Lectures and Speeches
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Item The 130-Year War Between Man And Pneumococcus: Who Is Winning?(University of Ghana, 2022-02-10) Sampane-Donkor, E.Abstract Streptococcus pneumoniae, also referred to as pneumococcus, was first isolated in 1881. Over the ensuing 130-year period, the organism has been recognized as one of the most virulent microbial pathogens, recording case fatality rates of up to 66%. An important characteristic of S. pneumoniae is the presence of a polysaccharide capsule, which is the main virulence determinant of the organism and the basis of about 95 pneumococcal capsular types, as well as current pneumococcal vaccines. Clinically, pneumococcus causes several invasive and non-invasive diseases including pneumonia, meningitis, septicaemia, sinusitis and acute otitis media. Globally, there are about 14.5 million episodes of serious pneumococcal disease among children less than 5 years of age each year, resulting in approximately 500,000 deaths, the majority of which occur in low- and middle-income countries. S. pneumoniae is noted for causing outbreaks in some sub-Saharan African countries and particularly, serotype 1 of the organism has been implicated in outbreaks in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and The Gambia. The public health burden related to S. pneumoniae is further heightened by the increasing resistance of the organism to essential antimicrobial agents particularly penicillin, cephalosporins and macrolides. The high occurrence of pneumococcal antibiotic-resistant genes coupled with the ease with which such genes can spread horizontally, have enhanced global dissemination of successful multi-drug resistant pneumococcal clones such as Spain23F-1, South Africa19A-13 and Greece 6B-22. It is estimated that up to 40% of S. pneumoniae display multi-drug resistant phenotypes, which is highly variable among countries. Paradoxically, S. pneumoniae is carried as part of the normal bacterial flora of the upper respiratory tract of humans, and carriage is the precursor for development of pneumococcal disease, and is also responsible for transmission of the organism from person-to-person. Carriage of pneumococcus is particularly high among children younger than five years; the colonization rate rises from birth and peaks around the age of 1–2 years, and thereafter experiences an age-related decline. The enormous public health burden associated with S. pneumoniae underscores the importance of its control through vaccination. At present, two types of pneumococcal vaccines are available: conjugate vaccines and the pure polysaccharide vaccine (unconjugated). The pure polysaccharide vaccine has 23 serotypes, and has a good efficacy of 60%–70% in protecting against these serotypes. However, its usefulness is limited as it induces no herd effect, its duration of protection is short, and infants respond poorly to it. Most of these limitations have been overcome by the relatively new conjugate vaccines, in which purified capsular polysaccharides are conjugated to a nontoxic variant of the diphtheria toxin. Current pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) consist of 10 or 13 capsular types and have been introduced into the immunisation programme of about 146 countries. Following the introduction of PCVs, there has been a dramatic decline in pneumococcal infections in vaccinated children and a herd immunity effect in other age groups. However, this success has been tempered by serotype replacement for ongoing invasive pneumococcal disease. The trend of escalating pneumococcal antibiotic resistance coupled with the failure of discovering new antibiotics in recent times to “attack” the pneumococcus, and the limitations of current pneumococcal vaccines, seem to be tilting the “pneumococcal war” in favour of the organism. A pneumococcal vaccine based on a highly conserved surface protein among all pneumococcal serotypes and strains is required to eventually defeat S. pneumoniae. However, such a vaccine has eluded the scientific community for many years now. In this lecture, Professor Eric Sampane-Donkor will provide an in-depth review of pneumococcus, delivering insights into the biology and pathogenicity of the organism. He will discuss pneumococcal interventions and evolutionary responses of the organism to these interventions. In particular, the lecture will highlight important contributions that his research group at the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Ghana Medical School, has made to this exciting and important field of infectious disease research in the past two decades. Profile Professor Eric Sampane-Donkor is a Professor of Bacteriology and Global Health in the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Ghana Medical School, College of Health Sciences. He holds a PhD in Medical Microbiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Iceland, Reykjavik. He