report 1. Introduction In the context of the 2001/2002 celebrations of 300 years of diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Netherlands, the Netherlands-based Ghana Studies Group took the initiative to organize an international symposium on 'Performing Culture. The Politics and Aesthetics of Cultural Expression in Contemporary Ghana'. Generously sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the symposium took place at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam on 13 and 14 June 2002. It included a number of prominent Ghanaian, Dutch and other international scholars and a variety of cultural performances, images and artefacts were presented to a broad audience. This report reviews the symposium's proceedings and presents some of the insights gained from the scholarly and public discussions. 2. Organization and set-up A scientific and organizing committee was formed out of the membership of the Ghana Studies Group whose responsibility it was to take the initiative further, to discuss budgeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - more specifically its project bureau dealing with the tercentenary celebrations - and to liaise with the international scholars who had been invited to take part in the symposium. This committee consisted of Dr. R. van Dijk (ASC), chair, Dr. B. Meyer (UvA), Dr. V. Mazzucato (VU, UvA), Drs. M. Steegstra (KUN) and Mr. J. Nuamah (a representative of the Ghanaian community of the Hague). In its composition the committee reflected the various institutes and. organizations collaborating in the symposium. It liased with KIT for the actual logistics of the conference as well as for the organization of the performances on stage that formed part of the symposium. The committee received secretarial and administrative support from the ASC. The ASC also took on responsibility for the symposium’s budget and has already submitted a financial report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (letter dated 12 September 2002, ref. B02.026/080.1). Rijk van Dijk, African Studies Centre, initiator of the symposium. Ato Quayson, Director African Studies Programme, University of Cambridge. The symposium consisted of two distinct but complementary parts: on the one hand sessions of scholarly reflections on the theme of the conference, and on the other a number of presentations of examples of present-day popular culture in Ghana and in the Ghanaian diaspora. For the academic sessions, a number of distinguished Ghanaian scholars were invited from Ghana, the U.K. and the U.S. and speakers also came from other European countries such as Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In addition, Mr. K. Fletcher, representing some of the Ghanaian organizations in Amsterdam, was invited to chair one of the sessions. The performance sessions included the featuring of highlife music by a Ghanaian musical group, the screening of a documentary film on the development of highlife music as a popular form of performing culture in Ghana, the reading of poetry by one of Ghana's most prominent poets, and a visit to the KIT children’s museum which has displays of the heritage of chiefly traditions in Ghana. The programme opened with a word of welcome by the Ghanaian ambassador to the Netherlands, Her Excellency Dr. Grace Amponsah-Ababio. As the programme (see appendix) shows, the key-note address was delivered by Prof. Dr. A Quayson, the director of the Africa studies programme at Cambridge University. The following scholars and papers were presented in the academic sessions: - Dr. J. Collins (Ghana) 'Ghanaian Christianity and popular entertainment: full circle' - Dr. K. Senah (Ghana) 'In the name of Jesus: health seeking and Pente-charismatic movements in Ghana' - Dr. B. Sackey (Ghana) 'Charismatic Churches as Expression of Popular Culture: The Art of Testimony - Giving in African Religious Movements in Ghana. - Prof. Dr. A. Okai (Ghana) 'The Politics of Poetic Aesthetics and the Ideostructural Symbolism in the Works of Atukwei Okai' - Dr. S. Clarke-Ekong (USA) 'Reflection, reconciliation, and renaissance: Ghanaian Festivals Live On' - Dr. J. Hasty (USA) 'Tourism, Asante, and the Performance of Wealth: National Culture and Transnational Heritage in Ghana' - V. Arlt, MA (Switzerland) „The Scholars’ Dance”. Popular Culture and the Appropriation of Christianity on the South-eastern Gold Coast, c.1890-1918. - Prof. Dr. A. Quayson (UK) 'Conversions of the Gift: Preface to an analysis of Ghanaian Popular Culture' - Dr. K. Schramm (Germany) 'From the Ghana dance ensemble to the national dance company: the dynamics of changing cultural representations' - Dr. R. van Dijk & J. Nuamah (Netherlands) 'Radiating Culture: Ghanaian migrant radio and the transmission of culture in the diaspora' - M. Kraamer, MA (Netherlands) 'The Internationalisation of Kente' - Dr. B. Meyer (Netherlands) 'Fighting the Devil on Screen. Ghanaian videofilms and the representation of local religious traditions' - M. Steegstra, MA (Netherlands) "Modify Cultural Practices!" Dipo Rites, Krobo Identity, and the National Politics of Culture The presentation of popular culture involved a performance of the highlife band 'Sankofa', the screening of a film by Theo Uittenbogaard on the history of highlife in Ghana and the reading of poetry by Prof. Dr. Atukwai Okai during the first day. On the second day a visit to the KIT children's museum took place which included a guided tour through an exhibition about the Asantehene's Palace. Publicity for the symposium was organized jointly by KIT, the ASC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which produced the conference programme and invitation cards. In addition, Africa Server included the symposium in its Ghana-Netherlands 300 years portal and played an important role in passing on the programme to a national and international audience. The organizing committee was pleased to note that in the course of the two-day programme the symposium attracted more than 100 persons. The convenors wish to congratulate the KIT on the way in which it dealt with the logistics of the programme and thank the ASC for its secretarial and administrative support. 3. Contents and insights The symposium highlighted the fact that contemporary Ghana is marked by a tremendous creativity in the field of cultural expression channelled through film, video, theatre, dance, music, art and writing that draws large audiences and closely relates to people’s everyday lives. The liberalization and commercialization of the mass media, instigated by Ghana’s return to a democratic constitution in 1992, have resulted in new forms of popular culture on a variety of fronts. An important feature of popular creativity is the masterful combination of typically Western and distinctively Ghanaian features, the capacity to incorporate the foreign and yet retain a locally grounded cultural identity. The Ghanaian music and video industry as well as dance and theatre have successfully tapped into global forms such as rap, hip-hop, soaps etc. and have created many forms of exchange with comparable arenas elsewhere, extending beyond the West African region. And despite the tough economic situation, many of Ghana’s cultural festivals have become part and parcel of the international tourist industry and attract large numbers of visitors from the West. Much of what is articulated on the various TV and radio stations, in theatres and in popular magazines is not only the talk of the day but touches upon cultural, economic, moral and even political concerns. Four of the presentations at the symposium demonstrated that, interestingly, the Pentecostal charismatic churches, which are very popular in Ghana (and also in the diaspora), have jumped on the bandwagon of popular culture and given it further impetus. Many Pentecostal charismatic churches that have emerged in the country seek to promote their own music and video industry, put out their own magazines and have their own TV and radio shows. The distinct moral message implied may, in some instances, run counter to the cultural projects of the nation-state. Taking up the Akan symbol of Sankofa (a bird turning its head back to its tail, meaning ‘Go back and take it!’), this cultural project has sought to emphasize the importance of incorporating the Ghanaian heritage, its traditional culture and religion. In Ghana, culture has increasingly become a domain of conflict and contestation, of challenge and power brokerage. These rapid developments in the area of culture were the focus of the symposium. Extending beyond Ghana, the symposium showed that in the diaspora and particularly in the Netherlands there is a growing fascination with Ghanaian popular culture, as evidenced by museum exhibitions, Ghana video festivals, and exchanges at the level of media training and development aid. This popular display of creativity is, however, made subject to critiques and debates in Ghana from two angles: one is the nation-state which is interested in promoting its own policies of cultural politics in which the creation of a national identity is made central. In the dominant view of the state, popular culture is often viewed as nothing more than 'just entertainment' and for this reason, the symposium highlighted the fact that the Ghanaian government has decided to implement a so-called 'entertainment tax'. The effects of tax levies on music, drama or other popular performances are however dramatic, as expenses are increasing both for performers as well as for audiences, thereby turning popular culture into an increasingly risky financial adventure. Grace Amponsah Abibio, ambassador of Ghana in the Netherlands. James Nuamah, Afristar The Hague The second problematic the symposium discussed was the persisting distinction policy-makers and others tend to make between 'high culture' and performing culture through which often normative perceptions transpire of why the one should be supported and not the other. This issue was hotly debated at the symposium, thereby demonstrating that even academics can be divided over the perceived or desired morality cultural performance adheres or must adhere to.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Volume 42, No. 4, 2008
