Showing papers in "Journal of Black Studies in 1994"

Hidden Voices of Black Men The Meaning, Structure, and Complexity of Manhood

Abstract: The adequacy of male role performance has dominated research on masculinity and manhood among Black men (Franklin, 1984; Frazier, 1939; Hare, 1971; Liebow, 1967; Moynihan, 1965; Pleck, 1981; Staples, 1982). Specifically, men's roles as economic providers or as patriarchs have been central to this work. Black males' struggles with manhood, whether a byproduct of structural barriers, cultural pathology, or both, are implicated as a contributor to the rates of female-headed households, never-married childbearing, and divorce in Black communities (Liebow, 1967; Staples, 1982; Wilson, 1987). However, the meaning of manhood has been treated as largely unidimensional and universal-man as economic provider and as head of the family. Further, what Black men are and what they should be is measured against the status and privilege of White males. The result is that we know little about how Black men define themselves either within or beyond conventional notions of masculinity and manhood.

The Dilemmas of the African American Male.

Abstract: The African American male had a multiplicity of problems in the decade of the 80s. Although the African American male is a visible figure on the scene, he is a member of the least understood and studied of all sex-race groups in the United States (Staples, 1986b). The question is asked, "What is a black man?" He is a husband and father, son and brother, lover and boyfriend, uncle and grandfather, construction worker and sharecropper, minister and ghetto hustler, doctor and mineworker, and auto mechanic and presidential candidate (Marable, 1984, p. 5). Unfortunately, these roles of African American males are distorted by various stereotypes. Skin color evokes a number of negative perceptions. Blacks are frequently labeled as immoral, lazy, violent, and mentally deficient, along with being sexual superstuds, athletes, and rapacious criminals (Hare & Hare, 1984). This is how he is perceived in the public consciousness and how he comes to see and internalize his own role. Due to many years of interacting in a White societal system, the public is rarely exposed to African American males' more prosaic roles of worker, husband, and father (Hare & Hare, 1984; Staples, 1986b). Many factors are related to the dilemmas of the African American male. Clyde Franklin (1984) indicated the cause may lay partially with African American males because of their conviction that they could be men only if they adopted the White male's sex role. The White male has been identified as protective, condescending, and generally patriarchal with respect to women. Dis-

Brother to Brother: African American Modes of Relating among Men.

Abstract: African American males shoulder great burdens in their efforts to be men in a system that defines manhood in ways that exclude the cultural imperatives of this group. Societally defined masculinity, as the basis for judging manhood in America, prescribes a set of behaviors for men in relating to other men that often places them in opposition to each other. This entity called masculinity is a mythical and illusory creation of those in power with the intent of designing an image of men that has little to do with human needs and aspirations, functioning instead to justify and maintain male privilege and domination (Pleck, 1981). The consequence of this distortion for African American men is a psychological void that places them outside the reaches of significant and necessary human affiliation, as in the case of family (marital and biological), community, and friendships. Recent data describing the perilous environment in which most African American males live suggest the importance of examining the role that masculinity plays in how these males relate to each other. African American males are vulnerable to a host of inimical conditions including poverty, crime, unemployment, substance abuse, high morbidity rates, and early death through infant mortal-

Afrocentricity: Implications for Higher Education

Abstract: The concept of cultural diversity in higher education in the United States has been significantly restricted. Discussions and debates have focused primarily on enhancing the presence of students and faculty of color, with a special emphasis on recruitment and retention (Blackwell, 1987, 1988; Carter & Wilson, 1994; Epps, 1989; Oliver & Brown, 1988; Pettigrew, 1991). In other words, cultural diversity has been conceptualized primarily as the diversification of racial characteristics of students and faculty. A more important dimension of cultural diversity that has received scant attention is the diversification of the philosophical foundation of higher education. Although there appears to be considerable diversity in the knowledge base of higher education in the United States, the philosophical underpinnings of higher education are shaped primarily by one dominant worldview. That is, to the extent that a society's institutions of higher education reflect the predominant values found in that society, it is reasonable to assume that the predominant values undergirding the philosophical foundation of higher education in the United States are Eurocentric in nature. Eurocentric means that these values emanate exclusively from a European-American view of the world. Thus, by being Eurocentric, the philosophical base of higher education in the United States has become ethnocentric and uninclusive. This has resulted in the omission of worldviews of other ethnic groups found in the United States and, more specifically, in institutions of higher education. To diversify the philosophical foundation of higher education, alternative worldview or philosophical models' need to be consid-