undertook postdoctoral studies in Microbial Genomics at University of Cambridge, UK. His other academic qualifications include MSc Structural Molecular Biology from Birkbeck College, University of London, UK, MPhil Animal Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Ghana, Legon, MBA Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Postgraduate Diploma in Infectious and Tropical Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and a BSc (Hons) degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ghana, Legon. With a broad academic background, Professor Sampane-Donkor applies concepts from several fields to help address the global infectious disease challenge through research. His current research interests focus on understanding the dynamics of infectious pathogens in at-risk populations, such as patients with stroke, sickle cell disease and diabetes. He has authored 112 journal articles, mainly in international journals, of which he is first and/or senior author of 62. Many of Professor Sampane-Donkor’s publications appear in reputable journals, such as MBio, BMC Genomics, Lancet Infectious Diseases, Lancet EClinical Medicine, Frontiers in Infection and Cellular Microbiology, Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, and Genes. Additionally, he has 15 publications in the form of book chapters (5), books (2) and technical reports (8). Professor Sampane-Donkor is a high-level expert on the pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumoniae), a highly virulent microbial pathogen that causes severe invasive and non-invasive diseases, such as pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia. His work on this pathogen contributed to the introduction of the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine in Ghana in 2012, and also earned him the first African Prize of the Robert Austrian Award in Pneumococcal Vaccinology from Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, USA. He has also researched extensively on the evolution of antibiotic resistance in Ghana, providing timely data for empirical treatment of bacterial infections in the country. For instance, a paper he published on antibiotic resistance of uropathogens in 2016 was the basis for discontinuation of ciprofloxacin in the treatment of urinary tract infections among bladder outlet obstruction patients at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana. Researching in the area of global health, Professor Sampane-Donkor has been involved in extensive collaborations across the globe, working with institutions such as the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, Sackler School of Public Health, Tel Aviv University in Israel, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, USA, and the Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Taif University in Saudi Arabia. Professor Sampane-Donkor provides consultancy services to several local and international institutions, such as the National Accreditation Board of Ghana, Clinton Health Access Initiative and the World Health Organization. In a recent assignment, he undertook and led a nationwide study for the Ghanaian Ministry of Health towards a public-private partnership in diagnostics as part of the African Health Diagnostics Platform. This study formed the basis for assessing Ghana’s share of a € 76-million loan from the European Investment Bank to four African countries, namely Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana, to improve diagnostics in the sub-region. Overall, Professor Sampane-Donkor has undertaken 15 funded research projects, with funding support from several institutions, such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, World Health Organization, Wyeth Vaccines and Eimksip Fund. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of a US$ 622,000 project funded by the National Institutes of Health, USA, to unravel the impact of vaccination on the population biology of Streptococcus pneumoniae with regard to children with sickle cell disease; he is also the site (Ghana) Principal Investigator of an ongoing £ 3.1 million Fleming Fund regional grant project aimed at addressing the problem of antimicrobial resistance in developing countries through surveillance; moreover he is the Principal Investigator of an ongoing US$ 100,000 project funded by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, USA on surveillance of invasive pneumococcal disease in Ghana. In the last five years, Prof Sampane-Donkor has received research funds to the tune of US$ 6.5 million as either Principal Investigator or Coinvestigator. He serves as Academic Editor for several journals, including Frontiers in Tropical Medicine (USA), Pathogens Journal (Switzerland), and the Journal of Ghana Science Association. He also serves as an ad hoc reviewer for many local and international journals. Prof Sampane-Donkor had been a visiting faculty/scientist to several international institutions, such as the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, University of Sussex in the UK and University of Minnesota in the United States. Currently, he is a Visiting Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Sackler School of Public Health, Tel Aviv University, Israel and a Life Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK. He is part of several international initiatives, including the Global Pneumococcal Sequencing Consortium, Fleming Fund Convening of Antimicrobial Resistance Experts, Partnerships for International Medical Education, and the Global Bacterial Vaccinology Network (BactiVac). At the University of Ghana, Professor Sampane-Donkor has served on several committees, including the Graduate School Board, Ethical and Protocol Review Committee of the College of Health Sciences, Scientific and Technical Committee of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Editorial Board of the UG Readers Project, College of Health Sciences Research Board (Chairman), Board of the Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID), UG Academic Board, and Academic Board of the College of Health Sciences. Currently, he is the ViceChancellor’s representative on the Management Committee of the School of Biological Sciences and the head of the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Ghana Medical School. Professor Sampane-Donkor has mentored 8 junior faculty members and supervised 3 postdoctoral fellows, 10 PhD students and 31 MPhil/MSc students in Ghana and abroad. He has contributed to the training of about 3000 undergraduate medical students in Ghana, across the University of Ghana Medical School, Accra College of Medicine and Family Health Medical School, in the subject area of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. He has served as external examiner for several institutions such as the University of London’s MSc programme in Communicable Diseases. In recognition of his high achievements, contribution to science in Ghana, and excellent academic scholarship, Professor Sampane-Donkor was elected to fellowship of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science in the UK. Professor Eric Sampane-Donkor fellowships with the Deeper Life Campus Fellowship. He is married to Gloria Sampane-Donkor and they have four daughters: Richelle, Micheline, Shirley and Johanna. Link to full CV: https://dmm.ug.edu.gh/people/faculty/eric-sampane-donkorItem 2024 Symposium on African Digital Humanities: Digital Humanities, African Stories, and Agency(2024-02-15) Darkwah, A.; Ocloo, P.E.D.; Opoku-Agyemang, K.; Rosenblum, B.; Yeku, J.The symposium particularly welcomes graduate students and early-career faculty interested in digital humanities and will provide stipends for graduate students in the region to attend. The 2024 symposium seeks to stimulate a dialogue that addresses the intersections of the digital humanities and African stories and agency. We will explore digital storytelling and its connections to African narratives, the extractive politics of platform, AI and African agency, as well as diverse approaches and issues related to building an inclusive digital cultural record for local and global communities.Item Address by the Vice-Chancellor at the Opening of the 73rd Annual New Year School and Conference.(University of Ghana, 2022-01-25) Amfo, N.A.A.Item Adinkra Symbols as a Writing System(University of Ghana, 2019-03-28) Arthur, G.F.K.Adinkra symbols visually integrate striking aesthetic power, evocative language and mathematical structures and philosophical concepts. The presentation develops themes from the texts encoded in the proverbs, stories and maxims associated with the symbols. The presentation will discuss mathematical concepts of symmetry, the Cartesian plane and log spirals encoded in some of the Adinkra symbols.Item “Advancing women into leadership positions through education”(2019-07-15) Mudau, T.J.This paper explores the advancement of women into leadership positions through education in South Africa. Despite differences in levels of domination the broad principle remains the same, that is men are in control. Patriarchy is the prime obstacle to women's advancement and development. Patriarchal society gives absolute priority to men and to some extent limits women's human rights. It refers to male domination both in public and private sphere. In this way feminists use the term patriarchy to describe power relationships between men and women ad well as to find the root cause of women's subordination.Item Affectivity and Metaphors in Kiswahili(2016-04-20) Quarshie, J.D.; Twerefou, I.C.This paper revisits the syntax of inalienable possessions in Swahili. It further interrogates the internal relationships between the constituents of affective (intimate possession) constructions in Swahili. The privileged treatment of constructions of inalienable possession is a relatively cross linguistic phenomenon. In Swahili, several construction types in which inalienability is grammatically represented have been identified. In a particular construction type which involves “a person affected (patient) and a part of the body or other thing intimately connected with them (property), featuring as two independent arguments of the verb rather than components of a single noun phrase” (Dzahene-Quarshie 2010) such as Akili imemruka ‘He is out of his mind’ the intimate possession often occurs as the subject of a typically intransitive verb and its owner as a direct object of the verb marked in the verb by an object prefix. Often the intimate possession and the verb constitute collocations. That is there is a concomitant co-occurrence of certain intimate possessions with certain verbs. Contextually, these constructions often occur in the narrative continuum and express abstract phenomena such as emotions and various states of mind. Using data drawn from various sources and a descriptive approach, the paper aims to establish that some affective constructions are metaphoric in that, often there is no direct correlation between the intimate possession and the corresponding verb in terms of semantic mapping. This demonstrates that beyond the established characteristics of affective constructions in the literature, they are also often metaphoric in terms of meaning.Item Affirming African Identity in African American Literary Projects(2019-11-07) McCoy-Deh, M.; Atobrah, D.Identity Affirmation is the agenda my research, writing and teaching follow. In academic and practice presentations and publications, revelation of and intentioned expression of identity is at the core of my work. Focusing on three literary projects grounded in African identity, the transformative power of identity affirmation holds true for the struggle and evolution of the main character experiences in the co-authored novel The Search for Susu (2015). The protagonist seeks and ultimately affirms her distinct, and juxtaposed identities as both a professional scholar and as a woman of the African Diaspora. The bourgeoning expression and affirmation of cultural identity in the children’s stories, Akofa (2016) resonate as declarative assertions of self, as the main character defines, spells or offers the meaning of her name in each story. The fantasy novel, October Visitors (in progress) harnesses the religious beliefs of African ancestors and living dead across the Diaspora to rescue their living progeny. All of the literary projects incorporate spatial complexities of identity and place – United States and West Africa – which help to both isolate and complicate concepts of identity.Item African Socialism; or the Search for an Indigenous Model of Economic Development in Ghana?(University of Ghana, 2018-03-16) Amartey, E.A.Few African countries explicitly choose "capitalism" on independence, and for those who followed capitalism it was a default model or a residual pattern. On the other hand, "African socialism" was popular in the early decades of independence and pursued by several countries including Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, and Tanzania. African socialism had multiple meanings, and its advocates were quick to stress that they were not communist, some that they were not even Marxist. What did socialism mean to Nkrumah and how did he pursue a socialist economic agenda? This paper explores the argument that African socialism was a search for an indigenous model of economic development for a generation that was justifiably ambivalent about capitalism, but wary of being put in the communist camp in an era of Cold War. Importantly, advocates of African socialism, particularly Nkrumah, often proposed bold and transformative visions for their countries that might be worth revisiting devoid of the paradigm of socialism.Item Afro-Latin-Africa: Movement and Memory in Benin(2017-01-20) Kabir, A.J.; Quayson, A.The Afro-diasporic music styles that developed in twentieth-century Cuba and their corresponding social dances, from rumba to mambo to salsa, have been ‘returning’ to West and Central Africa since at least the 1930s. Different frameworks have shaped this transatlantic movement of Afro-diasporic rhythms: transcolonial exchanges, decolonization, the Cold War, and, today, globalisation, social media, and other internet-enabled technologies of communication. What do these transactions between ‘Afro-Latin-Africa’ signify in a deeper memorial context? This paper will draw on fieldwork with dancers and musicians conducted in Cotonou, Benin (February 2015 and January 2016), and a collaborative experiment, ‘Afro-Latin-Africa’, that brought together in London a dancer and a singer from Benin and Cuban musicians. This public event took place in London in September 2015. It was commissioned through the ERC research project, ‘Modern Moves’, which I direct. The analysis is given a further twist through my reading of archival documents pertaining to the launching of UNESCO’s Slave Route at Ouidah, Benin in 1994, a high profile event that had involved a veritable who’s who of the Black Atlantic intellectual world, including Derek Walcott, Toni Morrison, Edouard Glissant, and Wole Soyinka, and aimed at building an ‘Afro-American bridge’ connecting continents, memories, and traumas to promote world peace and development. Reading the body in and out of the text, I analyse the movement of memory in the circum-Atlantic context. The somatic and affective ties binding memory and movement in the (new) Black Atlantic enable me to conceptualize modernity through decolonial cultural exchanges between the Americas and West Africa, while taking seriously the return of ‘enchantment’ through the dancing body as a way out of difficult memories of a shared yet severed history.Item Agricultural Fundamentalism Man And National Development(University of Ghana, 1971-11-25) La-Anyane, S.Item Akhange Basixelele ngo Mama Bethu: The Remnants of a Single |Male-Washed| Perspective(2019-04-18) Gumbe, N.N.; Appeaning-Addo, I.What is being washed? Who is doing the washing? Wishy-Washy… hmmm? Wait, did you say male-washing? Are males doing the washing or are they being washed? Male-washing (v), A paradox. Describing the threat of a single perspective. This paper takes the reader on an introductory journey, outlining the [mis]representation of influential Afrikan women in the history of Afrikan peoples. The historical journey focuses on a selection of women from the Southern region of the continent, dating as far back as 1750 to the present day. The fundamental intention of this paper is to articulate the notion that the historical annotation of Afrikan women has largely been shaped though a ‘male-perspective,’ and that this single perspective has distorted not only history, but the contemporary Afrikan space. The paper then extends the argument by expressing that the residual impact of the [mis]representation of historical Afrikan women negatively impacts how people (female and male) in contemporary Afrikan spaces, navigate both their public and private lives. The paper concludes; that the importance of representation is not exclusive to the idea of accurately [re]writing and [re]storing the past, but extends itself to the natural balance of knowledge production, politics, economics and the general social and spiritual understanding of collective consciousness. For the patriarchy-enthusiasts, this is not another rant or Men Are Trash forum. This is an opportunity to understand why seeing another perspective is not just paramount for the balance and equity of society, but for one’s inner balance as an individual navigating the contemporary world. And for my anti-patriarchy sisters and brothers, you know the drill, let’s have another fruitfully disruptive exchange.Item #AllAfricanlivesMatter: Race, Gender, and the Relevance of Global Pan-African Solidarity(2016-11-17) Daley, P.The talk will situate the emerging black lives matter movements in the USA and UK in the historical Pan-African struggle for African liberation, and asks why does the current movement seem to have so little visible support on the African continent, especially in the light of the African diaspora being the African Union 6th region and in the midst of the UN’s international decade for people of African descent. Drawing on research in feminist geo-politics, Critical Race Theory, and Pan-African and decolonial thought, and will explore the continued coloniality of contemporary existence by exploring how racialized and gendered hierarchies have been central to the building and maintenance of the global political and economic order – even under the supposed ‘racelessness’ of neo-liberalism. These have been brought to the fore with the Trump victory in the USA. Cross–continental commonalities in the de-humanization of African lives will be examined using a brief illustration of the approaches to sexual violence against women racialized as black on the continent and in the African diaspora. The discussion will conclude with a discussion of how an emancipatory de-colonial Pan-African solidarity can be harnessed.Item Altered Kiswahili Proverbs: The Role of Literary Writers and Blog Users(2016-03-09) Omari, S; Dzahene-Quarshie, J.Proverb is one of the important folklore genres in many parts of the world. In many societies proverbs are associated with certain characteristics: they are regarded as succinct fixed artistic forms, that are authoritative, encapsulating some general truth, wisdom and experience of the society and their creators are elders or anonymous. However, these characteristics are increasingly challenged today as the proverbs themselves get altered for various reasons. This paper, therefore, examines how Tanzania’s Kiswahili literary writers and blog users participate in the alteration and spread of Kiswahili proverbs. Data for this study were collected from literary works and websites. It is found that literary writers and blog users play significant role in the alteration and spread of altered proverbs. The paper reveals that the need to cope with today’s environment, change of worldview, political, economic and social phenomena are important factors in the alteration of proverbs. Other factors include the transition from socialism to a free economy, a shift from a single party to multi-party system, technological and scientific advancement, increasing neo-colonialism, globalization, and actions of political leaders, etc. It is also noted that altered proverbs are an important aspect of everyday conversation and are used in various media such as means of transport and mobile phones.Item “And the Sea Met the Mountain”: Construction and Use of the Kwahu-Nkawkaw Transportation Systems in Gold Coast Ghana.(2016-03-10) Yeboah, N.Y.M.; Ntewusu, S.The fundamentals of most modern day transport systems were laid during the early decades of the 20th century. Kwahu in general and Nkawkaw in particular strongly identify with the situation. The positions of Kwahu meant that it was practically impossible to be ignored in the grand colonial capitalist design to exploit resources from the southern and forest zones of Gold Coast, so that by the 2nd decade of the 20th century the basic patterns of transportation systems (railway and roads) in Kwahu had been laid. This paper advances the argument that the creation of transportation systems in Kwahu was ultimately motivated by the need to explore the resources of Kwahu and beyond for oceanic transport, but also important to the colonial administration was what I refer to as “the strategic geographical location” of Kwahu, an impetus that significantly influenced the decision of the colonial administration as far as accessibility was concerned. The paper also explores into details the construction and benefits of transport systems (railway and road) in Kwahu with particular reference to Nkawkaw in the colonial era. Not only is it a historical piece, but also a placement of a historical development in modern transportation designs as the Kwahu-Nkawkaw road has assumed a position of much significance with regards to regional, long distance and transnational motor traffic.Item Applying the Ancient Afrakan Foundation of Ma’at and Symptomatic Thinking with Mdw Ntchr(2019-02-28) Salim, M.J.K.H.; Kambon, O.Our present day educational systems in America and throughout the entire western world, including all of Afraka and the diaspora are based on symbolic thought, Religious mythology, white supremacy and racism which is steeped in unrealistic allegory and superstition. And this symbolic cancerous thinking is at the heart of our educational intuitions and dysfunctional families. It is set up to retard, enslave, impoverish, imprison, completely destroy and devastate our positive self esteem, dignity, consciousness and creativity. As a result, the masses are upside down inside out and backwards! I am proposing a new but ancient revolutionary way of thinking called Symptomatic thought developed by Brother Edgar Ridley, also using the Mdw Ntchr, and Ma’at, an ancient Kash and Kemety Spiritual System of the Hapy Eteru Valley as a liberating tool, which develops good character that will change the way we think making a major paradigm shift to pro Pan-Afrakan and pro nature! Through the power of Symptomatic thought and the writing of the Mdw Ntchr with its sacred science, mathematics, astrology, astronomy and Architectural structures will lead us to a reservoir of unlimited Knowledge and wisdom based upon Ma’at. This Ma’atian center teaches balance, love, peace of mind, reciprocity and right order, so that we as Afrakan people can become the leaders of our glorious destiny in the 21st century as world leaders! Ankh Udja Snb Nb Hem Sem Tpy of Jhuty Heru Nb-HuItem Arabic Manuscripts Production and Distribution in Ghana: A Close Study of Jumucat's al-Lāmiyyat al-Ṣughrā(2016-02-16) Hafiz, M.; Asunka, J.This study focuses on a manuscript entitled 'al-Lāmiyyat al-Ṣughra' composed by Malam Jumu'at in 1939 on the occasion of the death of his teacher and brother, 'Ustādh Muḥammad Bāko, who was then the Chief Imam of Accra. The manuscript appears to be an original one, with no accession number, albeit, it is not clear whether it was handwritten by Jumu'at himself or by another scribe. It was found accidentally among the manuscripts photocopied and preserved at Herskovits library in Northwestern from the collection of Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana, and therefore was sent back to IAS in 2007 by Dr. Andrea Brigaglia. In terms of content, the manuscript is quite similar to IAS/AR 195, but the hand-writings differ appreciably: IAS/AR 195 was collected from 'Ustādh Adam b. Uthman in Amakom Kumasi on October 5, 1963, while the manuscript under consideration was acquired from 'Ustādh Sacd 'Itan in Zango, Accra on July 7, 1971. The manuscript is written in thin central Sudanic script on a brownish white semi-thick paper with two sets of inks: local black ink and artificial blue ink. The black ink was used for writing the lines of the poem, while the blue ink was used for writing names of persons, places and dates cited in the poem, including the numerous marginal notes across the five folios. Overall, this manuscripts is by far more legible than IAS/AR/ 195. IAS/AR/ 195 has already been a subject of study by K.O. Odoom (1971) who sought to demonstrate the historical value of this manuscript, insisting it is unique in the sense that it is the only document by a Muslim scholar on pioneering Muslim communities in Accra. Far from this, this particular study seeks to explore this manuscript in order underscore some of the intricacies connected to manuscripts production in Ghana, ranging from the occasions that inspire the authorship of Arabic manuscripts, the choice of appropriate titles, mode and format of writing, the relevance of accompanying marginal notes, alterations in manuscripts by scribes, mode of distribution, and interconnectedness of manuscripts in terms of the subject matter they addressItem Arabic Manuscripts Production in Ghana: A Close Study of Jumcat's al-lāmiyyat al-Ṣughrā(University of Ghana, 2020-03-05) Hafiz, M.The study contributes to an ongoing discussion on the need to engage with the content of the Arabic and Ajami manuscripts deposited in archival centers across West Africa. Using one of the primary manuscripts from the Arabic and Ajami collection of the Institute of African Studies in the University of Ghana, the study vividly describes three core iterant processes that recur in manuscripts writing in Ghana and in West Africa. These processes comprise the occasions that necessitate the production of Arabic and Ajami manuscripts, the choice of appropriate titles and thematic interconnectedness of various Arabic manuscripts. The essence of the study is to demonstrate how these three processes have been catered for in the selected manuscript relative to a few manuscripts from the IAS collections. To contextualize the discussion, the paper began with an overview of Arabic manuscripts production in Ghana, accompanied by a brief description of the manuscript under study. The study revealed that akin to several Arabic manuscripts from the IAS collections, the occasion that necessitated the manuscript under consideration has been elaborated in a prelude. Indeed, for emphasis, the purpose of writing the manuscript has also been explicitly stated in the third lines of the poem. The two-worded title of the manuscript (al-lāmiyyat al-ṣughra) although catchy, barely reflects the content. Nonetheless, the manuscript share a close thematic affinity with a few manuscripts from the IAS collection and many others from West Africa. Notwithstanding, it is unique in many respects. It qualifies as a funeral dirge, a genealogy and obituary poem apiece. Above all, it contains invaluable information for historical and anthropological enquiriesItem Archaeology and world heritage sites in west africa(2019-07-09) Apoh, W.The need to integrate world heritage curriculum in the academic programmes of African educational institutions has become the clarion call of UNESCO and the African World Heritage Fund to African institutions. According to UNESCO, Africa boasts of a heritage of unrivalled natural and cultural diversity that constitutes the very essence of its identity. Yet, sub-Saharan Africa is underrepresented on the World Heritage List. With 93 properties (51 cultural sites, 37 natural sites, 8 mixed sites), Africa is the most under-represented region on the List. Despite the adoption of the Global Strategy for a representative balanced and credible World Heritage List, the continent hosts only 9 per cent of all World Heritage sites, while the European and North American Regions account for 47 per cent of properties inscribed on the List. Thus, the call for African educational institutions to implement the World Heritage Convention is an undeniable expectation that we must champion; as a credible regional body in Africa. This conference among other things offers the platform for us to brainstorm and dialogue on how to facilitate our contributions to the existing curricula related to research, conservation and management of world heritage sites in West Africa.The low inscription rate has been adduced to factors such as; i) the poor quality of the nomination dossiers, which often results from the lack of close collaboration between academic institutions, specialized institutions in World Heritage and the governments of African member states; ii) the limited