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An Introduction to Symbolic Theology: The Case of Adinkra Symbols of the Akan People of Ghana
Akoa Kofi Amoateng strongly believes that Jesus’ incarnation into Jewish-specific culture and humanity as God’s communication to the world (Hebrews 1:1-3), implies the theological and understanding that God wants culture-specific peoples around the world to identify and relate to Him from their cultural and historic experiences and backgrounds. He, therefore, submits that theology and hermeneutics must be both contextual and rooted in ethnic epistemological realities. Akoa, therefore, calls for ethnothelogy and ethnohermeneutics, believing that, generally, there is nothing like one theological jackets that fits all peoples.
This work is a masterpiece and a paradigm shift into offering how peoples’ theologies and indigenous hermeneutical enterprises can be constructed in contextualization for the different peoples of the world.
“Amoateng draws attention to the critical role symbols play for African theology. He bemoans the neglect of the early missionaries to the symbolic realm which has left a paucity of theological reflections on the Adinkra symbols. He uses this lacuna to highlight symbolic theology within the wider purview of ethnotheology, which some scholars are calling ethnohermeneutics. The Adinkra symbols can thus be analyzed within the broader lenses of Africa’s rich oral history, especially if we understand orality much larger than verbal utterances, but to include symbols that speak even when words are absent.” — Gregg Okesson, Ira Galloway and D.M. Beeson Chair of Leadership Development and Evangelism; Dean, E. Stanley Jones School ofWorld Mission and Evangelism; Presidential Envoy and Director of Global Partnerships, Asbury Theological Seminary
₵100.00 -
Bu Me Bɛ: Proverbs of the Akans (Hardcover)
Bu Me Bε: Proverbs of the Akans is the most extensive bi-lingual Twi Proverbs Dictionary published since JG Christaller’s A Collection of 3600 Twi Proverbs (1879). Kwame Anthony Appiah’s Introduction demonstrates how these proverbs can be interpreted within the tested and contested theories of meaning and literary production to show how they compare with philosophical musings from ancient Greece to England. To understand these proverbs, one needs to understand the culture from which they come. The matrilineal culture traces the familial lineage from the mother’s side hence the Akan saying that; ‘a child may resemble the father, but he has a family’ – the family being a reference to one’s mother and others within the mother’s bloodline.
This is invaluable. Our languages cannot grow as literary languages unless we also develop tools that will enable their effective use. Our languages must be in dialogue with not only the languages of Europe but also those of Africa and Asia. This dictionary is an important step in that direction. – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Director, International Centre for Writing and Translation, University of California
If language is a window to reality, then Appiah’s Bu Me Be may be justly described as an opening to an entire universe. This collection will be useful not only for linguists, but for anyone that takes Akan culture seriously, from anthropologists to historians, to cultural critics and even to modern-day product advertisers. It is a veritable treasure trove. – Ato Quayson, Director, Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies, University of Toronto
An invaluable collection of some 7000 proverbs that speak to the depth and nuance of Akan and Asante life, thought, belief and social organisation. – Emmanuel Kwaku Acheampong, Professor of History and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
Key Selling Points
- The bi-lingual arrangement makes this dictionary unique and user-friendly to non-Akan speakers. A specialist African language text that will be of interest to academics and students on African history and language courses.
- An informed collection of over 7000 proverbs published over a century after Christaller’s book of 3600 proverbs was first published.
- Appiah’s Introduction contextualises the nuanced meaning of the proverbs to reveal the wit and wisdom of the Akan language and how it compares with other world languages.
₵550.00 -
Tetteh Quarshie, The Star to Follow
In this book, Dr. Nii Amu Darko outlines the life of his ancestor Tetteh Quarshie and how he brought cocoa, Ghana’s number one cash crop to Ghana. He outlines the great man’s family background and adventurous trip to Fernando Po where he spent seven years on a cocoa plantation learning everything he possibly could about the cash crop. Dr. Nii Darko dubs Tetteh Quarshie the star to follow for his dedication and unique qualities as a hardworking, ethical, selfless son of Ghana who toiled to bring the crop that became the backbone of Ghana’s economy. Especially interesting is how Darko tells the unique story of Tetteh Quarshie from the family point of view, revealing intriguing titbits never before known by the public.
₵40.00 -
Avo Nee Koasi Ama Ekyi (Nzema)
This book deals with the emergence of two states within the Nzema state.
Originally, the Nzema state was one entity but as the succession to the throne changed hands, one Paramount Chief moved the throne to another capital within the Nzema state.This brought a bitter quarrel between two opposing factions which later generated into a civil war in the whole Nzema State.
The two opposing factions fought well over six years and after the then Governor of the Gold coast had intervened, a parley was convened and after they had settled their differences in the interest of peace and mutual co-existence, they agreed to the creation of two states, i.e. Eastern and Western Nzema, with two Paramount Chiefs.