Gender Roles Revisited: The Development of the "Woman's Place" Among African American Women in the United States

Abstract: Continued change in social and economic conditions along with the employment of women outside the home has broadened society’s attitudes toward the multiple roles that women perform in the United States. Changes have been most significant following World War II and the shortage of male labor. There were standard, rigid expectations regarding a &dquo;woman’s place.&dquo; Primary duties for women were oriented toward homemaking and child-rearing responsibilities. Significantly fewer White women entering the labor market during that time had role models to follow; additionally, they lacked peers with whom to share common experiences in the workplace. Married women’s employment outside the home somehow reflected negatively on the husband’s ability to provide adequately for the family (Degler, 1980). Barriers to successful women’s employment continue to exist preventing full absorption through economic development, including difficulties in establishing effective parental leave policies in industry and the lack of general support for nondomestic/ nonfamilial roles of women.

The Black Man: Health Issues and Implications for Clinical Practice

Abstract: The Black male in today's society continues to be at risk on a variety of important sociocultural and health issues, which impact negatively on his life, and on the lives of his family, friends, and the community. Recent studies have portrayed the Black man as rapidly becoming an endangered species (Parham, 1987; Gibbs, 1984; Leavy, 1983). It is clear from popular and scientific literature that the Black male is experiencing enormous pressure in many areas. These stresses are unique to the Black man, and have implications for Black youth as well as for older Black men who struggle with concerns about survival in a White-dominated society. This article addresses the external and internal factors faced by a majority of Black men and gives recommendations to educators and service providers on how to better provide for the apparent needs of Black males, with suggestions as to how Blacks may take greater initiative for survial.

Free Jazz A Reflection of Black Power Ideology

Abstract: Black music, like other forms of African-American expression, is a reflection of African-American life during any given period of time. The work songs and field hollers reflected the conditions of slavery. The Jubilee spirituals reflected the optimism of Reconstruction, whereas the blues reflected the uncertainty of postReconstruction and the depression. During the mid1960s, a different form of music had developed that would reflect the times-it was the beginning of the Black Power movement-and the style of music was called "free jazz." The term free jazz was primarily used by jazz enthusiasts, whereas the critics called it "avant-garde jazz." The musicians, who developed the music, preferred that it be called "the New Thing" or "the New Black Music." Whatever it was called, it was different than anything that had preceded it, which caused much controversy in the jazz world. In this article, I will discuss the connection between the New Thing and the Black Power movement of the 1960s. During the Meredith March across rural Mississippi in June 1966, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chair Stokely Carmichael revealed the new battle cry of the Civil Rights movement-replacing the strains of "We Shall Overcome" with the new slogan "Black Power." If the Harlem Renaissance was the era of "the New Negro," the Black Power movement was the era of "Black People for Black People." Carmichael and the other young activists had become disenchanted with nonviolence and with the organizations led by conservative, older leaders. The students felt that these organizations were more concerned with middle-class

The Psychology of Sexual Racism and Aids An Ongoing Saga of Distrust and the "Sexual Other"

Abstract: African (Black) psychology has rightly challenged the paradigms of Eurocentric psychology to the extent that a stance of suspicion toward Euro-American science has become a sign of health (Akbar, 1985; Baldwin, 1986; Nobles, 1980). The continued misuse of history and science to perpetuate racism and blame toward ethnic minorities in this country is cause for alarm (Aptheker, 1971; Gould, 1981; Higham, 1971; Williams, 1972). The current AIDS epidemic adds more drama to the continuing story of how African Americans perceive themselves to be at risk for gross scientific misinterpretation (Dalton, 1989). Research assumptions must be challenged because they can harm efforts toward culturally competent and sensitive research and intervention programs. Besides, history is replete with stories of racism involving physical or psychological attacks on the sexual identity of African Americans (D'Emilio & Freedman, 1988; Finkelman, 1992; Higgenbotham, 1978).

