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Abla Poku – The Baoulé Queen (Hardcover)
Age Range: 7 – 10 years
This colour illustrated children’s book tells the story of Abena Poku. Once upon a time, there was a mighty kingdom in the central part of ancient Ghana known as the Asante Kingdom. It had a powerful king known as Otumfuo Osei Tutu I, the Asantehene. Osei Tutu I had a niece called Abena Poku.
After some unrest Abena Poku and her people settled in the area between the Comoe and Bandama rivers in the eastern part of the Ivory Coast and founded a kingdom of their own with Abena Poku as the first queen. Her kingdom became known as the Baoulé Kingdom. Abena Poku thus founded a dynasty which has survived to date.
₵66.00 -
Animal Village (Hardcover)
Age Range: 7 – 12 years
Animal Village is an authentic folk tale from the Zarma culture of West Africa about a tortoise who saves her village from the ravages of drought with wisdom passed down from an “old story.” Nelda LaTeef’s colorful and strikingly brilliant montage of illustrations, in acrylic and collage, captures the richness and vibrancy of the sub-Saharan culture from which the story springs.
The story is especially relevant to sub-Saharan Africa as it focuses on the devastation of drought and the importance of received knowledge. With its dual themes of wisdom and grit, the book happily entertains while it teaches the importance of hard work and persistence as keys to success.₵68.00Animal Village (Hardcover)
₵68.00 -
Kwame Nkrumah: Vision and Tragedy
The yearlong celebration of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee provides a fitting context for the republication of the book Kwame Nkrumah: Vision and Tragedy. In the lead-up to the celebration and over the course of the year, the life and times of Kwame Nkrumah will receive unprecedented public attention, official and unofficial. Kwame Nkrumah’s very wide name-recognition is, paradoxically, accompanied by sketchy, often oversimplified knowledge about the events and processes of his life and times. For most of those born after independence in 1957, such knowledge does not extend much beyond who Kwame Nkrumah was and vague notions about he won us Independence.
This book presents new material and new analysis, which helps to clarify aspects of the record, while advancing new perspectives. What comes across clearly throughout the book is the significant contribution of Nkrumah’s vision and personality at a critical moment in the history of Africa and the Third World. He, perhaps more than any other, was able to identify, focus and catalyse the major factors and players driving the struggle for political independence in Ghana and liberation in other parts of Africa. In the process, he committed his life and work totally to a wide variety of activities and processes in Ghana, the continent and in the global Non-Aligned Movement.
“This is an objective study which should be read by all concerned with the history of post-colonial Africa.” – Conor Cruise O’Brien Former Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana, Legon
₵70.00 -
Coast of Slaves
This is the first volume in Hansen’s classic slave trade trilogy. When America was discovered and plantations established, slave labour became the principal export commodity from the Gold Coast. This book is about the history of Danish/Norwegian participation in the trans- Atlantic slave trade. It describes the organisation of the trade, the participants, the challenge, and the link with the West Indies to where the slaves were transported for work on the sugar plantations. It describes Danish purchase of islands in the West Indies, and traces how the decline in Dutch and British trade, and the abilities of the Danish administration led to a golden age in the Danish slave trade in the 1770s and 1780s. In that period, the Danish share in the total slave trade exceeded ten percent; and the decline in the trade with the growth of a new European consciousness, heralded abolition.
Coast of Slaves, the first volume of the trilogy, was originally published in Danish in 1967. This English translation is edited to provide explanations about inaccessible references as well as established factual misrepresentations.
₵75.00Coast of Slaves
₵75.00 -
Kwame Nkrumah and the Dawn of the Cold War: The West African National Secretariat, 1945-48
The history of a Pan-Africanist movement based in Britain and its role in the Cold War in Africa
The West African National Secretariat (WANS) has almost been forgotten by history. A pan-Africanist movement founded in 1945 by Kwame Nkrumah and colleagues in London and France, WANS campaigned for independence and unity. Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast in late 1947. The colonial government accused him of being a communist and fomenting the riots of early 1948. He was jailed. This led to the beginning of the Cold War in West Africa.
Drawing on archival research including the newly released MI5 files, Marika Sherwood reports on the work of WANS, on the plans for a unity conference in October 1948 in Lagos, and on Nkrumah’s return home. Sherwood demonstrates that colonial powers colluded with each other and the US in order to control the burgeoning struggles for independence. By labelling African nationalists as ‘communists’ in their efforts to contain decolonisation, the Western powers introduced the Cold War to the continent.
Providing a rich exploration of a neglected history, this book sheds light for the first time on a crucial historical moment in the history of West Africa and the developmental trajectory of West African independence.
