Ghana 2010 syllabi

NOTE: These syllabi are still under development...details will continue to change until late May.

Staff

Academic leader

Professor Michael Frishkopf, michaelf@ualberta.ca
Tel. in Ghana TBA; (780) 492-0670, 435-4834, 707-4785 (pre-trip until May 31; by email thereafter)
University of Ghana Guest Centre, July 2 - July 17
Office hours TBA.

Ghana Coordinator

Prof. Nathan Bampo (Institute for African Studies)

Faculty

See below.

Course schedules

General schedule

West African Music Ensemble (Music 144/544)

July 5 - 20: University of Ghana's Legon campus. We meet just outside the department of music, in the open air. Instructors: Johnson Kemeh (drumming, dancing, singing), Aaron Sukura (gyil xylophones), TBA (atenteben flute)

July 9 - 11: Ga music, song, and dance workshops in Kokrobite, with Mustapha Tettey Addy, Okoe Ardifyo, and others

July 17 - 18: possible Fante music and dance workshop (?)

July 21 - 28: Asante and Dagomba music, song, and dance workshops, in Kumasi and Tamale

July 29 - Aug 7: Dagbamete. Study of Ghanaian music, dance, and song continues at the village field site. Instructor: Prof. Kwasi Dunyo.

Final performances: Aug 6 (Dagbamete).

Introduction to Ethnomusicology: The ethnomusicology of Ghanaian music and dance (Music 365/565)

July 5-20, University of Ghana's Legon campus, in the Computer LAB (School of Performing Arts)

Lectures from:

• Prof. J.H. Kwabena Nketia, Introduction to Music of Ghana; African Art Music
• Prof. John Collins: Popular Music and Ghanaian history
• Mr. Gavin Web: Mutual Aid Societies
• Prof. Nathan Damptey: fieldwork among the Akan: Akan society and music (hunters' music, funeral music)
• Prof. Nissio Fiagbedzi: Ewe music and aesthetics
• Prof. Senyo Adzei: West African rhythm
• Prof. Patience Kwakwa: The study of West African Dance
• Prof. Michael Frishkopf, technical and ethical aspects of ethnomusicological fieldwork

July 16-18 (Cape Coast)

• Dr Zabana Kongo: Congolese popular music
• Ms. Antoinette Kuduto: Fanti Music

July 21-28 (Ghana tour):

• Prof. Koo Nimo (Dr Daniel Amponsah): Asante music and culture, and the palmwine guitar tradition (Kumasi)
• Mr. Fuzzy Kombat: Music in Dagbon (Tamale)

July 29-Aug 7 (Dagbamete village): Prof. Michael Frishkopf: fieldwork component; Prof. Kwasi Dunyo: Ewe musical and cultural traditions

West African culture, language, and society (Middle Eastern and African Studies 300/500)

July 5-20, University of Ghana's Legon campus, in the Computer LAB (School of Performing Arts)

Lectures from:

• Prof. Alex Dzameshie
• Prof. Paul Agbedor (linguistics)
• Prof. Robert Addo-Fenning (history)
• Rev. Prof. Elorm Dovlo (religious studies)
• Mr. Seth Ablosu (political science)
• Prof. Akosua Perbi (history)
• Prof. Mohammed Abdallah (drama)
• Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy (women's studies)
• Prof. Kofi Anyidoho (literature)
• Prof. Alhassan Sulemana Anamzoya (anthropology)

July 29-Aug 7 (Dagbamete village): Prof. Frishkopf: fieldwork and oral history supervision; Prof. Kwasi Dunyo: Ewe culture.

Assignments and grading

Assignments

Participation

In order to learn, it is essential to participate fully in the program. Beyond completing reading and writing assignments, you must attend every class (this means coming on time!), take notes, engage in discussion or play/sing/dance (as appropriate), as well as attend every mandatory activity, except in cases of dire illness. It is equally important to make every effort to engage yourself with life in Ghana beyond the classroom.

Reading

Readings include (1) articles, (2) book chapters, (3) literature

Some readings are optional, while others are required. I try to assign at least one reading to accompany every lecture in Music 365/565 and MEAS 300/500, providing you with research by the lecturer whenever possible.