    the FALL/WINTER 2008 AMERICAN Volume 42, No. 4 PSYCHOANALYST Quarterly Magazine of The American Psychoanalytic Association Law and Order Taps Infant-Mother INSIDE TAP... Paradigm Research Winter Meeting Ed Tronick Highlights . 8–15 In 2007 research on my still-face infant- biological systems. These principles teach us Soldiers & Veterans mother paradigm was featured on the “Cage” that as open, complex systems, we humans Initiative . 15 episode of Law and Order, Special Victims Unit. connect with one another to maximize the Certainly I had never entertained the idea organizational complexity, coherence, integra- Special Section: that my laboratory research would make it to tion, and flexibility of our sense of ourselves Reflections prime time.Yet there it was. For the program, in the world. We thrive in the messiness of it was used to illustrate the damaging effects human connection and without it, we wither. on Education . 18–19 of poor parenting on children. For me, it In this regard, for example, I see Psyche’s story APsaA Fellows . 23–25 illustrated how children try to make sense as a canonical myth because she acts in the out of the senselessness and the lack of shared most human of ways: as a seeker expanding Empirical Research . 26 meanings they may experience growing up. I the complexity of her sense of herself, accord- thought about something Arnold Modell has ing to Carol Gilligan. She understands that Saint Elizabeths . 27 said,“The vitality of the private self depends on striving for and creating the new requires risk- the capacity to generate meaning; the inability ing the old and that it may bring deep and Notes on a Scandal .
    [Show full text]
  • This Guide Presents a Three-Week Unit on the Needed, Activities
    DOCUMENT RESUME PD 189 004 SO 012 699 AUTHOR Scaife, Rugenal Rich TITLE A Look at the Literature of an AfricanPeople: The Ashanti of Ghana. An Instructional Unit for Eleventh Grade English. INSTITUTION Illinois Univ., Urbana. African Studies Program. SPONS AGENCY National Endowment for the Humanities (NFAH) , Washington, D.C. PJB DATE Jul 78 NOTE 23p.: For related documents, see SO 012 684-70.3.. Not available in paper copy from EDRS due to poor reprodutibility of some pages in the original document. EDPS. PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *African Culture: *African Literature: *Area Studies: *Cultural Awareness: Educational Objectives; Folk Culture: Grade 11: Learning Activities: Resource Materials: Secondary Education: Teacher Developed Materials: Teaching Methods: Units of Study IDENT7FIEFS Ghana ABSTRACT This guide presents a three-week unit on the literature of Ghana. It is designed as part of an eleventhgrade world literature course. General oblectives includehaving students identify, the literature of Africa with the outstandingliterature of the world, change negative attitudes about ATrica, andprovide a broad view of the lifestyles cf Africa. Theunit is composed of'15 lessons. Students are introduced to an overview of Africaafter which they examine the life of the Ashanti of Ghana, theoral tradition ir African literature, and Ghanian cral narratives, shortstories, poetry, and drama. Activities includenotetaking, discussion, research, oral play reading, map work, written reports,and filmstrip viewing. Fach lesson outl4.nes objectives, procedures, materials needed, activities, and suggestions forevaluation. A bibliography of required readings is also included. (KC) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * * from the original document.
    [Show full text]
  • Creating a Socialist Intelligentsia Soviet Educational Aid and Its Impact on Africa (1960-1991)
    Constantin Katsakioris Creating a Socialist Intelligentsia Soviet Educational Aid and its Impact on Africa (1960-1991) On June 1st, 1951, the Secretary General of the Nigerian Trade Union of Agricultural and Forestry Workers, Ilio Bosi, addressed a letter to the head of the World Federation of Trade Unions, the Frenchman Louis Saillant, with a concrete request. After thanking him for the scholarships Nigerians had been granted by East Germany, Bosi praised the work of his fellow trade unionist Nduka Eze and asked for a scholarship that would allow Eze to pursue his studies “in the School of Political Sciences and Economics of Moscow University.”1 The letter reached Moscow soon afterwards yet, as was the case with other similar early African requests, this one was not met with approval. The issue of scholarships was repeatedly raised by dele- gations from colonial Africa, which had started visiting the USSR, after the death of Joseph Stalin (1953), the Soviet endorsement of the Bandung Conference (1955) and of the Afro-Asian movement. Nevertheless, as his- torians Apollon Davidson and Sergey Mazov (1999: 158-168, 324-327) have documented, the decisions to foster political and cultural ties with Sub- Saharan Africa and to offer Africans scholarships for study at Soviet univer- sities were taken by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) only between 1958 and 1959, and implemented without delay. In September 1960, the famous Peoples’ Friendship University (Universitet Druzˇby Narodov, hereafter “UDN”), a school reserved for students from “developing countries,” opened its doors in Moscow and welcomed 179 Africans, as well as 231 Asians, 182 Latin Americans, and 60 more students from the countries of the Middle East.