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Tour of Duty: Journeys Around Nigeria
In March 2009 travel writer Pelu Awofeso laced his boots and set out on a solo trip across Nigeria; he christened the mission the ‘Beautiful Underbelly’ project, a brave attempt to re-discover his home country, which is more known abroad as the breeding ground for scam-artists than for its friendly and hospitable citizens. With just a backpack and a camera, Awofeso crisscrossed 18 states in eight months, wandering the capital cities and chatting up total strangers, all so that he can learn something new from the locals.After three months and eight capital cities, he already clocked over 6000 kilometres, a distance his movement tracker dopplr.com describes as being the equivalent of “one percent of the distance to the moon”. This volume is a record of a slice of Nigeria and Nigerians as seen through the eyes of a Nigerian writer with an abiding love for everyday people
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These Bones Will Rise Again
What are the right questions to ask when seeking out the true spirit of a nation?
In November 2017 the people of Zimbabwe took to the streets in an unprecedented alliance with the military. Their goal, to restore the legacy of Chimurenga, the liberation struggle, and wrest their country back from over thirty years of Robert Mugabe’s rule.
In an essay that combines bold reportage, memoir and critical analysis, Zimbabwean novelist and journalist Panashe Chigumadzi reflects on the ‘coup that was not a coup’, the telling of history and manipulation of time and the ancestral spirts of two women – her own grandmother and Mbuya Nehanda, the grandmother of the nation.
Chigumadzi successfully nests the intimate charge of her poignant personal story in the sweeping historical account and mythology of Zimbabwe. – Brian Chikwava, author of Harare North
Chigumadzi’s exploration of personal, family and national history reincarnates in stark, vivid images, many of those interred in the shadows of her country’s ‘Big Men’. – Tsitsi Dangarembga, author of Nervous Conditions
₵80.00These Bones Will Rise Again
₵80.00 -
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree
*Available from 15th September 2019.
Based on interviews with young women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram, this poignant novel by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani tells the timely story of one girl who was taken from her home in Nigeria and her harrowing fight for survival. Includes an afterword by award-winning journalist Viviana Mazza.
A new pair of shoes, a university degree, a husband–these are the things that a girl dreams of in a Nigerian village. And with a government scholarship right around the corner, everyone can see that these dreams aren’t too far out of reach.
But the girl’s dreams turn to nightmares when her village is attacked by Boko Haram, a terrorist group, in the middle of the night. Kidnapped, she is taken with other girls and women into the forest where she is forced to follow her captors’ radical beliefs and watch as her best friend slowly accepts everything she’s been told.
Still, the girl defends her existence. As impossible as escape may seem, her life–her future–is hers to fight for.
₵145.00Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree
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Voices of Ghana: Literary Contributions to the Ghana Broadcasting System, 1955-57 (Second Edition)
Ghana’s first radio programme of original literature, Singing Net, began in 1955 as part of the development of a national radio station in the years leading to independence in 1957. Its centralaim was to bring Ghanaian writers to the forefront of cultural programming as part of the Africanisation of radio in Ghana. It was a critical cultural expression of the radical changes that were unfolding across the colonial world. The programme successfully introduced listeners to a series of pioneering Ghanaian authors who would go on to become significant figures of Anglophone West African literature in the early postcolonial decades: Efua Sutherland, Frank Parkes, Amu Djoleto, Geormbeeyi Adali-Mortty, Albert Kayper-Mensah, Kwesi Brew, Cameron Duodu, J.H. Nketia and many others.
The anthology, Voices of Ghana (1958) is a collection of the poetry, short stories, play scripts and critical discussions that were aired on the Gold Coast (later Ghana) Broadcasting System (1954-1958).Both Singing Net and Voices of Ghana were edited by the BBC producer, Henry Swanzy.
The context of Ghana’s independence, the singularity of the anthology’s history, and the significance of many of the writers all contribute to the importance of this text. This second edition is a timely intervention into recent debates within postcolonial studies and world literature on the importance of broadcast culture in the dissemination of “new literatures” from the colonial world. It includes an unabridged version of the 1958 text, a new introduction and footnoted annotations,which draw on extensive research undertaken in Ghana and Britain. It will appeal to a general readership with an interest in Ghanaian literature, 1950s broadcast culture, the figure of Dr Kwame Nkrumah and the making of a national literature in the era of decolonisation, as well as engaging scholars. The new edition presents a deeply insightful and engaging history of Voices of Ghana and reintroduces the original works on the occasion of the anthology’s 60th anniversary.
Victoria Ellen Smith is a Lecturer in the Department of History, University of Ghana, Legon
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When Rain Clouds Gather (African Writers Series, AWS247)
In the heart of rural Botswana, the poverty stricken village of Golema Mmidi is a haven to exiles from far and wide. A South African political refugee and an Englishman join forces to revolutionise the villagers traditional farming methods, but their task is fraught with hazards as the pressures of tradition, opposition from the local chief and the unrelenting climate threaten to divide and devastate the fragile community.₵45.00