The Four Corners of a Circle: Afrocentricity as a Model of Synthesis

Abstract: It is not unreasonable to state that no phenomenon since the "end of history," or the end of the cold war, has generated as much discussion and debate or as much anger and excitement as the idea of centeredness. The notion of the end of history is no more in vogue; it was a notion lately propounded by Fukuyama (1992). The idea of centeredness finds perhaps its most dynamic articulation and movement in the theory and praxis of Afrocentricity. Further, the Department of African American Studies at Temple University is perhaps one of the leading institutions at which scholars are actively engaged in the conceptualization and propagation of what Molefi Kete Asante calls the Afrocentric idea. What is an Afrocentric theory? Afrocentric theory is a theory that recognizes the need to look at Africa's cultures and history from their own centers or locations. It is a proposition to validate, regenerate, create, and perpetuate African life and living-whole and unhindered, informed by African perspective or world outlook. In short, as Asante (1990) puts it, the theory posits that African peoples are active, primary, and central agents in the making of their histories (p. 5). This is the guiding principle under which scholars of the Temple School, such as Asante, C. T. Keto, Kariamu Welsh-Asante, Abu Abarry, Ella Forbes, Nilgun Okur, Ama Mazama, Terry Kershaw, and more than 200 graduate students conduct their studies and research. Afrocentricity, as an intellectual enterprise, seems to have become a catalyst in the often heated but lively debate among a wide range of thinkers and scholars with respect to the production and use of knowledge, particularly what Kershaw calls emancipatory knowledge. As one scholar has observed, a low-intensity intellec-

Public Policy and the Emergent African Land Tenure System: The Case of Ghana

Abstract: Several economists have questioned the existence of land markets in African economies. As a U.N. publication (1973) states,' "It is paradoxical to note that although most African countries have very low population densities and land speculation is intense, there exists practically no urban land market" (p. 3). Such statements are understandable given that some have even questioned the usefulness of conventional economic theory in the analysis of resource allocation in general in the so-called African subsistence economies. Dalton (1962) stated that the African is indifferent to material abundance or efficiency because, unlike the West, the economy neither compels producers to seek out maximization, nor provides them with economic directives to make economizing decisions in work arrangements. Sadie (1960) argues that the basic cause of lack of economic progress is the nonmaterialistic, noncapitalistic nature of African institutions. Although most economists today concede that the African is rational and that conventional economic analysis is useful when examining resource allocation decisions, they view the traditional institutional structure as an outdated anachronism that impedes economic progress and, therefore, should be changed by external political means to eliminate all vestiges of the traditional system (Ault & Rutman, 1979). It is important to emphasize that the traditional institutions that govern land use and occupation are changing rapidly in response to economic, social, and political

Assessing the Managerial Roles of Black Female Public Relations Practitioners Using Individual and Organizational Discriminants

Abstract: These buzz words of the 80s have provided insight into the changing communications industry and have prompted researchers and media professionals alike to analyze the fact that women are, in increasing numbers, taking over previously male-dominated fields. Demographically, the representation of women in the U.S. workforce has increased steadily during a 10-year period beginning in the 1970s. Women (18 years and older) comprised roughly 38% of the workforce in the 1970s. By 1980, that percentage had increased to more than 42% (Davis, 1980; Grossman, 1982). Two thirds of all public relations practitioners were projected to be women by 1990 (Dozier, Chapo, & Sullivan, 1983). While women have been making gains in the workplace, they have also had an impact in the nation's journalism classrooms. In 1984, nearly 73% of the students studying public relations were women (Peterson,

South African Education: A System in Need of Structural Transformation.

Abstract: At the dawn of independence in South Africa, several basic objectives must be met to bring about a new South Africa free of apartheid. There must be a new constitution based on democracy that guarantees one person one vote in a multiracial ("nonracial" in South African nomenclature) and nonsexist environment in which resources have been redistributed in such a way as to provide an equitable infrastructure in all areas. These changes will necessitate innovative intervention strategies and viable policy options. Of the many issues to consider when discussing the infrastructure and needed changes, one is predominant-South African education. This issue is important because of the overwhelming effect that apartheid has had on it. But it is equally critical because of the influence that it has on the current and on the future sociopolitical and economic manifestations and remnants of apartheid. For example, because of the current administrative structure of the South African educational system brought on by apartheid, a basic education is not available to all. However, although the new constitution guarantees each person the right to vote,' a basic education for all citizens will be a necessary ingredient for maximum informed participation in the democratic process. The problem is that the establishment of an egalitarian educational system with equal provision for all students will not take place until a unitary system of administration and management is