₵75.00 -
Kings, Priests, and Kinsmen
This collection of E. A. Ammah’s ethnographic writing includes essays, some poetry, and other documents. Created over four decades, these pieces cover a wide range of topics including Ga culture in comparative perspective, Ga social organization, Ga political structure and history, Ga life transition ceremonies, and Ga religion. The collection provides a unique cultural insider’s twentieth century perspective on Ga society and history.
₵80.00Kings, Priests, and Kinsmen
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Zeb Silhouette
Zeb Olima Jefferson is a bold and inspiring character. Determined to live her life according to her own rules, she travels from a dangerous relationship in Nigeria to life as an immigrant in America and then back to Nigeria again. There she faces a challenge that threatens her very sanity. This is a moving, shocking and compelling novel.
₵85.00Zeb Silhouette
₵85.00 -
Africa in Contemporary Perspective
An important feature of Ghanaian tertiary education is the foundational African Studies Programme which was initiated in the early 1960s. Unfortunately hardly any readers exist which bring together a body of knowledge on the themes, issues and debates which inform and animate research and teaching in African Studies particularly on the African continent.
This becomes even more important when we consider the need for knowledge on Africa that is not Eurocentric or sensationalised, but driven from internal understandings of life and prospects in Africa. Dominant representations and perceptions of Africa usually depict a continent in crisis. Rather than buying into external representations of Africa, with its ‘lacks’ and aspirations for Western modernities, we insist that African scholars in particular should be in the forefront of promoting understanding of the pluri-lingual, overlapping, and dense reality of life and developments on the continent, to produce relevant and usable knowledge.
Continuing and renewed interest in Africa’s resources, including the land mass, economy, minerals, visual arts and performance cultures, as well as bio-medical knowledge and products, by old and new geopolitical players, obliges African scholars to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to work with each other to advance knowledge and uses of those resources in the interests of Africa’s people.
₵100.00 -
African Visionaries
In over forty portraits, African writers present extraordinary people from their continent: portraits of the women and men whom they admire, people who have changed and enriched life in Africa. The portraits include inventor, founders of universities, resistance fighters, musicians, environmental activists or writers. African Visionaries is a multi-faceted book, seen through African eyes, on the most impactful people of Africa.
Some of the writers contributing to the collection are: Helon Habila, Virginia Phiri, Ellen Banda-Aaku, Véronique Tadjo, Tendai Huchu, Solomon Tsehaye, Patrice Nganang and Sami Tchak.
₵120.00African Visionaries
₵120.00 -
A History of Indigenous Slavery in Ghana: From the 15th to the 19th Century
Academic research and publication on indigenous slavery in Ghana and in Africa more widely have not received attention commensurate with the importance of the phenomenon: the history of indigenous slavery, which existed long before the trans-Atlantic slave trade, has been a marginal topic in documented historical studies on Ghana. Yet its weighty historical, and contemporary relevance inside and outside Africa is undisputed.This book begins to redress this neglect. Drawing on sources including oral data from so-called slave descendants, cultural sites and trade routes, court records and colonial government reports, it presents historical and cultural analysis which aims to enhance historical knowledge and understanding of indigenous slavery. The author further intends to provide a holistic view of the indigenous institution of slavery as a formative factor in the social, political and economic development of pre- colonial Ghana.₵120.00 -
Ghana: An African Portrait Revisited (Photo Book, Hardcover)
Ghana: An African Portrait by the American photographer Paul Strand was published in 1963 at the request of Kwame Nkrumah. It became a classic but is now out of print. Over 40 years after that landmark work, and coinciding with the 50th anniversary celebrations of Ghana’s independence, the country is documented again as it enters the 21st century.
With more than 150 photographs, this book presents Ghana at a historic moment in time remembering its past and tradition, while looking ahead to a bright future. Six photographers with six points of view of working present a unique portrait of the country, through these photographs. From Accra to Bolatanga, and Elmina to Aflao, these are images of a country that is changing yet still retains much of its traditional character.
There are photographs of bead makers, wood carvers, kente weavers and coffin makers; and of Ghana’s unique fishing industry, its historic slave forts, outdoor markets, and the diverse religious community. And at the same time, a country poised to compete in world markets is seen through Accra’s rising skyline buildings and Tema’s modern port facilities. Abena Busia’s essay provides a capsule history of the country.
₵145.00 -
A Panorama of Ghana’s Heritage: Una mirada al patrimonio de Ghana – in English & Spanish (Photo Book, Hardcover)
Ghana, with Forts and Castles inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is the African country with the oldest and greatest number of slave Castles dotted along the whole length of its coastline from which slaves were shipped. The capture and forced transfer, over the centuries, of millions of Africans to other parts of the world, along with their cultural traditions, skills, ideas and general heritage, not only had a profound impact on the African continent, but ultimately left a major mark in the formation and shape of cultures and civilizations of the world.