Bear in mind that you do not need to read every word of every reading - rather your aim is to locate and absorb the main points of each. If you encounter something you do not understand, try to move on, or ask.

Some of the required readings are marked with an asterisk (*). These are the readings for which everyone must prepare a one-notecard reading review (see writing assignments below). Other readings are marked with a dollar sign ($). Graduate students must prepare reading reviews for these readings.

Listening, viewing

This year I'm adding a selection of recommended listenings and viewings. These will be linked to the various lectures or professors from whom you'll be learning. You can listen online; some materials can also be downloaded.

Writing

These short assignments are designed to encourage reflection, analytical thinking, and synthesis, drawing on both academic work and experience. Page lengths refer to 1.5 spaced pages, 12 pt font, 1 inch margins. You'll need 4x6 notecards for the reading reviews (see below).

Papers will be due August 25 to give you a chance to digest information after you return home. Notecards (lecture notes, reading reviews) are due by Monday evening following the week in which they're assigned. Fieldnotes will be graded towards the end of our stay in Dagbamete. Papers and the blog's URL can be submitted by email.

Standards for graduate students will be higher (in length, and in sophistication) than for undergraduates; please see me for clarification. Some readings which are optional for undergrads are mandatory for grads.

• Reading review cards. For each required reading (article or book chapter) marked by an asterisk (*) you will prepare one 4x6 notecard with your name and the title of the reading on the top line (name at the left, title to the right). Below, you will provide a succinct summary and critique of the reading. In your summary, indicate coverage and main points; in your critique, indicate limitations, authorial biases and implicit assumptions. These are very short writing assignments. I will return cards to you for use in other assignments. Again, prepare reviews only for readings followed by an asterisk (*), below. Grad students must also prepare review cards for readings marked with a dollar sign ($).

• Ethnography of ritual performance. A description and analysis of the Dagbamete Apetorku shrine ritual (to take place Sunday July 26, and August 2).

• Fieldnotes and blog. You will keep a daily journal in which you record your experiences in Ghana, particularly while traveling or living in the village (but also on campus), reflecting on the relations between music, culture, society, and history. Write about music, people you see, hear, or meet, conversations, sights and sounds and smells, behaviors, food, dress, language, TV programs. Interpret differences. 10-15 minutes daily is all that is required, though some of you will probably want to write more. Your notes can be supplemented with documented audio-visual recordings (photographs, sounds, video). When you return home (or from Ghana if possible) you'll create a multimedia blog, using these materials selectively. This journal will be handed in and then returned to you, therefore please do not write anything in this journal you do not want me to read! (You may therefore wish to keep a second private journal as well, which need not be handed in.)

• Pan-Africanism and West African literature. You'll each read one West African novel (your choice--there are plenty to choose from in the campus bookstore), as well as Kofi Anyidoho's essay The Pan African Ideal in Literatures of the Black World (to be distributed), and prepare an essay about these works (reading review cards are not required), drawing on other material from MEAS 300/500 as needed to provide perspectives from perspectives of history, politics, linguistics, religious studies, oral tradition, and other fields. Interpret the writing of this novel using socio-cultural and historical perspectives.

• Interpreting “music in Ghana” for North Americans. Using everything that you've learned in Music 365/565, Music 144/544, MEAS 300/500, and via other experiences traveling and living in Ghana, you'll write an essay explaining the diversity of music in Ghana (relating this diversity to both social and historical factors), for a North American audience. Discuss linkages--historical and present--between music in Ghana and music of West Africa, North and South America, Europe, and elsewhere.

• Music and language. Using your knowledge of ethnomusicology, sociolinguistics, music, and language, augmented by your knowledge of other fields, you'll compare music and language as social systems -- and the related ways of studying them.