Afrocentrism A Valid Frame of Reference

Abstract: During the past 20 years, African American researchers have been developing the idea of Afrocentrism. This field of Africalogical research has been outlined excellently by Asante (1990), who observes that the "Afrocentrist seeks to uncover and use codes, paradigms, symbols, motifs, myths and circles of discussion that reinforce the centrality of African ideas and values as a valid frame of reference for acquiring and examining data" (p. 6). Although Afrocentric scholars have been writing on Africalogical themes for many years due to the success of Asa G. Hilliard (1991/1992) of Georgia State University and Molefi Kete Asante (1990, 1991, 1991/1992) of Temple University, the Afrocentric idea in education has spread from a small group of advanced African American scholars to high school and elementary school teachers. Africalogy, as explained by Asante (1990, p. 30), "builds upon theoretical principles outlined by previous scholars.... The fundamental theoretical bases for Africalogy are derived from the Afrocentric perspective." Due to the attempts of many educators to advance Afrocentrism as a part of the multicultural perspective in the social science/social studies curriculum, there has been a White backlash. Given the increasing popularity of Afrocentrism and multiculturalism among teachers around the United States, many White "resisters" have begun a campaign to discredit these educational ideas and the Africalogical field of inquiry (see, e.g., Martel, 1991, p. 2). To support their attack on Afrocentrism, the resisters formed the Committee for the Defense of History (CFDH). Asante (1991) notes,

Recurrent Themes in Ghanaian Politics: Kwame Nkrumah's Legacy

Abstract: Over a quarter of a century after the demise of his government, Kwame Nkrumah continues to be a potent force in the politics of Ghana. When the Limann government was overthrown by Jerry J. Rawlings in December 1981, the groups that rallied to his support were made up essentially of those individuals whose political orientation was to the left and, more importantly, who considered themselves to be "radical Nkrumaist."' It can also be argued that in the early days of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) "revolution," a sizable group of Ghanaians were drawn to Rawlings because of some obvious similarities between him and Nkrumah. His dramatic presence, his flamboyance, his dynamic oratorical style, the essence of his mode of leadership was remarkably reminiscent of what was considered, by many, as "the good old days" of strong and active Nkrumaist politics. And when they referred to him as J. J. (Junior Jesus), the connotation was purely secular. Just as the Messiah, Nkrumah "saved" Ghana from colonialism. So it was hoped that Rawlings, the second Messiah, would save the nation from bad government and moral degeneration. It is being hypothesized here that Nkrumah and what his era established are the fundamental basis of contemporary politics in Ghana. At both the leadership and the mass levels, the most important facets of Ghanaian politics, it seems, have been conditioned by the Nkrumah period. Parliamentary affairs and conduct, governmental effectiveness, the foreign policy options, the position of the judiciary vis-a-vis the other arms of government, perceptions of the

Frantz Fanon's the Wretched of the Earth in Contemporary Perspective

Abstract: The Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove Press, 1968) is a lasting testimony to the genius of Frantz Fanon. Hailed as "The Handbook for the Black Revolution," The Wretched of the Earth is a probing examination of colonialization, a compelling description of the process of decolonization, and a prophetic analysis of independence movements around the world. The Wretched of the Earth provides a glimpse of Fanon's grand vision of international and intercultural affairs, and Fanon gives specific prescriptions for individuals and collectivities that continue to seek cultural and national liberation. Fanon's conclusion underscores the importance of this work for African and African American liberation, to be sure; but, more importantly, it challenges Africans throughout the diaspora to assume a leadership position in bringing about a new, more humane world order. The Wretched of the Earth is a series of four far-ranging and connected essays. Fanon, a psychiatrist by training, also presents a "series of case studies" of psychiatric disorders that are tied to struggles for liberation.

The English Language as a Modern Ghanaian Artifact

Abstract: In anglophone West Africa, the country that had the longest tutelage under British rule before independence was probably the Gold Coast (Ghana). By 1844, the Gold Coast had entered into treaty relations with Her Majesty's Government whereas Nigeria, for example, did so in 1916. This state of affairs gives the English language more than a century and a half's existence in Ghana up to the present time. This historical fact should have made the topic of this article irrelevant, but unfortunately the Ghanaian scene and the noises made about English in the country would not allow the topic to rest (Amonoo, 1989). There is so much anxiety about the English language in Ghana that the topic is worth exploring at all levels. English was originally not a Ghanaian language, nor African. In historical linguistic terms, it is a Germanic language of the IndoEuropean language family. Herder (1744-1803) was quoted by Lyons (1984, ch. 6) as postulating that, just before the rise of German nationalism, there was an "intimate connection between language and national character."' The Germans used this phenomenon to assert and authenticate their concept and identity of the German-speaking peoples during the first half of the 20th century. The consequences of the extremities with which the Germans went in pursuit of this kind of thought taught those who were alive and adult at that time the agonies of war and national disaster. It also taught them the opprobrium that race and language can inflict on the world. Although Simon Potter (1961), for instance, wrote his book Our Language (1950-1960) after World War II, he did not agree with the argument we are making when he was talking about

