Institute of African Studies
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Item The Bureau Of African Affairs In The Kwame Nkrumah Administration From 1951 - 1966 With a (Descriptive) Guide For Its Archives(University Of Ghana, 1990-09) Mensah, T.J.JThe events that took that place of African Affairs may be said to have been motivated by the realization that new states if Africa, though independent, were constrained by the international environment, but that within those constraints ( and others dictated by physical resources and human capabilities), there remained a degree of choice for African leaders to fashion their government,s policies to meet continental demands. Consequently, Kwame Nkrumah establish the Bureau of African Affairs in order to expedite the Fulfilment of the pan-African dream for the achievement of the total liberation of Africa from alien rule and domination, and for the enhancement of the dignity of the blackman anywhere in the world. Strictly speaking this study is not yet another thesis on Kwame Nkrumah. Rather, it is a b study of an almost forgotten, but nonetheless important political institution established under his administration in pursuit of his African objectives. Inspite of the acclaimed achievements of the bureau of African Affairs in the sphere of African liberation, the organization collapsed with the government which gave birth to it. It dubbed as an organ of Nkrumah,s subversive activities in Africa. The discusses the evolution of the burean in Ghana and Shows the impediments it encountered in adapting its methods to face the challenges of the changes envisaged by the pan-African ideal on the continent. In addition, the records drawn up or used during the bureau s administrative or executive transactions have been appraised and described in this study. Finally, the study makes a number of conclusions regarding the fashioning of the bureau to play the role of coordinating aid to African Liberation MovementsItem Afrofuturism: The Changing Narrative And The African Youth(University Of Ghana, 2020) Komey, A.N.AThe premiere of Black Panther in 2018 by Marvel Studios threw more light on a genre of literature and popular art that was fast gaining popularity on the African continent. The booming success of the film drew the attention of many, especially young people in Africa and in the diaspora, to the new genre, albeit subtly. This genre’s goal is to rewrite the history of black people, which is often told in a myopic western lens, as well as put a black face in the future, through the use of fantasy, speculative art and science fiction. This is an eclectic study touching on literature, history, political studies, sociology and popular culture. It looks at the role played by the speculative imagination in the cultural emancipation narrative of the continent. The study also investigates the potential of this genre in aiding to achieve Pan Africanism. This study is an exploratory research that uses the qualitative research tools; interviews and content analysis to collect and analyse information. Young people from across the African continent and in the African American diaspora were interviewed to examine their response to the impact of Afrofuturism in African popular culture and how it influences identity and Pan African solidarity The study revealed that some of the objectives that the genre seeks to achieve are being met, and even being exceeded. However, there are serious concerns about the danger of promulgating an interrupted and skewed history of black people by producers and content creators especially in the diaspora. Thus, artists and others in Africa hold a different view about how the genre should develop on the continent in the future. The study concludes with recommendations on how the genre can be moved promoted to increase its impact in achieving its objectives.Item Prophetess Laura Adorkor Kofi And The Back To Africa Mission: A Ghanaian Perspective(University Of Ghana, 2022-09) Atta-Asiedu, K.A.This diesis is a contribution to the discourse on Laura Adorkor Kofi and her hack-to-Africa vision, The thesis engages in textual analysis of studies that have been done on Laura Kuti and explores grey areas covering her identity and Ghanaian citizenship. It engages in a comparative analysis of the various methodologies adopted by scholars who have studied Laura Kofi, and makes a case for the importance of oral narratives in accessing information about Laura Adorkor Kofi’s Ghanaian ancestry. The thesis is in two parts: The first part studies Laura Kofi from die United States of America perspective, while die second part studies Laura Kofi from the Ghanaian perspective. The first part analyses studies that have been done focusing on Kofi’s association with the Universal Negro Improvement Association (henceforth UNIA), her expulsion from the UNIA, her formation of the African Universal Church {henceforth AUG), her Patt-African and religious engagements and events leading to her demise. This part also discusses the difficulties she encountered and the successes she achieved within the period. The second part of the study* which focuses on her Ghanaian ancestry, analyses issues relating to her origin and attempts to solve the mystery surrounding her identity. This part explains why she is referred to as a Ghanaian, a princess and a prophetess, and why she bears the name Adorkor Kofi. The study explains the seeming contradictions in some of the existing literature and documents oral accounts from a descendant and other career of handed-down oral narrations of the story of Laura Adorkor Kofi.Item The Depiction Of Women In The Struggle For Cultural, Political And Economic Freedom In The Works Of Some Selected African Writers.