The arrival of Ghana Studies Council Newsletter at your table is a reminder that another academic year is closing. For us at GSC, this means that preparations for the next African Studies Association annual conference are under way. On behalf of Ghana Studies Council, I have submitted two panel proposals for the 43rd Annual ASA. Sandra Greene (Cornell University) and Dennis Laumann (UCLA) worked very hard to organize the panel "Colonial Memories/Colonized Memories: History and Memory in Ghana and Togo." Akosua Adomako-Ampofo (University of Ghana) and Rebecca Laumann (UCLA) submitted request for the roundtable "The State of Education in Ghana and Its Implications for Development". I must thank Baffour Takyi (U of Akron) for agreeing to postpone his own panel suggestions to a future date. This made it easier for me to forward the above-mentioned proposals for the November conference. Lynda Day, currently a Fulbright Fellow in Ghana, informed me of her effort to get a panel on Yaa Asantewaa sponsored through the ASA Women’s Caucus. Please check the ASA conference listing to see if she was successful and give support her effort with your attendance.
While we look forward to the future, one should not forget to mention that our panel presentations at the 1999 Philadelphia ASA were excellent. Our first panel was on "Assessing the Challenges, Responses, and Impact of IMF and World Bank Sponsored Structural Adjustment Programs in Africa: Ghana’s Experiences, 1983-1999." Participants on the Thursday panel included members Kwamina Panford (Northeastern University), Kwadwo Konadu-Agyeman (U of Akron), Ian E. Yeboa (Miami University), Rexford A. Ahene (Lafayette College), and Baffour Takyi (U. of Akron). The panel on "Religious Discourse and Political Expressions in the Fourth Republic" featured members Paul Nugent (U of Edinburgh), Birgit Meyer (Amsterdam), Rijk van Dijk (Leiden University), Emmanuel Akyeampong (Harvard), and Akosua Darkwah (U. of Wisconsin-Madison). On behalf of GSC, I express my appreciation to those who made our exchanges at the Philadelphia conference successful.
Please take note of the concern expressed by some members about the policy of the Dean of International Studies at the University of Ghana to impose a $2000.00 fee on all summer programs conducted at the university. The new surcharge would be in addition to fees already paid to the university’s various departments/institutes through which summer programs are conducted. Since my own students are affected by the policy, it is only appropriate that I defer comments on the subject till the next issue of the Newsletter. I look forward to a meeting with the Dean to seek answers to questions raised at the annual ASA.
Finally, let me take the opportunity to add my sincere thanks to the editorial board and readers for submission to the journal Ghana Studies. Chief editor Larry Yarak did a wonderful job in the selection of quality papers for the first issue of the journal. I have been informed that the second issue of Ghana Studies is nearly complete and will be mailed to subscribers. For subscription information and guidelines for submitting manuscripts to the journal, please visit the web address http://acs.tamu.edu~yarak/ghana_studies.html.
On the issue of Ghana Studies Council finances, please see the minutes. All fee-paying members are called upon to do so. United States and Canadian members should makes checks payable to the "University of Minnesota." The check should however be mailed to my address at the History Department at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 22807.