Difference between revisions of "Preparing for the Ghana program"
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== Electronics == | == Electronics == | ||
| − | * MP3 player. | + | For ethnomusicology, fieldwork is central, perhaps essential, and maybe even definitional. High technology allows you to preserve bits of the experience. Though no one disputes that technology can sometimes come between you and the experience, not recording usually implies regret later on... |
| + | |||
| + | * Digital camera. I don't suppose anyone will want to leave home without one, but there it is. Bring extra memory cards because you'll take more pictures than you now imagine. And the video feature is useful too, especially if you don't bring a video camera. Many cameras can also record audio. | ||
| + | * MP3 player/recorder, with earphones and mic. Nearly essential not only for music, but for Ewe lessons as well (Ewe is the language we'll be studying). Try to bring something that can also record audio; ipods will do this with an inexpensive mic attachment. High fidelity is not required. | ||
| + | * Video camera. Not essential, but bring it if you have it, or can. Sometimes models can replace the digital camera. Small is good. | ||
= Things to download = | = Things to download = | ||
Revision as of 22:56, 3 May 2008
Map
Here's a map on which you can find Accra, Cape Coast, Kumasi, and Keta (not far from Dagbamete); Ho is the capital of the Volta Region. Kokrobite is around 80 kilos west of Accra. Elmina and Kakum are short drives from Cape Coast.
Things to buy
Guidebooks
I strongly suggest that you purchase a travelers' guide book for Ghana or West Africa. Such books contain excellent advice regarding what to bring, so I further suggest that you review it prior to packing.
Here are a few possibilities:
Lonely Planet West Africa Travel Guide
Ghana: the Bradt Travel Guide, the only guidebook dedicated to Ghana, though reviews vary, as you can see.
(By the way, it is easy to withdraw cash from Ghana using bank machines, so you don't have to bring it all with you. More advice of this kind to follow...)
Textbooks
To reduce cost and weight we'll rely as much as possible on electronic documents, and articles or books available in Ghana. There are just 3 textbooks I'd like you to buy and pack. For your convenience and reference I'm providing links to Amazon.com, but do comparison shop and pick them up elsewhere; the important thing is that you purchase the latest editions.
John Collins - West African Pop Roots (Temple University Press, 1992). Professor Collins will be one of our instructors this summer; he's a wonderful resource and this is a wonderful book about popular music of West Africa.
John Chernoff - African Music, African Sensibility (University Of Chicago Press, 1981) Focus on traditional music of Ghana. One of the best books ever written in ethnomusicology, period.
Kevin Shillington, History of Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) A general history of Africa.
Electronics
For ethnomusicology, fieldwork is central, perhaps essential, and maybe even definitional. High technology allows you to preserve bits of the experience. Though no one disputes that technology can sometimes come between you and the experience, not recording usually implies regret later on...
- Digital camera. I don't suppose anyone will want to leave home without one, but there it is. Bring extra memory cards because you'll take more pictures than you now imagine. And the video feature is useful too, especially if you don't bring a video camera. Many cameras can also record audio.
- MP3 player/recorder, with earphones and mic. Nearly essential not only for music, but for Ewe lessons as well (Ewe is the language we'll be studying). Try to bring something that can also record audio; ipods will do this with an inexpensive mic attachment. High fidelity is not required.
- Video camera. Not essential, but bring it if you have it, or can. Sometimes models can replace the digital camera. Small is good.
Things to download
- Ewe textbook
- Ewe oral examples
- Music tracks
