• Men Across Time: Contesting Masculinities in Ghanaian Fiction and Film

    Men Across Time: Contesting Masculinities in Ghanaian Fiction and Film examines the various constructions and manifestations of masculinities from precolonial, colonial, independent and post-independent Ghana as portrayed in selected Ghanaian fiction, film and music videos. Two main questions are engaged here:

    • What predominant masculine images are present in Ghanaian texts?
    • In what ways has the passage of time affected the subversion of dominant masculine images, contested hegemony and created room for the presence of alternative masculinities?

    This book submits that in questioning the various masculine modes of behaviours portrayed in these texts, and negotiating their own masculine identities, the male characters showcase the mutations that are taking place within masculine representations over time and aver that other models of masculine expression are possible.

    This study’s engagement with the theory of hegemonic masculinity represents an important contribution to the discourse in gender studies in Ghana and Africa. In addition, it is well researched and presents a cutting-edge analysis of masculinity across genres. I cannot think of any other study in Ghanaian literary and cultural studies that provides such a broad historical background context and the book is certainly original in its approach.” — Professor Mansah Prah, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

    “The book’s major strength is in adding significantly to an area of study that is currently under theorised. This has the potential to make a robust and important contribution to the field of knowledge on representation of masculinities in African and specifically Ghanaian popular culture.” — Associate Professor Nicky Falkof, Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

  • The Property Law of Ghana

    This book consists of six related but separate parts combined in thirteen continuous chapters of land law. The thirteen chapters are fundamentally concerned with the development of the customary land law through the Ghanaian courts. In the first part, the main concepts underlying land law as well as the general characteristics of land are traced and analysed. The second segment deals with the law relating to interests in land, including modes of acquisition and loss of title. Tenancies and pledges are examined in their own right. Part 3 considers the nature of the customary law family, focusing on the composition of the family, the rights of members and the role of the head of family. In Part 4, rules regarding transfer of interests are considered within the general body of case law. This is followed logically by a consideration of the applicable doctrines of English law in Part 5. The final segment directs analysis at the impact of state legislative activity on customary law.

    The rules of customary law were developed from pre-colonial times. It might be thought that the rules might be full of hoary anachronisms. The continuous decisions of the courts and the full impact of legislative activity have been the guiding hand in steering the customary land law in consonance with social and economic developments. No one argues that the customary law is in need of purgation. Principles derived from English equity jurisprudence have steadily worked their way into customary notions, particularly in the form of acquiescence, introducing equity’s peculiar element of fairness into the relevant customary law rules. Some of the perceived harshness or inadequacy of the customary land law have also been cured by legislation.

    The present work is not a mere rearrangement of emphasis of the land law. I have attempted to bring into one coherent view the ideas expressed by the established jurists. The law we work with is constantly changing. It is constantly between the hammer and the anvil, changed and reshaped by judicial and statutory intervention. New answers are found as problems without judicial precedent press for statutory solution. Where authoritative answers cannot be found for such problems, I have relied on the evidence of actual social practice. Overall this book captures the restlessness of the indigenous law and the constant push for change. Several of the topics that dominated the old texts are receding. Statute law now overshadows many areas of the customary law.

    There is considerable imbalance in the rendering of the customary land law of Ghana. Although this is a book on the customary land law of Ghana, a disproportionate number of both actual examples and case-law are drawn from southern Ghana. It reflects the general lacuna in current literature. This deficiency points to the urgent necessity of prosecuting a similar task in relation to the customary law of northern Ghana.

  • From Britain to Bokoor: The Ghanaian Musical Journey of John Collins

    Highlife, a popular West African genre, is easily the soundtrack to the life journey of the nation Ghana. And if there is one personality who has contributed the most to documenting it, it is Professor John Collins, a naturalized Ghanaian of British descent and a professor of music at the University of Ghana, Legon. Collins originally accompanied his parents to Ghana in 1952, when his father was setting up the philosophy department at the University of Ghana. Returning to Britain with his mother, Collins was educated in Bristol, Manchester and London, earning a science degree. He was also playing music and then he returned to Ghana in 1969 to study archaeology and sociology at the University of Ghana.

