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A Danish Jew in West Africa: Wulff Joseph Wulff Biography And Letters (1836-1842)
Wulff’s life history is of considerable interest in itself. In her biographical essay (Part I) Selena Axelrod Winsnes portrays him as a ‘marginal man’: being a Jew in Denmark at the beginning of the 19th century was to some extent an uphill struggle for those who sought public recognition, and Wulff did not escape discrimination in his administrative career at Christiansborg either, although special circumstances allowed him to hold important positions, and yet, only for the short term.
Paradoxically, on his arrival to the Gold Coast Wulff — as a Jew — was placed in a middle position in the racial hierarchy dominating the mind-set of his superiors in Copenhagen — between Africans and Europeans. In many respects he shared the fate of Euro-Africans, straddling two worlds and being ‘sealed off’ from the top echelons of the European establishments on the Coast.
This book comprises two parts. The first is a biographical presentation of Wulff Joseph Wulff , a Danish Jew. It is an essay concerning the last six years of his life, spent on the Gold Coast of West Africa, based on letters he wrote to his family in Denmark. Those letters were published in 1917 as Da Guinea var Dansk [When Guinea was Danish], by Carl Behrens, a member of his family in Denmark. The second part of the book is an edited translation of the letters from Danish into English.
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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.₵50.00Quick View -
Abibile Maanle Mgbanyididwεkε (Nzema)
This book treats the history of Africa with special reference to the following;- Ghana Empire, Kush or Meroe, Mali Empire, Songhai Empire, Oyo Empire, Ashanti Empire, the Slave Trade, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Hausa-Sokoto Empire and Dahomey.
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Africa (A True Book: The Seven Continents)
Age Range: 8 – 10 years
Africa is often called the Cradle of Humankind. Millions of years ago, it was home to the very first humans, and today it remains a vibrant land filled with diverse cultures. Readers will tour Africa’s varied landscape and get a close look at its many iconic plants and animals. They will also learn about the continent’s history and discover how its people live today. Features include engaging sidebars that highlight unique animals, landmarks and more; maps to show size, location and topography; glossaries; eye-catching images; charts, diagrams and more.
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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.
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African Dance in Ghana: Contemporary Transformations
In African Dance in Ghana: Contemporary Transformations, Professor Francis Nii-Yartey tells the story of the development of dance – both traditional and contemporary – since Ghana’s independence. The book charts the people and events that influenced new forms of dance and their impact on art, culture and national identity. The dances that emerge combine centuries-old tradition with a yearning for original expression and innovation.
Nii-Yartey is uniquely equipped to tell the story, having been directly involved through his directorship of the Department of Dance at the University of Ghana and his involvement in establishing the Ghana Dance Ensemble and the Noyam African Dance Institute.
The second part of the book gives detailed choreographic instructions for 18 dance pieces, most of which were written, choreographed and directed by the author. They form an invaluable legacy to his career.
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Born in Africa: The Quest for the Origins of Human Life
Africa does not give up its secrets easily. Buried there lie answers about the origins of humankind. After a century of investigation, scientists have transformed our understanding about the beginnings of human life. But vital clues still remain hidden.
In Born in Africa, Martin Meredith follows the trail of discoveries about human origins made by scientists over the last hundred years, recounting their intense rivalry, personal feuds, and fierce controversies as well as their feats of skill and endurance.
The results have been momentous. Scientists have identified more than twenty species of extinct humans. They have firmly established Africa as the birthplace not only of humankind but also of the modern human: Homo sapiens. They have revealed how early technology, language ability, and artistic endeavour all originated in Africa; and they have shown how small groups of Africans spread out from Africa in an exodus sixty thousand years ago to populate the rest of the world. We have all inherited an African past.
Martin Meredith’s fascinating account of the exploits of scientists striving to uncover the mysteries of human origins unfolds like an epic detective saga. We all have an African legacy, and in this fascinating and informative book Meredith leads us back to the place where we have rediscovered our common human heritage.
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Closing the Books: Governor Edward Carstensen on Danish Guinea (1842-50)
Sitting on the terrace of the royal plantation Frederiksgave, his favourite retreat, Governor Edward Carstensen came to see the inevitable: Denmark had to give up her “possessions” in Africa. As fate would have it, he came to be the instrument by which two centuries of Danish involvement on the Gold Coast was terminated, thereby making way for the emergence of the colonial system that developed there.