Black Magic: Witchcraft, Race, and Resistance in Colonial New England

Abstract: Whites accused Blacks1 of the crime of witchcraft in New England but no executions resulted from these accusations. As Blacks occupied the lowest rung within the society, their ability to survive the ordeals of the witchcraft trials itself indicates something of the perceived power they possessed. The survival of the accusation of witchcraft also demonstrates Blacks' insignificance in the eyes of the Europeans. This contradiction in categorizing Blacks as both powerless and powerful actually served to empower Blacks in the society of colonial New England. Social scientists have examined New England witchcraft through analyses of economic tension, folk culture, gender, and politics, but rarely in terms of race and ethnicity.2 Anthropologists have generally ignored Salem witchcraft. This lacuna in scholarship may be a result of the general lack of interest in historical research or the desire to explore more exotic arenas than Puritan New England. Thomas Buckley's research among the Yurok of northern California provides a clue for the dearth of research on race arid witchcraft in New England: preconceived models of society based on 20th-century Eurocentric experience. Buckley (1982) examines the issue of women's power in Yurok society and reinterprets earlier research on menstruation and danger as indicating a misinterpretation of women's status. In the literature, menstruating Yurok women are portrayed as unclean and dangerous. According to Buckley, they are so full of power that they are threatening, not

The "Ideal" Black Family? A Caribbean View of "The Cosby Show.".

Abstract: Many writers have documented the changes that have occurred during the past two decades in respect to the participation of Blacks in North American television programs. Earlier reports emphasized the general underrepresentation of Blacks on television and their typical restriction to unimportant petty criminal roles in crime drama series; even when characters were industrious and law abiding, they were located almost exclusively in low-status positions (e.g., Banks, 1977; Hinton, Seggar, Northcott, & Fowles, 1973; Lemon, 1977; Northcott, Seggar, & Hinton, 1975; Poindexter & Stroman, 1981). As more all-Black shows were developed, it was felt that characters became, if anything, even more stereotyped: Viewers could conclude that "to be Black means that one is poor, carefree and unskilled" (Banks, 1977, p. 339). Alternatively, because so many new Black shows were comedies, "the American people have got the idea that black people are funny" (Sklar, 1980, p. 103). The early 1980s saw increasing development of integrated shows in which Blacks portrayed central characters who were generally as successful, competent, professional, and attractive as

Spurring a Dialogue To Place the African European Experience Within the Context of an Afrocentric Philosophy

Abstract: When Roi Ottley's No Green Pastures was being published in 1951, the racial attitudes and policies of Europe were not clearly evident to most Americans, but Ottley readily discerned that European societies did not offer any green pastures for Black people who yearn to become firmly rooted. Yet today many Americans still seem surprised to learn that there are people of African ancestry presently residing in European communities who are confronted daily with prejudice and discriminatory policies just as in the United States and South Africa. For the most part, African Europeans come from countries in Africa and the Caribbean. They make up about 3% of the population, share a common colonial, migratory, and racial experience, and tend to constitute a colony within the European countries. The purpose of this article is to emphasize the importance of placing the African European experience within the context of an Afrocentric philosophy. The intent is to broaden the scope of world history and at the same time underscore the role of Africa and its people in shaping cultures and societies in Europe. A subsidiary purpose is to provide a better understanding of the African diaspora (Asante, 1988, pp. vii-6).

