Ghana 2008 syllabi
Contents
Course schedules
Note: We study at the University of Ghana, Legon campus, from June 16 to July 10. There is a final performance and dinner on July 10. On July 12 we move to the village, to continue study in an immersive village environment from July 12 to 27. Our final performance takes place there on July 26.
West African Music Ensemble (Music 144)
June 16 to July 9, University of Ghana's Legon campus: Meets Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:30, at the drum station under the trees, behind the Department of Music. Instructor: Johnson Kemeh.
July 12 to 27, Dagbamete: study continues at the village field site. Instructor: Kwasi Dunyo.
Final performances: July 10 (Legon), July 26 (Dagbamete).
Introduction to Ethnomusicology: The ethnomusicology of Ghanaian music and dance (Music 365)
June 16 to July 10, University of Ghana's Legon campus: Meets 9:30 to 11:00, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, in the Computer LAB (School of Performing Arts)
- June 16: Prof. Nketia, Introduction to Music of Ghana
- June 17,18,19: Prof. Collins: Popular Music and Ghanaian history
- June 23, 24, 25, 26: Prof. Zabana Kongo: African art music; music analysis; music composition, popular music of Central Africa
- June 30, July 1: Prof. Asiama: Akan music (hunters' music, funeral music)
- July 2, 3: Prof. Fiagbedzi: Ewe music and aesthetics
- July 7, 8, 9, 10: Prof. Anku: African rhythm
July 12-27 (Dagbamete village): Prof. Frishkopf: fieldwork component; Prof. Dunyo: Ewe musical performance.
West African culture, language, and society (Middle Eastern and African Studies 300)
June 16 to July 10, University of Ghana's Legon campus: Meets 11:30 to 1:00, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, place to be announced.
- June 16 Mon-Ewe Language Class-Prof. Alex Dzameshie
- June 17 Tue-Sociolinguistics-Prof Alex Dzameshie
- June 18 Wed-History of Ghana-Prof Addo Fenning
- June 19 Thur-Women in Oral Literature in Ghana-Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy
- June 23 Mon-Ewe Language Class-Prof. Dzameshie
- June 24 Tue-Sociolinguistics-Prof. Alex Dzameshie
- June 25 Wed-Slave Trade in Ghana.Dr Akosua Perbi
- June 26 Thurs-Theater Arts in Ghana-Dr Mohammed Abdallah.
- June 30 Mon-Ewe language Class-Prof Alex Dzameshie
- July 1 Tue-Sociolinguistics-Prof Alex Dzameshie
- July 2 Wed-Political Dev. in Ghana-Seth Ablosu
- July 3 Thur-Theater Arts in Ghana-Dr Mohammed Abdallah
- July 7 Mon Ewe Language Class-Prof .Alex Dzameshie
- July 8 Tue-Sociolinguistics-Prof. Alex Dzameshie
- July 9 Wed-Africa Literature-Prof Kofi Anyidoho
- July 10 Thur-Traditional/Contemporary Religion in Ghana-Rev.Prof. Elorm Dovlo
July 12-27 (Dagbamete village): Prof. Frishkopf: fieldwork component; Prof. Dunyo: Ewe culture.
Bibliography
Textbooks to order in advance
John Collins - West African Pop Roots (Temple University Press, 1992).
John Chernoff - African Music, African Sensibility (University Of Chicago Press, 1981)
Kevin Shillington, History of Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
Click here for ordering information.
Textbooks to download and print
Note: these are free, but long. You can download/print minimal pages, or the whole thing, or bring an electronic device allowing you to read without printing.
Ghana Country Study
Ghana country study Download and print at least the Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2. Also available piecemeal here. Courtesy of the US Library of Congress.
Ewe Basic Course
A free textbook exists for the Ewe language: Warburton's Ewe Basic Course.
If you wish, you can download the complete Ewe Basic Course here.
We'll focus on the following sections, so if you'd rather not lug the entire text, or if it's hard to download such a big file all at once, please download and print each link in the Warburton directory: the Introduction, as well as chapters I, II, III, IV, V, VI, X, XI, XII, XIV, XVII, XVIII, XXI, and the Dictionary.
I will shortly provide MP3 audio files, linked to the Warburton text, which you should download and install in your mp3 player. There is no listening lab at the UofG, so take advantage of these files.
Resources, by course segment/professor
Music 144: Johnson Kemeh
Handouts.
John Chernoff - African Music, African Sensibility (University Of Chicago Press, 1981).
Music 365
Professor J. H. Kwabena Nketia
The Problem of Meaning in African Music, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Ethnomusicology, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan., 1962), pp. 1-7
Musicology and Linguistics: Integrating the Phraseology of Text and Tune in the Creative Process, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 143-164
African Music and Western Praxis: A Review of Western Perspectives on African Musicology, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 20, No. 1 (1986), pp. 36-56
The Intensity Factor in African Music, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Journal of Folklore Research, Vol. 25, No. 1/2 (January 1988), pp. 53-86
The Study of African and Afro-American Music, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, The Black Perspective in Music, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring, 1973), pp. 7-15
Professor John Collins
John Collins - West African Pop Roots (Temple University Press, 1992).
The reasons for teaching African popular music studies at University
Professor Zabana Kongo
Creative Ethnomusicology (Euba)
Professor Asiama
My mother has a television, by Professor James Burns (on funerals)
Professor Fiagbedzi
John Chernoff - African Music, African Sensibility (University Of Chicago Press, 1981) (focus on Ewe music)
Prof. Fiagbedzi's book on Ewe aesthetics will be available at the University of Ghana bookstore.
Professor William Anku
Circles and Time: A Theory of Structural Organization of Rhythm in African Music
Principles of Rhythmic integration in African drumming
MEAS 300
Background readings
Try to read these prior to the first week of class (on the plane, perhaps):
Shillington, chapters 1,2,3,6,7
History of the Ewes, by D.Phil Wisdom Agorde
Professor Alex Dzameshie
Ewe Basic Course.
History of the Ewes, by D.Phil Wisdom Agorde
Papers on sociolinguistics (to be distributed in Ghana)
Prof Addo Fenning
Ghana: A Country Study, Introduction, and chapters 1 & 2
Seth Ablosu
Ghana: A Country Study, chapter 1 (review or complete)
West Africa-related material in Shillington, chapters 20,21,23-30.
Dr Akosua Perbi
Shillington, chapters 12, 16
Professor Mohammed Abdallah
A collection of his plays will be available at the University of Ghana bookstore.
Professor Kofi Anyidoho
History of the Ewes, by D.Phil Wisdom Agorde