• Fieldwork projects: I will deliver several lectures on ethnographic fieldwork, with attention to both technical and ethical issues. There will be two class projects: (1) "Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees". We'll visit the Liberian refugee camp (Buduburam) near Accra where this UofA CD was produced (bit.ly/buducd), and meet some of the musicians whose work appeared on it. You'll take part in research focused on the roles and functions of music in the Buduburam camp, and especially the impact of our CD project, and how contributors feel about it. (2) Musical change in Dagbamete. During our two week stay in Dagbamete we'll conduct a collaborative oral history about socio-musical change in Dagbamete and the surrounding region, and the factors underlying such change. Everyone will conduct as many interviews as possible, and hand in transcripts, summaries, and analyses. After returning home we'll add these materials to a website dedicated to the topic. You'll writeup both projects as ethnographic reports, to be submitted along with your other assignments.

Detailed instructions and requirements for a number of these assignments are available here.

Practicing

These assignments are not handed in, and thus are not graded. But that doesn't mean they aren't important! Remember: "practice makes perfect!". You learn both music and language in similar ways: by doing.

• Ewe language. You must practice your Ewe, by listening and repeating phrases. Audio recordings are essential for learning any modern language, but especially for a tonal language such as Ewe. Ideally you should try to bring a recording device to class.

• Music 144. You must practice music presented in Music 144 (by Johnson Kemeh on the UofG campus, and by Kwasi Dunyo and his assistants in Dagbamete), by reviewing drumming patterns, performing with your colleagues, and listening (if possible try to record your lessons). I suggest you purchase a drum; everyone will purchase drum sticks.

Evaluated performance

• Map quiz.

Please learn to locate all the countries of Africa and their capitals using this interactive map quiz for countries, and this one for capitals. I'll also give you a study sheet in Ghana.

Grading

All coursework will be graded on a scale from 1-4 points. These grades will be combined (according to the percentage weights given below), then rounded to the nearest value in the following table, in order to arrive at a final grade for each course. Unexcused late assignments will be downgraded one quarter point per day.

Table

• A: 4.0
• A-: 3.7
• B+: 3.3
• B: 3.0
• B-: 2.7
• C+: 2.3
• C: 2.0
• C-: 1.7
• D+: 1.3
• D: 1.0
• F: 0.0

Weighting

• Music 144/544: Participation (70%); music and language (15%); interpreting music in Ghana (15%). Your final grade will depend primarily on active participation, not on proficiency in music and dance. However it is essential to practice and participate actively in all domains--singing, percussion, dancing--to the best of your ability.

• Music 365/565: Reading review cards for required Music 365 readings marked with an asterisk (15%); fieldnotes/blog (15%); oral history project (15%); ethnography of ritual performance (10%); music and language (15%); interpreting music in Ghana (15%); participation (15%)

• MEAS 300/500: Reading review cards for required MEAS 300 readings marked with an asterisk (15%); fieldnotes/blog (15%); oral history project (15%); music and language (20%); Pan-Africanism and West African literature (15%); map quiz (5%); participation (15%)

Academic integrity

The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University. (GFC 29 SEP 2003)

On plagiarism see also: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/plagiarism/avoiding/index.cfm

Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.” (GFC 29 SEP 2003).

Readings, listenings, watchings

Course materials are listed below, grouped with the corresponding course segment. Most materials must be acquired in advance - either purchased, or downloaded. Many readings are available online, but your internet access in Ghana will be a bit sporadic, so don't count on reading everything online there. You can download/print minimal pages, or the whole thing, or bring an electronic device (laptop or kindle or...) allowing you to read without printing.

See Preparing for the Ghana program: course materials

Materials listed by course segment/professor

Note: the following list may be modified in the coming weeks depending on the lecturer schedule that materializes...stay tuned!

Materials associated with travel throughout Ghana

Accra (Saturday, July 3)

• Browse The souls of black folk, by W.E.B Dubois (optional).
• W.E.B. DuBois: A Recorded Autobiography, Interview with Moses Asch* (available on Smithsonian Folkways; everyone must listen to this historic recording!)