Annotated Bibliography of the Washington-Dubois Controversy

Abstract: Articles and books published prior to 1994 pertaining to the Washington-DuBois controversy are included in this bibliography. Although there are many published biographies of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois that contain material regarding the controversy, most are not included in this bibliography. Only those books and articles that include information relevant to the debate are cited. When an article is actually a revision of a previous article or a condensed version of a book, the citation for each article and book is given but separate annotations do not appear. Many of the articles contained in this bibliography have been reprinted in books. The citation to the journal or book in which the article first appeared is given but subsequent reprints are not

The plight of the women of Lesotho. Reconsideration with the decline of apartheid

Abstract: In Lesotho a field survey of 524 wives of migrant workers currently working in South Africa was conducted during 1977-1978 to determine a) the wives attitudes b) which wives were having the greatest difficulty in their husbands absence and c) whether the wives perceived their situation as stressful. Data were collected at 14 randomly-selected sites by structured questionnaires and half of the completed questionnaires from each site were randomly selected for analysis. The distribution of strain scores indicating the degree of difficulty experienced in the husbands absence was normal (p = 0.05). The sample was divided into 3 strain score groups: low (28% of sample) medium (34%) and high (38%). It was determined that: 1) The women most likely to have low strain scores were the youngest whose absent husbands still made important family decisions and who did not feel that the family fields and livestock were their responsibility. 2) Women in the high strain group tended to be the older women with more children with husbands who had been migrants for long periods whose incomes were inadequate who were responsible for fields and whose husbands did not make important family decisions. 3) The percentage of those in the high strain category steadily increased with age (p = 0.005). Half of the wives over 30 had high levels of strain. 4) Those in the high strain category steadily increased with the number of years the husband had worked as a migrant (p = 0.001); 57% of wives whose husbands had been away over 20 years were experiencing high levels of strain. 5) 74% of the wives felt they had responsibility for fields and livestock in their husbands absence which caused strain (p = 0.005). 6) 80% of the wives felt their husband continued to make decisions concerning the family. This was inversely associated with strain (p = 0.0005); 53% of wives who felt the opposite were experiencing high levels of strain.

The Dialectics of Cultural Survival and the Community Artist: Phil Cohran and the Affro-Arts Theater

Abstract: The expropriation of African American culture by European American institutions of ideation is a well-established fact and cultural dilemma facing African American creative artists and intellectuals (Cruse, 1971; Dates & Barlow, 1990; Drake, 1987; George, 1989; Jones, 1963; Walton, 1972). This dilemma is linked to the cultural dialectic that has pervaded the African American experience, which is the problem of cultural hegemony (Semmes, 1982, 1986~the systemic negation of one culture by another. For example, the venerable anthropologist St. Clair Drake (1987, p. xv) has observed, &dquo;Since black communities have been, and are, relatively powerless, their cultural products are constantly being ’coopted’ for ends other than those they set for themselves.&dquo; Cultural products, particularly music, language, dance, and stylistic norms are absorbed into the broader White-controlled com-

An Afrocentric Approach To Language Planning

Abstract: Afrocentrism, as an ideology committed to the liberation of African people from the destructive grips of the West, involves the displacement of the European mode of thinking and being, and its replacement by concepts, attitudes, and behaviors in tune with African values and the ultimate interest of African people. Asante (1990), who deals more specifically with Africalogy, the implications of Afrocentrism for research on African people, suggests that it is necessary to "abandon ethnocentric and racist systems of logic and, therefore, to place the undiscussed in the center of discourse" (p. 140; italics added). The present article seeks to contribute to the Afrocentric debate by raising some usually unaddressed but nonetheless critical issues for African people within the particular academic discipline of linguistics. I will deal more specifically with language planning, a subfield of sociolinguistics. My focus on that particular field is dictated in great part by the relationship between language planning studies and the so-called Third World. Indeed, language planning studies developed in the 1960s as a result of the emergence of new states in Africa and elsewhere. Its aims were to address what was seen as the "language problems" of "developing nations" (Fishman, Ferguson, & Das Gupta 1968). Language planning itself, however, was simply the more recent application to the domain of language of techniques and practices of social control intricately linked to the rise of Western modernity (Escobar, 1992, p. 132). Two of the major assumptions of such activities are that human beings and nature are tools that can be

