• Sharing Knowledge and Experience: A Profile of Kwabena Nketia – Scholar and Music Educator

    Kwabena Nketia was a renowned scholar, linguist, composer, poet, researcher, teacher and musicologist in Ghana. His writings have become standard reference works on African musicology, and his work spanned many countries and interests. Nketia maintained a strong interest in Afro-American concerns, African musical traditions and Africans and blacks in the diaspora; and he worked tirelessly on establishing a theoretical framework of African music; consciousness of African identity in music; and to produce publications representing his own musical culture.

    This biography concentrates on the educational and research aspects of Nketia’s work, assessing the importance of his contribution to African musicology, thought on music education, and practical application of ethnomusicology and composition in teaching method, and exercises in African rhythm.

  • 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.

    Coast of Slaves

    200.00
  • Are You Not A Nigerian? Thoughts on a Nation at Crossroads

    *Available from 15th September 2019.

    Are You Not A Nigerian? chronicles a country’s fourth attempt at democratic governance after many years of military dictatorship. Through his personal experiences and observations, Báyọ̀ Olúpohùndà captures the reality of Nigeria’s socio-political environment at the turn of the millennium, the collapse of dignity in service, and the ubiquitous “Nigerian factor” that creates entitlement.

    Are You Not A Nigerian? examines the lost opportunities, the disappointment of successive administrations, and the dilemma of a nation at a crossroads.

  • Christians And Churches Of Africa: Salvation In Christ And Building A New African Society

    Ka Mana’s book revolves around the experience that Jesus as Christ and Savior comes into the heart of men and women to transform them from within and make them agents for the transformation of the continent.
  • 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.

  • Diamonds, Gold and War: The Making of South Africa

    Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world’s richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics.

    The New Yorker calls this magisterial account of those years “[an] astute history…Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid.”

  • Great-Grandpa’s Wish List: A Narrative

    Inspired by stories about their Great-Grabdpa (GGP), and encouraged by their paeents, four self-motivated youngsters assign themselves fact-finding research endeavours into some aspects of life around them in a bid to keep the memory of GGP alive among his descendants. They call their findings and recommendations a wish list and justifiably so, as their findings are also intended to elicit proactive sentiments from readers other than the descendants of GGP.

  • Notaries Public Practice in Ghana – The Law, Cases and Materials (Hardcover)

    The book: “NOTARIES PUBLIC PRACTICE IN GHANA – The Law, Cases & Materials”, is the first of its kind by a local writer from and within our jurisdiction, contextualized against the background of Ghanaian jurisprudence, and yet informed by the standards and requirements of global notarial practice. The book sketches the historical origins of the notaries public and commissioner for oaths practice in Ghana, tracing the linkage between the practice here in Ghana and the received English law, the common law, principles and institutions and shows how the legal/notarial professions evolved in the Gold Coast all within the context of English common law and legal institutions.
    At the heart of the book, we see a distinct picture of the NOTARY – who he is; the requirements and qualifications for appointment and enrolment; the “Status of Notaries” as “officers of the court”, “officers of the legal system” and as “accountable institutions”, the implications and obligations arising therefrom this special status, as well as what broadly can be reckoned as “notarial acts”. The material covered includes sources of law for the practice; and the constitutional, statutory legal context in which the notary is required to function to assure the pursuit of justice underpinned by professionalism, ethics, integrity, morality, discipline and accountability.
    The powers, functions, duties and responsibilities of the notary are covered in detail, including the critical responsibility of the notary to prevent fraud, to avoid conflict of interest, to undertake due diligence prior to performing a notarial act; the duty to refuse to act in appropriate circumstances the notary’s duty to keep a register/journal of notarial acts; the notary’s engagements with administration of oaths and affirmations, swearing of oaths/affirmations, the taking of affidavits and declarations; powers of attorney; the notary’s traditional role in the validation of deeds and documents encompassing notarial duty of authentication, certification, attestation, legalization, verification and acknowledgment of deeds and documents; the requirements in the preparation and signing of legal documents; and the notary’s duty in the performance of official acts in commercial transactions.
    The book will be relevant in assisting in the advancement of the cause and development of the Ghana legal system, promote commerce and assure credibility and integrity required in legal documentation requisite in matters including mercantilism, banking, finance, land transactions, etc.; and in the enhancement of administration of justice and the rule of law. In addition, the book has carefully adapted corpus of forms and precedents for the guidance of solicitors and notary practitioners.

