• Komla Dumor: In His Element (Hardcover)

    This story is about Komla Dumor’s meteoric rise to the enviable position of an icon in International and African Broadcast journalism. The story is largely woven on at least three fundamental principles. Namely journalism as a vocation and a calling, journalism and its practice is driven by only one ideal standard.

    Journalism is defined both in theory and in practice as defined by an ethical compass and the discipline of verification. It is the adherence to these tenets of journalism that placed Komla at the top of the pile. Indeed Komla argued passionately that, to be a successful journalist within the context of the new digital enterprise, one must accept journalism as a vocation a gift of grace and must make a total commitment and be willing to put his or her hands on the spokes of the wheel of the new African History.

    Secondly, Komla believed that the practice of journalism is driven by only one ideal standard that cuts across nations within the global system. This ideal standard and the pursuit of it create the contours for best practices. Those who pursue the ideal standard comprising unethical compass, the discipline of verification are the ones who reach the top of the mountain where the sheep and the goats are separated.

    The book Komla Dumor: In His Elements explores Komla’s practice of journalism in Ghana and the United Kingdom against the tested values including personal moral responsibility to the public, personal integrity and the commitment to finding the truth and protecting the public interest. In essence this book is an illumination and exploration of Komla’s journey into the incomparable iconic status – the Icon of International Broadcast Journalism. It is indeed Komla Dumor in His Elements.

    Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Komla Dumor Foundation.

  • 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.

  • Plenty Talk Dey 4 Ghana: Radio Eye, Plural Broadcasting & Democracy

    *Available from 16 March 2020

    Few places on earth have the broadcast density as Ghana does. Every hour of everyday, different tongues articulate different topics on air. Expectedly, the nearly five hundred commercial stations have significantly dynamised the national narrative. Or have they? One thing is remarkable, though. Just over two decades ago there was not a thing as private radio or TV.

    Focusing on the very intriguing story of Radio Eye, this commemorative publication historicises the nation’s relationship with the electronic media. Two insightful interviews – one with the maverick who broke the glass ceiling; the other with the man who took up the baton to consolidate private broadcasting – provide a rare but enjoyable insight. Enriching the discourse further are six well-researched, peer-reviewed articles that provide a 360-degree perspective on plural broadcasting as a critical development factor.

    Plenty Talk Dey 4 Ghana is a well-curated, retrospective and introspective panorama of an African country’s media landscape. What makes it a keepsake for the local and global audience is how the book demonstrates the workings of plural broadcasting to the realisation of democracy.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • Justice Denied

    This book was written soon after the suspects of the murder of the Ya-Na were arrested.

    The author followed the unveiling accounts of the murder of the Ya-Na,the commitment and indictment proceedings at the Magistrate Court.He also followed the trial of the accused persons at the High Court.

    The search for Justice for the Ya-Na became a judicial drama and a political football instead.Some key players in the search exhibited palpable incompetence and nonchalance while others showed unpardonable bias in the performance of their judicial and legal duties. In resistance to the search for justice all kinds of novel and spurious legal arguments were raised ,including the issue of when does a confession have effect in law even if it is freely given?

    “Another spurious legal issue raised was the fact of the Ya-Na’s death .In recognition of his service to his nation and traumatic murder, the Republic of Ghana gave Naa Yakubu II a state burial on 10th April,2016. Yet in order to deny him justice and to make the law seem to be an ass,the fact of his death and identity of his body became issues in the trail of persons accused of murdering him.This kept the ordinary Ghanaian wondering where the implementers of the law were taking the country.In the end the Ya-Na was denied Justice”.

    Justice Denied

    50.00
  • Mahama Animal Kingdom: English-Dagbani Edition (Book 3)

    Bihi ni bikura Buku (Litaafi)

    Ibrahim Mahama the author of the Animal Kingdom is out with a series of books which captures every creature in the Animal kingdom in Dagbani with an English translation.

    Book three (3) talks about Insects and Reptiles in the animal kingdom.

    This is recommended for little and grown up children who want to learn about the animal kingdom in Dagbani with an English translation.

  • Mahama Animal Kingdom: English -Dagbani Edition (Book 2)

    Bihi ni bikura Buku (Litaafi)

    Ibrahim Mahama the author of the Animal Kingdom is out with a series of books which captures every creature in the Animal kingdom in Dagbani with an English translation.

    Book two (2) talks about Birds in the animal kingdom.

    This is recommended for little and grown up children who want to learn about the animal kingdom in Dagbani with an English translation.

  • Mahama Animal Kingdom: English-Dagbani Edition (Book 1)

    Bihi ni bikura Buku (Litaafi)

    Ibrahim Mahama the author of the Animal Kingdom is out with a series of books which captures every creature in the Animal kingdom in Dagbani with an English translation.

    Book Onetalks about the various animals in the animal kingdom.

    This is recommended for little and grown up children who want to learn about the animal kingdom in Dagbani with an English translation.

  • Two Views from Christiansborg Castle Vol I: A Brief and Truthful Description of a Journey to and from Guinea

    Selena Axelrod Winsnes has been engaged, since 1982, in the translation into English, and editing of Danish language sources to West African history, sources published from 1697 to 1822, the period during which Denmark-Norway was an actor in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It comprises five major books written for the Scandinavian public. They describe all aspects of life on the Gold Coast [Ghana], the Middle Passage and the Danish Caribbean islands [US Virgin Islands], as seen by five different men. Each had his own agenda and mind-set, and the books, both singly and combined, hold a wealth of information – of interest both to scholars and lay readers. They provide important insights into the cultural baggage the enslaved Africans carried with them to the America’s.

    One of the books, L.F. Rømer’s A Reliable Account of the Coast of Guinea was runner-up for the prestigious International Texts Prize awarded by the U.S. African Studies Association.

  • 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.

  • Two Views from Christiansborg Castle Vol II: A Description of the Guinea Coast and its Inhabitants

    Selena Axelrod Winsnes has been engaged, since 1982, in the translation into English, and editing of Danish language sources to West African history, sources published from 1697 to 1822, the period during which Denmark-Norway was an actor in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It comprises five major books written for the Scandinavian public. They describe all aspects of life on the Gold Coast [Ghana], the Middle Passage and the Danish Caribbean islands [US Virgin Islands], as seen by five different men. Each had his own agenda and mind-set, and the books, both singly and combined, hold a wealth of information – of interest both to scholars and lay readers. They provide important insights into the cultural baggage the enslaved Africans carried with them to the America’s.

    One of the books, L.F. Rømer’s A Reliable Account of the Coast of Guinea was runner-up for the prestigious International Texts Prize awarded by the U.S. African Studies Association.

  • 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.”

  • 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.
  • 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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