    Eventually he himself became an academic teaching and researching popular music. This book captures the life and music career of Collins. What makes him an enigma is his personal involvement on the road as a guitar playing member of concert party bands. His working relations with Fela, E.T. Mensah, Kofi Ghanaba, Victor Uwaifo, Prof. J. H. Kwabena Nketia and many legendary names in the music space of West Africa make him a legend in his own right. This is the story of a “white man” man who came to Africa to legitimize the place of highlife as consequential to world music

  • Medical Law in Ghana: A Primer (Hardcover)

    Transcending the traditional compartments with which lawyers are familiar, medical law is concerned with issues arising from physician or doctor-patient relationship. Medical Law in Ghana – A Primer seeks to present an exposition of health care law and medical law in Ghana as embodied in both statutory and case law. It addresses the law dealing with doctor-patient relationship; confidentiality and access to medical records; medical education, professional regulation of doctors, nurses and pharmacists; assisted reproduction, euthanasia (assisted dying), clinical trials.

    After a general introduction, the book systematically describes law related to the medical profession, proceeding from training, licensing, and other aspects of access to the profession, through disciplinary and professional liability and medical ethics considerations and quality assurance, to such aspects of the physician (doctor)-patient relationship as rights and duties of physicians and patients, consent, privacy, and access to medical records. Also covered are specific issues such as organ transplants, human medical research, abortion, and euthanasia, as well as matters dealing with the physician in relation to other health care providers, health care insurance, and the health care system.

    This book is intended to serve as useful source of authoritative information and guide for lawyers, students, health care professionals and all those that have interest in the interface between law and medicine, medical law, bioethics and medical ethics. Succinct and practical, this book will prove to be of great value to professional organizations of physicians, nurses, hospitals, and relevant government agencies. Lawyers representing parties with interests in Ghana will welcome this very useful guide, and academics and researchers will appreciate its comparative value as a contribution to the study of medical law in the international context.

  • Law of Landlord and Tenant in Ghana

    The present work brings to completion my effort to state the complete law of property of Ghana. It was inspired by my earlier work on the customary land law of Ghana. The customary law remains the heart of the Ghanaian land law, but the story of the property law of Ghana is incomplete without a comprehensive account of the received law of property. The present work, therefore, brings to a full circle my efforts to state accurately and wholly the property law of Ghana. The field of Ghanaian property law is dominated by a combination of foreign and indigenous concepts. Arguably, the theoretical aspects of the property law of Ghana stand in need of resolution of the tensions between the two sources of law.

    The development of the English law of property was deeply marked by the early activities of the King’s Court and its administration of a centralised system of law as distinguished from an earlier system of localised customary law, varying from place to place. Modified by equity, its doctrines were developed from a centralised system of records. A course in property law ought to equip the student with the entire range of concepts in the field, closely analysed. Described elsewhere as a rubbish heap that has been accumulating for centuries and understood only by the professors, the English law of property does not lend itself to easy understanding. Imposing structure upon a subject comprising essentially English law of property and applying it to Ghanaian circumstances has not been easy. To help the student grasp the interlocking nature of the concepts, and to gain rounded and more profound insights about the various rights and liabilities attached to interests in land, a persistent effort is made to connect the material to Ghanaian cases and statutes.

  • An Outline of Islamic Customary Law In Ghana

    This is an altogether original work in a virgin field. About two decades ago, the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana (the only in existence at the time in the country), introduced the study of Islamic law as an aspect or jurisprudence. The decision was informed by the reality of a significant Muslim segment of the Ghanaian population. It was a brave decision. The halls of academia had never resounded to Islamic law concepts; for up to that point Islamic law was treated as a Cinderella with no place in the legal curriculum, save for a few passing references in regard to marriage and succession laws. Almost single-handedly, I set about developing a corpus of Islamic customary law relevant to the needs of Ghanaian law students. This small volume is the result of efforts to put my thoughts in essay form and to make available to students and the wider public a book-length manual on the nature of Islamic customary law in Ghana. By obtaining and analysing data elicited from community leaders, ordinary Muslims and clerics and evaluating them in the light of settled principles of Sharia law, a distinctly Ghanaian brand of Muslim law emerges. At appropriate points, material derived from court verdicts is interwoven into the text. No attempt has been made here to deal with other systems of Ghanaian family law other than the Islamic.