Teaching Akan Oral Literature in Ghanaian Schools

Abstract: The intellectual, educational, and artistic values of Ghanaian oral literature, initially suggested in the pioneering works of people like Kwabena Nketia, Captain Rattray, C. A. Akrofi, and G. AdaliMoratty, have been confirmed in the contemporary writings of E. Ofori-Akyea, J. Y. Egblewogbe, Kofi Awoonor, Ama Atta Aidoo, Efua Sutherland, Atuquaye Okai, J. C. Hagan, Kofi Agovi, Kofi Anyidoho, Akosua Anyidoho, Kwesi Yankah, Amanor Djeagu, Dannabang Kuwabong, and Abu Abarry. In spite of the significance of the literature and its recognition as an academic discipline, evidenced by the organization of a whole national conference on it at the University of Ghana in 1988, it is yet to be fully integrated into the curricula and pedagogical schemes of the Ghanaian schools and colleges. As in the old times, more value continues to be attached to European language literatures to the detriment of our own which exists mainly in oral form. In some quarters, aspects of this oral literature are still being condemned as &dquo;heathen&dquo; and &dquo;primitive&dquo; and, as such, are injurious to the moral development of Ghanaian children. Such thinking could only emanate from a lack of understanding of the real nature of oral literature and the meaningful role it can play in the educational process. Oral literature contains our worldview, history, cherished values, fears, hopes, and aspirations. As such, the genre are among the important traditional social and cultural institutions that buttress the entire life of the

Claiming an Identity Caribbean Women Writers in English

Abstract: Several English-speaking Caribbean women writers stress the importance of knowing one's history. The interrelationship leads to the formation of female identity. All write about mothers as vehicles of culture and history. Once this function is removed from biological mothers, the daughters become confused about their history and place in it. From the slave narrative to two contemporary novels, we see a slide from the nurturing mother to two surrogate mothers that plummets to an emotionally absent one. This fall results in the need for the daughters to claim and reclaim their historical and cultural identity. In 1831, Mary Prince of Bermuda finished writing The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave, Related by Herself (Prince, 1831/1987). Published simultaneously in London and Edinburgh in 1831, this is the first known book and slave narrative by an English-speaking Caribbean woman writer. Its value lies in the details that it gives of the British-Caribbean slave trade and the rarely documented recollections of an enslaved Caribbean woman. Prince identifies specific roles played by African women both on sugarcane plantations and in the salt fields. She recounts sufferings, humiliations, psychological trauma, and constant physical abuses rained on her by her various European masters and mistresses in their attempts to tame her emergent rebellious nature. Although The History of Mary Prince was structured and edited for use as propaganda for the Anti-Slavery Movement in Britain, Prince attempts to assert herself and to reflect her presence and her place. She speaks the truth about slavery and retraces her plight as

The Contribution of Women's Writing to the Literature and Intellectual Achievements of the Caribbean: "Moi, Tituba Sorciere" and "Amour, Colere et Folie.".

Abstract: Caribbean literature has attained its greatest glory during the 20th century. The national literatures of the region have passed through several stages-each at its own pace and cadence-from their emergence as colonial literatures to their maturity today. This growing presence is manifest in every sphere of literary creation; it is not limited to names of recognized prestige, and it implies the existence of a dynamic literary process, continuous and fertile. Its richness lies in its generic multiplicity. Women writers

Sources of Law in Ghana

Abstract: In January 1993, Ghana's Fourth Republic was inaugurated after a 12-year military interregnum. The Fourth Republic was ushered in by a new constitution promulgated in October, 1992, yet another signal to the resumption of legal normalcy. In the present discussion I examine the sources of law in Ghana. I begin with a consideration of the introduction of colonial law in Ghana, and its impact on the preexisting customary law system. I discuss the nature and classification of laws in Ghana as well as the concomitant choice of law problems. I describe the role played by statutory law and also the court system and case law. I undertake a synoptic survey of the main branches of law in Ghana and conclude with certain tasks for law reform in Ghana and the continent of Africa. A remarkable fact is how little the legal system in Ghana has changed over the years.

The Mframah Shrine and the Practice of Contemporary Social Work

Abstract: Most studies about health in developing societies have recognized the existence of two distinct systems, namely, the traditional and the modem. In most cases, the need for studying both systems has been emphasized (Twumasi, 1975). In terms of use of the two systems, it has been observed that both the traditional and the modem systems are used in rural areas (Olayinota, 1984) and in urban centers where most of the modem health facilities are located (Fosu, 1989; Maclean, 1978). One would expect that the traditional health system would be irrelevant to the urban residents considering the high concentration of modem health care facilities in the urban centers. In a study of Nigerian heads of household's attitude toward modem and traditional medicines, Airhihenbuwa (1987) found that people showed preference for modem medicine over traditional. However, he remarked that