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The Pen at Risk: Spilling My Little Beans
“The Pen at Risk is more than a memoir. It is a piece of authentic, ungarnished history by a writer and public intellectual who is too modest to accept the title of a historian, but who witnessed and chronicled the most intriguing epochs of Ghana’s national life. Laced with the innate Fante humour, this book is a piece of deep but entertaining non-fiction that is told with the demystified simplicity of one of Ghana’s greatest academics and writers. Kwesi Yankah is a gift to humanity, and this memoir is a greater gift to an unfortunate generation like mine that did not live in the era of the incisive writings of the great Kwatriot.” – Manasseh Azure Awuni, Editor-in-Chief, The Fourth Estate
“When a citizen who has spent his whole life scrutinising society, turns the spotlight on himself, the risks include this epic engagement that spares no one, him included. In this bare-it-all memoir, the Yankah enigma is fully bared, warts and all. As it turns out, Yankah has had more than his fair share of privileged roles, ultimately impacting the national narrative. The richness of ethnography here, is as riveting as his urban-savvy accounts of the intrigues of university and national politics. While we watch him weave his wizardry of words, we are also awed by the totality of his humanity. The Pen at Risk is a hilarious package of eruditions. It is about the exalted gossips of our Motherland. The narratives are so sweet they hurt. If this isn’t the best book you have read in years, call me illiterate.” – Kofi Akpabli, Scholar, Author, Journalist
“In this memoir, Kwesi Yankah delivers a sparkling tableau of key aspects of his life, tabling his charmed childhood and amazing trajectory as an academic. He then rolls out his long stint as an audacious social commentator and columnist for leading papers (which may have put his pen at risk). With a penmanship characterized by a keen eye for detail, this autobiography is an entertaining and captivating book that should be read by all interested in media and social history as well as autobiography as a literary genre.” – Professor Mansah Prah, University of Cape Coast
“Intriguing, revealing, and brilliant. The Pen at Risk is unvarnished introspection beautifully strung together with anecdotes in a way that is vibrant and colorful. Kwesi Yankah’s work is a refreshingly modest invitation to see life through a different lens, even for a fleeting moment.” – Dr Obeng Amoako Edmonds, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
₵250.00 -
Proceedings of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (Volume XIII, 1975)
Proceedings, 1975.
Contents
Address by the Academy President at the 15th Anniversary Dinner – Professor E.A. Boateng
Tradition and Progress – Professor E.A. Boateng
Ghanaian Society in Change and Stability – Professor K.A. Dickson
The Study of French Literature: 17th Century French Drama and Corneille – Professor R.F. Amonoo
Chieftaincy in Ghana Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Nene Azu Mate-Kole
Chieftaincy in Ghana Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Nana Agyeman Badu I
Chieftaincy in Ghana Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Togbe Adza Tekpor VI
Chieftaincy in Northern Ghana – Mr. J.A. Braimah
Chieftaincy in Ghana Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Nii Anyetei Kwakwranya II
Traditional Marriage – Mrs. Emily Hesse
The Extended Family and Problems of Child Care in Modern Ghanaian Society – Dr. D.K. Fiawoo
The Family, the Individual and Inheritance – Professor W.C. Ekow Daniels
₵20.00 -
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 -
Beyond the Political Spider: Critical Issues in African Humanities (African Humanities Series)
Beyond the Political Spider: Critical Issues in African Humanities by Kwesi Yankah is the first title in the newly established African Humanities Association (AHA) publication series.
By integrating his own biography into a critique of the global politics of knowledge production, Yankah, through a collection of essays, interrogates critical issues confronting the Humanities that spawn intellectual hegemonies and muffle African voices. Using the example of Ghana, he brings under scrutiny, amongst others, endemic issues of academic freedom, gender inequities, the unequal global academic order, and linguistic imperialism in language policies in governance.
In the face of these challenges, the author deftly navigates the complex terrain of indigenous knowledge and language in the context of democratic politics, demonstrating that agency can be liberatory when emphasising indigenous knowledge, especially expressed through the idiom of local languages and symbols, including Ananse, the protean spider, folk hero in Ghana and most parts of the pan-African world.