    The author has attempted to present the Muslim laws of family, property and succession within a reasonable compass to aid appreciation of the personal laws of substantial numbers of Ghanaians; and in a form that will be clearly understood.

    Aside from Law 111 and the Marriage of Mohammedans Ordinance, Cap 129 (1951 Rev.), Islamic law has been subject to no comprehensive legislative reform. This is perhaps to be expected as the practised law of Muslims was frequently misunderstood, and hardly recognised and understood by administrators and legislators.

    The author’s purpose will have been achieved if this book helps to free Islamic law from misconceptions common in our society.

  • Ghana Law of Wills

    The succession law of Ghana has undergone enormous change since the enactment of the Wills Act, 1971. Relevant literature has hardly kept pace with changes in statutory and judge-made law. The need for a comprehensive statement of the pertinent law has made itself felt for quite a long time. In response, several eminent jurists have grappled with some of the major problems associated with succession. The present account seeks to provide a detailed assessment, analysis, evaluation and critique of the law of wills of Ghana.

    Basically founded upon analysis of the Wills Act, 1971 of Ghana and relevant English principles, the discussion here also traverses a wider field. The end result is an opus that interweaves essentially English concepts of the law of wills with equivalent Ghanaian developments. The topics for discussion are broadened to include indigenous forms of testation.

    The book is broken into appropriate divisions and subdivisions to facilitate fuller discussion of each topic, largely along conventional formats for the analysis of the law of wills. The underlying theme is concerned with the devolution of a person’s assets upon death. Both the substantive and procedural laws are considered in some detail and on the basis of consistent principles of law. Various types of wills and rules for the making and revocation of wills as well as laws dealing with privileged wills, incorporation of documents, revival and republication, legacies and the construction of wills are analysed extensively with a view to encapsulating the corpus of the law of wills.

  • Highlife Time 3

    Highlife is Ghana’s most important modern home grown dance-music that has its roots in traditional music infused with outside influences coming from Europe and the Americas. Although the word ‘highlife’ was not coined until the 1920s, its origins can be traced back to the regimental brass bands, elite-dance orchestras and maritime guitar and accordion groups of the late 19th and very early 20th centuries. Highlife is, therefore, one of Africa’s earliest popular music genres.

    The book traces the origins of highlife music to the present – and include information on palmwine music, adaha brass bands, concert party guitar bands and dance bands, right up to off-shoots such as Afro-rock, Afrobeat, burger highlife, gospel highlife, hiphop highlife (i.e. hiplife) and contemporary highlife.
    The book also includes chapters on the traditional background or roots of highlife, the entrance of women into the Ghanaian highlife profession and the biographies of numerous Ghanaian (and some Nigerian) highlife musicians, composers and producers. It also touches on the way highlife played a role in Ghana’s independence struggle and the country’s quest for a national – and indeed Pan-African – identity.

    The book also provides information on music styles that are related to highlife, or can be treated as cousins of highlife, such as the maringa of Sierra Leone, the early guitar styles of Liberia, the juju music of Nigeria the makossa of the Cameroon/ It also touches on the popular music of Ghana’s Francophone neighbours.

    There is also a section on the Black Diasporic input into highlife, through to the impact of African American and Caribbean popular music styles like calypsos, jazz, soul, reggae, disco, hiphop and rap and dancehall. that have been integrated into the highlife fold. Thus, highlife has not only influenced other African countries but is also an important cultural bridge uniting the peoples of Africa and its Diaspora.

    Highlife Time 3

    250.00
  • Social Structure of Ghana: A Study in Persistence and Change

    When Social Structure of Ghana was first published in 1981, it became the only comprehensive and sociological attempts to examine the institutional framework of the entire Ghanaian society. It still is. In this 1999 edition, the author updates most of the data on Ghana, and analyses in greater detail some of the issues raised therein. These issues include the military in politics, religious sectarianism, social problems, educational reforms and the world of work, and the shifting loyalties of Ghanaians to kin groups, tribes and the nation.

    As the twentieth century comes to a close, this book probably represents the last major publication on Ghana that analyses the country’s human and material resources for confronting the challenges of the next century.