After the abolition of the slave trade, Denmark had struggled to find ways and means to legitimate her continued stay at the Coast. At an early stage the Danes initiated a number of attempts to establish experimental plantations to cultivate export crops such as cotton, coffee and sugar. But a transition from slave trade to “legitimate” products required stability and peace, and a need for control, which the rather limited Danish presence was not able to maintain.
Closing the Books comprises a compilation of the official reports that the last Danish Governor sent home during his term of office at the Gold Coast. The reports reflect his personal views regarding the economic and political situations there, as well as his ideas on the “civilization of Africa”.
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Death and Pain: Rawlings’ Ghana – The Inside Story
“On 30 December 1981, the Ghana Armed Forces held a party at the Ministry of Defence at Burma Camp. The President, Dr. Hilla Limann, had been invited, but because of the security situation in the country he was advised not to attend. Around 3 p.m. the President changed his mind and decided to attend the party. It was not until around midnight that he returned to his official residence at the Castle.
“Around this time, 10 soldiers, some retired, all other ranks, gathered some two miles to the south of the Camp waiting for grenades and other ammunition from their accomplices at the First Infantry Battalion at Michel Camp, about 20 miles to the East of their position. They never turned up. At about 2 a.m. on 31 December 1981, the small group decided to move. Their objective: to seize the country and form a new government.
“Leaving the Labadi beach in the neighbourhood of the Teshie Military Range, the handful of coupmakers moved through the bush to the Recce Cookhouse. Among them were C.C. Addae, Matthew Adabuga, Gbofah, Braimah, Alidu Gyiwah, Sammy Amedeka and Allieu. Jerry Rawlings was already in Burma Camp hiding in the room of Adabuga at the Gondar Barracks…”
Do you want a first-hand account from the murderers of the 3 judges and officer whilst they were in Nsawam Prison waiting to be executed by firing squad? Do you want to see the list of Ghanaians who went ‘missing’ during the Revolution? A relevant piece of Ghana history is in this book.
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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.”
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Evangelism in Ghana — The Presbyterian Church of Ghana: 1942 – 1954
First published in Twi in 1965
Author’s note about the Book
This book is the translation of an account of the last 12 years of the work of my father, the Rev. Emmanuel Victor Asihene in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.
It refers to his work as the First Evangelist Minister appointed by the Church at a critical time in its history. He wrote the book deliberately in Twi to make the story of the Evangelism Mission that he undertook readily accessible to all members of the Church.
He was grateful to be assigned to carry out the Mission of Evangelism. In his own words, he explains:
“On the day of my ordination in 1960, this verse, ‘I will tell of thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation, I shall praise you,’ Psalm 22, verse 22 was my major vow and promise. With great joy therefore, I thank God that I have been chosen and given the chance to spread the word of the Lord, through Evangelism, here , in my own land, and among my own people.”
At the time of his appointment, he had no doubt that “what was needed most was the grace and guidance of God and a great infusion with a personal spiritual strength.”
The journeys that Rev. Asihene made, most of them on foot, to distant areas of the country were extensive — as can be seen from the list of places that he visited.
Many of the difficult-to-read areas where he took the message of God are, even today, not readily identified on the map of Ghana. Accounts of his easy engagements with Church members, non-Christians and even with fetish priests are as fascinating as the return of backsliders, by the grace of God, into the Church.
When I received and read my signed copy of the book 47 years ago in 1965, I knew that I would one day translate this unique record of extensive Evangelism by a local member of the Presbyterian Church in our own country, from Twi into a wider read language. I am glad and I consider it a great honour that I have been able to translate, into English, this important piece of history of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.
During this 125th Anniversary of his birth, this Translation of this book also marks the Dedication of the commemorative building, “The Rev. E.V. Asihene Quiet Room” at the Anum Presbyterian Secondary School, where he was Headmaster, about 90 years ago.
— Letitia Eva Obeng (nee Asihene), January 2012
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Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women (Hardcover)
‘A must-have for the nightstand of every girl or young woman you know.’ — Geri Stengel, Forbes
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls reinvents fairy tales, inspiring children with the stories of 100 heroic women from Elizabeth I to Serena Williams.
Illustrated by 60 female artists from every corner of the globe, this is the most-funded original book in the history of crowdfunding.
‘The feminist bedtime story book you’ll wish you had growing up.’ — Harriet Hall, Stylist
‘These bedtime stories trade princesses for women who changed the world.’ — Taylor Pittman, The Huffington Post
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