The Ghana Studies Association has held its 4th Triennial Conference from 18th – 20th July, 2022 on the University for Development Studies campus in Tamale. The conference brought together dozens of experts representing academia, research institutes and the private sector to present and discuss papers around the conference theme ‘‘Ghana at Crossroads”.

The Ghana Studies Association holds a conference every three years at a selected Ghanaian academic institution as part of its efforts to strengthen connections between Ghana Studies scholarship in the Global North and the South.

At the opening ceremony, Professor Kwasi Ampene, said the conference provided an opportunity for persons in academia to discuss issues that caused Ghana’s underdevelopment through scholarly research and make appropriate recommendations to solve the problems.

The Paramount Chief of the Sagnarigu Traditional Area, Sagnar Naa Ambassador Yakubu Abdulai, who chaired the opening, opined that “Unemployed, underemployed, despondent youths with no skills agglomerate under sheds and in forests, giving up their souls to substance abuse and consequent crimes.

Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye, Vice-Chancellor of the University for Development Studies, urged the citizenry to be self-reliant and patronise made-in-Ghana products to help generate the needed revenue to accelerate national development.

Professor Raymond Atuguba, Dean of School of Law at the University of Ghana, who spoke on the theme, said research had revealed that the constitutions of African countries, and Ghana in particular, were borne out of Western ideas, adding the phenomenon was problematic for the development of the African continent. He noted that “Only a decolonization of African constitutional law can lead to authentic African constitutional identities and the Africa we want.

“Luckily, the kernel for the evolution of African traditional constitutionalism exists in our various constitutions and should be allowed to grow and evolve. The seeds and incipient criteria for really robust African Constitutions cover substantive content; language; and the processes for constitution-making” said the law professor.

He added “this quest for new constitutional orderings on the continent must engage with design and content questions that have subsisted for the last seventy-five years: the legitimacy of extant constitutional design; the possibilities for unearthing and utilizing rehashed indigenous governance mechanisms; the propriety of options at independence that were not followed; the practicality of hybrid and variegated constitutional design; and the capacity of the new forms of constitutional design and content to deliver the Africa we want”. It is also the only way we can arrive at the point where Africans live their constitutions, rather than attempt to abide by them”

There were concurrent sessions that discussed a variety of topics and research works about Ghana’s Society, culture, environment and history.

The plenaries and films focused on topics such as: When Women Speak, “Investigating Diaspora”, Gone to the Village: Royal Funerary Rites for Asantehemaa Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II, and The Congress@60: Toward a Sixth International Congress of African and African Diaspora Studies. 

There was a Photo Exhibition at NUKU Studio hosted by the Nii Obadoai. Ibrahim Mahama’s Red Clay art studios was another port of call by participants. After touring the studios, participants settled down at the Parliament of ghosts where Ibrahim Mahama explained his Ghana Studies is the journal of the Ghana Studies Association. Published annually, Ghana Studies strives to provide a forum for cutting edge original research about Ghana’s society, culture, environment, and history. Since its first issue in 1998, Ghana Studies has published significant works by leading scholars based in Ghana, the United States, Canada, and Europe. In addition, Ghana Studies features special volumes, book forums, source reports, and book reviews. It also serves to provide official notice of fellowships and prizes awarded by the Ghana Studies Association.

The next GSA conference will be hosted by KNUST in 2025.

Story by:
Ayuba Ibrahim (University Relations)