    The book will continue to be useful for studies in sociology, ethnography, political science, African studies, medical sociology value systems, nursing and social work.

  • Principles & Practice of Taxation

    This book covers all the principles and practice of taxation in Ghana. The book is current and straight to the point, devoid of any technical tax jargons. The cases and exercises at the end of each chapter capture the applications of the principles. Some of the cases are quite lengthy; particularly the style of examiners, the objective is to expose users to both principles and dynamics of the practice of taxation as well as examination.

  • Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism

    In Oxford Street, Accra, Ato Quayson analyzes the dynamics of Ghana’s capital city through a focus on Oxford Street, part of Accra’s most vibrant and globalized commercial district. He traces the city’s evolution from its settlement in the mid-seventeenth century to the present day. He combines his impressions of the sights, sounds, interactions, and distribution of space with broader dynamics, including the histories of colonial and postcolonial town planning and the marks of transnationalism evident in Accra’s salsa scene, gym culture, and commercial billboards.

    Quayson finds that the various planning systems that have shaped the city—and had their stratifying effects intensified by the IMF-mandated structural adjustment programs of the late 1980s—prepared the way for the early-1990s transformation of a largely residential neighborhood into a kinetic shopping district. With an intense commercialism overlying, or coexisting with, stark economic inequalities, Oxford Street is a microcosm of historical and urban processes that have made Accra the variegated and contradictory metropolis that it is today.

    “Oxford Street, Accra offers a fresh portrait of a rising African metropolis by one of the most original and skilled critics of the African condition. Deeply researched and packed with detail and bold in scope and analysis, Oxford Street, Accra is a unique addition to the growing body of work on contemporary African Urbanism. This extraordinary book shows the extent to which the future of urban theory might well lie in the global South.” – Achille Mbembe, author of Critique de la raison négre.

    KEY SELLING POINTS:

    • Oxford Street, Accra is a must-buy as an invaluable companion and compass for both newcomers and returning visitors to Accra.
    • Oxford Street, Accra was chosen as one of the ‘UK Guardian’s 10 Best City Books of the World in 2014.’
    • Oxford Street, Accra was also the Co-Winner of ‘The Urban History Association’s Top Award in the International Category For Books Published About World Cities in 2013 – 2014.’
    • Oxford Street, Accra contains an encyclopedic knowledge of the City of Accra, tracing the city’s evolution from its settlement in the mid-seventeenth century to the present day.
    • The book offers a microcosm of historical and urban knowledge of the making of the city that have transformed Accra into the sophisticated metropolis that is it today.
  • Concise Text On The Law Of Contract in Ghana (Hardcover)

    This book is strictly designed for undergraduates who have followed a course of lectures based on standard works on contract law. It is intended to supplement your course materials, lectures and textbooks; it is a guide to revision rather than a substitute for the amount of reading that you need to do in order to succeed. Contract law is a vast subject as evidenced by the volume of material contained in standard works on the subject. It follows that a revision work cannot cover all the depth and detail that the student needs to know, and it does not set out to do so. The aim is to provide a concise overall picture of the key areas for revision.

  • From Dar es Salaam to Bongoland: Urban Mutations in Tanzania

    The name Dar es Salaam comes from the Arabic phrase meaning house of peace. A popular but erroneous translation is ‘haven of peace’ resulting from a mix-up of the Arabic words “dar” (house) and “bandar” (harbour). Named in 1867 by the Sultan of Zanzibar, the town has for a long time benefitted from a reputation of being a place of tranquility. The tropical drowsiness is a comfort to the socialist poverty and under-equipment that causes an unending anxiety to reign over the town. Today, for the Tanzanian, the town has become Bongoland, that is, a place where survival is a matter of cunning and intelligence (bongo means ‘brain’ in Kiswahili). Far from being an anecdote, this slide into toponomy records the mutations that affect the links that Tanzanians maintain with their principal city and the manner in which it represents them.

    This book takes into account the changes by departing from the hypothesis that they reveal a process of territorialisation. What are the processes – envisaged as spatial investments – which, by producing exclusivity, demarcations and exclusions, fragment the urban space and its social fabric? Do the practices and discussions of the urban dwellers construct limited spaces, appropriated, identified and managed by communities (in other words, territories)? Dar es Salaam is often described as a diversified, relatively homogenous and integrating place. However, is it not more appropriate to describe it as fragmented?

    As territorialisation can only occur through frequenting, management and localised investment, it is therefore through certain places – first shelter and residential area, then the school, daladala station, the fire hydrant and the quays – that the town is observed. This led to broach the question in the geographical sense of urban policy carried out since German colonisation to date. At the same time, the analysis of these developments allows for an evaluation of the role of the urban crisis and the responses it brings.

    In sum, the aim of this approach is to measure the impact of the uniqueness of the place on the current changes. On one hand, this is linked to its long-term insertion in the Swahili civilisation, and on the other, to its colonisation by Germany and later Britain and finally, to the singularity of the post-colonial path. This latter is marked by an alternation of Ujamaa with Structural Adjustment Plans applied since 1987. How does this remarkable political culture take part in the emerging city today?

    This book is a translation of De Dar es Salaam à Bongoland: Mutations urbaines en Tanzanie, published by Karthala, Paris in 2006.

  • Frank Wood’s Business Accounting Volume 2 (11th IFRS Edition)

    Every year, thousands of students rely on Frank Wood’s best-selling books to help them pass their accountancy exams.

    Business Accounting 2 is a rigorous introduction to some of the more advanced concepts in financial accounting. Here you will find coverage of:

      • Accounting for limited companies and groups
      • Special accounts
      • Financial analysis and accounting ratios
      • Issues in international financial reporting
      • Costing, budgeting and variance analysis
      • Planning, control and decision-making

    This new IFRS edition continues a tradition of meeting the changing needs of those studying financial accounting. Its accessible approach makes the book suitable for a wide variety of courses in accounting and business, both at secondary and tertiary level and for those studying for professional qualifications. The book also covers introductory aspects of management accounting, suitable for use at all levels up to and including professional foundation level courses and first-year degree courses.

    Classic Features:

      • Easy-to-follow explanations of contemporary accounting practice
      • Clear and logical progression through topics
      • Activities designed to reinforce the understanding of key concepts
      • Over 300 review questions, including past examination board questions
      • A comprehensive Companion Website at www.pearsoned.co.uk/wood including further self-test questions and accounting standards updates

    “The topics are addressed in the right order and the book is easy to navigate… The analysis both in company accounts and group accounts is one of its strengths and the examples, illustrations and activities are very helpful.” – Dr. Christos Grambovas, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK

    “The explanation of consolidation accounting is very clear, and it is enriched with a relevant number of examples and cases. In comparison with other similar publications, I consider Business Accounting 2 strongly competitive.” – Dr. Patrizia Tettamanzi, Università Bocconi, Italy

  • Frank Wood’s Business Accounting Volume 1 (11th IFRS Edition)

    Every year, thousands of students rely on Frank Wood’s best-selling books to help them pass their accountancy exams.

    Business Accounting Volume 1 is the world’s best-selling textbook on book-keeping and accounting. Now in its eleventh edition, it has become the standard introductory text for accounting students and professionals alike.

    New to this edition:

    • Uses IFRS as its framework to explain key concepts and practice
    • Fully updated review questions for exam practice
    • Additional and updated worked examples for areas of difficulty
    • Expanded introduction to the language and history of accounting

    Features:

    • Easy-to-follow explanations of contemporary accounting practice, including double entry book-keeping and the preparation of financial statements
    • Clear and logical progression through topics
    • Activities designed to reinforce your understanding of key concepts
    • Over 300 review questions, including past Examination Board questions
    • 100 multiple choice questions with answers
    • Regularly-updated companion website including further self-test questions and accounting standards updates

    Business Accounting Volume 1 is used on a wide variety of courses in accounting and business, both at secondary and tertiary level and for those studying for professional qualifications.

    “The book is very consistent in approach and level…the early chapters on double-entry book-keeping lay a solid foundation for all future studies in financial accounting” Penny Gardner, Napier University, Edinburgh

    “A benchmark for all accounting books” Sarah Knight, Finance Courses’ Co-ordinator, Huntingdonshire Regional College

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