budget allocated to the national heritage sector in many African countries; especially concerning the process of archaeological research and inscription on the Tentative and World Heritage Lists; iii) the limited number of experts specialized in the field of heritage management and conservation of Africa’s heritage as well as insufficient academic guidance and lack of sufficient integration of world heritage studies into the existing programmes of academic institutions in Africa. How do we convince government institutions to support academic institutions in the creation or strengthening of curricula oriented towards increasing heritage professionals and with a view to expanding job prospects and supporting Africans in taking ownership oftheir unique heritage? It is in this context that this conference would like to complement the efforts of our international partners. The sessions and papers cover, but not limited to, issues and case studies on the role of archaeology in world heritage research, documentation and inventory of sites, site management and conservation practices, the preparation of tentative lists and nomination files, innovation and job creation with archaeotourism and heritage resources as well as the creation of homegrown academic theories and practices to enhance this discourse.Item Archives and the Public Good – 70 Years of University of Ghana’s Contribution to Unifying Ghanaian Cultures: The J.H. Kwabena Nketia Archives in Perspective(University of Ghana, 2018-06-08) Opoku-Boateng, J.National independence in many African countries has been followed by a cultural self-assessment. Many African heritage institutions as well as some institutions of learning, therefore, started undertaking research and documentation of their cultural traditions in the wake of and after independence. The initiative taken by the University of Ghana to record, preserve, promote and disseminate knowledge of traditional music and related arts, is a remarkable achievement of the twentieth century. Four years into the establishment of the University of Ghana (UG), the idea of unifying the nation through collecting and archiving Ghanaian musical resources was conceived by young Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia, a research fellow in African Studies at the Sociology Department of the University. Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia embraced this initiative and generously supported the young Nketia with the necessary resources. The unique collection hosted by the Archives has brought new challenges and insights, not only to the music public, but also to scholars, researchers, educators and record managers in Ghana and beyond.Item Are we doing enough in Diabetes Care? Lessons from a Hermeneutic Phenomenological Investigation(2018-10-30) Korsah, K.A.; Mensah, D.Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder associated with hyperglycaemia as a result of disturbances linked with carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism owing to malfunctioning of the pancreas, with particular reference to insulin production or secretion, action or both. In Africa and Ghana in particular, it appears that diabetes mellitus is viewed as more than a biomedical disorder as patients hold certain health and illness beliefs and perceptions around the condition apart from what is known about the scientific causes and treatments of the disorder. There are explicit scientific treatments or protocols for diabetes which chiefly centre on medications, diet, exercise, monitoring of blood glucose and education. These basic medical guidelines are important to improve glycemic control of the affected persons to prevent complications associated with the disorder. It has been observed that aside the rudimentary medical care and practices that are offered to diabetes patients, their health and illness beliefs and perceptions need to be considered in the care of persons living with diabetes mellitus in Ghana. There is the need to focus attention on patients’ health and illness perceptions in diabetes care around (a) traditional beliefs regarding the origins of diabetes mellitus (b) social connotations ascribed to diabetes mellitus (c) patients’ responses/reactions to diagnosis of diabetes and resolution and (d) patients’ perceptions/concepts of seeking cure for diabetes mellitus and other issues. These may offer healthcare providers a better understanding of how to manage diabetes patients holistically in the Ghanaian context. Thus, the biomedical care approach may not single-handedly successfully manage this protracted condition in Ghana. However through the inclusion of an understanding of their health and illness beliefs and perceptions, the healthcare providers may recognize the unique life issues of Ghanaian diabetes patients, and how to offer them the needed support and care in an appropriate socio-cultural sensitive manner.