Stripping the Soul of Asante Naked: A History of Opanin Saniagya in Asante Chronicle

The paper examines a critical theme in Asante History at a crucial time of the life of the once powerful nation. It discusses the origins and significance of the Golden Stool (Sika dwa Kofi) to the existence and survival of the Asante nation. The paper further shows instances in Asante history where the Asante nation went to war rather than allow anyone to capture or defile the sacred Golden Stool. The piece then provides detailed information on how the venerated Sika dwa Kofi was defiled by one Saniagya, and also gives an account of Asanteman´s response to what could, arguably, pass for the highest act of sacrilege in Asante history yet.

What Color is Black: Epistemic Disobedience in Jean Genet’s The Blacks

Jean Genet’s writing has generated controversies over the years, particularly his advocacy for demoting whiteness and its means of domination. He is primarily regarded as an angry homosexual white French male who portrays grotesque shadows of humanity in his work. In his 1959 Play The Blacks, Genet describes the way Blacks are categorized in France through the mediation of abjecting politics of disgust, which cast black bodies as repulsive and outside the pole. At the same time, The Blacks considers the strategies of resistance and critique that are available to these bodies and those working alongside with them. Characters in The Blacks conform to the roles that they are given, therefore creating a visual mask over their identity. For Genet acting becomes a (positively) perverse and subversive mean for gaining power over oppression by taking an art from something that is traditionally based in strict role playing and turning it into a form of individual and collective expression necessary to “negatively” creating what can then be conceived as an assertively “positive” socio-political identity.

Question Design and the Rules of Questioning in UK Prime Ministers Questions and Ghanaian Ministers Questions

This paper examines how parliamentarians design their questions and flout parliamentary rules of questioning, leading to confrontations between parliamentarians (MPs) and (Prime) Ministers. A comparative corpus-assisted discourse analysis of UK Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) and Ghanaian Minister’s Questions (GMQs) indicates that GMQs are less confrontational than PMQs since Ghanaian Parliamentary Speakers prevent MPs from asking, for example, questions of opinion and argumentation, which contain strong emotions, generate attacks, accusations and counter-accusations. The paper argues that the confrontations and (counter-)attacks result from the way MPs design their questions. The paper suggests that “yobbery and public school twittishness” in PMQs could be curtailed if the Speaker would disallow questions that flout parliamentary rules of questioning as it is done in GMQs. The paper has implications for parliamentary interactions generally.

Education for Nation Building: The Vision of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for University Education in the Early Stages of Self-Government and Independence in Ghana

The Gold Coast was renamed Ghana by the political leadership on the attainment of Independence. But before 1957, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had become Prime Minister of the Gold Coast in 1952, and by this arrangement ruled alongside the British Colonial Governor. Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah set out to rebuild the new nation, and by doing so, Education, especially University Education, became a significant tool for the realization of such an objective. He, and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) Government saw education as “the keystone of people’s life and happiness.’’1 Thus, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah wanted the University Colleges in the Gold Coast to train intellectuals capable of combining both theory and practice as well as use their energies to assist in the task of national reconstruction.2 This explains why Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah clearly spelt out the visions of University Education in Ghana. This paper, which is multi-sourced, uses archival documents, newspapers, interviews and scholarly secondary works such as articles, book chapters and books to examine the visions of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for University Education in the early stages of self-government and independence in Ghana. The paper particularly focuses on measures adopted by the first Prime Minister of Ghana such as establishment of an International Commission on University Education (ICUE), making the existing University Colleges independent, the rationale for setting up the University College of Cape Coast (UCCC), the Africanization of the University staff, establishment of the Institute of African Studies and the formation of the National Council for Higher Education to transform the University Colleges to reflect the needs and aspirations of Ghanaians. _________________________________________ 1 H. O. A. McWilliam, & M. A. Kwamena-Poh, The Development of Education in Ghana. (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1975), 83. 2 Samuel Obeng, Selected Speeches of Kwame Nkrumah, Vol. 1 (Accra: Aframs Publication Ltd., 1997), 74.