Ashaiman (Sunday, July 4)

We will attend a funeral performance on Sunday July 4, in Ashaiman, to be preceded by a lecture on funeral associations from Prof. Gavin Webb. Please be sure to read the following article beforehand:

My mother has a television*, by Professor James Burns (on Ewe funerals)

Ewe rural-urban interchange$, by Professor Daniel Avorgbedor (on funeral societies)

Buduburam & Kokrobite (July 9-11)

• Mustapha Tettey Addy album (and notes)
• Ga people
• Musical tourism in Ghana
• Liberia and Buduburam

• Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees. We'll visit the Buduburam camp where this music was produced. Please order the album and support these refugee musicians.
• Mustapha Tettey Addy: Master Drummer from Ghana performed by Addy, Mustapha Tettey (Lyrichord, LYRCD 7250)
• Music of the Ga people of Ghana

Cape Coast/Elmina/Kakum trip (July 16-18)

• European trade & slave castles
• Fante music
• Asafo companies
• Rainforests
• History of Cape Coast

Ghana tour (Kumasi and Tamale) (July 21-28)

Kumasi

• Material on Koo Nimo, e.g. http://www.bapmaf.com/music/Koo_nimo_Naa_Densu.mp3
• Asante album & notes
• Palmwine album & notes
• Political structure of Asanteland, Asante-British wars

Tamale

• Dagomba album & notes
• Islam in Tamale

Dagbamete (July 29 - August 7)

Be sure you've read these before the village portion of our trip, in the Volta Region. Some are assigned for earlier phases of the program.

The Human Geography of Eweland

My mother has a television*, by Professor James Burns (on Ewe funerals)

Guardians of the Sacred Word: Ewe Poetry (Awoonor)*

Steven M. Friedson - Remains of Ritual: Northern Gods in a Southern Land $. (required for grad students). Grad students will read this book about the Brekete religion of the Ewe people, and write a book report about it, summarizing and critiquing its logic, with reference to your own fieldwork in the Ewe area (note: unlike notecard reading reviews, this report should be at least 3 pages in length). For undergraduates, this is an extra-credit assignment.

Music 144/544: Johnson Kemeh, Aaron Sukura, Kwasi Dunyo

Johnson and Kwasi

Handouts from Johnson Kemeh, our teacher at Legon, containing background on dance pieces, and song texts: 2007, 2008

Read chapters 1 & 2 from African Music, African Sensibility, by John Miller Chernoff.

Read David Locke - Drum Gahu: An Introduction to African Rhythm, listen to the examples, and try some of the exercises. If you have trouble with music notation, ask me for help.

Aaron

Documenting spoken and sung texts of the Dagaaba*

Atenteben flute

Music 365/565

The following readings are required, except as marked. Please complete each reading prior to the lecture by the professor under whose name it appears.

Before July 2, please read the following

Music in Africa. Read Overview by Gerhard Kubik (which will work well with the opening chapters of Shillington); skim the rest for whatever interests you.

West African Music, by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje. Skim for gist, linking to your historical readings.

African Music, African Sensibility, by John Miller Chernoff (University Of Chicago Press, 1981). Chapters 1 & also 2, if you can. (I do recommend this book for purchase; it's a classic.)

Popular Music in Africa, by Angela Impey

Jazz feedback*, by Prof John Collins (fascinating connections between Africa and the New World; Prof. Collins will be one of our teachers in Ghana)

Also listen to albums recommended below, and download liner notes. You can read the liner notes anytime, but may not be able to access the internet in order to listen while in Ghana.

Optional: J. H. Kwabena Nketia - The Music of Africa (Norton, 1974). Prof. Nketia is the foremost living ethnomusicologist of African music, as well as one of the most important ethnomusicologists in the history of the field, and one of Ghana's foremost composers. And he is one of our teachers at Legon. And this is his classic work.

Other materials can be read in Ghana:

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. Landmark article by the most important ethnomusicologist of or in Africa - and one of our teachers in Ghana.

Modern African Music (Euba)*

An interview with J.H. Kwabena Nketia

Listening:

• Traditional Drumming and Dances of Ghana

Professor John Collins

West African Highlife*

Jazz feedback*

The Ghanaian music industry

Many of Prof Collins' articles are available on his website.

