Browsing by Author "Owoahene-Acheampong, S."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    African Studies: Knowledge Production and Beyond
    (2015) Owoahene-Acheampong, S.; Gordon, J.U.
    The field of African Studies has emerged in recent years (1960s and 1970s) from obscurity to global recognition as an intellectual area of inquiry. It offers academic and career opportunities in advanced studies, ranging from certificates and diplomas to the bachelors, masters, doctorate degrees and post-doctorate work. Like other disciplines, African Studies as a multi- disciplinary area is engaged in research/knowledge production, teaching and public service. Yet a review of related literature in the field suggests that many critical challenges remain. It is hypothesized in this paper that until African Studies extends beyond knowledge production the field is unlikely to make significant and meaningful impact on African sustainable development.
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    Keeping faith with the ancestors: the preservation and practice of African traditions among the Maroons of Suriname
    (2010) Owoahene-Acheampong, S.
    The Maroons of Suriname, descendants of slaves of West African origin transported to the Americas, have since maintained their ideology of Africanness and their desire to return to Africa. They cherish the values of self-respect, self-dignity, self-confidence and self-determination that their ancestors once cherished, and their disregard for Western superiority and imposition appear to have been the motivation to resist oppression, and it explains their flight from the slave masters, and their maintenance of African traditions in the New World. The capacity of the ancestors of the Maroons to demand respect and dignity from the slave masters not only compelled plantation owners, their erstwhile Caucasian masters, to sue for peace by treaties, but also to give ‘periodic “tribute”’ to their former slaves. And this legacy has molded and shaped the Maroons of Suriname over time. Given this cultural tenacity it is suggested that the imminent death of the cultural life of the Maroons of Suriname cannot be in sight, despite exposure to and pressure of other ways of life.
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    Recognition and Integration of Traditional Medicine in Ghana: A Perspective
    (Research Review, 2010) Owoahene-Acheampong, S.; Vasconi, E.
    The paper examines the processes of recognition and legitimization of traditional medicine in Ghana and indicates that in Ghana, indigenous medicine has been used as an instrument to help develop political consensus and consciousness and in the building of a national identity. The Ghanaian government recognizes traditional medicine and has a policy for the integration of indigenous medicine; the paper shows that the policy limits traditional medicine almost exclusively to herbal products and the scientific elements of it without taking into consideration its other dimensions of treating illnesses. Thus the policy leads to bureaucratization of traditional medicine. The paper calls for a policy of integration that will promote a parallel and full development of both orthodox and indigenous therapeutic traditions to enable them to continue to provide the health care needs of the people. Résumé Cet article analyse les processus de reconnaissance et de légitimisation de la médicine traditionnelle au Ghana et postule qu’au Ghana la médicine indigène permet non seulement de forger le consensus politique et la conscience politique mais aussi d’édifier une identité nationale. Le gouvernement ghanéen reconnait la médicine traditionnelle et a mis en place des politiques en faveur de l’intégration de la médicine traditionnelle. Il ressort dans cet article que ladite politique limite la médicine traditionnelle quasi exclusivement à des produits à base d’herbes et à leurs éléments scientifiques sans prendre en compte ses autres dimensions thérapeutiques. Aussi la politique mène-t-elle à la bureaucratisation de la médicine traditionnelle. L’article plaide en faveur d’une politique d’intégration apte à promouvoir le développement parallèle des traditions thérapeutiques orthodoxe et traditionnelle en vue d’assurer aux populations des soins médicaux durables.