“Fascinating snapshots from an engaged scholarly life in Africa, valuable as an archival resource for the understanding of this period of higher education in Africa.” – John Higgins, Arderne Chair in Literature, Department of English Literary Studies, University of Cape Town
“This book is unique and gives a powerful rendition of the state of the Humanities in Africa (with Ghana as a case in point). It grapples with some of the pertinent issues dogging the Humanities in Africa. It comments on the Humanities scholarship in Africa, and subtly throws a challenge for future scholarship. It draws on African traditions, communal heritage, and governance in discussing the role and place of the Humanities in Africa. It also brings into the analysis the ever-changing imperatives and modernity in re-configuring African Humanities.” – Mark Benge Okot, Head of Department, Literature, Makerere University, Uganda
“Beyond the Political Spider’ effectively draws, in a unique fashion, from literature, history, linguistics and other cognate disciplines in the African Humanities.” – Sati Umaru Fwatshak, Department of History, University of Jos, Nigeria
₵340.00 -
Central Banking in Ghana and the Governors: Institutional Growth and Economic Development (Hardcover)
A charge of chariots of fire, this is not just a book about the financial history of Ghana in spite of its formative challenges but a centenary work of West Africa – regional monetary evolution and global multilateralism. For devout bankers, intelligentsia, historians and aspirants, this is the one. Elegantly written, it establishes Agyeman-Duah as an unavoidable historian of the Bank of Ghana. — Jewel Howard-Taylor, Vice-President of the Republic of Liberia
The Bank of Ghana is technically a better institution than it was thirty years ago. Even governments are less inclined towards interventions in its work. It is different from other captured public institutions where economic decision-making is with a political lens. — Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana and Co-editor of The Economy of Ghana-Analytical Perspectives on Stability, Growth and Poverty
The Bank of Ghana is leading central banks in the sub-region with regards to the use of technology in the finance service industry … countries in Africa are now learning from Ghana’s digital payment regulations. — Mohammed Sanusi Lamido, Former Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria and the 14th Emir of Kano
Ghana has in recent years been one of Africa’s more successful economies – from its colonial journey through Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) to stable modern democracy. Agyeman-Duah has a sound appreciation of the difficulties of transforming a producer of commodities of raw materials into a prosperous mixed economy. Now an oil economy, the test ahead is, will Ghana at last be able to control its own economic destiny; free of obligations to donors and the storms from world commodity markets? — Frances Cairncross, Rector Emeritus, Exeter College, University of Oxford and Former Managing Editor, The Economist
₵300.00 -
Critical and Biographical Essays of Nana Dr. S.K.B. Asante: From an African Village to the Global Village and Back (Hardcover)
Few Ghanaians of any generation have had a career as long, as varied, and as consequential as Nana S.K.B. Asante’s: government attorney; law teacher; international public servant; constitution framer; adviser to sovereign parties; commercial arbitrator; public intellectual; traditional monarch. Just as impressive is the fact that, in each of these substantial roles, Nana has left a trail of writings. My own first encounter with Nana’s scholarship happened during my time at Yale Law School, his alma mater. As an editor on the law review, I was curious to know whether any Ghanaian had been published by the prestigious journal. My search led me to a fascinating article on Ghanaian property and customary law written by Samuel K.B. Asante in the 1965 volume of the journal. At the time of my discovery, his was the only article by a Ghanaian published in the 100-year history of the journal. I would later discover many more of his academic writings, some of which I assigned to my class in my years as a law teacher.
This book collects in one volume some of Nana’s mostly “non-academic” writings. The essays tell, in characteristically fine prose rich in biography and history, the story of an intellectual-technocrat keen to use his wealth of knowledge to address contemporary problems of development and to put that expertise in the service of his country–and of the developing world at large. The publication of this selection of Nana S.K.B. Asante’s writings, in the 90th year of his life, is a monumental accomplishment and a befitting capstone of a long and distinguished career.
PROF. H. KWASI PREMPEH
Executive Director of Ghana Center for Democratic DevelopmentThe incredibly rich collection of writings by the eminent international lawyer, scholar, respected global development expert and prominent traditional ruler, Nana S.K.B Asante, takes the reader on a remarkable journey of nearly seven decades of illumination. His vivid experiences, enormous achievements and witty recollections reveal the remarkable growth of a curious mind and a disciplined intellectual dedicated ultimately to the service of humanity from his native village to the global village. In characteristic modesty, Nana claims not to be a historian, but this book is a historical gold mine filled with nuggets of analysis on the evolution of education, law, science, social policy, public service, constitutional development, nation building and chieftaincy in Ghana, enriched with valuable insights into the solid contributions of illustrious men and women. His penetrating and critical analyses of international development cooperation in the fields of investments, energy, water and natural resources in Asia and Africa must be lessons for all developing countries. This rich resource book is highly recommended.