    [Show full text]
  • Deconstructing the Terrible Gift of Postcolonial African Lives: an Intertextual Reading of Martin Egblewogbe’S Mr
    Adika, P. K./Legon Journal of the Humanities Vol. 32.1 (2021) DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ljh.v32i1.2 Deconstructing the terrible gift of postcolonial African lives: An intertextual reading of Martin Egblewogbe’s Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God & Other Stories. Prince Kwame Adika Lecturer Department of English University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana Email: [email protected] Submitted: December 21, 2020 / Accepted: May 14, 2021/ Published: August 27, 2021 Abstract This paper situates Martin Egblewogbe’s short story collection Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God & Other Stories (2008) within intertextual discourses as they relate to the tri-generational canon of Ghanaian, and by extension, African literature. It argues against the easy temptation of reading the work via uncontextualized metaphysical or existentialist paradigms, or what Wole Soyinka (1976) refers to as the undifferentiated mono-lenses of “universal humanoid abstractions,” and instead situates it within the Ghanaian tradition by pointing out the collection’s filiation to the specific trope of madness-as-a subversive-performance-of-resilience against the oppressive socio-political status quo in that tradition. The paper excavates the works of first generation postcolonial Ghanaian authors such as Armah, Awoonor and Aidoo, and reads Egblewogbe’s relatively recent debut oeuvre against them in a grounded epistemic manoeuvre that fractures assumptions about the work’s uniqueness and places it in on-going trans-generational dialogic exchanges about how to negotiate the fractious crucible that is postcolonial Ghanaian experience. Keywords: post-colonial, Ghanaian tradition, intertextuality, trigenerational, resilience Legon Journal of the Humanities 32.1 (2021) Page 27 Adika, P.
    [Show full text]
  • Politics and the Development of Modern African Poetry
    English Language and Literature Studies; Vol. 3, No. 1; 2013 ISSN 1925-4768 E-ISSN 1925-4776 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Politics and the Development of Modern African Poetry Friday A. Okon1 1 Department of English, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria Correspondence: Friday A. Okon, Department of English, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria. Tel: 234-802-374-3852, 234-806-749-6485. E-mail: [email protected] Received: December 13, 2012 Accepted: February 7, 2013 Online Published: February 22, 2013 doi:10.5539/ells.v3n1p94 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ells.v3n1p94 Abstract Modern African poetry is poetry of commitment, and therefore, it has utilitarian value. It began as an intellectual response to the denigration of Africa and Africans by the white colonizers. From this point, there has been no going back, as African poetry has continued to be pressed into the service of the politics of the continent with a view to changing the prevailing poor conditions of the masses who suffer neglect at the hands of their ruling elite. However, in the current globalised world driven by ICT, focus has shifted to mirroring the degradation of the environment as a way of galvanizing political action towards preserving the ecosystem for the survival of man. This paper examines the relationship between politics and modern African poetry, from West to East and Southern Africa, and posits that politics is the substance while poetry is the vehicle of expression. Keywords: politics, African, poetry, commitment, development, modern 1. Introduction Modern African poetry, as any other poetry all over the world, has been used to express various emotions and themes ranging from love, death of a loved one, hope and faith, to praise of nature, amongst others; however, the political theme has tended to dominate it.
