Programme Overview
For centuries, the African continent had been defined and framed within a Euro-centric context; almost all references within literature, arts, and culture were written down and framed by European writers who actively sought to suppress the true identity of Africa and Africans and therefore produced works in literature and art tinged with negative stereotypes about Africa and Africans; Africa was firmly anchored in literature and popular culture as the “Dark Continent.” The African was therefore denied access to any solid reference to him/herself outside the reference framework created by Europeans. This situation created a massive psychological assault on the psyche of the average African because the Euro-centric framework of defining Africanness was nothing but gloom, doom, and dark imagery of backwardness, poverty, and lack of refinement.
In recent times, however, that negative image of Africa and Africans is rapidly changing due to the untiring efforts of African intellectuals who have vehemently challenged the negative stereotyping of Africans in popular culture. These African intellectuals writing mostly within the European framework of arts and literature and using European languages are challenging the status quo by demonstrating that Africa had a long illustrious history before the advent of Europeans to the continent. Due to their efforts, Africans in general are waking up from their deep slumber of what Amma Atta Aidoo termed as “Anti-personnel indoctrination” which is a psychological tool deployed by European intellectuals to cause Africans to hate themselves and believe that they had no history, no culture, no values, no religion, no wealth, no political structure and no indigenous states and kingdoms of their own. The tide is gradually turning in favour of the Africans and that is what this Programme is all about; it is about amplifying and accelerating the turning tide of popular opinion in favour of a new Africa which is assertive, independent, wealthy, intellectually astute, and having self-worth.
Programme Objectives
It is said that “To be unaware of happenings before your birth is to forever remain a child.” It is for this reason that this Programme is structured in a manner that first and foremost endeavours to inform the average African about his/her illustrious historical and ancestral heritage.
- Participants would be equipped with pertinent knowledge about the black African empires that once ruled the continent (Ghana Empire, Mali Empire, Songhai Empire, Great Zimbabwe Empire, Aksum Empire, etc.).
- One would learn about Emperor Musa (Mansa Musa) whose enormous wealth caused the value of gold to drop precipitously in Egypt because even beggars benefitted from his rich gold treasury which he lavishly distributed to them on his way to pilgrimage in Mecca in 1324.
- Participants will also learn about the struggles for independence and the heavy price that our freedom fighters like Nkrumah, Lumumba, and Sankara had to pay in order to secure independence.
- Moreover, participants will understand the clever but diabolic neo-colonial structures put in place by our “former” colonial masters to still keep a firm grip on their “former” colonies. Participants will better understand neo-colonialist structures like the francophone “Pact for the Continuation of Colonialism” which still binds 14 francophone countries today.
- Finally, participants will learn to answer a very fundamental existential question of “Who am I?”
Programme Content
Participants in this programme will develop the following Modules:
Ø Rediscovering Cultural Heritage
Ø Economic Resurgence
Ø Technological Advancements
Ø Environmental Stewardship: Political Transformation
Ø Tourism and Destination Branding
Ø Art, Music, and Film
Ø Youth Empowerment and Education
Ø Regional Integration and Cooperation
Ø Social and Gender Equality
Who Should Attend?
- Any African anywhere on the African continent.
- African brothers and sisters living in the diaspora
- Foreigners who want to know more about Africans
- To all seeking to reconnect to the motherland.
Registration
Click HERE to register
Facilitators
- Dr. Ransford Antwi
Dr. Ransford Antwi is an expert in Development Communication and media studies. He has several years of university administrative and teaching experience. He has taught in universities in Ghana, Lesotho, South Africa, and the USA. At the Southern African Media Training Trust where he worked as Training Manager for many years, he managed and monitored training grants of more than one million US dollars a year to implement short Programmes in the 14 SADC countries.
He was responsible for planning, developing, and preparing capacity-building and training programmes for mid-career journalists. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Mass Communication and an MA in International Affairs with specialization in Communication and Development from Ohio University, USA. He also has an MPhil in Communication Studies from the University of Ghana, Legon.
Research Interests: include media and gender, the rediscovery and redefinition of Africanness for development, radiocracy, development communication, internationalization of curricula, and exchange programmes.
Contact Details:
Email: rantwi@central.edu.gh; monyenyetsi@gmail.com; rantwi2000@yahoo.co.uk
B. David Nana Kwasi Agyeman-Duah
David Nana Kwasi Agyeman-Duah is currently a third-year Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Ghana Business School where he is pursuing a doctoral programme in public policy management.
He speaks two international languages (English and French) and two local languages (Twi and Ga). He has a diverse work and research background.
He also has a broad fivefold research interest area mostly centred around the issue of policy: They include but are not limited to the following: Health and Tax Policy, Agriculture and the Extractive Industry, Human Resource Development, African History, and Issues bordering on Chieftaincy and Traditional Authority.
He obtained a Master of Public Administration (MPA) in July 2017 and a BA in Economics and French (May 2012) both from the University of Ghana, Legon. Pope John Secondary School and Minor Seminary is where he completed his SHS education in May 2006.
C. Mr. Kofi Akpabli
Kofi Akpabli teaches at the Department of Communication and Media Studies where he is also the Head of Department. His teaching areas are Corporate and Inter-Cultural Communications, Advanced Print Journalism and African Studies. Kofi is the Chief Patron of Creative Alliance, (a literary performance group) and Chief Editor of Miotso Herald (a community news portal). He is an Associate Member of the Institute of Public Relations and a Specialist Member of the Ghana Journalists Association.
Kofi Akpabli is a two-time winner of the CNN Multichoice African Journalist for Arts and Culture Awards. He is a fellow of the Tallberg Forum, Sweden; XploreFrankfurt, Germany and the United Nations Department of Public Information, New York. He is a founding member of the Ghana Cultural Forum, and has served as a Distinguished Member on the Millennium Excellence Awards Committee.
Areas of research interest
Black Atlantic Studies, Narratology, Media Studies, Tourism Communication and Inter-Cultural Communication.
Recent Publication:
Akpabli, K. (Ed). (2022). Biographical Essays of Nana SKB Asante. Accra: Digibooks
Contact Details: