• 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.

  • When Darkness Falls Across The Desert

    Driven by the rigours of economic instabilities in a West African country during the early nineties, the author of this book sets out to pursue better living standards in an oil-rich country in North Africa. Armed with high hopes but little money, he travels to one of Africa’s poorest regions where he is persuaded to believe that the desert was the only route to his destination. He sets out on a tedious journey with other travellers including a discontented man with a very different mission, only to realize that the treacherous desert was not only dangerous but a haven for sex-starved armed bandits who were ready to rape, kill and steal the meagre belongings they have.

  • 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

    85.00
  • 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.

  • The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    “In her book, Melinda tells the stories of the inspiring people she’s met through her work all over the world, digs into the data, and powerfully illustrates issues that need our attention―from child marriage to gender inequity in the workplace.” ― President Barack Obama

    “The Moment of Lift is an urgent call to courage. It changed how I think about myself, my family, my work, and what’s possible in the world. Melinda weaves together vulnerable, brave storytelling and compelling data to make this one of those rare books that you carry in your heart and mind long after the last page.”

    ― Brené Brown, Ph.D., author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Dare to Lead

    “Melinda Gates has spent many years working with women around the world. This book is an urgent manifesto for an equal society where women are valued and recognized in all spheres of life. Most of all, it is a call for unity, inclusion and connection. We need this message more than ever.” ― Malala Yousafzai

    “Melinda Gates’s book is a lesson in listening. A powerful, poignant, and ultimately humble call to arms.” ― Tara Westover, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Educated

    A debut from Forbes’ third most powerful woman in the world, Melinda Gates; a timely and necessary call to action for women’s empowerment.

    “How can we summon a moment of lift for human beings – and especially for women? Because when you lift up women, you lift up humanity.”

    For the last twenty years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. Throughout this journey, one thing has become increasingly clear to her: If you want to lift a society up, you need to stop keeping women down.

    In this moving and compelling book, Melinda shares lessons she’s learned from the inspiring people she’s met during her work and travels around the world. As she writes in the introduction, “That is why I had to write this book―to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live.”

    Melinda’s unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention―from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world―and ourselves.

    Writing with emotion, candor, and grace, she introduces us to remarkable women and shows the power of connecting with one another.

    When we lift others up, they lift us up, too.

  • 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.”

  • 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.

  • Daniel: Faith Like Nobody’s Business

    It is a beautiful rehash of the book of Daniel. It evolves as an engaging walk through of Daniel’s guiding principles for winning the battle of faith.

    The reader is taken along on a privileged, intimate walk through of Daniel’s exemplary and legendary walk of faith and his diary of events – his life’s story and experiences – as documented in the book of Daniel. As the reader grants Daniel audience, he narrates the most deadly, yet beautiful faith story ever told. Daniel begins his story from his early days as a servant in King Nebuchadnezzar Palace and the numerous unpleasant encounters which ironically landed him in favorable positions instead.

    The popular Daniel in the Lions’ Den story is captivating as we hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. As the story unfolds, his strong faith in God is undeniably evident in his determination to stick with God, regardless of any danger or threat to his life – even to the point of death. Daniel continues to stand tall in the many trials, temptations and difficulties he endures as he works under the three leaders who ruled the Babylonian Kingdom in succession.

    We are enthralled as we observe Daniel beautifully waging and winning the war of faith… “like nobody’s business!”

  • ‘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.

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