    [Show full text]
  • Nkyin-Kyin : Essays on the Ghanaian Theatre
    Nkyin-Kyin ross Readings in the Post / Colonial C ultures Literatures in English 98 Series Editors Gordon Collier †Hena Maes–Jelinek Geoffrey Davis (Giessen) (Liège) (Aachen) Nkyin-Kyin Essays on the Ghanaian Theatre James Gibbs Amsterdam - New York, NY 2009 The meaning of the Nkyinkyin Adinkra symbol on the cover is ‘changing one’s self and playing many roles’. The icon represents fertility, growth and development as well as the promotion of a sense of health, safety and security. Cover design: Gordon Collier & Pier Post The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents - Requirements for permanence”. ISBN: 978-90-420-2517-2 ©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam – New York, NY 2009 Printed in The Netherlands Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements xi Introduction: Theatre in Ghana xiii OUTSIDERS AND ACTIVISTS 1 Alec Dickson: Propaganda and Mass Communication 3 2 Ken Pickering: Who Is Kofe Basake? ‘Village Drama’ in Ghana 17 3 Félix Morisseau–Leroy: “Where people are free they will remember me” 25 INTERCULTURAL ENCOUNTERS 4 Antigone and Her African Sisters: West African Versions of a Greek Original 33 5 The Fifth Landing-Stage: Reading and Re-Reading Across Cultures 55 PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS 6 Efua Sutherland: The ‘Mother’ of the National Theatre Movement 91 7 What is Married in The Marriage of Anansewa and Who Performed the Wedding Ceremony? 127 8 The Call to the Priesthood and Other Stories in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Anowa 143 9 Joe de Graft: A Theatrical Prophet with Strange Honours 155 PLAYERS AND PLAYMAKING 10 The Legon 7: The Story of a Campus Drama Group (October 1968–June 1970) 173 11 Victim of the Third World War: Filmmaking in Ghana: The Dying of the Light (1994) 203 General Bibliography 219 Efua Theodora Sutherland: A Bibliography of Primary Materials, with a Checklist of Secondary Sources 229 Preface HIS COLLECTION brings together essays written over a thirty- five-year period.
    [Show full text]
  • Curfew's Children
    Curfew’s Children A memoir about childhood and coming of age in Ghana PhD Dissertation in Communications University of Canberra Faculty of Arts and Design September 2013 Written by Kabu Okai-Davies Curfew’s Children A memoir about childhood and coming of age in Ghana PhD Creative Dissertation & Exegesis: Oral tradition and Auto/Biographical narration in Ghanaian identity. Doctor of Philosophy in (Creative Writing) Communications By Kabu Okai-Davies BPhil (Honours), UC; Master of Creative Writing, UC; Master of Studies, ANU Supervisors: Dr Adam Dickerson Prof. Jen Webb University of Canberra ACT, Australia | Page iii Table of Contents: Declaration xi Dedication xiii Curfew’s Children, an Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Chronicle of a Curfew Foretold 5 Chapter 2: The Dream within a Womb 21 Chapter 3: The Last of the Professional Polygamists 29 Chapter 4: The Life and Times of the Man called Ezekiel 39 Chapter 5: A Woman called Auntie Teacher – A Tribute to My Mother 49 Chapter 6: The History of the Okai-Davies Family 69 Chapter 7: A Name that Symbolises Money 79 Chapter 8: Second Chance at Love: Enter the Rev. Nii Commey Okai-Tetteh 83 Chapter 9: England in My Dreams 91 Chapter 10: A Place Called St. John’s Preparatory Primary School 107 Chapter 11: Growing up a St. John’s Boy 125 Chapter 12: Auntie Akua and my Kente Cloth 141 Chapter 13: How Art Saved My Life 147 Chapter 14: The Memory Pillow and the Education of a Storyteller 159 Chapter 15: Beyond St. John’s – From Ayalolo to Adabraka 171 Chapter 16: Father Figure to a Forsaken Son 187 Chapter 17: The School that Made Me Who I Am 203 | Page vii Exegesis: Exegetical Component - Front Page 209 Introduction 211 Section 1: Structure and overview 217 Section 2: Transcending the Past, Embracing the future: Orality and Literacy in Ghana 223 Section 3: Reading Walter J.