(University of Ghana, 2016-07) Agu, T.A.Gender stereotypes have existed in African societies for a long time. In these societies, it is generally believed that women are the weaker sex, subservient to men, objects of sexuality, and incapable of taking critical decisions affecting their own lives and those of their communities. Following these assumptions, male writers have often been accused of projecting these stereotypes in their works. Indeed, this is true to a large extent as many male writers seemed to play down the role of women in the African society. While Cyprian Ekwensi presents the city girl as a prostitute, Oyono, in Houseboy, depicts Madame and Sophia as beautiful sexual objects fit only for male consumption. But at the same time that most male authors and indeed some female writers were presenting female characters as second-class human species, others had begun to see the potential in women to assume roles previously thought to be exclusive to men. One of these is Sembene Ousmane. God’s Bits of Wood (originally Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu) is a protest novel that has been given a contemporary political setting, and tells of the strike along the Dakar – Niger railway in 1947/48 in demand for better working conditions. Though they are beaten, murdered and tortured by the white employers, they win in the end with the women playing active roles. There is also Asiedu Yirenkyi’s Kivuli from which he has Blood and Tears which also unearths the wind of change that is blowing with the strong desire of women fight for equality and freedom. We can also make mention of the late Efo Mawugbe in his novel In the Chest of a Woman, which also exposes us to the wind of change in issues concerning women from male perspectives. Mention can be made of Wole Soyinka in his Kongi’s Harvest and Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of The Savannah which are some of the selected texts for this research. This study seeks to examine the economic, political and social roles played by the female characters to alleviate the privations of the daily sufferings they encounter in the society. This will be done by library research involving primary and secondary texts.Item Afrofuturism: The Changing Narrative And The African Youth(University of Ghana, 2020-10) Komey, A.N.A.The premiere of Black Panther in 2018 by Marvel Studios threw more light on a genre of literature and popular art that was fast gaining popularity on the African continent. The booming success of the film drew the attention of many, especially young people in Africa and in the diaspora, to the new genre, albeit subtly. This genre’s goal is to rewrite the history of black people, which is often told in a myopic western lens, as well as put a black face in the future, through the use of fantasy, speculative art and science fiction. This is an eclectic study touching on literature, history, political studies, sociology and popular culture. It looks at the role played by the speculative imagination in the cultural emancipation narrative of the continent. The study also investigates the potential of this genre in aiding to achieve Pan Africanism. This study is an exploratory research that uses the qualitative research tools; interviews and content analysis to collect and analyse information. Young people from across the African continent and in the African American diaspora were interviewed to examine their response to the impact of Afrofuturism in African popular culture and how it influences identity and Pan African solidarity The study revealed that some of the objectives that the genre seeks to achieve are being met, and even being exceeded. However, there are serious concerns about the danger of promulgating an interrupted and skewed history of black people by producers and content creators especially in the diaspora. Thus, artists and others in Africa hold a different view about how the genre should develop on the continent in the future. The study concludes with recommendations on how the genre can be moved promoted to increase its impact in achieving its objectives.Item Afrofuturism: The Changing Narrative And The African Youth(University of Ghana, 2020-10) Komey, A.N.A.The premiere of Black Panther in 2018 by Marvel Studios threw more light on a genre of literature and popular art that was fast gaining popularity on the African continent. The booming success of the film drew the attention of many, especially young people in Africa and in the diaspora, to the new genre, albeit subtly. This genre’s goal is to rewrite the history of black people, which is often told in a myopic western lens, as well as put a black face in the future, through the use of fantasy, speculative art and science fiction. This is an eclectic study touching on literature, history, political studies, sociology and popular culture. It looks at the role played by the speculative imagination in the cultural emancipation narrative of the continent. The study also investigates the potential of this genre in aiding to achieve Pan Africanism. This study is an exploratory research that uses the qualitative research tools; interviews and content analysis to collect and analyse information. Young people from across the African continent and in the African American diaspora were interviewed to examine their response to the impact of Afrofuturism in African popular culture and how it influences identity and Pan African solidarity The study revealed that some of the objectives that the genre seeks to achieve are being met, and even being exceeded. However, there are serious