Listening:

• Black music of two worlds (John Storm Roberts collection)
• Seprewa Kasa performed by Korankye, Osei; Kyerematen, Baffour & Banaman, Alfred Kari (Riverboat, 330051)
• Kwabenah Nyama: Ghana - Musique de Vin de Palme, Sunday Monday (Kwabenah Nyama: Ghana: palm wine music, Sunday Monday) performed by Nyama, Samuel Kwabena; Poku, Kofi; Duah, Agyemang; Seni, Addas & Annor, Kofi (Buda Musique, 1979352, 2000)

Also seek out examples of:

Highlife

Palmwine

Afrobeat

Ghanaba

Gospel

Reggae

Professor Nathan Damptey

Women's roles in the mourning rituals of the Akan of Ghana*

Professor Nissio Fiagbedzi

Ewe rural-urban interchange*

African Music, African Sensibility, by John Miller Chernoff (University Of Chicago Press, 1981). Chapter 2 (review - you should have already read this; if you haven't, read it!)

Listening:

• Ewe music of Ghana. Also read the liner notes.

Dr Senyo Adzei

Circles and Time: A Theory of Structural Organization of Rhythm in African Music*

Music in Africa. Read Structures, by Gerhard Kubik.

Principles of Rhythmic integration in African drumming (optional; a bit difficult - just understand what you can)

Professor Patience Kwakwa

(dance in Ghana)

Read pp. 125-8

MEAS 300/500

Note that in addition to the following readings, you'll each read one novel by a West African author (your choice--there are plenty to choose from in the campus bookstore), as well as Kofi Anyidoho's essay The Pan African Ideal in Literatures of the Black World.

Before July 2, please do the following

Read:

Shillington, chapters 1,2,3,6,7,12,13,16.

Ghana country study: read to the end of chapter 1; skim chapter 2.

History of the Ewes, by Dr. Wisdom Agorde

The Pan African Ideal in Literature of the Black World (Anyidoho)

Watch:

...these interviews with Professor Anyidoho

Browse:

Browse the Ethnologue's Languages of Ghana, and note the distribution of languages on a map.

Note the position of Ewe within the Niger-Congo family.

Browse The souls of black folk, by W.E.B Dubois (optional). We will visit the Dubois Center in Accra. You don't have to read this long work, but simply try to develop an appreciation for the tremendous importance of his writings for modern pan-African history.

Study:

Also please learn to locate all the countries of Africa and their capitals using this interactive map quiz for countries, and this one for capitals. I will give you a map quiz at some point during the course, and you can study again in Ghana. But the online materials make studying easier -- dare I say fun?

Other materials can be read in Ghana:

Professor Alex Dzameshie

Language and society*

Greetings among the Ewe*

Professor Paul Agbedor

We will be studying structure and vocabulary of basic Ewe, and situating the language within the broader context of West African languages.

Ethnologue report for Ghana and Language map of Ghana (browse)

A recommended textbook is Basic Ewe for Foreign Students.

You will compile or purchase Ewe and other phrase lists in Ghana.

Note: a portable recording device will be very useful in order to get the most out of language training sessions.

You may also like to browse this Akan training course

Prof Addo-Fenning

Ghana country study Chapter 1, sections 7.1 - 7.4 (review)

West Africa-related material in Shillington, chapters 20,21,23,24,25,26

Christian missions and nation building in Ghana (optional)

Prof Elom Dovlo

Return home movements in Ghana*

Seth Ablosu

Ghana country study Chapter 1, sections 7.5 - 7.7 (review)

Shillington, chapters 28-30

Dr Akosua Perbi

Shillington, chapters 12, 16 (review)

A History of Indigenous Slavery in Ghana*, by Prof. Akosua Perbi, Introduction and Chapter 1. (A wonderful book, available for purchase in Ghana.)

Professor Mohammed Abdallah

The Trial of Mallam Ilya and Other Plays: A collection of his plays, available at the University of Ghana bookstore. Read at least "The Trial of Mallam Ilya".

The Fall of Kumbi *

Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy

Women writing Africa* (Introduction)

Professor Kofi Anyidoho

The back without which there is no front (Anyidoho)*

The Pan African Ideal in Literature of the Black World (Anyidoho) (review; you should already have read this pamphlet)

Guardians of the Sacred Word: Ewe Poetry (Awoonor)* (Read prose and get a feel for Ewe poetry in translation.)

Sundiata: An epic of old Mali (optional)

Also see these interviews with Professor Anyidoho

Professor Alhassan Sulemana Anamzoya

(anthropology of the Dagomba)