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret Walker Center Archives and Records Division Dr. Julius Eric Thompson Papers Page 1 of 244 MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION Collec
    Margaret Walker Center Archives and Records Division Dr. Julius Eric Thompson Papers MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION Collection Title: Dr. Julius Eric Thompson Papers Dates Covered: ca. 1968-2007, n.d. Collection Number: AF040 Creator: Dr. Julius Eric Thompson, 1946-2007 Volume: Approximately 165 linear feet Language: In English Original (x) Duplicate (x) Microcopy(x) Photocopy (x) Provenance: This Collection was donated to the Margaret Walker Center by Ms. Lee Ethel Thompson, sister of the late Dr. Julius Eric Thompson, on January 23, 2008. Summary: The Dr. Julius Eric Thompson Papers contains, letters, manuscripts, personal items, newspaper clippings, books, teaching material, research material and other items that document the life and work of scholar, teacher, poet, Dr. Julius Eric Thompson. Information Regarding Access: This collection is open for research. The collection is located on the first floor of the Margaret Walker Center in Ayer Hall, Jackson State University. Ownership & Copyright Copyright Warning: This Material may be protected by Copyright Law (Title 17 U. S. Code) The Dr. Julius Eric Thompson Papers are the physical property of the Margaret Walker Center and copyright to Dr. Thompson’s original work belongs to the Margaret Walker Center. Literary rights, including copyright, to the creative works of others contained in the Dr. Julius Eric Thompson Papers belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, contact the appropriate author or estate. Cite As Dr. Julius Eric Thompson Papers, Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University Page 1 of 244 Margaret Walker Center Archives and Records Division Dr. Julius Eric Thompson Papers DR. JULIUS ERIC THOMPSON (1946-2007) Creator History: Will replace Weems bio with bio prepared by Alex Morphew Excerpted from Robert Weems’ tribute to Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • [Ghanabib 1819 – 1979 Prepared 23/11/2011] [Ghanabib 1980 – 1999 Prepared 30/12/2011] [Ghanabib 2000 – 2005 Prepared 03/03
    [Ghanabib 1819 – 1979 prepared 23/11/2011] [Ghanabib 1980 – 1999 prepared 30/12/2011] [Ghanabib 2000 – 2005 prepared 03/03/2012] [Ghanabib 2006 – 2009 prepared 09/03/2012] GHANAIAN THEATRE A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES A WORK IN PROGRESS BY JAMES GIBBS File Ghana. Composite on ‘Ghana’ 08/01/08 Nolisment Publications 2006 edition The Barn, Aberhowy, Llangynidr Powys NP8 1LR, UK 9 ISBN 1-899990-01-1 The study of their own ancient as well as modern history has been shamefully neglected by educated inhabitants of the Gold Coast. John Mensah Sarbah, Fanti National Constitution. London, 1906, 71. This document is a response to a need perceived while teaching in the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, during 1994. In addition to primary material and articles on the theatre in Ghana, it lists reviews of Ghanaian play-texts and itemizes documents relating to the Ghanaian theatre held in my own collection. I have also included references to material on the evolution of the literary culture in Ghana, and to anthropological studies. The whole reflects an awareness of some of the different ways in which ‘theatre’ has been defined over the decades, and of the energies that have been expended in creating archives and check-lists dedicated to the sister of arts of music and dance. It works, with an ‘inclusive’ bent, on an area that focuses on theatre, drama and performance studies. When I began the task I found existing bibliographical work, for example that of Margaret D. Patten in relation to Ghanaian Imaginative Writing in English, immensely useful, but it only covered part of the area of interest.