DR. AGNES AKOSUA AIDOO
Former Social Policy Adviser, UN Economic Commission for AfricaThis masterpiece by Nana SKB Asante which narrates his life journey from his hometown at Asokore to Achimota, academia, diplomacy and finally back home is unique, inspiring and educative. The Book covers a broad spectrum of academic disciplines including constitutional law, commercial law, criminal law, international law, chieftaincy, leadership and governance, sociology, history and religions. It provides a vivid account of the constitutional history of Ghana from the author’s personal knowledge. The author who had the singular honour to chair the Committee of Experts which gave birth to Ghana’s 1992 Constitution also held the positions of Solicitor-General and Deputy Attorney-General under different democratic and military governments. Nana SKB Asante has used simple diction to convey his wealth of knowledge, experience and wisdom, acquired from both local and international levels in different capacities to inculcate in his audience the spirit of patriotism. The book is a must read!
JUSTICE DENNIS DOMINIC ADJEI, FGA
Justice of The Court of Appeal₵500.00 -
Philosophy, Culture and Vision: African Perspectives
Believing that the intellectual enterprise called philosophy is essentially a part of the cultural as well as historical experience of a people, that the concepts and problems that occupy the attention of philosophers placed in different cultural spaces or historical times generally derive directly from those spaces and times, and that philosophy, in turn, has been most relevant to the development of human cultures, the Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye gives reflective attention in this book to some of the concepts and problems that in his view feature most prominently in the contemporary African cultural, social, political, and moral experience. Such concepts and problems include the following: political legitimacy, development, culture and the pursuit of science and technology, political corruption, democracy, representation and the politics of inclusion, the status of cultural values in national orientation, understanding globalization, and others. It is these topics that are covered in the essays collected in this book.
The unrelenting pursuit of the speculative activity by the philosopher in most cases eventuates in normative proposals; these normative proposals often embody a vision-a vision of an ideal human society in terms of its values, politics, and culture. Vision, understood here, has human-not supernatural or divine-origination and involvement and requires action by human beings in order for it to come into reality. A vision may derive from sustained critical evaluation of a culture or some elements of it. Gyekye attempts an articulation of the visions of the essays contained in the book.
Even though philosophical ideas and concerns are originally inspired by and worked out in a cultural milieu, it does not necessarily follow, Gyekye strongly believes, that the relevance of those ideas and insights is to be tetheed to the cultures that produced them. For, more often than not, the relevance of those ideas, or at least some of them, transcends the confines of their own times and cultures and can be appreciated by other societies, or cultures, or generational epochs. This trans-cultural or trans-epochal or meta-contextual appeal or attraction of philosophical ideas and insights spawned by a particular culture or cluster of cultures or in specific historical times is to be put down to our common human nature-including our basic human desires and aspirations. Thus, most of the essays published here should be of interest to the global community-i.e., to cultures and societies beyond the African.
₵55.00 -
Proceedings of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences & The J.B. Danquah Memorial Lecture, Series 3 (Volume VIII, 1970)
Proceedings, 1970. This issue contains the third series of the J.B. Danquah Memorial Lectures delivered by R.K.A. Gardiner in 1970.
Contents
The Role of Educated Persons in Ghana Society – R.K.A. Gardiner (The J.B. Danquah Memorial Lecture, Series 3)
Law Reform in Ghana in the 1970s – Justice N.A. Ollennu
Africa and the European Economic Community – Professor J.C. de Graft-Johnson
The Dilemma of the Scientist – Professor D.A. Bekoe
The Intellectual and the Meeting of Disciplines – Dr. Letitia E. Obeng
The Creative Arts and the Community – Professor J.H. Nketia
Faith and Reason – Professor K.A. Dickson
Some Concepts of Medical Education in Ghana – Professor C.O. Easmon
Training and Employment of Technicians in Ghana – J.G. O’Barka Torto
Technology and Culture – Professor K.E. de Graft-Johnson
Some Aspects of Agricultural Research in Ghana – Professor Kankam Twum-Barima
Social and Educational Factors Relevant to Agricultural Progress in Ghana – S. La-Anyare
Clinical Research in the Ghana Medical School – Professor E.A. Badoe
The State of Research in Applied Genetics in Ghana – Professor Ebenezer Laing
₵20.00 -
Education, Literacy and Governance: A Linguistic Inquiry into Ghana’s Burgeoning Democracy (The J.B. Danquah Memorial Lecture, Series 39; 2006)
Lectures delivered by Professor Kwesi Yankah. Delivered in March, 2006.