Change and Continuity in Konkomba Medical Culture: A Historical Perspective of an Indigenous People in Northern Ghana

Medicine (n-nyork) has been one of meaning laden words faced by scholars. This subject has attracted much attention from scholars, but the social aspect of health tied to people’s medical culture has been neglected. The paper examines the reasons and the context within which the medical culture of the Konkomba ensured social equilibrium and well-being. It further examines key medicines and healers that constituted the corpus of the Konkomba health system. Information was sourced from oral interviews, archival and secondary sources. The work focuses on the historiography of indigenous medicine in Ghana, in particular, and Africa in general. In conclusion, it analyses the impact of the Western understanding of medicine indicating that n-nyork (medicine) and ngbanpuan (health) were more holistic within the Konkomba conceptualisation. In that sense, the adoption and non-adaptation of the western view of health has led to more undesirable health situation in the twentieth century. That notwithstanding, the medical culture of the Konkomba still constitute an integral aspect of their medication.

Transgressive Rupture or Subversive Culture: A Semiotic Deconstruction of Staetopygia in West African Cinema

Based on a critical visual analysis of the scopophilia, body fetishism, and commodity culture, I attempt to deconstruct representations of the huge derrières of two actresses in Ghallywood and Nollywood. The analysis pays attention to how cinematographic elements of composition, color, and lighting in selected films the two actresses have starred reinforce the myth of the butt as a signifier of economic and socio/cultural capital. The article raises concerns over whether the hyper-sexualization of West African films points to a transgressive rupture of the industry or a subversive culture of the African ethos of decency.

Chieftaincy, Development and the Ghanaian State: A Historical Overview of the 19th and 20th Centuries

This multi-sourced paper explores the relationship between the chieftaincy institution and the Ghanaian state in the 19th and 20th centuries. It specifically looks at how the relationship between the two has evolved in the overlapping political and economic spheres and how the metamorphosing conceptualization of development on both sides fits into it. Using mainly Asante references,1 this paper argues that the relationship between the state (colonial and post-colonial) and chieftaincy in both spheres has been determined by the policies of the former to either court or curtail the power of the latter when it suits its politics. Chiefs on the other hand, recognizing the nature of this relationship, have skilfully played a “survival politics” strategy in order to remain relevant in the economic and political spheres. This strategy in recent years includes (re)identifying itself with prevailing concepts such as development and either utilising, or readjusting local ideologies where necessary, in order to ensure their own institutional survival. _________________________________________ 1 The examples utilised in this paper focus on the experience of chieftaincy in southern Ghana, particularly Asante and Akan in general. This is not because happenings in chieftaincy in northern Ghana are not significant. Rather it is because the study is based on the southern experience, particularly, that of the Asante. While the Asante chieftaincy institution does not always mirror the nature of chieftaincy in the entire southern Ghana, its scope and reach presents an important case study to measure the extent of changes that occurred during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Denkyemmireku: A Usable Past for A New African State

In Ghana – The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah (1971), Nkrumah recounts the deliberations within the United Gold Coast Convention on J. B. Danquah’s proposal for adopting the Akan art motif Funtummireku Denkyemmireku (Denkyemmireku, for short), the proverbial two-headed crocodile, as emblem for the emerging nation of Ghana. Dismissing it as a “hideous monstrosity” that symbolizes selfishness, it was never adopted. Yet, the art motif, a kind of jeremiad that says pity that poor crocodile, whose two heads cannot stop fighting over food, even though they share one stomach, is a recognition of the dialectic of nature as one of unity in diversity, the very essence of the hallowed African monistic thesis of matter. This paper posits that Denkyemmireku embodies a potent philosophical and ideological symbol capable of serving as a usable past for a much-needed reconstruction of a more legitimate African state. ______________________________ 1 Some aspects of this article have been previously published in the Journal of Black Studies by the author. See, Kwasi Boadi, “The Ontology of Kwame Nkrumah’s Consciencism and the Democratic Theory and Practice in Africa – A Diopian Perspective.” Journal of Black Studies, Volume 30, Number 4 / March 2000, 475–501.

Colonial Policy, Chieftaincy and Land Politics in Ghana: The Case Study of Gyaman

The partition of Africa in the late nineteenth century destabilized some societies in Africa. In West Africa, the imaginary territorial boundaries divided the Nzema between Ivory Coast and Ghana, the Dagaaba between Burkina Faso and Ghana, and the Ewe between Togo and Ghana. The partition exercise also caused protracted disputes and neglect of existing ethnic groupings. Using information from oral, archival and secondary sources, this article examines the impact of the partition of Africa on Gyaman, a traditional ethnic setting in modern Ghana in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The paper blames current Gyaman problems on the Partition exercise.