    [Show full text]
  • Fontom From: Contemporary Ghanaian Literature, Theatre and Film'
    H-AfrLitCine Dugga on Anyidoho and Gibb, 'Fontom from: Contemporary Ghanaian Literature, Theatre and Film' Review published on Saturday, September 1, 2001 Kofi Anyidoho, James Gibb, eds. Fontom from: Contemporary Ghanaian Literature, Theatre and Film. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 2000. 383 pp. $28.00 (paper), ISBN 978-90-420-1273-8. Reviewed by Victor S. Dugga (Department of Theatre and Communication Arts, University of Jos, Nigeria) Published on H-AfrLitCine (September, 2001) Royal Drums for Ghana's Arts Royal Drums for Ghana's Arts The appearance of this volume of Matatu, with special focus on Ghana, fills an empty space that existed in the study of African literatures. The subtle slide of Ghana's status in the literary developments from the 1980s seemed to be caused deliberately by the little critical attention given it. This was the country that first opened the floodgate of political independence movement in Africa that was to lead to the now popular "postcolonial" theory. It was the home of Kwame Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism, which has continued to survive in various shades, without commensurate focus on its nursery bed. This is the country that gave us J.E. Casely-Hayford, J.B. Danquah, Joe de Graft, R.E.G. Armattoe, Efua Sutherland, Ayi Kwei Armah, Kofi Awoonor, Kwesi Brew, Ama Ata Aidoo, Mohammed Ben Abdallah and the list is endless. It also continues its pioneering role in Africanism with the introduction in the last decade of PANAFEST. As if to underline this missing link, the work was dedicated to the memory of Efua Sutherland who died since 1996.
    [Show full text]
  • Food Taboos Among Residents at Ashongman - Accra, Ghana
    Food Science and Quality Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6088 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0557 (Online) Vol.15, 2013 Food taboos among residents at Ashongman - Accra, Ghana Cynthia Gadegbeku, * Rabaa Wayo, Gifty Ackah – Badu, Emefa Nukpe, Atukwei Okai, Department of Family & Consumer Sciences, College of Agric. & Consumer Sciences, University of Ghana, P.O. Box 91, Legon, Accra - Ghana *E-mail of corresponding author: [email protected] Abstract A cross sectional survey was conducted in Ashongman Village with the aim of investigating respondents’ knowledge, the extent of belief, reasons (if any) behind their existence and knowledge about the effects of food taboos. A total of 200 adults selected purposively were interviewed. Data collected was coded, entered and analyzed using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (S.P.S.S. Version 18). The Pearson’s chi-square test was used to test the relationship between education, ethnic groups and the belief and adherence to food taboos. Most respondents were females (55%), 30 years and above (67%), single (59%) , Christians (93%) and some form of formal education. The study sample belonged to varied ethnic groups with the main group being Akans (47%). Analysis of the data revealed 60% of respondents had knowledge about food taboos but only 37% actually believed and adhered to them. Fifty-seven (57%) of foods prohibited were of animal origin whiles 43% were of plant origin. Various reasons ranging from cultural, religious, health, magical thinking, ethics, sympathy and compassion were given to explain the prevalence and adherence to food taboos. It was also realized that most respondents had knowledge about the harmful effect of the adherence to food taboos.
    [Show full text]
  • Cahiers D'études Africaines, VIII (3), 31 : 327-368
    Cahiers d’études africaines 226 | 2017 Élites de retour de l’Est Édition électronique URL : http://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/20660 DOI : 10.4000/etudesafricaines.20660 ISSN : 1777-5353 Éditeur Éditions de l’EHESS Édition imprimée Date de publication : 1 juillet 2017 ISBN : 978-2-7132-2688-5 ISSN : 0008-0055 Référence électronique Cahiers d’études africaines, 226 | 2017, « Élites de retour de l’Est » [En ligne], mis en ligne le 01 juillet 2019, consulté le 24 septembre 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/20660 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.20660 Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 24 septembre 2020. © Cahiers d’Études africaines 1 Dès 1960 et durant la Guerre froide, de très nombreux étudiants africains, mais aussi des militants de partis d’opposition et des combattants de mouvements de libération sont partis suivre une formation en URSS, et dans les pays de l’Est ainsi qu’à Cuba et en Chine, ce qui répondait à la demande des nouveaux États confrontés à la pénurie de cadres au lendemain des Indépendances, et à la politique de « l’amitié entre les peuples ». Cette coopération inédite a pris des formes multiples : soutien aux mouvements de la libération, partenariat formalisé entre États et elle a eu un grand impact sur le devenir de nouvelles élites africaines. Ce numéro rend compte d’expériences diverses et analyse des situations susceptibles d’éclairer la formation et la circulation des cadres experts et « rouges ». Cahiers d’études africaines, 226 | 2017 2 SOMMAIRE Quelles
    [Show full text]