Ghana, con fuertes y castillos inscritos en la Lista del Patrimonio Mundial de la UNESCO, es el país africano con los más antiguos y númerosos fuertes situados a lo largo de la costa, desde donde los esclavos eran embarcados. La captura y el traslado forzoso, a lo largo de los siglos, de millones de africanos a otras partes del mundo, junto con sus tradiciones culturales, habilidades, ideas y herencia en general, no sólo tuvo un impacto profundo en el continente africano, sino que dejó en última instancia una huella profunda en la génesis y forma de las culturas y civilizaciones del mundo.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 105-106) and index.
English and Spanish.
₵145.00 -
From the Hut to Oxford: The Autobiography of the Most Reverend Peter Kwasi Sarpong (Hardcover)
From the Hut to Oxford clearly shows the huge impact that Archbishop Sarpong has made during his priestly and episcopal minstry, spanning forty-nine years from 1959 to 2008. His impact has been on the Catholic Church in Ghana, education, culture and religion. The relative understanding, harmony and cooperation among the religious bodies in the country – between the Catholic and non-Catholic Christians, between followers of Islam and Christians, etc. – can be attributed in no small measure to his unflagging endeavours in ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue. Happily, his effort in this regard. Happily, his effort in this regard has been universally acknowledged. In a world racked by religious bigotry, dissension and mayhem, he deserves more than a pat on the back. — Most Rev. Matthias Kobina Nketsiah, Emeritus Archbishop of Cape Coast
₵150.00 -
Bookset: Not My Time to Die & Guns Over Kigali (2 books)
A pack of 2 books on the Kigali Genocide
About the Books
Not My Time to Die
“Reading Yolande Mukagasana’s book in French at the age of 15 changed my life.”- Gaël Faye
Originally published as La mort ne veut pas de moi in 1997, this book was the first survivor testimony to be published about the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
In 1994 Yolande was an unconventional nurse and mother of three who enjoyed wearing jeans and designer glasses. She ran her own clinic in Nyamirambo and was planning a party for her wedding anniversary. But when genocide started everything changed. Targeted because she was a successful Tutsi woman, she was separated from her family and had to flee for her life.
Mukagasana’s gripping memoir describes the betrayal of friends and help that came from surprising places. Quick-witted and courageous, Yolande never lost hope she would find her children alive.
Translated from the French by Zoe Norridge.
Guns Over Kigali
The world has come to know about the carnage and human suffering in Rwanda through the reportage by newsmen. Guns Over Kigali is no such reportage. It is personal account of a UN peacekeeping soldier who was in the thick of the action to bring sanity into a country that had gone berserk.
Major General Anyidoho, the author of this book, survived the mayhem and the hectic moments in Rwanda and tells the world the true story of the events as he saw them. What is valuable in his account are the lessons he draws which have profound implications for UN peacekeeping around the world. Students in military institutions, researchers in war studies, politicians, policy makers, relief NGOs and the general reader interested in international relations will find this book a compelling and very useful reading.
In Rwanda the author was the Deputy Force Commander and Chief of Staff of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) where he collected the material for this book.
₵155.00₵165.00Bookset: Not My Time to Die & Guns Over Kigali (2 books)
₵155.00₵165.00 -
Justice Daniel Francis Annan: In the Service of Democracy
Justice Annan’s public service in Ghana’s recent history embodies how an individual, acting in concert with compatriots, can direct the course of history using institutions which may prevail at a specific conjuncture in that history.
The objective of producing this biography of Justice Annan is to extrapolate from his life as a public servant, especially during the critical period of 1982- 1992 when he was a key member of the PNDC, and the 1993 – 2000 when he was Speaker of the first and second Parliaments of the Fourth Republic, the lessons and insights that add value to the existing knowledge of how social and political dynamics are purposefully managed even in the most challenging times; and how key institutions like Parliament are nurtured in a nascent democracy to literally turn dust into gold. The weight of the biography therefore leans heavily on Justice Annan’s public service during the two periods indicated above.
This biography was sponsored by the IDEG under its Senior Citizen Scholar in Residence Programme, which is non-partisan and open to all who have distinguished themselves in rendering service to our dear country Ghana. We hope that this publication will inspire institutions and individual philanthropists, both Ghanaian and foreign, to contribute generously to the funding of the programme. The programme aims at deepening our knowledge and understanding of the momentous conjunctures in our history that have shaped the content and trajectory of Ghana’s young democratic state.
₵160.00