concerns about the danger of promulgating an interrupted and skewed history of black people by producers and content creators especially in the diaspora. Thus, artists and others in Africa hold a different view about how the genre should develop on the continent in the future. The study concludes with recommendations on how the genre can be moved promoted to increase its impact in achieving its objectives.Item The Role of Civil Society in the Democratization Process in Ghana, A Case Study of the Ghana Bar Association(University of Ghana, 1997-11) Appiah-Mensah, A.The aim of this study is to examine the role of the Ghana Bar Association in the democratization process in Ghana. A sample of 100 comprising 30 lawyers and 70 members of the general public were selected by purposive sampling from diverse occupational and professional backgrounds. It was made up of 69 males and 31 females . The interview schedule (questionnaires) was the method used to collect data from respondents. Additional data were gathered from documentary sources namely; the records of the Ghana Bar Association.The results of the study revealed that in terms of the social background characteristics, occupation was diverse and males and youth dominated the sample. A great majority of respondents were married and the literacy level was very high. With respect to the importance of the legal profession it was found out that in the public·s eye the profession is important because it deals with the law and the law affects everyone; that the nation cannot do without lawyers. As far as the role of the GBA in the democratization process in Ghana is concerned it was discovered that the Association has contributed positively to the process since independence and continues to play a major role in varying degrees involving national development, freedom and justice, human rights, as well as democracy and constitutionalism in general. finally, the following problems were identified to have impeded the effectiveness of the association. These include lack of commitment from governmental interference, lack of discipline among members, internal fragmentation of the Association, as well as anti- GBA sentiments from a large section of the public. Among the recommendations made were that the GSA should have structural re-organization involving the mode of membership induction, discipline, commitment and look for full-time personnel for both national and regional offices. It was also recommended that the General legal council should surrender its statutory powers over lawyers to the GBA to enable it bring order and discipline into the Association; that there should be a vigorous public education on legal matters. In addition, to these the GBA should work in close collaboration with the rest of civil society as it maximizes the power of its presence. as representatives of civil society, on many state bodies The researcher is hopeful that if the recommendations offered here are adopted many of the problems associated with the GBA and other segments of civil society will be minimized. if not entirely eliminated.Item The Secular Aspects Of Afa Cult And Its Relationship To Communal Life In Anlo(University of Ghana., 1997) Toppar, S.A.Among the Southern Ewes known and called '"Anlo," Afa is a religion. It has an organised worship system in it, headed by a well trained body of prIests called '"Tgboko'" in their individual performances of their religious rites as priests. Although there is the belief in the "Supreme Being" known in the Jewish and Christian religions as '"God", the ‘Supreme Being' is approached through myriads of delegated mediums who are considered subordinate gods or dieties called simply in the Ewe Language as 'Vodu'. Hence, some people call this religion variously as 'Afa' or 'Afa Vodu'; meaning, the Cult of Afa. Each 'Vodu' exercises its own delegated powers within the confines of horoscopes in their major and minor modes known among Anlos in the Ewe Language as "Du" and 'Kpoli" respectively. There are 16 major horoscopes, further replicating themselves to permuted minor horoscopes. In effect, the permuted horoscopes number up to 256. However, researchers like Abiinbola, Wande nd Bascom, William researched well over one million horoscopes or dities in Afa (Ifa). According to the above scholars, divination by way of geomancy is the main method Ifa (Afa) speaks to Its adherents. All essential characteristic feature about this religion is that it has no canonised literature about its do's and don't's as known among Christians and Muslims as the Bible and Koran respectively. Only the priests of Afa relIgIon have the singular duty of disseminating the do's and don’t's by way of geomancy in their divination practices. Even here, priests exercise the greatest circumspection with the messages received from deities to their clients, since priests could incur the displeasure of the gods, should they proclaim they proclaim falsehood. This is why the training of Afa priests is not only long but arduous as observed by Ottenberg, Simon (I960), in hIs work, "Culters and Societies of Africa" This study is therefore, an attempt to look at both the content and context in Afa religion in order to discover its secular dimensions which enable it to serve as props of social cohesion that always engenders the desIred communal spirit prevalent in Anlo. In the content, we shall look at incantations, spells, witty expressions as well as long and short stories contained in some horoscopes. This will help us discover how the daily life of the society is affected by Afa through its literary corpus. In its context, we shall discover how painstaking admirers of this