Lecture 1: Free Speech, Censorship and the Language Dilemma in Public Policy
Lecture 2: Krobo Edusei and the Paradigm of Street Wisdom in Contemporary Governance
Lecture 3: The Tongue, The Thumb and The Ballot Box
₵15.00 -
Some Critical Development Issues Facing Ghana (Proceedings, 2001)
Proceedings, 2001.
Papers included are as follows:
Ideology, Politics, Population and Development – Professor Fred T. Sai
The Nature and Place of Ideology – Professor Kwasi Agyeman
Political Power and Development – Professor Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh
Transforming Agriculture – Rev. Kwabena Darko
Transforming Industry in Ghana – Mr. Kwame Pianim
Social Transformation: Education, Culture and Human Development – Professor Miranda Greenstreet
Ensuring a Humane Society – Justice Emile Francis Short
Promoting Culture and Development in Contemporary Contexts – Professor J.H. Kwabena Nketia
₵20.00 -
Law & Religion
Inaugural Lectures
Lectures included in this collection are:
Religion and National Identity: Assessing the Discussion from Cicero to Danquah – Rev. Dr. Kwame Bediako (25 June 1997)
Private Investment and Law in a Developing Economy: Reflections – Dr. Samuel K. Date-Bah (22 January 2002)
The Role of the Judiciary in the Establishment of Democracy in Ghana – Mr. Seth Y. Bimpong-Buta (6 April 1999)
Theology and Culture: An African Perspective – Rev. Peter K. Sarpong (31 October 2002)
₵10.00Law & Religion
₵10.00 -
The Ethnic Factor in National Development – Uses and Abuses
Inaugural lecture by Professor Dominic Kofi Agyeman, Professor of Sociology, University of Cape Coast. Delivered on 28 February, 2005.
₵25.00 -
Proceedings of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences & The J.B. Danquah Memorial Lecture, Series 4 (Volume IX, 1971)
Proceedings, 1971. This issue contains the third series of the J.B. Danquah Memorial Lectures delivered by Kwabena Bentsi-Enchill in 1971.
Contents
Address by Hon. Mr. J. Kwesi Lamptey, Minister of Defence and Acting Prime Minister, on the Eleventh Anniversary Dinner of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences held on 21st November 1970
Address by Mr Justice Nii Amaa Ollennu, President of the Academy, at the Eleventh Anniversary Dinner of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences held on 21st November 1970
Institutional Challenges of our Time (4th J.B. Danquah Memorial Lectures) – Kwabena Bentsi-Enchill
Legal Education and National Development – Nii Amaa Ollennu
Some Aspects of Religious Change in Africa – C.G. Baeta
The Role of Mass Communication in the Formation of Public Opinion – C.E. Fiscian
Radio and T.V. in National Development – K.B. Dickson
Computers and the Future of Man – N.R. Smith
The Ghanaian Woman’s Role in Public Life – Gloria Nikoi
Problems of Social Status and Education for the Ghanaian Woman – Susan de Graft-Johnson
The Ghanaian Woman’s Responsibilities in the Home – Florence A. Dolphyne
₵20.00 -
Proceedings of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (Volume I, 1963)
Proceedings, 1963. First publication.
Contents
Editorial Note
Foreword – by the President of the Academy, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
The Role of the Physical Sciences in the New Ghana – Professor F.G. Torto
The Role of Medicine in our Changing Society – Dr. S.R.A. Dodu
The Role of Philosophy in the New Republic of Ghana – Dr. C.A. Ackah
The Place of Law in the Republic of Ghana – Justice Sir Arku Korsah
Education for a Place in the World – Sir Sydney Caine
The Nature of Things – Professor J.A.K. Quartey
Science in Modern Society – Professor Lord Alexander Todd
₵20.00 -
Proceedings of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (Volume V, 1967)
Proceedings, 1967.
Contents
A Message from His Royal Highness Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Patron of the Academy of Arts and Sciences
Seventh Anniversary Dinner Address – Professor E.A. Boateng
Towards a National Science Policy – Professor D.A. Bekoe
The New University of Science and Technology in Developing Countries – Professor Kankam Twum-Barima
The Role of the Humanities in a Developing Country – Professor A.A. Kwapong
International Co-operation in Hydrology – Professor A. Volker
The Structure of Some Mitragyna Alkaloids – Professor A.N. Tackie
Oviposition and Breeding Habits of the Simulidae in Relation to Control Practices – Dr. Leticia E. Obeng
₵20.00