  • The Silver Stool Stabilised

    The Silver Stool, Asante Mampong, occupies an important position within the hierarchy of Asanteman. The occupant is the second-in-command after Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene. This book is a commemorative project exploring the history of Asante Mampong, a roll call of the previous occupants of the Silver Stool. The current occupant, Daasebre Osei Bonsu II, Mamponghene has experienced a stable reign for over 25 years; the distinguished profile of Daasebre Osei Bonsu II, and persons who have contributed to the stable and successful reign for the Silver Stool are also profiled. Finally, the book explores the impact of stability for the Traditional Area and Asanteman.

  • The Misleading Leaders: The Ws and H of Deceptive Authorities

    This book expounds the facets of knavishness, particularly, witting and unwitting deception, their causes, and consequences.

    It provides a brief overview of who leaders and authorities are, and some instances of their categorisations.

    Additionally, it lays bare primary misleaders, providing examples of their methods and the harmful intentions of misguiding their contemporaries, subordinates, acolytes, and followers.

    Given the characteristic traits of slyboots, the book elucidates the virtues of honesty and integrity for anyone in a leadership position, as well as for contemporaries or followers.

    Finally, it exposits practical solutions for counteracting dishonesty and avoiding the traps set by those who seek to manipulate others.

     

  • Give Me Your Ashes

    Weaves together intimate stories- through poetry, inviting readers to explore the strength found in vulnerability.

  • ‘The History of Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself’ and Other Writings

    The History of Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself is a key text for understanding the history of the great West African kingdom of Asante (now in Ghana). It is also an early–and perhaps the earliest–example of history writing in English by an African ruler and his amanuenses. It was begun in 1907 in the Seychelles on the instructions of the Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, who had been in British captivity with his family since 1896, during which time he had acquired proficiency in English.

    The chief source of information was his mother the Asantehemaa Yaa Kyaa, who possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the oral history of her own lineage, which was also the royal dynasty of Asante. The result is an indispensably detailed document that charts the history of the Asante monarchy from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Context is provided by the inclusion of other writings by or about Agyeman Prempeh, together with four introductory essays by the world’s leading scholars of Asante history.

    This fascinating volume evokes the rich historical experience of a renowned kingdom, and is of compelling interest to all concerned with the production of indigenous historical knowledge in Africa.

  • The Fall of The Asante Empire: The Hundred -Year War for Africa’s Gold Coast

    In 1817, the first British envoy to meet the king of the Asante of West Africa was dazzled by his reception. A group of 5,000 Asante soldiers, many wearing immense caps topped with three foot eagle feathers and gold ram’s horns, engulfed him with a “zeal bordering on phrensy,” shooting muskets into the air. The envoy was escorted, as no fewer than 100 bands played, to the Asante king’s palace and greeted by a tremendous throng of 30,000 noblemen and soldiers, bedecked with so much gold that his party had to avert their eyes to avoid the blinding glare. Some Asante elders wore gold ornaments so massive they had to be supported by attendants. But a criminal being lead to his execution – hands tied, ears severed, knives thrust through his cheeks and shoulder blades – was also paraded before them as a warning of what would befall malefactors. This first encounter set the stage for one of the longest and fiercest wars in all the European conquest of Africa. At its height, the Asante empire, on the Gold Coast of Africa in present-day Ghana, comprised three million people and had its own highly sophisticated social, political, and military institutions. Armed with European firearms, the tenacious and disciplined Asante army inflicted heavy casualties on advancing British troops, in some cases defeating them. They won the respect and admiration of British commanders, and displayed a unique willingness to adapt their traditional military tactics to counter superior British technology. Even well after a British fort had been established in Kumase, the Asante capital, the indigenous culture stubbornly resisted Europeanization, as long as the “golden stool,” the sacred repository of royal power, remained in Asante hands. It was only after an entire century of fighting that resistance ultimately ceased.

  • Key Banks in Ghana + Telcos + Accounting Firms

    The book is a treasure trove of photographs of the most iconic buildings which embellish the skyline of Accra. In this book, Mr. Wilfred Kojo Ephraim, the author and photographer, takes us on a pictorial tour of the capital. With brief touch downs in Abelemkpe and on Ring Road Central, he leads us from Airport City through Cantonment City down the length and breadth of Independence Avenue, to the Central Business District of Accra.

     

    The book is a one stop shop, the first of its kind to assemble information on the Headquarters Buildings, Visions, Missions, Values, and provide a cursory look at Financial Performances about the major banks, telcos, and accounting firms operating in Ghana. One can browse through and favourably compare the Ghana Commercial Bank Head Office building which was completed in the sixties/seventies, to the more contemporary Standard Chartered Bank building at 87 Independence Avenue or the Ultramodern EY and PWC buildings in Cantonment City.

     

    This book is for all who appreciate Accra, or who plan to visit the city.  It is for children learning about the capital of Ghana, as well as for adults who know it well.  It is a memento of the city and belongs on everyone’s bookshelf!

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