religion become infused with the expert knowledge and use of the entire folklory in Afa, becoming the best adjudged members in Anlo society in terms of the use of the local language . In the study, we shall also discover that Afa contains in It a prolific sense of industry In the form of petty trading, agriculture, tourism, drumming and dancing etc . We shall finally note that Anlo Community appears enmeshed with the entire Afa religion since the belief is cogently shared in Anlo that there is nothing that precludes identification and recognition of Afa : even the names of all herbs and plants are believed to be the names of Afa deities.Item The Role of Elite Women in the Yendi Municipality Of Ghana. The Case of Selected Women Leaders(University of Ghana, 2020-10) Mensah, C.K.The role of women in politics and decision-making is one of the current blazing governance issues because of the perceived and acknowledged potential and contribution of women to governance and national development processes. Effective and meaningful participation is a process of empowerment that enhances the self-worth of individuals and groups. This study examines the state of women leadership, their contributions, challenges, and how they are represented and perceived in terms of their roles in the Yendi Municipality of Northern Ghana. This was done by using two elite women namely; female Chiefs (Gundo Na & Kpatu-Ya Na) and one Magajiaa as case studies. The duties of Hajias and wives of chiefs were investigated as well. The study purposefully sampled and interviewed 30 respondents to solicit for data in the field to achieve this kind of purpose. Qualitative research designs and techniques were employed during the study. Primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed qualitatively. The study reveals that most recent scholarly works in the study area highlight the achievements and challenges of women in modern political systems, while little or nothing is documented on the roles and challenges of other equally important elite women who are not necessarily active in the modern political structures, but contribute greatly in diverse ways towards the development of their communities. It was shared that apart from the female chiefs (Paunabas), whose roles and position are revered by majority of the people in Yendi, the same could not be said about other elite women such as the female Tindanas and Hajias. They are less recognized and valued because of some endemic sociocultural and religious perceptions about the position of women in public life. The study revealed that elite women in Yendi of Northern Ghana are constrained by inadequate finance, low levels of education, sociocultural and religious beliefs, lack of confidence, and intimidation. Consequently, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), government, political parties, and civil society organizations do organize sensitization and training programmes to empower some elite women into governance and decision-making processes in the Yendi Municipality. Despite the social and structural challenges identified in the above, the study documented the following during the case studies as some of the duties performed by women leaders in the Yendi Municipality; serving as mouthpiece for women, settlement of marital disputes, mobilizing of women for religious, community, and political party work, serving as role models for young girls, and lobbying for loans and technical support from banks and NGOs respectively. In spite of these efforts, there are only few elite women who are found on key decision-making bodies in the Yendi Municipality. Due to the little number of elite women on major decision-making bodies, their impacts and influences are also limited, making it difficult to deconstruct the strong patriarchal systems and sociocultural norms which are used to marginalize women in most aspects of their lives.Item Sacred Spaces and Women: A Case Study of Okomfo Akosua Atuobua in the Koankre Shrine(University of Ghana, 2019-07) Aduako, H.BThe pivotal role of priestesses in traditional religious shrines is not as heavily researched as that of their male counterparts. These shrines regularly adhere to socially constructed gender roles, which reinforces patriarchy. Shrines such as Koankre have male priests who are often the primary focus of many studies on traditional African religion. This is because of cultural norms that prescribe gender roles and responsibilities for men and women in society. Nevertheless, there are shrines that are run by priestesses who defy the traditional concept of womaness in their communities. This dissertation interrogates the role of priestesses in the traditional priesthood institution based on a case study of Okomfo Akosua Atuobua operating at Koankre shrine in the Eastern region of Ghana. The study examines how her gender impacts her ability to perform the diverse roles that she is obligated to execute as the ultimate spiritual leader in the Koankre shrine and Ohene Akura village. The study is based on field work that consists of interactions with 34 respondents from the Koankre shrine and Ohene Akura village. The research indicates that even though she operates in a patriarchal shrine, she is equipped by deities to perform her roles and duties without being confined or subordinated. The complexity of being a priestess in a predominately male dominated institution presupposes that the priestess must alternate between “genders” to perform her roles to varied groups of people and in diverse spaces. Finally, it suggests that the institution that is male dominated allows limited spiritual space for women to serve as priestesses.